The Freezer Read online

  I swore.

  * * *

  The ice ridge was just west of the facility. I screamed toward it, heedless of any danger other than Lefave, who was pursuing and closing the gap. I knew there were three large fractures in the region, but I didn’t care. All I wanted to do was get away from the madman on my ass.

  I had an idea.

  My pistol was back in my holster, and as I closed on the ridge, I turned to the south and navigated along the ridge’s base. There were a multitude of ice boulders there, so I was dodging frantically, trying to avoid a collision, and with each change in direction I knew that he was catching up.

  I could hear him breathing hard now, broadcast by communit and magnified by the speakers. It was eerie and terrifying.

  Ahead of me was a column of ice some thirty meters high with a base about five meters thick. It was slanted and jagged, with large points of ice jutting from it at various angles. Many of these towering structures had collapsed in the past; powerful forces had thrust them up decades earlier, and gravity was working to pull them back down.

  I was going to help one along.

  I drove toward it and shot another look behind me.

  He was only ten meters back now and gaining with every step.

  I ripped my pistol out and fired at the base of the column.

  Ice exploded from the tower in every direction. The entire structure crumbled down into the vaporized hole I’d just created, then began to tilt to the southeast.

  It was coming down on the ice right before me.

  I slowed for a second, attempting to gauge it just right.

  Had to time this perfectly...

  Just as the column was about to crash onto the ice, I pushed the throttle back up to maximum. Lefave’s breath was right in my ears, and I could hear him grunting with each powerful step.

  I surged right under the column as it fell, seemingly in slow motion...

  And then I passed under it as it came down right behind me.

  On top of Lefave.

  The director gurgled in rage as he watched me disappear and a storm of ice cascaded around him. I spun the icetrack around in a long curving skid and stopped to see the ice ricochet off the surface and plummet back downward. It was a tremendous collision, and the power it generated was nearly impossible to comprehend. My icetrack bounced on the surface as the concussion waves churned under me. I had to hold tightly to the handlebars to stay on.

  Still, I wondered if it would be enough.

  Chunks of ice were rolling away from the ridge now, and smaller pieces were falling all around. A white mist rose everywhere; it was nearly impossible to see the site where the column had hit Lefave.

  And then I heard him speak. “Pretty good, Inspector. Sadly for you, however, I’m still here.”

  I frowned. I was sure the ice had crushed him on its way down. How had he survived the devastating impact?

  I raised my pistol, prepared to fire. This time I would hit him in a place guaranteed to kill.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  A cloud of pulverized ice, vapor and larger particles that continued to rain down from the collapsing tower completely obscured the area where Lefave had been just a few seconds earlier. I squinted, trying to make something out, but it was hopeless. With the icetrack headlights shining into the cloud, it was as if I were staring into a white flare, the afterimage almost blinding. I had to blink numerous times to clear my vision and relieve the tears that had welled up from within.

  And yet I had heard him.

  I knew he had survived.

  I stepped off the vehicle and moved tentatively toward the debris.

  It was difficult to walk. Slabs of ice now littered the area. The tower hadn’t been large enough to crack the surface, thankfully—no water surged up from the ocean below. But the destruction had occurred on a gigantic scale.

  And then there was a flash before me and something hammered into my chest. The impact hurled me backward and threw my feet up before my eyes. It seemed to occur in slow motion, but when I finally landed on the ice and skidded for ten more meters, I turned my head and at ice level saw a series of smaller ice fragments skittering across the surface.

  Lefave had thrown an ice boulder the size of a cannon ball. It had crushed into my chest, shattering on impact, and leveled me.

  I gasped for air; for a long moment there I thought I was through. I would pass out from lack of oxygen and eventually brain death would overtake me. My sternum felt cracked and my chest muscles torn and ragged.

  Rolling to my side, I finally managed to bring in some air. I tried for a deep inhalation, but instead only managed a stuttering wheeze. My vision was rapidly turning dark—the tunnel effect was working its magic on me—and I tried another. And another. Spasms in my trachea broke each breath, but at least some air was getting through.

  Rising to my feet was impossible though. I lay there, moaning and panting. Had death taken me then and there, I probably would have welcomed it.

  Had my parents suffered when their car plunged from that cliff?

  The thought, seemingly from nowhere, shocked me. Why was I thinking about that now?

  Because death almost has you, asshole.

  Get up and get moving.

  Lefave’s going to kill you.

  I pushed myself to my knees and continued to gasp. And then one of the worst things that can happen in a vacsuit occurred, and I couldn’t stop it. Couldn’t even try.

  I vomited.

  It splashed into my helmet and the vile stench overcame me and made me throw up again. It was pouring down my neck and into my uniform; putrid bile now smeared the face mask.

  I swore.

  “Tanner...” Lefave called. “Taaannnnnerrrr.” He was almost singing. I had no idea where he was at that moment. “You don’t sound very healthy right now. Do you think it’s the radiation?”

  I crawled away from him, eyes fixed to the ice, though the puke obscured everything. And the smell was horrific.

  Another chunk of ice hit directly in front of me, breaking apart into a thousand pieces and peppering me with frozen shrapnel.

  Fuck! I screamed inwardly. That boulder had been big. And Lefave had thrown it easily.

  I crawled forward another few meters, still trying to catch my breath. The vomiting had made things far worse, not the least of which was the fact that I couldn’t breathe during it, otherwise I’d choke to death.

  And then suddenly there was nothing under my hands. I tried to pull back at the last second, but, fatigued and slow, was unable to. My center of mass was already out over the abyss.

  The first fissure, the one farthest west and closest to the ice ridge.

  I had just crawled right into it without the slightest realization.

  And I fell over the edge, headfirst.

  * * *

  I screamed as I slid down the ice wall. It was rough and more or less completely vertical. There were a few outcroppings, though they were small and impossible to grab. They merely made things more difficult for me, for one was sharp and did a nice job tearing my suit as I ground past it.

  The hiss was easy to hear; it was one of those sounds that CCF life conditions you to notice, no matter how infrequently you’re in a vacsuit.

  It’s the sound of death.

  Then a large outcropping appeared in front of me and I hit hard, face-first. The glass visor cracked. A spider web traced its dangerous lines across my face and I wondered for an instant if it was going to burst outward. But thankfully, it held.

  I don’t know how it happened, but I had the foresight to do two things instantly. Despite the crushing pain I still felt in my chest, the danger of the rip and the fear that had nearly overwhelmed me, I rolled toward the wall and concealed myself under a bulge in
the ice directly over the ledge.

  I also cut my comm with a press of my thumb on the wrist controls.

  I needed Lefave to think I was dead. I couldn’t have him stay up there, waiting for me.

  Or worse, jumping down after me. That might actually be suicide, but he seemed crazy enough to do it.

  An alarm was sounding now in my helmet. It signaled extreme danger: low pressure. In a few seconds the dissolved gases in my blood would start boiling out and I’d lose consciousness. Frantically I searched myself for the tear and found it at my front. Thank God. Had it been at my back...

  I grabbed the thin vacsuit material, squeezed it together and twisted hard. Air stopped venting, the hiss ceased and the suit quickly pressurized. I had lost a lot though; the oxygen bottle would have opened automatically to maintain pressure. And it had worked—I’d remained conscious long enough to hide and stop the venting air.

  I closed my eyes for long minutes as I gasped and tried to recover. Lefave was speaking to me, goading me, trying to get me to respond, but I ignored it and let his insults echo through my helmet.

  It had been one of the closest calls of my life. One of these days, I scolded myself, I wouldn’t be so damn lucky.

  * * *

  My eyes opened a few minutes later, perhaps as many as ten. I hadn’t slept; I’d simply been regrouping and gathering my strength. I had to get out of this situation, and it wasn’t going to be easy.

  My pistol was long gone.

  I had no idea where it was. Probably down the crevasse.

  The tear was going to be a problem. I didn’t have any sealant with me—these vacsuits were thin and it seemed as though the personnel at The Freezer didn’t care much for going outside. There wasn’t much room in the thigh pockets for items such as spray canisters of sealant. But there was enough fabric so I could twist the material together to prevent air loss. I just needed something to tie it down with so it would maintain the seal.

  It didn’t take long to figure out a solution.

  Each boot was attached to the suit, so the straps meant to tighten them didn’t really serve a crucial role. I removed one. It took another ten minutes, but finally I had it looped around the puckered material. The self-sealing mechanism held nicely.

  Then I collapsed back to the shelf of ice and gasped for air. I was completely and totally spent.

  But I couldn’t give up.

  If I did, I knew Shaheen would never forgive me.

  I couldn’t let her down. She, after all, had given me a life I thought long gone. A life that I had never known as an adult. I had been happy with her, after all my years traveling Home System and making dangerous captures. Shaheen had shown me the truth.

  Lefave was silent now. I hoped he was gone, but he might very well remember the last time this had happened and be waiting for me up there. I wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of beating me, however, so I lay on my back and waited. My oxygen was down to three hours now—half my supply had vented—but it was enough to get me back safely.

  And so I waited for one hour.

  Within a few more minutes I had grown extremely uncomfortable. The cold had easily penetrated my suit and my entire back was now utterly numb. I turned to my side, but found the pain that it put on my chest excruciating, so I rolled back, resigned to the sheer and utter miserable nature of this place.

  Eventually I risked rising to my feet. Even that took a minute, but eventually there I stood, on the narrow ledge, wobbling uncertainly with my left hand against the uneven wall. I shivered uncontrollably now, and my face mask was a cake of vomit lined with cracks. The smell was still unbearable, and I could feel the horrid stuff soaking the uniform I wore and pressing against my bare skin.

  I took a few tentative steps, careful not to slip and fall to my death. I took a risky glance above me but saw only a sliver of Jupiter—the mouth of the crevasse. Below was only darkness; the crack might in fact go down kilometers. It was impossible to say.

  But thankfully the ledge was intact and it stretched in front of me for several meters at least. It wasn’t level—it slanted toward the wall, which was better than the other direction. Otherwise it would have just dumped me out into open space.

  Eventually I came to the end of the fissure. Both walls had been closing as I’d walked. And then, finally, they connected and the ledge merged with them. I stood uncertainly, staring at the ice before me.

  Dead end.

  * * *

  “What now?” I muttered. The crampons on my feet would prove helpful if I tried climbing. The edge was easily thirty meters above me, but if I put the crampons on my hands I might be able to pull myself out. The wall at the culminating point of the fissure wasn’t vertical, either. It was slightly angled. Perhaps if I used just one crampon, and kept the other on one of my feet...

  My chest was on fire. It was aching now, deep and penetrating, and I was pretty sure the boulder had caused serious damage. There was really nothing to do but inject some priority nanos and rest—

  And then I snorted to myself. Inject some nanos. Right.

  Then it would all end within fifteen minutes.

  I had to just deal with it.

  At about knee level there was a small outcropping. I lowered myself gingerly to my hands and knees and peered under it.

  There was a small passage between cracked and deformed ice.

  Perhaps caused by the station melting the very ice it rested on. I had noticed earlier that the fissures looked wider and longer than they had when I had arrived. The cracking might be enlarging them, perhaps even lengthening them toward the facility itself.

  And when they hit the base, The Freezer would collapse into the abyss.

  I tested the tunnel, not wanting to get wedged in there only to die in two hours when my air ran out. It seemed large enough to permit my shoulders, so I pushed onward. The crampons were enormously helpful, allowing me to worm my way through the tight opening. It twisted and turned, sometimes narrowing to a dangerous sliver-shaped passage, but a few elbows shattered the protrusions and I squeezed through.

  Barely.

  I had never been so cold and uncomfortable. I was miserable and not afraid to admit it. I had to get out of that vacsuit.

  And then the tunnel abruptly opened into a larger cavern, about the size of one of the station modules. I gasped in amazement. Light from above penetrated the ice and lit the entire cave. It was like a cathedral, and I could even make out the sliver of Jupiter high overhead.

  And then I closed my mouth. It meant the very ice I’d been walking on and driving the icetrack over was thin and fragile.

  And if there was such a bubble under The Freezer...

  I circled the entire chamber. At one point, on the east side I guessed, the wall was shallow and easy to ascend with the crampons. At the apex, I peered above me to gauge the distance to the surface.

  The ice was only about two meters thick here.

  I could break through that. After all, the ceiling was most likely weakening by the second. It wanted to fall. It was an unnatural situation...a ceiling made of ice only two meters thick.

  And I was going to make it come down.

  I had to—my very survival depended on it.

  * * *

  The only thing I could use as a battering ram was my oxygen bottle.

  I had considered everything else. The crampons. My elbow. Fists. Nothing would work. The ice, despite being thin, still needed some force to cause a crack. For that I needed a large steel implement, and the bottle was the only thing I could come up with.

  I removed the backpack gingerly. The canister was not large, and I was about to attempt something extremely dangerous. Failure meant death.

  Once I disconnected it, I could survive only with what little air was in my suit.

 
Maybe two minutes? Three at most. The air was already foul, and I knew this was going to be bad.

  I hoped I wouldn’t vomit again.

  I triggered the quick release and the tube connecting my suit to the bottle fell limp at my side. Then, gripping the canister in both hands, I slammed it up to the ice. Then again. And again.

  It vibrated in my grasp and I almost dropped it.

  I struck again...

  The valve split and a stream of air gushed out, almost hurling it from my hands.

  I slammed once more, above my head, screaming in rage as I did so...

  And a shower of ice fell over me. At first it was just small pieces, so I kept striking it. Then larger chunks...then even larger...

  And all at once, the ceiling collapsed and fell into the bubble.

  I sighed from exertion, thinking I could pause for a second to catch my breath, but realized an instant later that I was growing dizzy.

  Get out, now!

  The ceiling was gone, the wonderful vista of a rapidly waning Jupiter in its place. I had just exposed a caldera immediately south of The Freezer, and it took only a second for me to lunge over the lip and land on the ice at the surface.

  Struggling to my feet, I staggered toward Module D, the vehicle berth, a module where Dyson had spent much of his time.

  I touched my communit as I marched forward, keying only for Cray’s frequency. I had to be careful not to signal Lefave...

  “Cray,” I muttered. My vision was growing foggy once again...my breathing labored.

  About twenty meters to go...

  “Tanner!” he yelled. The reply had come in an instant. “We thought you were—”

  “Where are you?”

  His tone became guarded. “Can Lefave hear this?”

  I paused. “It’s possible he’s scanning every frequency.”

  There was a break while he conferred with the others. I was at the air lock, struggling to enter, but my fingers weren’t behaving. They were numb, for one, and my vision had gone almost completely dark.

  “Sato says to go to the place where he got sick.”