Дэниел Смит - Below Zero

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 find 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.’

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.