“Thanks,” he replied, beaming. “Come down whenever you need a reality fix. Just walking around and breathing the air down here is therapeutic.”
“I’m sure it is. I’ll take you up on the invitation.”
Tess and Nik let the heavy doors swing shut behind them.
“Flint should have put pictures of that in the files they gave me,” Tess remarked. “It’s incredible that anyone can make that happen down here. I mean, rabbits, chickens, pygmy goats … indoors? In Antarctica? I thought real books were a luxury. I can’t imagine what the bean counters at Flint thought when orders came through for shipping cubic yards of dirt across the world.”
“Considering the orders came in under Greg’s pet project, I’d say they just sighed and paid them,” Nik said with a laugh. “Yeah, it’s a pretty cool place. Mick’s a little quirky and can get touchy at times, but he’s half botanist, half farmer, and total genius. And a veterinarian. Not bad for a kid who grew up in a walk-up in Brooklyn not knowing that chickens existed outside of shrink-wrapped grocery store packages. But if you need any surgical procedures done, make sure Kendra does them,” Nik added drily.
“I’ll keep that in mind. The ready room is down this corridor, right?” Tess asked, then pointed to the radio at Nik’s hip. “I need one of those.”
“You’re right. I should have taken care of that already. I’ll get you one as soon as we go upstairs.”
They came to a stop outside the windowed door to the ready room. Tess could see that Greg was the only occupant. He sat on a bench, pulling on the layers of clothing he’d need to leave the habitat. Stepping aside, Nik opened the door and let Tess go in alone.
Greg glanced up at her briefly, then returned his attention to what he was doing.
“Have a safe trip,” she said, hoping her tone was somewhere between pleasant and professional.
“That’s outside my control,” he replied, his voice as dry and cold and brittle as the air outside.
Okay. She cleared her throat. “Thank you for everything you’ve done here, Greg. It’s a real tribute to your creative genius that you could bring an installation like this into existence. I think the transition will be smooth, although I know I have a steep learning curve ahead of me.”
He looked up at her again, frigid amusement in his eyes. “You have no idea. But you now have what you’ve probably always wanted.”
“That’s not—,” Tess began.
Greg ignored her interruption. “I leave you with the old admonition to be careful what you wish for because you will surely get it. You wanted to make a name for yourself in our small corner of academia, and you did. Now you want the power and the glory that goes with it—”
The patronizing sneer embedded in his words strafed her ego. “No! That’s not—”
“But can you handle it?” He paused, then reached for the heavy insulated overalls. “It would be easiest on the staff if you use my office. I’ve only removed my personal effects. I’ve left all my files for you. I’ve been locked off the system, of course, but my computer is still in the office, and there’s a copy of my hard drive on a set of flash drives in the top drawer of the desk. Nik will make sure you get set up with passwords. I’ve told Ron—” He looked up. “He’s the lead programmer as well as director of IT. I’ve instructed him to delete all of my passwords from the system.”
Five more minutes. Suck it up for five more minutes, and he’ll be out of your life.
With an effort, Tess swallowed the overwhelming desire to defend herself and instead uttered a tight, barely gracious, “Thank you. I—” God, how I hate you. “Thanks for leaving everything for me, Greg. I’ll do my best—”
“I didn’t do any of it to make your life easier. I did it to ensure that this installation and the arrays continue to carry out their mission.” He turned to look at the window on the door leading to the operations area. “It seems we’ve got an audience.”
Tess looked behind her to see a small swarm of people standing in the corridor, chatting with Nik but clearly waiting to get into the ready room. “Is that the flight crew?”
“No, Tess,” he said after a brief, belittling pause. “The flight crew is already at the plane. This is the ground crew. I don’t want to keep them waiting. Open the door.”
Though bristling at his imperious tone, Tess reminded herself again that these were his last minutes on site, and pulled the door open.
“Come on in, the water’s fine,” she said with a big, fake smile. The ground crew that would take him to the hangar and assist in the plane’s departure crowded into the small room. She hadn’t met all of them yet, so Tess just smiled and maneuvered to the door. “Godspeed, Greg, and I wish you all the best. I’ll see the rest of you in a little while.”
Fred caught her eye and she took a few steps to where he and Tim and the security guys stood. She shook their hands and offered quiet thanks, then backed out of the room and shut the door behind her.
Letting out a long breath, she looked at Nik. “Can I watch it take off from somewhere?”
He grinned. “Afraid it might not?”
Yes. “Of course not.”
* * *
The huge plane held no cargo. Every sound echoed off the bare walls. Greg sat away from the incoming flight’s crew members and the four other passengers—the two executives and their henchmen. He didn’t need company. The noise of the plane precluded conversation anyway.
The massive engines revved and began to scream, then the plane began lumbering down the blue-ice runway. He shut his eyes as the aircraft lurched into the air, and then he smiled broadly, knowing that Tess herself would put his plan into action the moment she logged on to TESLA’s internal network.
Everyone would realize almost immediately that things were going wrong, and they were smart enough to know why they were going wrong, but it would take them more time than they had left in this lifetime to figure out how those things were happening and how to stop them. And Tess, clueless, optimistic, open-minded Tess, might never figure out that she was the problem, that every time she logged on, she would be speeding up the actions he had planned for the world. Because before she could determine that, she would have to remember his words and divine their true meaning. It was all right there in the open, though, like a parting gift she didn’t deserve. He’d been completely candid: he had done everything he could to ensure that this installation and the arrays would fulfill their mission. His mission.
CHAPTER 11
Nik ushered Tess into his office without any conversation. He didn’t turn on the lights, but instead went to the far wall and pulled open the heavy draperies that covered the expanse of windows facing the airstrip. Tess stood next to him, battling a strange mixture of both elation and deep isolation that threatened to engulf her as she watched the plane slowly exit the hangar and maneuver into position at the end of the runway. The sight of it triggered a slow, wet, unwelcome burn behind her eyes; at the same time, it sent a powerful shot of adrenaline to her bloodstream.
I’m it. Greg is on his way to the U.S., and I’m here. She swallowed hard. Please let things go right.
From one hundred yards away, Tess could see the glow of the engines increase as the outbound pilot brought them up to full power. The plane began to move slowly, but in what seemed like only seconds, the huge, pale body of the Ilyushin was racing along the runway, its flashing wing lights sparkling on the slick ice beneath it. At last, the nose lifted and the wheels relinquished their grip on the earth. The plane rose steeply, slicing through the star-studded polar darkness as it banked sharply to the right. Then it disappeared from view.
Tess had expected the sense of elation to win out then, but she was wrong. The first emotion that assailed her as she looked into the vast, black depths of empty sky was something closer to fear wrapped in a smothering blanket of bone-deep aloneness.
“That’s one chapter ended. Well, boss, looks like TESLA is yours now, warts and all.”
Tess looked a
t Nik with a tight smile. “Before I completely believe that, I may need to talk to someone who saw him get on that plane and locked the door behind him.”
Nik laughed as he flicked on his desk lamp. “He was on it. We’d have heard if he wasn’t. So what now?”
She smiled and hoped it wasn’t as shaky as she felt. “A shower and something to eat.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” Nik reached for his radio and asked someone named Fizz to meet them in the large sitting room in a few minutes. Then he pulled the drapes across the windows and turned to open the office door.
Their eyes met and Tess felt a sharp jolt as the look on Nik’s face changed from laughing insouciance to an expression of long-forgotten warmth.
She looked away from it.
“I’m glad you’re here, Tess,” he said in a voice not much louder than a whisper. “This is … it’s going to be good. You’ve got all the qualities that Greg lacks and … well, you belong here. You’ll shine.”
The burn behind her eyes, which had only just begun to dissipate, became stronger and she glanced at the floor in a moment of self-preservation. She pulled in a deep breath and looked up, giving him a bright, false smile. “Thanks, Nik. It all happened so fast that it’s still a little bit surreal, but I appreciate your good wishes and all the help you’ve given me so far.”
After a second or two of awkward silence, Nick pulled open the office door and they moved into the corridor, stopping on the way to the sitting room to get the walkie-talkie Nik had requisitioned for Tess.
They had only been in the sitting room for a few moments when a thin, youngish woman walked in and approached them. Tess had seen her in the crowd when she’d made her speech, but they hadn’t met yet.
“Ready to get settled in?” the woman asked Tess in a broad, unmistakably Irish accent.
“Very ready.” Tess smiled and stuck out her hand. “Tess Beauchamp.”
“Phyllis Reilly. Everyone calls me Fizz.” She grasped Tess’s hand and gave it a firm shake.
“It’s nice to meet you.”
“Likewise. It’s a hell of a welcome you’ve had, if you ask me.”
Tess looked at her in surprise. Part of her was a little startled at the casual response. The other part wanted to respond with “You don’t know the half of it.”
“Let’s get you moved. Are those your bags?”
Tess nodded as the woman pointed to the two large duffels on the floor next to one of the couches. She realized that she hadn’t seen them since they followed her off the plane. Someone had brought them up from the ready room.
“Is this all you’ve got, then? The two bags?”
“I travel light,” Tess replied with a smile, then looked at Nik. “Meet me in the dining room in about twenty minutes. We’ll continue with the meets and greets, then you can take me to the sandbox. If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to have temporary passwords by then.”
“Not a problem. See you in twenty,” he replied, and Tess returned her attention to Fizz.
“After you.”
The younger woman picked up the larger of the two duffels and turned to face the door. “I’ve only just gotten your room ready,” she said over her shoulder. “That’s what I was up to when you were doing your meet-and-greets. I haven’t cleaned out Greg’s room, so for the moment I’ve assigned you to an extra room in the scientists’ living quarters. It’s never been lived in, so it ended up as storage. I just cleared it out. Are you ready?”
“Lead the way. Maybe you can solve a mystery for me, Fizz. Why are there separate living areas for the scientists and the non-science staff?” Tess asked as they moved into the library and continued through the installation and up the stairs. “Wouldn’t it make more sense to have all the bedrooms together? I mean, for the sake of the layout—all the plumbing and whatnot?”
Fizz shot her a sidelong glance. “Sure, that would make sense. But it’s not always logic that drove Greg. Did you ever see an old BBC series called Upstairs, Downstairs?”
Tess nodded.
“Well, there you have it: we’re Upstairs, Downstairs: On the Ice. Class warfare without the bowing and scraping,” she said with a wry grin. “We’re the help, you’re the talent. Most of us laugh about it, but there’s a few of them—the scientists—who take it seriously. You’ll figure out who they are soon enough.”
“No, er, fraternization?”
Fizz let out a laugh. “‘Discretion’ is the key word there. Greg frowned on ‘fraternization’ in a big way. Said it takes one’s attention away from work, which is the only gospel down here. Besides, you’ll notice that the list of eligibles is fairly short, unless you’re willing to settle. My opinion, anyway. Still, wintering over is a long time to behave yourself. I shudder to think of what some of these people must do when they go on holidays,” she finished, almost under her breath.
Fizz stopped in front of a door and slid a smart card through the reader. At the sound of a low click, she opened the door and indicated that Tess should enter, then handed her the card.
“Oooh, nice. Better than any place else I’ve ever stayed on the Ice,” Tess said, giving the small room a quick once-over. “A real bed instead of a bunk. A rug on the floor. Privacy. I’m impressed.”
“We’re not much on interior decoration down here, but I’ve gathered what I could. There’s a private loo through that door, and showers are at the end of the hall. I’ll leave you to get situated,” Fizz said, placing the duffel on the floor near the bed.
Tossing her other bag on the bed, Tess turned to look at the woman. “Thanks, Fizz. This is wonderful.”
Fizz hesitated, then let a grin cross her face. “Well, if no one else has said it, let me be the first. Welcome to TESLA, the nicest spot on the continent.”
“Thank you.”
“That was some introduction,” Fizz continued, shaking her head. “I felt bad for you when His Lordship introduced you, but you seemed to handle it pretty well. I would’ve been tempted to drag the man bare-arsed down a gravelly road, but you kept cool. Nothing else will come your way. Maybe some attitude, but I think you’ll be well able for it.”
“Greg and I go way back. I didn’t expect him to welcome me with open arms,” she said easily. “I just take things as they come.”
“Best way to do it. So I’ll go now and leave you to it,” she said over her shoulder as she left the room. As soon as the door clicked shut, Tess pulled out her smartphone.
* * *
Gianni Barone was navigating the twisting roads of back-country Greenwich, Connecticut, on the way to his office when the phone rang. The name that flashed onto the on-dash screen of his Maybach had him pulling off the road into the huge gravelled and landscaped entrance to his neighbor’s estate. He didn’t want to be distracted by having to dodge enormous SUVs piloted by late-for-school teenagers on the narrow lanes while taking this call.
Throwing the car into park, he tapped the button that completed the connection.
“What’s up?” he demanded before Tess could utter a word. “It’s seven thirty. You landed at four. I expected to hear from you before now.”
“It’s been hectic.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. Greg took off a little while ago.”
Gianni blinked at the dark screen. “That’s good,” he said cautiously.
“You sound surprised,” Tess replied.
“No, no, why would I be surprised? That was the plan. He knew he had to go.”
“Uh-huh. The jig is up, Gianni. But we’ll discuss that in a minute. The bottom line is that he’s gone and I’m here. But there’s bigger news down here. No one was expecting us.”
“Say again?”
“Other than Greg, no one knew we were coming.”
He frowned at the huge statue of Winged Victory perched in front of him in his neighbor’s front yard. Such subtle wealth.
“Not possible. Everyone knew, Tess. You saw the emails. They went to the whole t
eam down there. How could—”
“There are content filters in place on the local network, and Greg was the gatekeeper. Everything went through him. Or didn’t. They truly didn’t know I was coming. When we came into the habitat, I felt like a monkey on display in the zoo.”
“How did you find out about the filters?”
“Greg told me about them. He said he didn’t want upsetting news to distract the staff.”
Gianni rolled his eyes in disbelief. Crazy sonofabitch.
“I’ll get IT up here on it. We’ll pull them down—”
“Don’t bother. I’m sure the programmers down here can handle it. They do double duty as IT. But that’s not the most important thing on my priority list. You need to tell me more about what goes on here.”
Her words stopped him in the middle of a breath. Despite the repeated and increasingly pointed requests she’d made before she left, he’d been able to sidestep telling her the real reason he wanted her down there. He’d omitted any mention of the storm in Afghanistan, which, frankly, still sounded a little crazy even to him, and he’d been hoping his information was wrong.
“What do you mean ‘what goes on here’?”
“It’s—” She paused. “It’s like I’ve stepped into some weird little fiefdom. I mean, okay, I knew it wouldn’t be normal, given we’re talking about Greg, and I know how he ran HAARP, but the extent of his social engineering down here is a little creepy.”
Glad he’d been able to effect a course correction on her conversation, Gianni forced a laugh. “Social engineering? Come on, Tess—”
“I know it sounds dramatic, but I can’t think of another name for it. Have you ever been here? It’s not like any other station on the Ice.”
“Of course it isn’t.”
“No, but … every need is met—the public rooms are like something out of Pemberley.”
“Where?”
“Never mind. Everyone took Greg’s departure so calmly. I’m not sure if I should be waiting for a revolution, or if they’re all glad he’s gone. Maybe they just don’t care.”
Dry Ice Page 13
