Дэниел Смит - Below Zero

A faint ping interrupted his thoughts and he glanced back at the breakfast table. His wife peered over the top of her magazine and lowered her sunglasses. ‘No rest for the wicked, darling.’

‘No rest indeed,’ he said, returning to the table and sitting down to check the large smartphone. The name ‘ Phoenix’ was displayed on the screen.

The Broker poured himself another pineapple juice, and picked up the phone.

‘I have an update for you, sir.’

‘I’m in a good mood, Phoenix. Please don’t spoil it.’ The Broker smiled to his wife. In turn, she reached across and rubbed the back of his hand.

‘Lazarovich is almost on site, sir. Everything is going according to schedule.’

‘Perfect.’

‘There is one, thing, though.’

The Broker narrowed his eyes and his smile dropped away. ‘Go on.’

‘If you take a look at the image I’ve sent through.’

‘Just a moment.’ The Broker took the phone from his ear. He clicked the icon that appeared, and the screen filled with a satellite image of the base. It was similar to the previous images, except for one or two things. One of those things was the small plane on the landing strip. He double-tapped it to zoom in for a better view and studied the image for a few seconds. When he was ready, he put the phone back to his ear. ‘Explain.’

‘It’s a Twin Otter, sir, flown in from the South Shetland Islands. The pilot goes by the name of Dimitri Alekseyevich Milanov. Records show he’s a failed military pilot. He’s of no concern to us. The plane was carrying four passengers, though – Drs Evelyn and Adam Reeves, and their two children, Zak and May.’

‘Shame.’

‘How do you wish us to proceed, sir?’

The Broker exchanged a glance with his wife, and then fixed his eyes on the pool where his children were still playing. He thought about the plane on the landing strip, and the five people it had contained. Drs Evelyn and Adam Reeves might be a valuable asset to his organization if he could find a way of arranging it so they didn’t know they were working for him – he had no interest in forcing them to work for him. Or, perhaps, he could sell them. But that was not the aim of this mission. The aim was to find out what BioMesa had discovered beneath the ice, and take control of it. The more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that they had found something of huge importance. Something of great value.

The Broker’s daughter burst from the surface of the pool and shook the water from her eyes, before raising a hand and waving. He returned the wave, feeling a surge of love for his children, then looked once more at the image on his smartphone. The plane on the runway.

No, the Reeves family was an unnecessary distraction.

He stood and walked a few paces away from the table. ‘Eliminate them,’ he said. ‘No one can know about this.’

‘All of them, sir?’

‘Yes. All of them.’ The Broker ended the call with a quick tap of his thumb, and returned to sit beside his wife. He leant over and kissed her on the cheek.

‘Work trouble?’ Natalia lowered her magazine and watched her husband.

‘In a manner of speaking.’

‘Nothing you can’t handle, I’m sure. Just don’t let it ruin your mood.’

The Broker smiled in agreement. ‘I won’t, Natalia. I promise. Everything will turn out fine.’ He kissed her again, then sat back and closed his eyes.

The sun was warm on his face.

It was going to be a glorious day.

Tick-tack-tick-tack. Zak’s ears were filled with the scary scurrying sound of tiny legs tapping against the solid floor. Any second now, they would be inside.

Dad went straight for the controls, slamming his fist on the button. ‘Close!’ he shouted as he pummelled at it. ‘Close!’ But the door remained open.

Tick-tack-tick-tack .

‘Manual override!’ Mum moved forward to join Dad, but he yelled at her to get back.

‘Stay with the kids!’

Mum retreated to stand in front of Zak and May, stretching her arms out like it would do any good. Dad fumbled with the panel to the override lever. In his panic, he struggled to get his fingers into the gap.

‘They’re coming!’ May shouted.

‘I know!’ Dad abandoned his attempts with the door and stepped back to face the invading creatures as they came into view.

The scuttling spider-things had patches of shining black armour on their backs, grey and fleshy joints, and legs edged with hard serrations. They were a mechanical skeleton with an organic – living – covering, but they looked as if they hadn’t yet finished becoming what they were supposed to be. They hadn’t finished growing .

They moved fast, reaching the door in seconds, and Dad stamped hard on the first to enter the room.

Bullseye. There was a crunch and a squish as the bug crushed beneath the tread of his boot.

His success gave Zak a sudden burst of hope, but when Dad raised his foot again, bringing it down hard, the second spider-thing leapt aside at the last moment, and he stamped on nothing but air and pale blue flooring. Unbalanced by his failure, Dad faltered, and the thing took advantage of his vulnerability. It jumped on to the top of his boot and darted upwards, its serrated legs clinging to the material of his trousers. Dad whirled around, stamping his foot, flailing to brush the monster away. As he struggled, another bug sprang on to his boot and began working its way up.

With a gasp, Mum rushed forward, beating her hands at Dad as if she were trying to put out a fire. ‘Get off him! Get off!’

More of the miniature monsters scuttled around them, and Mum took a couple out purely by accident, crunching them with the grim sound of cracking and squelching. But there were too many of them. They latched on to her boots and began racing up her legs. Others continued deeper into the room, heading straight for Zak and May.

‘No!’ May surged into action. ‘This is not happening!’ She dashed to the side of the room where a fire extinguisher was clipped to the wall. She tugged it from its fixings and pulled out the nozzle, turning to point it at the floor. Without hesitation, she squeezed the handle and WHOOSH! a burst of carbon dioxide shot from the extinguisher and engulfed the bugs in a billowing white cloud.

Small as they were, a direct hit from the extinguisher sent the scuttlers spinning away into the corridor. For a few seconds, they were disorientated, and May rushed forward to fire the extinguisher at Mum and Dad who were trying to swat the things from their clothes. With a WHOOOOSH! they disappeared in a huge cloud, and Zak heard the sound of the spider-things dropping to the floor.

As soon as she had done it, May raised the fire extinguisher and brought it down on the nearest monster, killing it with a sickening crunch.

By the door, the rest of them were beginning to recover and regroup. They were moving again, turning this way and that in confusion, their legs skittering on the floor.

Zak spun around, searching for a weapon, desperate to help.

What would Jackson Jones do? And then he had an idea.

‘May!’ Zak grabbed the Ranged Chemical Delivery System from the wall and held it like a rifle. ‘They’re coming back!’ He pointed it at the bugs and pulled the trigger and—

— nothing happened. He tried the trigger again, squeezing it four or five times in quick succession, but still nothing happened.