by Richard Dusk
"Team - masks, helmets. Look alive," said Kaiden.
Garrett took out his mask from the side pocket of his bag and examined it with his fingers and eyes - a durable material colored the same as his camo, with dense mesh to be placed over his mouth. He put the mask on and felt two thin cables hanging down.
"Plug them in your suit," said Hodge, handing him a helmet. "Right one is the monitoring, left one is the heating system. You'll see it active in your PCA."
"Thanks," Garrett plugged the cables.
He listed through options on screen and turned the heating on. Instant warmth covered his head at the same time as Kaiden remotely opened the door on the zeroth floor.
A violent freezing wind blew inside a large amount of snow, bringing a massive amount of energy, powerful enough to set ATVs to sway.
"This doesn't look good," Pace stood up to see better when iron springs of wagons creaked.
"No, it certainly doesn't," Vince put the helmet on his head.
The elevator stopped at the platform with a loading ramp and the murk with a blizzard outside revealed.
"When did this happen?" Lex walked to the doors with everyone but Kaiden and watched the raging beast outside.
"In the meantime," said Kaiden ironically. "We're about two miles further inland. Hodge, shake a leg and get that ramp closer. This storm won't relent so easily, and we're not going to lounge around," he unfastened ATV's front wheels.
"Kaiden, this is nonsense. If we go out there, then probably only half of us will reach the station. I won't allow you to endanger our team," said Vince standing on the other side of ATV.
Kaiden straightened, looked at Vince's covered face, and watched his eyes for a while.
"Okay. I agree. It may be suicidal," he said, to Vince's surprise, with no argument. "I don't want to go in there either, but I'm not doing this for myself. I want to finish the order we received and the promise I gave to the people in Nest when we left. You're all under my command, but I see that you've got the same thought that we won't make it. It is my privilege to give you this order, but now I may not be thinking straight. I want to go, but you don't," he said, looking at Vince. "Therefore, we need a rational decision made by someone who truly understands the potential that is hidden inside X-RON. Garrett, please, decide for us."
Garrett froze in shock and heard Vince's irritated, 'Oh, come on!' Out of nothing, Kaiden threw a burden of leadership on his shoulders and expected an immediate response. Response to question if he is willingly ready to put the lives of his friends in mortal danger. He knew that no one will help him with this situation but searched for any sign of help. All eyes watched him and waited for the answer, but only Kaiden's eyes gave him the clear one.
"We'll go," he said eventually, and Vince shook his head. "Kaiden's right. I don't agree with the going, but if we survived the bridge, then this has to be the easier one. Look at all we've been through. I lived out there since the beginning, and I know it's still getting worse. I can call the first storms babies when compared to those we've got now. They are strong and powerful. The whole year sucked, but the last three months are the worst ones, and I believe there is still enough space to make it go downhill even more."
"That's the reason why we shouldn't go," Lex shook sleet off her gear.
"That's the reason why we should go," opposed Jillian, supporting Garrett's words. "What if an earthquake comes and this mountain falls and buries us? What if this storm won't end for another two months? The station could be buried under snow, and another layer won't make any good. We might be risking our only chance without knowing it. If we stay here, we're losing time. By going out, we 'll have a better opportunity to succeed."
"Did you look outside? How do you want to find it out there? We don't know where the north is, not to mention searching the Sigma station miles away," said Hodge.
"Ping," Kaiden made a sound like submarine sonar while he typed something to PCA.
"What?" said Hodge.
"Look at the map in your PCA and transfer it to your shield," Kaiden kept typing. "Predefined route will activate the moment you'll leave the base. It's wirelessly connected to the ATV. By the speed, time passed, angles of turns you make, and the incline of the land, it calculates your position and distance from the destination. We don't need any satellites or radars. Nothing."
They opened the map in front of their eyes and read the parameters. Thirty miles and four-hundred feet of elevation difference.
"We'll be completely blind in this snow-hell. If something happens to the last ATV, then they're lost," said Hodge.
"We can tie the ATV's with these ropes. I took them from the crates we brought. They are long and strong enough," said Kaiden.
"That's even more mental than challenging that storm," said Garrett. He remembered when he pulled the neighbor's car once back at home in winter, and they both ended in a ditch.
"We'll synchronize our speed and drive in one row. I'll go first if anything dangerous will be ahead. All right?" said Kaiden.
"No ropes, Kaiden. That would put everybody in danger," said Vince, and Kaiden threw the ropes on the ground.
"Okay, team. Ready to roll?" said Kaiden.
They didn't show any enthusiasm about the plan they decided to follow, but they withdrew to unload the cargo. Garrett looked at Kaiden's masked face, where only his eyes remained visible. The wrinkles around them revealed more than enough that he was pleased he did get his way in the end.
Chapter 25 These Things Happen
Four loaded ATVs drove out into the raging blizzard. The gate behind them shut and captured the light inside. They speeded between bottoms of two steep rocky hillsides with headlights shining strong, unable to see more than a hundred and fifty feet ahead. Falling snow piled up on the sides of the black road leading them away from the base, and snowdrifts gradually grew in size. Some of the orange and yellow flashing beacons, built-in rows by both sides of the road to show them the way out, quickly got lost in layers of snow and completely disappeared.
Kaiden, as he promised, rode alone at the head of the team. He dictated the speed and direction they took, but he'll be the first one to confront any hazards that come. Garrett and Jillian, with the sled hooked on their ATV, followed Pace and Hodge while they had Vince and Lex behind their backs. Vince insisted on this order to provide at least a bit of safety to Garrett and took the burden of driving as the last one. Garrett saw the blurred red lights ahead, having difficulties to follow them in falling snow. He checked the PCA every minute, just to assure himself that they are still on the track. With no landmarks, no signs, and no sun above their heads, he had to believe the computer on his wrist. The suit and mask he wore perfectly balanced the outside temperature with his body, and he thought about the old clothes he had before he threw them away in Nest. Layers of sweaters are now gone together with sweating, night cold shivers, and itching.
Jillian sat behind him with arms firmly wrapped around his waist. He spoke to her sometimes to check how she held on. The violent gale frequently hit them as a powerful gust, and Garrett had many hard times with their ATV when it almost capsized.
"We'll reach the end of this road very soon," sounded Kaiden in their earpieces, "and then we'll continue on an ice plane. If you had any troubles so far, expect them ten times worse."
Garrett looked at his map. They've passed one-third of the route already, and a sharp turn to the left less than a mile away quickly neared. Kaiden's words gave him no courage, but he decided to whip the beast inside him on his own. Suddenly the ATV bounced on the new ground. The smooth, even road changed at once to rough rocky terrain. Garrett turned his head to the side to distinguish the surface. Flat, thin, black stones lightly coated with snow lay everywhere around. Riding on them sounded like a clattering of broken porcelain tiles. Snow didn't stick to them, and the strong wind easily blew it away. Jillian looked at them mesmerized, and her hand reached to grab at least one. The second later, she realized how ridiculous her idea was and withd
rew the hand uncut and still in one piece.
"I thought there would be more ice around," said Jillian, still hypnotized by oddly-shaped rocks.
"And blizzards and snow and everything else that decided to return after months in the exact moment when we came here," replied Hodge irritated.
"It's getting worse," Kaiden speeded up, almost disappearing from their sight.
They speeded too fast already, but now they pushed the limits of ATVs. If Kaiden hits any obstacle, then no one behind him will have time to react. Garrett looked around for a second, hoping that he'll see something more than just snow sticking to his shield and red tail-lights fading in snow mist. The light reflecting on snowflakes reduced his ability to see anything else in the murk. He kept scanning the area with sight and distinguished unclear black outlines of high mountains on both sides. They were far in the distance - the plain had to be enormously vast.
"Kaiden, we can't go this fast. It's dangerous," said Vince.
"Negative. The entrance to the underground is inside Sigma premises. We need to reach it as fast as possible," said Kaiden.
"If we don't slow down, we might not reach it at all," Vince replied.
He received no answer, and no one spoke after that for the next miles. They passed roughly half of the route when Garrett felt that his brain, tired from excessive concentration on the road ahead, and his body, resisting the strain of wind since they've left the base, will need to rest very soon. Jillian's grip also weakened, and she probably felt the same about it. His left arm reached to waist and stroke her hand to encourage her.
Jillian moved closer on the seat, and her grip tightened. It reminded her of the tough moments they went through when snow fell around the last time. She was injured and lying unconscious in his hands while he had to run in pain to save her. She imagined these scenes many times in her head. He withstood those intense moments when she entirely depended on his help. If she is here now, then there has to be the reason.
"We're on the ice plate," said Kaiden.
Garrett knew that the moment they entered it. He lost a fair amount of control over his ATV as everyone else, and signs of imminent skid appeared. The ice plate looked like a polished mirror with no unevenness.
"Release the throttle," said Vince. "Press the blue button on the left handle - it will stick out spikes hidden in your tires."
Garrett did as Vince said at once. ATV immediately tugged itself, and he gained control over it again. At the first moment, he broke off some spikes. The ice sprayed from beneath the wheels, and he heard clinking coming from the bottom of the vehicle.
"Good thinking, Lex," said Vince.
"Yeah, everyone owes me a drink."
Garrett heard Pace and Hodge gave a laugh, but Kaiden speeded up to the same level they drove before. He didn't make any pauses neither eased up. Garrett wiped the snow off his ATV's display and saw they raced down the plane almost fifty miles per hour, barely seeing the ground ahead. He shook his head and accelerated to catch up the distance.
They drove another few minutes until the last ten miles remained ahead of them. The ice plate changed from smooth and even to rough and bumpy, and snow piled up on structures resembling accidentally strewed ice slabs. Garrett rode directly over a few of those that were as high as the radius of his tires, and he prayed not to tear off a wheel on one of them.
"We're almost there," said Kaiden. "Good work, everyone. This terrain looks crazy, so- CREVASSE!"
Garrett's eardrums almost ruptured as Kaiden suddenly yelled into the microphone. He immediately pressed the brakes and nearly flew over handlebars with Jillian. The spikes on his wheels carved deep grooves into the ice, and he saw the brake lights of the vehicle ahead flash and disappear. His ATV was slowing down, but heavy CHED on sled continued to move further and turned them backward. It pulled them towards the crevasse until Garrett revved up the engine and scratched out the ice below their wheels until they finally stopped. He sat there for a few seconds, waiting for any status to come.
"Hodge! Hold on, I've got you!" sounded Pace in their earbuds.
Garrett immediately got off the ATV with Jillian, and they ran to the place where he saw the lights last time.
"Hodge! I'm okay. I'm holding. Give me your hand! Give me your hand, now!" yelled Pace again, while Garrett dashed to them. He saw the light of Kaiden's gear flashing towards them from the other side.
They all stopped right at the edge of hundreds of feet deep crevasse. The ATV remained stuck and tilted between solid ice walls but too far for Garrett to reach it by hand. The engine whirred; ripped lights shone to the depth. Pace sat in the seat, holding the handlebar with one hand and reaching to Hodge with another one. That moment Vince and Lex caught up with them.
"Hodge, hold on. I'll get a rope," Vince darted away.
Hodge, hanging above the deep emptiness and holding with one hand by the rear wheel of ATV, reached with his other hand and grabbed the wheel from behind.
"Come on, buddy, you can do it," frightened Pace reached closer to Hodge. As he moved, the balance of ATV immediately reacted, and scraping of the ice wall sounded.
"Wait, don't move an inch, I've got it," said Hodge. He swung his feet up against the ice wall to prop up on it and reached to Pace's offered hand, but the slippery ice wall failed to give him any support. He immediately slid, and his weight flew back down.
The ATV tugged and moved lower. The metal creaked, and ice splintering didn't cease. By the continuous sound it made, they knew that it's a movement that can't be reversed from this point anymore. Hodge saw on the wall that they continually moved inch by inch, and it was only a matter of seconds till they both fall to the bottom.
"Vince, move!" yelled Pace when the ATV tugged again.
"I'm almost there. Hold on," said Vince breathless to the microphone.
Pace looked at the Hodge again, whose feet freely hanged over the darkness below him.
"Try it again," said Pace. Hodge reached with his feet to the wall, but every movement he made had a ten times bigger impact on the balance of dangerously tilted six-wheeler. "Do it! Again! There's no time to lose!" yelled Pace at him.
"Pace," Hodge looked in his eyes when he sensed that ATV is about to fall. "You're not going down with me," he let himself go.
"No!" yelled Pace and snatched after him but caught only air.
It took just a second until Hodge disappeared from their sight. He fell and didn't make any sound; only Pace's yell echoed between the walls.
"Hodge, come in! Hodge!" he yelled to the microphone, but no response came.
They watched him from above with Vince, who held the rope in his hands. He threw it down to Pace's back.
"Pace, hook yourself. We've got to pull you up," said Kaiden. "We don't need to lose both of you."
At first, Pace didn't react, but when Kaiden shouted at him, he listened. The second he hooked on the rope, the massive piece of ice wall tore off, and ATV fell deep down. Pace remained hanging on the rope, unable to climb on the slippery ice wall. They saw the depth of the crevasse grow as the headlights flew, but somewhere during the fall, it crashed, and the light disappeared.
"Help me," said Vince, who couldn't pull Pace up on the smooth ice.
Everyone immediately grasped the rope, and Kaiden navigated them about how the last feet to pass. When Pace stood up, he looked devastated and lost, not caring about anyone standing around and watching him. They turned into shells for him on the island thousands of miles away from anything he could call home. Hodge bought him just a few seconds, but their price was incalculable
"You'll go with us and then switch to Kaiden," Vince grabbed Pace by the arm, and he obediently followed him.
Kaiden almost fell in the crevasse instead of Hodge and Pace, but the luck guided him to drive just twelve feet more to the right, through the part where the gap had third the size of the one where Hodge and Pace fell down, and the high speed helped him to fly over it.
Others got silently back to their ve
hicles and continued the journey. They had to make a detour around the crevasse but found their way quickly. No one spoke except Kaiden with occasional status reports. Garrett felt terrible, and others did probably as well. He remembered the feelings that rushed through his body when he saw Sophie being thrown out of the window. She was as close as Hodge, and same as Pace now, he couldn't do anything to save her. His head spun many thoughts that had to fade away, and he drove further with an empty mind.
Three ATVs continued their way through the hostile climate. The strength of the blizzard gradually eased up as they passed further inland. It seemed they paid enough blood to enter and were allowed to get through the remaining distance in one piece, but Kaiden didn't ease up a bit. He still rode as if a ghost pursued him hot on heels. Losing Hodge wasn't an argument strong enough for him to reconsider the execution of their task. Garrett saw that slouched Pace turned for a while at him and stared. He didn't understand what happened, but the second he decided to ask, Pace turned away.
As they entered the last mile ahead, Kaiden turned sharply to shortcut on the right and led them up through the snow-covered rocky hillside. At first, Garrett saw nothing, but when they got closer, snow mist gradually cleared, and the sky got brighter. Then he finally saw the place they searched for since the beginning.
"Sigma station. At your service," said Kaiden.
They neared through vast lines of even snow resembling a white desert plain. The wind blew and scattered the fresh snow. It covered the buildings of the station with a white veil capturing the mind in genuine arctic winter elements. Two dozen, twenty feet high rust-covered reservoirs stood joined with four broken pipelines that led towards the main structure in the middle. A simple building that could be set anywhere in the world, and no one would find it strange. Black-blue, cuboid-shaped, two-floor with a single red door in front where only a giant satellite on the roof made it different. Torn electric cables that powered this place lay on the ground together with pylons that held them. Garrett noticed behind the building a snowed runway with two damaged cargo planes leading to metal frameworks of three hangars on the right. Only trusses of the last one still stood visible. When he looked at all the debris around, he expected only more complications to come. Kaiden stopped right at the half-buried entrance door and got off with Pace. He still didn't look well but at least walked and acted on his own.
