Below Zero

by Dan Smith

  There were boxes here and there, crates and other paraphernalia. Some of them were open, the contents piled up as if someone had been digging through them. And there was something else – something in the shadows at the side of the room, half-hidden by a stack of boxes. Zak frowned and leant forward, trying to see. At first he thought it might be the explorer, and he wondered why the insects needed to show him that again.

  ‘Stay right there,’ it said. ‘Don’t move an inch.’

  Zak recognized the voice. It carried a familiar Australian twang.

  Could it really be her?

  ‘Sofia?’ Zak peered into the shadow. ‘Is that you? You’re alive?’

  There was a pause. ‘You know me?’

  ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re alive!’ Zak said. ‘That’s so cool! We found your video. You uploaded it to ViBac and—’

  ‘Why aren’t you like them?’

  ‘I . . .’ Because I’m different. My brain is different.

  ‘Get over here,’ Sofia said without waiting for an answer. ‘Don’t wake them up.’

  ‘No, honestly, it’s fine. They’re—’

  Sofia came forward like a moray eel darting out from its lair beneath a rock. She grabbed Zak by the front of his jacket, and retreated, pulling him into the darkness.

  ‘Don’t you dare wake them up,’ she said. ‘Don’t you dare. When Peters and I set them off, I thought they’d never stop but I’ve managed to get in and out of here a few times without starting them off again, so don’t you go getting them all riled up.’

  Zak thought it best to agree. This close up, he could see Sofia’s eyes and she looked crazy. Scared and mad.

  ‘How did you avoid them?’ she asked. ‘I saw you lot land. Watched you get off the plane and go into the base. I tried to make contact, but I couldn’t get past the Spiders. A few hours later four of you are in here – but not you.’

  ‘They’re going to be OK. Everything is going to be OK.’

  ‘Wait a minute.’ Sofia grabbed Zak again and spun him round, staring at the back of his neck. ‘Have you got one of those things on you?’

  ‘No.’ Zak struggled against her.

  ‘Something in your nose, then.’ Sofia spun him round again and leant close to peer up his nostrils. ‘What are you people even doing here?’

  Zak pushed her away. ‘Will you listen to me?’

  ‘No, you listen to me. I watched you go out on to the ice. I saw you go into that BioMesa place at least . . .’ She checked her watch. ‘An hour ago and—’

  ‘Wait. You saw me?’ Zak remembered how he had heard an engine out on the ice. ‘You were on a snowmobile, weren’t you? And you left me out there. You didn’t help me.’

  ‘Don’t change the subject. Anyway, of course I tried to help you. I saw the others get caught and you ran off on to the ice. When the Spider was gone, I came after you, tried to find you, but when I did, you were already on your way inside the BioMesa place. There’s no way I was going in there again. Not after what I saw last time. I thought you were a goner for sure.’

  ‘You’ve seen?’ Zak asked. ‘You’ve been down there?’

  Sofia took hold of Zak’s arm and pulled him towards the window. On the other side of the landing strip, one of the Spiders was making its way across the ice, heading out towards The Chasm.

  ‘The other two are still in there. Down there.’ Sofia said. ‘And there goes the third one. I’ve been watching them going in and out since the start of this, coming back for I don’t know what. To recharge, find new parts, something like that. But a while back, all those Spiders were up here, tearing your plane to pieces, so I went over there and saw those bugs and . . . they were everywhere. Now, I don’t know what they are, but they are not good . . . and I reckon there’s a whole ton more of them under the ice. Maybe something else too. Something big and bad that wants to get out, and those Spiders are helping to set it free.’

  ‘It’s not bad,’ Zak said. ‘They’re just trying to—’

  ‘So I rigged the whole thing with HEX 13,’ Sofia stopped him. ‘They’re only small pieces but it’s enough to blow that whole place to bits. Bring the roof in and kill everything inside it. I’ve been waiting for them all to go back down. Get them all at once and put an end to this. Only thing that stopped me was seeing you go in there, but you’re here now, and you seem OK so . . .’ Sofia raised her left hand to show Zak something similar to a smartphone. In large white letters it displayed the word ‘CONFIRM’ and beneath it, a glowing dot traced across the screen in the shape of a letter Z. Sofia put her finger to the screen. ‘All I’ve got to do is swipe here and . . . Boom.’

  ‘No.’ Zak grabbed her hand. ‘You can’t.’

  ‘Can’t? What do you mean “can’t”? I’m guessing that’s your mama and papa, right?’ She pointed at the people standing at the back of the room.

  ‘Yes, but—’

  ‘Then it’s time to put an end to it.’

  ‘They’re not what you think,’ Zak said quickly. ‘The insects. They’re not what you think. They’re like . . . an Ark.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘An Ark.’ Now he’d said it, the word felt so right. It was the perfect way to describe what was under the ice. ‘Like in the story, except instead of being a boat full of animals, it’s a swarm. A whole hive of insects full of DNA and genomes and . . .’ Zak was trying to remember all the things he had seen on the tablet computer in the lab. ‘And stem cells and . . . I don’t know. Stuff. All the stuff needed to make life on Earth.’

  ‘You saying they’re some kind of alien?’

  ‘No. They belong here. They’ve always been here. They’re us. They’re everything. They’re where life came from.’

  Sofia backed away from Zak, holding the detonator high out of his reach. She glanced out of the window, seeing the Spider disappear from view. A few more minutes and it would enter the cavern. Sofia would have them all in her trap. ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘I saw it,’ Zak said. ‘They showed me. When they shed their armour, they kind of melt into a grey mush that’s full of cells and DNA and stuff to make life. They’re trying to protect themselves. They don’t want to hurt anybody, so they moved everyone over here, where it’s safe for us. They just want to survive. They want us to survive.’

  Sofia watched Zak as if he’d gone mad.

  ‘All they want is a bit more time and then they’ll go somewhere else. Somewhere they’ll be safe. They were never supposed to be found. They’re not ready.’

  ‘Ready for what?’

  ‘To make life again.’

  ‘What the hell are you talking about?’

  ‘Ugh!’ Zak grunted with frustration. How could he make her understand when she didn’t want to listen? He wished he could show her what he had seen. How was he supposed to describe the beginning of the world? How could he explain that the hive contained everything necessary for new life? That they were the most ancient and vital part of the planet? That without them, Earth would be dry and dead? And that when humans wasted the planet and were dead and gone, these insects would breathe new life into it?

  Zak closed his eyes and concentrated. He focused on the images he had seen, and tried to project them, to make Sofia see them too. He felt a release of tension in his mind, as if something that had been weighing him down had been lifted away.

  ‘I’m sorry, kid.’ Sofia put her thumb on the detonator switch. ‘I have to do this. It’s the only—’

  ‘Stop.’ Zak opened his eyes and touched her hand.

  Sofia paused with her thumb millimetres above the screen.

  ‘Don’t do it.’

  Unable to tear her eyes from Zak’s gaze, Sofia lifted her thumb away from the screen.

  ‘Give it to me.’ Zak held out his other hand and Sofia lowered the device towards it.

  Outside, the sound of distant thunder rumbled; a noise that distracted Zak, making him turn to the window. Sofia blinked hard, as if she had woken from a dream to f
ind herself somewhere unexpected. ‘What the—?’

  The sound grew louder, distracting Sofia the same way it had distracted Zak. She stopped mid-sentence, her confusion deepening, then her eyes lit up and she moved quickly, putting her face to the window. ‘Rescue.’ She grinned. ‘Someone’s coming. And they’re coming fast!’

  The noise increased like an approaching freight train until it filled Zak’s head with a pounding rhythmic pulse. Storage began to vibrate, the walls shaking, the shelves wobbling. Canisters toppled and clattered to the floor. Tools danced in their toolboxes, rattling and jumping together.

  ‘Sounds like a hundred helicopters,’ Sofia shouted. ‘They’ve sent the cavalry!’

  The noise became a deafening roar, right above their heads, and when Zak put his face to the glass and looked up, the nose of a large aircraft nudged into view. As it passed over, he saw the large wing and the two engines like the rotors of a helicopter.

  ‘That’s an Osprey,’ Sofia thought aloud. ‘Or something like it. Biggest one I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure Exodus doesn’t have anything like that. Maybe it’s BioMesa.’

  The aircraft hovered over them, half in view, and another thundered past it, flying over the airstrip and hanging in the air.

  ‘We’re going to be OK,’ Sofia said. ‘Help’s arrived.’

  OUTPOST ZERO, ANTARCTICA

  NOW

  The two aircraft rumbled as they hovered over Outpost Zero. They drifted in circles, sweeping the ground with powerful searchlights before separating and moving to opposite ends of the landing strip, where they began to descend. A storm of snow kicked up as they neared the ground, and Zak couldn’t tell if they had landed or not until the rhythmic thump of their engines cut out and the base fell silent.

  Inside Storage, Sofia put a hand on Zak’s shoulder and stood to look out of the window. ‘Well done. You guys must have got a message out,’ she said without taking her eyes off what was happening outside.

  ‘No.’ Zak brushed her hand away and manoeuvred himself so he could see better. ‘No we didn’t. Nothing worked.’

  ‘You sure?’

  ‘Positive.’

  ‘Well, that’s weird, then. ’Cause I didn’t get a message out either.’ She bit her bottom lip as the flurries of snow settled and the aircraft became visible through the glass.

  One was positioned at either end of the landing strip, facing away from the base. In perfect coordination, the back door on both aircraft lowered and six figures emerged from each one.

  ‘So now I’m wondering who they are. Because they definitely don’t look like science nerds from Exodus.’

  Zak couldn’t agree more. The figures were dressed in heavy white combat trousers and jackets, marked with light grey camouflage patterns. They wore helmets with blue-tinted visors covering their faces, and each had a pack on his back and an assault rifle in his hands. To Zak, they were more like Imperial Stormtroopers landing on Hoth, than scientists.

  ‘Soldiers.’ Sofia ducked so she was peering out of the bottom of the window. ‘And that kit looks state of the art.’

  Zak ducked too, and watched the tactical teams fan out from the aircraft, finding good arcs of fire to cover all angles of the base. Some dropped to one knee while others remained upright, rifles pointed ahead of them. They paused, scanning the area as a thirteenth figure emerged from the darkness of the aircraft to Zak’s right, and strode out on to the ice.

  The thirteenth soldier was not dressed the same way as the others – this one wore black from head to toe, with a red-tinted visor on a shining black battle helmet. Faceless. Anonymous. Terrifying.

  From the way the figure moved, Zak was pretty sure she was a woman. Tall and strong in her combat gear, she had a large weapon slung over her back and carried an assault rifle. She moved out to stand between the two teams, and turned in a circle, inspecting the base, before raising a hand. Immediately, the team that had emerged from the aircraft to Zak’s left, reformed and headed towards The Hub. Within less than a minute, they had entered Outpost Zero and were gone.

  The second team remained outside.

  ‘They know what they’re doing.’ Sofia glanced at the detonator still in her hand. ‘Maybe I won’t need this after all.’

  ‘You can’t use that,’ Zak said. ‘You have to believe me. The hive doesn’t want to hurt us. But them . . .?’ He tapped the window. ‘I’m not so sure about them. I’ve got a horrible feeling. I don’t think they’re the cavalry.’

  ‘Then who are they?’ Sofia studied Zak’s expression.

  ‘I don’t know, but they look dangerous.’

  Sofia turned to watch the operatives again. ‘Oh yeah, they definitely look dangerous.’

  ‘The Exodus Project is all about living on Mars,’ Zak said. ‘Not fighting. Why would they have people like that?’

  The air seemed to go out of Sofia. ‘I so want that to be the cavalry, but right now my gut is agreeing with your gut. There’s something not right about this. But if they’re not Exodus, then who are they? BioMesa? And what do they want?’

  Outside, the second team of operatives was splitting into two groups, one team of three heading towards Storage, weapons raised.

  ‘They’re coming here!’ Zak couldn’t take his eyes off their guns. ‘What do we do?’

  Sofia looked at the kid beside her, seeing how scared he was. She was scared too, but she also felt something else – guilt. This was her fault. If she hadn’t taken Jennings’ card and gone out to The Chasm that day – if she had left core #31 alone – this would never have happened. She’d probably be in The Hub right now playing video games with Pablo, or one of the others. And this kid here . . .

  ‘What’s your name?’ she asked.

  ‘Zak.’

  . . . and Zak would be safe with his mum and dad instead of being terrified and stuck in here with her.

  She had to do something.

  ‘I’ll go out there,’ Sofia said. ‘Let them know we’re here.’

  ‘What? No!’

  ‘We don’t have any choice. They’re going to be in here in a few minutes anyway. What else can we do?’

  ‘Hide?’

  ‘Where? There isn’t anywhere to hide, and we don’t want to surprise them. I reckon it’s better to go out and talk to them.’

  ‘I . . .’

  ‘If we surprise them, they’ll probably shoot us. Look, I’ll go out there,’ Sofia said. ‘You stay here.’ She held out the detonator. ‘Keep hold of this.’

  Zak stared at the device and shook his head. A few minutes ago he had been trying to make Sofia give it to him, but he didn’t want it any more; didn’t want the responsibility of what it could do. What if he detonated it by accident? What if—

  ‘Take it.’ Sofia grabbed his hand and pressed the detonator into it.

  ‘You can’t go out there,’ Zak said.

  ‘They’re going to find us whether I go out there or not. So you stay here and I’ll go out. Hopefully they’re friendly, but if they’re not, I’ll give you a signal—’

  ‘What signal?’

  ‘I don’t know, I’ll think of something, and when I do you need to trace your finger along this symbol.’ Sofia pointed at the device in his hand. On the screen, the white dot was still zigzagging in a Z pattern. ‘That’s all there is to it.’

  ‘But the hive,’ Zak said. ‘It’ll blow up the—’

  ‘Yeah. And it might distract those fellas out there long enough to buy us time to . . . Well, I dunno, but it’s all we’ve got.’

  ‘I can’t.’ Zak stared at the detonator. ‘I can’t do that.’

  ‘Let’s hope you don’t have to.’ Sofia patted him on the shoulder and went to the door. ‘Wish me luck.’ She pressed the button and stepped out.

  The soldiers spotted Sofia as soon as she left Storage, but it was the woman in black who shot her.

  She raised her rifle to her shoulder, aimed and fired. The movement took her no more than a second.

  Sofia droppe
d to her knees at the bottom of the steps. She stayed upright, swaying, then fell forward into the snow and lay still.

  No!

  The soldiers moved forwards, the woman in black marching across the ice like a shadow. Like Death. She was gesturing with her left hand, giving orders, pointing at Storage. The other soldiers fanned out as they approached.

  Watching from the window, Zak was reeling from what he had seen. These people, these monsters, were far worse than anything else he’d had to endure here at Outpost Zero. They had killed Sofia as if she were nothing, without saying a word, and now they were coming to get him.

  They would kill him like they had killed Sofia, and they would do the same to everyone else.

  Mum. Dad. May.

  Everyone.

  He stared at the detonator in his hand. Sofia had said he should use it to buy himself some time, but with his finger over the ‘Z’, ready to set it off, he thought of what it would do . . . of all the life it would destroy. Life that only wanted to survive. And he came to a decision. No matter the situation, he couldn’t harm what was beneath the ice. He put the detonator on the ground and smashed his heel into it. He would not destroy the Ark. And if he protected It, perhaps It would protect him.

  Please, Zak thought. Please don’t let this be happening. He had pleaded like this before, without realizing it, but he meant it now more than he had ever meant it. He had begged for help when they were in the plane, when he had wished for the lights to come on so they could land safely. He had begged for it again, when they needed light and power in the base. He had made wishes and his wishes had been granted. In The Hub, after Dima fell down the stairs, May had said it was weird, but it hadn’t been magic, it had been them. He was sure of it now. His mind was connected to those things breaking out from under the ice, and they had helped him when he most needed it. And if they had helped him before, they would help him now.

  Please, he thought again. Help us. Help us and we’ll help you.

  You have to help. Please.

  The woman in black led her soldiers closer and closer, weapons ready and trained at the door and the window, but Zak tried to not to think about her. He tried not to think about Sofia lying dead on the ice. He tried to crush his fear inside him. He concentrated on projecting his thoughts, hoping the insects would see them. That they would come. He imagined the same image over and over again.