Mike Ashley - The Mammoth Book of Locked-Room Mysteries And Impossible Crimes

“Then maybe someone else is here,” said Hall. He gave Senko and Bannikov an unpleasant look. “We announce our progress every night on the radio, and so the whole of Antarctica knows we’re on the verge of tapping into Lake Vostok. Maybe not everyone wants us to be successful.”

“We’re at the Pole of Inaccessibility,” Paxton pointed out, determined that the Texan should not start to blame the Russians. “A rival band of scientists can’t simply fly in, snatch our samples, and leave.”

“Why not?” demanded Hall.

Paxton sighed. “First, only specially adapted planes can land here; and second, any unauthorized craft would be detected on radar and stopped. Plus there’s the fact that we’d have heard the engines.”

“Then maybe they came by land,” pressed Hall. “It wouldn’t be easy, but it’s not impossible.”

“It is,” said Julie. “You can’t cross Antarctica with a backpack, you know. It’d be a huge undertaking, needing a lot of logistical support. Such an expedition would be detected in no time.”

“And we’d have seen anyone approaching on foot,” added Paxton.

“Even if someone did come by land, it doesn’t explain why Tanya and Wilkes are missing,” said Bannikov reasonably. “We’ve searched all around the base. If someone else were here, we’d have found evidence of it – and we didn’t.”

“So, what’re we going to do?” asked Hall, fear stark in his eyes. “Do we wait here until we disappear, one by one?”

“There are six of us: we’ll stay in pairs,” said Paxton, not liking the way Hall’s panic was beginning to spread to the others. “And we’ll radio McMurdo for an immediate evacuation.”

“Maybe it’s something to do with the lake,” said Julie, casting a nervous glance towards the drill-house. “Tanya went missing when she was supposed to be drilling, and Wilkes disappeared when he went there to look for her.”

“Such as what?” asked Paxton incredulously. “D’you think a monster from the untapped deep has wriggled its way up the drill shaft and is doing away with our friends?”

Julie’s expression indicated that she did not consider his mocking suggestion so improbable. “I always said we’d find something dangerous down there. I assumed it’d be a microbe that might cause some deadly disease, but maybe there’s something bigger.”

“Are you serious?” demanded Paxton, scarcely believing his ears. “You’re a scientist, Julie! All we’ll find down there is water.”

“Perhaps she’s right,” said Hall, swallowing hard. “We don’t know what might’ve happened in a body of water that’s been sealed for thousands of years.”

That Hall was willing to believe some mysterious creature had slithered up the drill shaft was not a surprise to Paxton – the Texan watched a lot of science fiction videos, and his gullibility had provided the Russians with a good deal of entertainment during the long Antarctic evenings – but Paxton was astonished that such an idea should have come from the practical, rational Julie Franklin.

“We should contact McMurdo,” he said, pushing the idiotic notion from his mind and heading for the radio in the kitchen. “Tell them about Wilkes.”

“We should tell them about the lake, too,” said Julie, running to catch up with him. “We should warn them.”

“Warn them about what?” asked Paxton. “You’ve no evidence that whatever happened to Tanya and Wilkes has anything to do with the lake. There’ll be some perfectly rational explanation-”

“But there isn’t, is there?” demanded Julie angrily. “Two people’ve disappeared without trace from a place that – quite literally – has no way out. There isn’t a rational explanation.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t tell them what we think,” said Hall, following them into the kitchen. “If my government think we’ve unearthed some weird creature, they’ll put us in quarantine and we’ll never get out of here.”

Bannikov and Senko exchanged an amused glance with the shy American called Morris who was their radio expert. Paxton was relieved to see that at least three of his team had not taken leave of their senses, even if Julie and Hall had.

“It’s not funny!” snapped Julie, angered by their smiles. She glowered at them until they left, and then turned to Paxton. “Tell McMurdo now.”

“I’ll do no such thing,” said Paxton firmly. “They’ll think we’ve gone stark raving mad. I’ll report Wilkes’ disappearance and that’s it.”

The sleepy voice of the radio operator at McMurdo snapped into wakefulness when Paxton informed him that a second member of the expedition was missing. Just as Paxton was about to break the connection, Hall made a lunge for the transmitter and snatched it from his hand. Paxton tried to grab it back again before Hall made a total fool of himself, but tiredness made him slow, and the Texan had informed the startled operator about Julie’s theory and signed off before Paxton could stop him.

“You’ve been watching too many movies,” Paxton said in disgust. “I’m going to bed.”

“I’m coming with you,” said Hall, following him outside to where Morris, Bannikov and Senko stood in an uncertain group in the darkness, reluctant to leave the halo of light thrown out by the kitchen. “I’m not walking alone around here.”

“Good thinking,” said Bannikov. He retrieved his hip-flask from his pocket and took a swig. “I’ll take one last look in the labs and the drill-house, and then I’m turning in, too. Morris can come with me. Julie should stay with Senko.”

Senko slapped Hall on the back and gave him a wicked grin. “Watch out for gigantic ice worms.”

Julie glared at him. “Laugh all you like. You’ll see.”

Paxton slept badly that night, and was awake well before dawn the following morning. He walked to the kitchen, and found Julie, Hall, and Senko already there, drinking coffee from oversized plastic mugs. He accepted the cup Julie offered him, then struggled into his thick outdoors clothing in preparation for a chilly spell in the drill-house.

Hall helped him start the engine – always a tricky business after a cold night – while Senko and Julie watched. They held their breath as the machine chugged reluctantly into life. With a screech of metal, and a furious hiss of water, the drill began to revolve, faster and faster until the noise of it filled the small room, and its choking fumes made the scientists cough.

Perhaps because the engine had been shut down earlier than usual the previous day, the drill sounded different that morning. It ran more smoothly, and the labouring, wheezing noises usually associated with its early starts were absent. They exchanged hopeful glances: perhaps they’d be successful after all.

The drill was like a giant mosquito, sending a long probe of diamond-hard teeth through the ice, although at a depth nearing four kilometres it was becoming unreliable. However, after a while, the cylinder that carried the ice-cores to the surface began to emerge.

“That’s not ice!” yelled Senko suddenly, making everyone jump. “That’s water! We’re through!”

Paxton saw the Russian was right, and they all clustered around to inspect the container, where tell-tale bubbles indicated that water, not ice, was being sampled.

“Lake Vostok,” said Hall in an awed voice. He tapped the cylinder with his forefinger. “No one’s ever set eyes on this before. We’ve done it!”

Senko gave a whoop of delight, and then grabbed Hall in a bear hug that had the American gasping for breath. Julie joined them, dancing around the chilly hut like an excited child. Paxton watched them, smiling.

“Put your masks on,” he instructed, when their euphoria was spent. “We need to be careful.”