Prey

by Jon F. Merz

Mick looked down. "Panel up here. It's open."

  "You mean it's unlocked?"

  "Yeah. It's closed but it's unlocked."

  Julia frowned. "Can you lock it?"

  Mick peered at the panel. It must have been tough contorting his body to examine the panel's edging. But he never complained. Julia thought it marked him as a real professional but didn't say anything.

  "Lock's gone," said Mick. "Looks like it's been torn off."

  "Torn off?"

  "I'm coming down," said Mick. He eased himself back toward the ladder. His feet reappeared first and then the rest of his body followed.

  Julia saw a sheen of sweat coating his face. "Hot up there?"

  "Heat rises." Mick thumbed skyward. "That's a real funny piece of work up there."

  Wilkins started for the ladder. Mick stopped him. "Hang on. If we're going back up there, we ought to at least have something we can lock it down with.

  Julia looked at him. "You think Vikorsky might have climbed out of the window? That doesn't make any sense. He could have simply walked out the front door. Besides, even if he did get out on to the roof, he'd have to get down to the ground somehow and that doesn't make any sense at all - "

  "Julia." Mick stopped her.

  "Yes?"

  "I don't think he climbed out."

  "No?"

  Mick shot a glance at Wilkins who frowned and looked back at the roof. Mick looked back at Julia. "I think something might have come into the station through the open panel up there."

  "And what - grabbed Vikorsky? While the rest of us slept nearby?"

  Mick shrugged. "I'm open to alternate theories."

  "But that would mean someone would have had to climb on to the roof, pry open the roof panel, and then shimmy in through that opening, open the door to the greenhouse and make their way through the station to where Vikorsky was sleeping." She looked at Mick. "Doesn't that strike you as an awful lot of work?"

  "Sure does."

  "Do you know anyone who could do that sort of thing and not be heard?"

  Mick looked away.

  Wilkins cleared his throat. "We might be looking at another possibility here."

  "That being?"

  "What if it's not a 'who' at all?"

  Mick nodded. "That's what I was thinking."

  "What if," said Wilkins, "it's a 'what'?"

  "You mean some sort of...creature?"

  "I don't know anyone who would have done something like this," said Wilkins.

  "Yeah, but do you know of any animals that could?" said Julia.

  "No."

  "And besides," said Julia, "the indigenous animal population of Antarctica is limited to penguins and a few seabirds."

  "Those are the animals we know about," said Mick.

  Julia cocked an eyebrow. "You think there might be a few species we don't know about?"

  "What I'm saying," said Mick, "is at this point, it looks like something or someone came in through that skylight and snatched Vikorsky last night. Whether they killed him or not remains to be seen. But considering the fact that we've found nothing, I'd say we need to stay open to certain possibilities about the nature of this disappearance."

  Julia sighed. "Wonderful."

  "Something else," said Wilkins.

  "What?"

  "Since we're being so open to possibilities, we might also consider the idea that whatever took Vikorsky will come back again."

  Chapter Six

  "So what you're telling us is that we're being...invaded?"

  Julia sighed. "Kendall, no one's saying anything right yet. The fact remains we haven't located Vikorsky yet-"

  "You mean his body."

  "No." She glared at him. The way he tried to command the room by seating himself at the head of the table in the mess hall, it annoyed her. "What I'm saying is we haven't found him yet."

  Kendall looked about ready to argue with her again when Mick's voice cut through the air, a welcome edge to it. "This back-and-forth arguing gets us nowhere fast. Vikorsky is gone. We think we may have found the opening through which he either left on his own or was taken."

  Nung glanced up from the microcircuitry he was working on. "Where's the opening?"

  Julia glanced at Mick. He tried to smile, but it didn't really work. She took a deep breath. "The roof of the greenhouse."

  Nung almost dropped the soldering iron he had. "The roof? That's almost thirty feet off the ground."

  "It's twenty," said Mick. "I was up there today."

  "The roof it was open?" Havel's eyes conveyed the fear Julia felt building in her own stomach.

  "One of the panels was. Yes. The lock had been jimmied open. I don't know how."

  Wilkins cleared his throat. "Julia, what do you want us to do?"

  "We can't do anything else for right now. We've got more bad weather coming in. Tomorrow, we can search outside."

  "Won't do any good," said Kendall. "The fresh snow will have erased any of the signs of Vikorsky's passage."

  "If we can't find him, then we'll go on with our primary tasking." Julia looked at Wilkins. "That sound okay to you?"

  "Yep."

  "We've still got another night to get through," said Darren. "I'm not exactly interested in sleeping alone."

  Wilkins grinned. "Be the first you ever did anyway, you dog."

  Darren grinned. "I slept alone last night."

  Mick took a sip from his big blue ceramic mug and then set the cup down. "We'll post a watch. Two of us on every two hours."

  "A watch?" Kendall laughed. "You must be joking. This isn't the army, you know."

  Mick said nothing.

  Kendall continued. "And what, pray tell, would you suggest we use to fend off whatever might be paying us nocturnal visits? We don't have any weapons in this station. In case you forgot, we're a research facility, not a military one."

  "Thanks for the reminder," said Mick. His eyes blazed momentarily at Kendall who looked away. "You're right, we have no weapons, per se."

  "Per se?"

  "We can improvise."

  "With what?"

  Mick shrugged. "Is it too much to reason that whatever might have taken Vikorsky might not like bright lights?"

  "Why?" asked Julia. "Because it comes at night?"

  "Yeah."

  "I think this whole thing is a stretch," said Kendall. "I'm going to bed."

  "Sit down."

  The tone in which Mick uttered the simple command made everyone freeze in the room. Julia looked at him and saw something else there. Something brewing under the surface of his calm demeanor. Some kind of intensity unlike any she'd ever witnessed before. When he said it, there was no refuting it.

  And Kendall sat back down.

  Mick looked at them all. "Going anywhere alone right now is not a safe thing to do. We don't know what we're dealing with...yet. We move around here in pairs. Stay in contact by radio. We post two guards every two hours tonight while the rest of us sleep." He looked at Kendall. "You're right, this isn't a military facility, but if you're dealing with something unknown that appears to be taking people, then I'd suggest we adopt a bit more of a soldierly outlook toward dealing with it. Okay?"

  Everyone nodded.

  Mick suddenly seemed to remember something and the blazing intensity vanished. He held up a hand. "I mean, that is if Julia thinks we should do this."

  She raised her eyebrows. What was she going to do, contradict him? Not a chance. Especially since his ideas seemed sound.

  "It's fine with me."

  Nung nodded. "You mentioned bright lights."

  Mick took a long drag on his mug. "We've got some of those special high-powered numbers don't we?"

  "Yeah."

  "Can you rig them for use in here?"

  "You have an idea?"

  "We'll position them in the greenhouse. By where the opening was."

  "Do you really think whatever took Vikorsky will be foolish enough to come back in through that way again?" Kendall sat there
with a smug look of satisfaction on his face. He seemed pleased to have rained on Mick's parade a little bit.

  Julia hated him for it.

  "We don't even know if we're dealing with anything yet," said Mick. "All I'm trying to do is cover any bases we might have. Close up any gaps in our personal security. If there is something out there with an eye toward taking us, then I think it's best that we do everything we can to protect ourselves."

  Wilkins nodded. "I find it difficult to swallow that Vikorsky chose to wander out of the facility during the night by climbing twenty feet and going on to the roof. It seems absurd."

  "I agree," said Havel. "I believe we are being hunted."

  Julia felt the pit in her stomach suddenly grow larger. Her first command and it was going to hell.

  "Everyone had dinner already?" It was the best thing she could come up with.

  They all nodded. She turned to Mick. "Any suggestions on the watch postings? I don't have any experience with that sort of thing."

  "We did it in the service all the time," said Mick.

  "What branch?"

  Mick looked at Kendall. "Excuse me?"

  "I asked you what branch were you in?"

  Mick peered at Kendall for another minute. "Air Force."

  "A pilot?"

  "No."

  "What then?"

  "We don't have time for twenty questions, Kendall," said Wilkins. "We've got stuff to do."

  "Just trying to get acquainted with our newest comrade is all."

  "The meet-and-greet was last night after you went to bed. Sorry you missed the fun." Wilkins turned to Nung. "Can you and Darren take care of getting the lights ready?"

  Nung nodded. "Sure thing."

  "Okay," said Mick. "Here's how we'll do it: I'll grab the first watch with Wilkins. That's nine to eleven. Nung and Darren are eleven to one. Havel and Kendall get one to three. Wilkins and I will come back on at three and go until dawn."

  Julia eyed him. "Excuse me."

  He looked at her. "Yes?"

  "My name wasn't on that list."

  Mick chewed his lip. "Uh...yeah. Well, it's just that if anything happens, I'm not so sure-"

  "That a woman can handle herself?"

  "I didn't say that."

  "It just so happens that I can hold my own against anyone here. Don't exclude me from the watch just because you might think otherwise."

  Mick looked like he was about to say something but then thought better of it. He sighed instead. "Fine. You and I will take the three until dawn shift. That okay with you?"

  "Yes." Julia quelled the rising heat in her face and pretended to concentrate on the floorplan diagram on the table. It showed the layout of the facility. "Where are the lights going?"

  Mick came over and pointed. "Corridors. Here. And here. By the greenhouse door. I want a pair of them aiming up at the ceiling." He looked up at Nung and Darren. "I'll go down with you and show you how I want them aimed."

  Wilkins peered over his shoulder. "Seems like a plan."

  "Best one we can come up with right," said Mick. "Barring a sudden windfall of weapons and reinforcements."

  "You talk like a soldier."

  Mick turned. Kendall faced him again. Mick's face got hard again, but then a small grin played across it. "Aren't you tired?"

  "You're evasive as hell, too."

  "What I am," said Mick, "is annoyed. Stop treating me like a suspect. I'm one of you."

  Kendall grinned. "That I doubt very much. But whatever. Havel and I have an early night. I'm off to bed."

  "We sleep two to a room tonight," said Julia. "Like Mick said, it's not safe going anywhere alone."

  "And if I have to take a dump will Havel wipe my ass for me, too?"

  "That's up to Havel. But I don't think you're his type." Julia smiled.

  Kendall frowned. "Ridiculous. We should have gone home yesterday when we had the chance. And now we're here playing soldiers with something we have no clue about. We could all die here."

  No one said anything. Kendall seemed satisfied with the effects of his words and turned. "Good night everyone." He looked at Havel. "Coming?"

  Havel looked at the rest of them and grimaced. Then he left the room.

  Everyone sighed at once. Julia kept her head down. Wilkins filled his coffee mug. "That guy is the biggest pain in the ass I've ever known."

  "Seemed pretty gung-ho on you Mick," said Darren.

  "Maybe he's a pacifist," offered Nung.

  "Maybe he's just an asshole," said Julia. Everyone laughed. Except for Mick. They looked at him but he was in mid-sip. When he finally set his mug down, his face was grim.

  "Maybe Kendall had better hope that whatever took Vikorsky doesn't figure out a new way in. And grab him."

  "Yeah, that'd be a shame," said Wilkins.

  But they all knew it was true.

  Chapter Seven

  In the early pre-dawn hours, the entire facility felt as still as a morgue. The air hung heavy with the vague smell of moist lead. Julia shivered slightly from her vantagepoint at the end of the long hallway.

  Across from her, Mick's eyes never left the doorway to the greenhouse.

  She watched him, aware that there seemed no ebb in the intensity of his gaze. Despite the fact that he'd had the least amount of sleep tonight, he seemed primed.

  Ready.

  "Mick?"

  He never took his eyes off the doorway. "Yeah?"

  "What do you think we're dealing with?"

  He waited a long few seconds before answering. "I don't know."

  She frowned. Was he telling the truth? Part of her suspected that maybe he knew something more than he was willing to acknowledge. Part of him seemed deeply troubled by the events, but another part seemed comfortable with the idea - the notion - that something was hunting them.

  But why?

  "What kind of an animal could survive down here? How could they live in this environment?"

  "Maybe it's not an animal at all."

  "Well, it couldn't be a person. There are no other facilities within a thousand miles of this one."

  He glanced her way, but only for the briefest second. "Julia, do you truly believe that we are masters of this planet? That we know everything there is to know about our home?"

  She paused. "We haven't fully explored the oceans yet."

  He nodded. "Nor have we explored all the regions we claim to have, either. There are still frontiers out there. Places we know little about. And those frontiers sometimes border other frontiers. Frontiers we might only visit in the depths of our worst nightmares."

  "What are you saying, Mick?"

  "Just this: don't discount anything. Keep yourself open to every possibility. Only when you do, will you be able to see things as they really are."

  She nodded and went back to watching the doorway. They'd left the door open so the humidity had spilled out into the hallway. A cool sweat draped over Julia and she simultaneously felt too warm and too cool.

  Keep open to every possibility. Mick's words echoed inside her head like some sort of warning. But wasn't that why Julia was here in the first place? Hadn't she kept herself open and found her way to heading up a research team on the last great continent?

  And right now, keeping herself open to possibilities didn't really seem like the greatest idea, either. After all, she might be exposing her team to annihilation if they couldn't figure out what the hell was happening down here.

  "What do you think happened to the others?"

  Her voice sounded loud in the hallway. Mick didn't seem affected by it, though. He simply shrugged. "Probably dead."

  The finality of his statement shocked her. Again she found herself wondering how he could be so detached. So stalwart and unaffected by the implications of what he'd said.

  "Who are you?"

  He glanced at her again. This time, a small grin crept across his face. "I'm a friend, Julia. That's all you need to know."

  "I've got the feeling that
there's more going on here than I know about."

  "What's going on here is some type of creature is hunting humans." Mick gestured to the doorway. "Worse, we're virtually defenseless here. We've got no weapons."

  Julia frowned. "We've got the spotlights."

  "Yeah."

  "How come we didn't switch them on?"

  "Because if we did, then whatever this thing is wouldn't want to come in here."

  "You want it in here?"

  "Yes."

  "What on earth for?"

  "So we can figure out what it is we're fighting. When it comes, we'll hit it with the lights and test out that theory that it's vulnerable to bright light."

  "What if it's not?"

  Mick grinned. "Then we're in serious trouble."

  How could he think this was funny? Julia shook her head and wished she could be back in the warmth and comfort of her home. Back in the real world where the only dangers she could remember involved homicides and drug dealers and car wrecks.

  "Try to relax."

  She looked at him. "Sorry?"

  "Relax. I can smell the fear coming off you in waves. Just let it go. I'm not even sure this thing will even show up tonight."

  "Easier said than done."

  "I know it."

  "You've done this before."

  He shrugged. "Some things aren't all that tough to figure out."

  "You mentioned you were ex-military. What did you do in the service?"

  "It's classified."

  She stared at him. "I don't think there's a big danger of someone hearing us and running to the papers, Mick. Level with me."

  He looked at her, this time for longer. "Are you sure you want to open that box?"

  "There's nothing else to do."

  "We could sit here and play word games. We could pretend none of this is real."

  "We'd have to wake up eventually."

  "Yeah."

  She watched him wrestle with it. Eventually he sighed. "I worked in special operations."

  "What - like a SEAL?"

  "I was in the Air Force. SEALs are Navy."

  "I didn't even know the Air Force had special operations."

  "Not many people do. That's the way we like it."

  "You saw combat."

  "I saw it. Yeah. Hell, I slogged through some of the worst fighting you could ever imagine. House-to-house stuff in Kuwait. Jungle warfare doing drug interdiction down in South America." His voice trailed off.