The Freezer Read online

  I watched him now as he spoke. He seemed to be reciting a lecture, as if he were bored. I cut him off. “What about this?” I pointed to the holopicture. Nestled among some others that I assumed were childhood friends, parents and siblings was someone very familiar.

  Aoki Tali.

  * * *

  She was smiling at whoever had snapped the image. It was no ordinary smile.

  It was seductive. Craving.

  And the background was more telling: it was that very cabin.

  “Why was she here?”

  Cray now looked furious. His jaw protruded and his brow had lowered and shadowed his eyes.

  “It’s hardly your business.” It was a growl.

  I faced the man. “Three people are dead! Are you stupid? This is one of the victims.”

  “I know that!”

  “And you don’t think it’s pertinent?”

  “She and I were lovers! There’s no reason to announce that to anyone now!”

  I stared at him. Was he really that ignorant, or was he just trying to keep Janice Snow from finding out?

  “Did Snow realize?”

  “No. It was secret.”

  “When did you two find time to be together?”

  A sigh. “When Snow was working. Aoki was a technician and was often elsewhere in the facility. She would come here and meet me for...for a half hour or so at a time.” He winced. “Maybe it was wrong, but Aoki liked men and women, despite what Dyson thinks. She just didn’t like him. She enjoyed me just fine. There were no emotions though. Just sex.”

  My eyes flicked to the bed. An image of Aoki writhing in ecstasy came to me. She had been beautiful, and needed more than one partner. But to me Cray just seemed too harsh for Aoki to have found appealing. He must have been different around her. Obviously he found me threatening. It was a usual phenomenon. People were often angry at the circumstances—including the murder itself—angry at me, upset that I was nosing into their business, offended at the questions and so on. I never really saw the way people presented themselves to others. I did see their innermost selves, however. Their base emotions. The fear and anger and prejudices that led some of them to kill. The anger, for instance, that Cray had displayed when he yelled at Dr. Dinova when we first arrived at The Freezer. He hated dissidents, and he therefore detested Dinova.

  I just had to sift through it all to see the truth.

  “What’s this?” I asked. A scrap of paper on the same ledge as the photos.

  He frowned. “I don’t know. What is it?”

  I held it up. “A bunch of numbers.”

  He shrugged. “Never seen it before. Maybe Aoki left it here...last time.”

  * * *

  After escorting the lieutenant back to his lab, I brought up Aoki Tali’s file. There was nothing out of the ordinary, which seemed to be the rule of thumb at this place. Everyone seemed perfectly normal. The personnel at The Freezer were the best and the brightest. Aoki, while being a crewman and not an officer, was still extremely proficient at her duties, and her record consisted of one positive notation after another. There was no mention of her sexual preferences, which wasn’t unusual. Sometimes things like that did appear in the files—it all depended on the commanding officers and what information they decided was relevant—so I couldn’t confirm Cray’s story.

  A note in the file did catch my attention, however.

  Aoki Tali was especially gifted at working with primates and had done so during her training. She had been involved with medical studies on the animals. Neurological drug testing, to be precise.

  I took the opportunity to review Director Lefave’s file, but it just showed more of the same. Brilliant scientist and competent leader. A surgeon by trade, specializing in the human cardiovascular system and medical nanos. His roots were French. His promotion to lieutenant commander had occurred three years previously, just prior to the project on Europa. He was from Barnard’s Star, six light years from Home System. Raised and educated at a French colony. Parents and family still there. Joined the CCF at sixteen.

  I lowered my reader with a snort.

  By all accounts, he had a completely normal record.

  * * *

  The numbers on the scrap of paper from Cray’s cabin were obviously coordinates. Once again, something had pointed me toward a location out on the ice. The first had been a jumpship. What would I find here?

  88 43 109 18

  Northeast this time. By a substantially greater distance.

  Is this what Aoki had wanted to tell me?

  I swore.

  It would be a huge trip. I consulted a map on my reader.

  About three hours out.

  A six-hour journey.

  It was currently 1100 hours. If I went out in an icetrack, I wouldn’t be back until after 1700, or five o’clock in the afternoon, plus whatever time it took me to explore.

  I would be back before dinner.

  If I didn’t freeze first.

  But how would I remain warmer this time? The previous day, with Sato, we had been out slightly longer than two hours. By the time we returned we had been freezing. This was more than twice that trip.

  Sato was still in the clinic with Dinova and Marius. They were reviewing the data following the attempt to deactivate the device in my aorta. The EMP results.

  They were also speaking in heated voices.

  Marius was saying, “But if we can trigger the lymphocytes to attack the antigen, it might have an effect on—”

  “You’re talking about destroying a mechanical device here!” Dinova shouted. “It’s not that simple!”

  “Not destroying, just disabling. And it might not trigger anything, because—”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “I can’t, but it’s an idea we haven’t thought of yet.”

  The travel-tube hatch slid shut behind me and the argument stopped. Marius exhaled and leaned against a procedures table. Dinova still seemed tense, and Sato had been watching the whole exchange intently.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “Simon had an interesting idea,” Sato said. Then, nothing.

  “Well?” I prodded. “What is it?”

  Marius sighed again. “I just had this notion. If we can coat the device in your aorta with an antigen, and then unleash your body’s own immune system against it, I was curious what would happen.”

  I frowned. “You mean use my natural defenses against a bomb?”

  “It’s crazy, isn’t it?” Dinova snapped.

  “It’s not!” Marius said. He turned to me. “Our bodies have lymphocytes called killer T cells. I suggested using these cells to surround the bomb and perhaps render it harmless. Maybe it’ll prevent it from thinning the aorta. Or maybe we can get enough to coat the device so when it does go off, it won’t rupture the artery.” He shrugged. “It was just an idea. I thought it was a good one.”

  I looked at Sato, who winced. “I don’t know. It depends on so many things.”

  “Could it trigger the bomb?”

  “This I’m pretty sure of. No. It’s a human immune response, which every nanobot is accustomed to. They deal with it every time they perform a task. It shouldn’t set off the device.”

  Dinova said, “But if so many of them surround the bomb to prevent it from doing its work thinning the arterial lining, it could act as a trigger!”

  I pursed my lips and said to Marius, “But why would a—a killer T cell swarm destroy the device?”

  “That’s what I can’t say. It has working components and I thought maybe such an attack could damage them.” A shrug. “We can try at least.”

  It did please me that while they were here at The Freezer, a place they detested so much because the others had ostracized and hum
iliated them due to their dissident philosophy, they still were willing to help defeat the killer’s weapon and save my life. Even their debating, though obviously heated and hostile at times, was meant for good.

  I hoped.

  “Keep going over it,” I said. “If it can’t hurt, we should try it.”

  Marius looked pleased and he and Dinova continued to debate.

  I pulled Sato away during the discussion and told him about the new coordinates. His face grew pale.

  “You’re seriously going?”

  “I want to see what’s there.”

  “You think there’s another jumpship in the ice.” He looked away for a heartbeat. “But Tanner, it seems odd. To just find those numbers hanging around. Once was—”

  I raised a hand. “You’re right. But I still have to go. Could be nothing. Could just be random numbers.”

  “Someone could be trying to get you out of the facility so they can kill again!” he hissed.

  “Which is why I’m telling you. Lock yourself in here with the doctors. You’ll be fine.”

  He looked shocked. “What about you? I want to go.”

  “I need your help here. More than ever.” Whatever was going to happen with the device in my aorta, the end was coming closer and closer with each second that passed.

  “But you can’t go out alone. At least take Dyson.”

  I considered that. “Better to be alone than with someone I don’t trust.” I spun and marched toward the hatch and the travel tube. “Go get some rations then come back here and lock yourselves in.

  “That’s an order.”

  * * *

  The rest of the facility personnel were in Module A. I told them I was going out but refused to say where. Lefave of course looked upset, as usual, but I ignored him. Dyson was in the uppermost level, his head underneath the communications control panel. He emerged when he heard me approach; there was a panicked look on his face. When he saw who it was, however, he relaxed.

  “I’ll have this console fixed later this evening,” he said with an exasperated sigh. “But I have to repair the dish on the landing pad later.”

  “Tomorrow, then.” I paused before saying, “I’m going outside again.”

  He blinked. “Where?”

  “To investigate,” I said simply. “I’m taking an icetrack. I need to stay warmer this time though.” I figured that as the only person who regularly went outside, he might have some information about this for me.

  He snorted. “After an hour it gets cold.”

  It didn’t make sense. Why not have vacsuits capable of withstanding the environment? However, I knew that people preferred ones that were thin like our regular uniforms. It was possible that no one had expected to spend much time out on the surface, and they had traded comfort for short periods of cold.

  I shook my head at that. Short periods of cold. The interior of the facility was frigid, all the time.

  “What do you suggest?” I asked.

  “The suit’s heating system works well for a while. Then the warming elements that surround your body become overwhelmed and their effectiveness diminishes.” He frowned. “How long will you be gone?”

  “Longer than two hours,” I growled.

  He looked skeptical. “Wear more than what you have on.” He considered it for a moment more before he snapped his fingers. “I forgot that I do have some chemical heating packs in Module D. Put those in your boots and gloves.”

  “How do I activate them?”

  “Crush them. The chemicals combine and generate heat. It should help for a while. They’re in a locker near the work bench.”

  I marched to the ladder that led downward. “Stay here and fix that console,” I snapped over my shoulder. “I’ll be back for dinner.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  I brought the icetrack to a skidding stop five hundred meters from the facility. The Freezer seemed peaceful, the tiny cluster of connected domes nestled at the base of the towering ice ridge. At the north side, however, the jumpship wreckage betrayed the calm façade of the structures. I imagined that I could see a figure on the second level of Module A watching me. It was in silhouette and remained motionless for long minutes as I returned the stare.

  No movement.

  It didn’t matter if someone was watching. I had given strict instructions to stay together in two separate groups; nothing would happen.

  I grunted to myself.

  I hoped.

  Hitting the throttle on the right handlebar, I shifted direction to the northeast and began the long journey to the second set of coordinates. I had thrown extra supplies into the icetrack this time, including more rope along with steel stakes that I could hammer into the surface in order to lower myself into any cavities that I might discover. The icetrack was fully charged; I hoped it would be enough. In any event, I would have to keep my eye on the gauge and turn around when it was almost at fifty percent.

  The ice was rough and the vehicle bounced over ridges, humps, cracks and blocks that tidal stresses had forced upward over the millennia. I hesitated to push the icetrack very hard, however I needed to get there quickly. I had to just hope that if I saw a fissure in front of me, I’d be able to stop or turn in time.

  Before I fell into a crack that might go down a kilometer into the ice.

  No one would ever know what had happened to me; the people back at the facility would never even search.

  A chill passed through me, but it was not due to the temperature. I had doubled up on my uniform and had also worn the sweater. Even if it hit five Celsius in my suit, I knew I’d be fine for the day.

  The chill was for another reason.

  My parents.

  I’d felt it in the back of my mind since the second I’d arrived at this place. I’d put it away and tried not to think about it for two days now, but it was growing impossible.

  My parents had died when I was twelve. I’d gone to live with my uncle in Seattle and ever since it had been a hard, lonely life. Enrolling in the CCF at the age of sixteen and training diligently to be in the military, then in Homicide Section, had been difficult and taxing. I hadn’t thought much of my parents, even after the accident. But coming to Europa had brought those feelings to the surface.

  It wasn’t so strange why.

  It was the ice.

  I had been born and raised in the mountains of Colorado. Snow and ice were a part of life there, but unfortunately, they could also be a cause of death. A vehicle accident on a road, believe it or not. In an era of aircars and space travel, of colonizing the galaxy, my parents’ ground vehicle had suffered a mechanical fault and had plunged off an icy road into the canyon below. Sometimes when I gazed out of viewports at incredible vistas of space, at planetary surfaces from orbit, at wind patterns and the rings of Saturn, even the rocks of The Belt, I couldn’t quite bring myself to believe that something so unexpected had changed my life so.

  Things like that happen to a thousand people a day in the Confederacy and change tens of thousands of lives in the process. I couldn’t understand it and never would. It was where sayings like It’s just one of those things come from. It was a random occurrence on a tiny world in the universe.

  But it made me who I am.

  And being here, on the ice moon Europa, had brought those feelings of loss back.

  No. Not back.

  Feelings that I had never experienced were emerging. I had never fully dealt with the loss.

  I remembered thinking that sometimes investigators could be as cold as the killers they were after. I wondered dully if I was like that now. Shaheen had awakened feelings in me that I’d never experienced. Perhaps this moon was bringing ones up that I had needed to deal with but never had.

  It might explain my outburst earlier. But then ag
ain, it could have been just a natural response to the resistance I faced in this job every single day.

  Above me, Jupiter hovered silently, bombarding me with massive radiation but also an enormous amount of light. It was in full view. The ice was blinding because of it, and my visor had polarized automatically to take care of most of the glare. But still, it was hard on my eyes.

  They seemed to be watering slightly.

  * * *

  The ride was rough. I was aching all over. Holding the same position for so long, dealing with the jolting handlebars. My biceps were killing me. It had been two hours on the same heading; I was almost there. Wherever there was. I could not communicate with the base because of the destroyed array. The cold was creeping over me now; the heaters had done their job for a while but were fighting a losing battle. I wondered when I should crush the chemical packs and let them help, but it was too soon.

  The Freezer had disappeared below the horizon long ago. I was more confident this time that I could find my way back; the tracks I’d left would help guide me, as they had during my previous outing.

  Finally, my reader indicated that I had arrived at the coordinates. I brought the icetrack to a stop and got off to stretch my legs. My fingers were numb and my toes felt wet. I hoped it was just my imagination. Wet body parts in freezing temperatures would kill quickly.

  Around me was more of the same landscape. Just a vast expanse of uneven and cracked ice. It had been difficult to navigate around ice blocks the size of buildings.

  I was ready for this to be over.

  I had never claimed to be a great astronaut. In fact I mostly worked in pressurized facilities, colonies and warships. Where I was comfortable at least.

  Here I was out of my element. Cold and unsure of myself.