The Freezer Read online

  Module E went much quicker. That dome was completely open—there were no smaller cabins within, as it was the galley-mess-recreation area. Uneven melting had tilted it greatly and it was difficult to move through, but breaking the viewport vented the entire structure. The travel tube to A had already ruptured, which I had noted earlier. The yellow emergency strobes were visible around the dome as well—they shone out the sizeable viewports and illuminated the ice outside—and I wondered how much longer it would take for Lefave or Dinova to notice what I was doing.

  Module D—the vehicle berth—followed, and within minutes I found myself in the clinic. I had left Module F, the main entry from the landing pad, until the end because I had to go out that way to check on Sato and his progress on the dish. I was skeptical about whether he could actually do it, but I had to have hope. I’d survived in some pretty dire situations before. I knew I had to use everything and everyone at my disposal in order to get out of this place.

  Marius turned to the emergency air lock as I stepped through, his face blank and his eyes wide. He was worried it had been Lefave. I hadn’t come across the director while venting the facility, and therefore assumed he was in Module A—which I also hadn’t vented yet—his secret lab, or somewhere outside The Freezer.

  “What ideas do you have?” I asked the doctor without preamble.

  “I was thinking...”

  “About Dinova.”

  He blinked. “Yes. If she wanted you to die eventually, then she would have argued against good ideas.”

  “The killer T cells.” It was obvious now that everything Marius had proposed might actually have succeeded.

  “Precisely. She also suggested killing you to see what would happen to the bomb!”

  I lowered myself to a procedures table and threw my helmet back. We needed this dome pressurized until he had finished on me. “How difficult would the killer T cell procedure be?”

  He frowned. “Not very. The problem now, however, is time.” Beside the table were a variety of surgical tools and priority nanos in solution.

  “You’re thinking surgery is the only choice.”

  He exhaled forcefully. “In the time remaining...” He slapped his palm on a console. “If only I had guessed at what she was doing! She was deliberately preventing me from treating you!”

  “Is there any way to tell how much aorta remains?”

  “Sure. We can examine it right now. The problem is, when will the rupture occur? Depends on a number of things. Blood pressure is key. If it remains low, the rupture will occur later. If it escalates, however, for instance during a hand-to-hand fight, then it could happen right then and there. Or if you’re suddenly exposed to vacuum for a short amount of time.” He sighed. “Predicting this is not an exact science, unfortunately.”

  “Let’s check it first then.”

  He set up the scanner and the familiar holoprojection appeared beside the table. Marius focused in on the aorta and the yellow highlighted device...

  “A hundredth of a millimeter at the site of erosion,” he whispered. “About two square centimeters in area.” He shot me a pointed look. “It could happen at any second, Tanner! We should operate, right now!”

  I blew the air from my lungs and considered the situation. If things went south and I didn’t survive, I had to make sure the others at least had a fighting chance. Duty came first.

  “Let me go talk to Sato, see how he’s doing. Then I’ll come right back and we’ll do it.”

  He pursed his lips as he mulled it over. “Sounds fair enough. I’ll get things ready here in case—”

  “Don’t say it,” I snapped. “I don’t think I can bear to think about it right now.” I keyed the vacsuit comm for Cray. “Where are you?”

  The response came an instant later. “Tanner. We’ve got the things you requested.”

  “Did you see Lefave or Dinova?”

  “Not a sign.”

  “Did you hear them in Module A, on levels two or three maybe?”

  “Not a peep.”

  A cold prickle worked its way down my spine. Sato. “Take the stuff to the landing pad. Use the travel tube to Module F. I’ll meet you there.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  I had just thumbed the comm off when the deck abruptly lurched under our feet. We both reached out to grab the procedures table and around us equipment rattled and fell from shelves. Glassware shattered on impact and the dome’s shell groaned. Vibrations coursed up our legs and there were several prolonged cracks. Shearing stress, from twisting metal.

  I swore.

  It had been more than a simple creak.

  Marius and I stumbled to a long viewport on the south side of the dome. From there we could see Module D. As we watched, the three large fractures lengthened in stuttering jerks toward The Freezer. The caldera I had exposed earlier was clearly a weak spot in the ice, and there the three fissures converged and then broke through the surface on the other side.

  The fracture stretched toward the vehicle berth as the ice separated and yawned open. It was now a chasm kilometers deep, and Module D began to shift and shudder toward it. The ice around the dome suddenly fell out from under the southern hull, and the structure perched out over open space.

  It seemed to freeze for a moment there, suspended over nothingness...

  And then it fell into the fissure, pivoting as it did so. The travel tube that connected it to Module A arrested its fall, but it was only for the briefest of instants, for the tube shattered and sprayed metal fragments as it disintegrated under the tremendous strain.

  The dome fell into the crevasse, splitting as it plunged downward, followed by a multitude of tiny fragments from the facility and chunks of ice from the surface.

  The structure around us continued to tremble as Module D suffered the fate that the others would most likely endure.

  Marius said in a whisper, “I hope the fissure stops...”

  The three fractures had connected into what I could only describe as a canyon now, and it was nearly at Module A.

  The labs and the command dome.

  The secret lab carved in the ice...the one that had caused the three fractures to begin with.

  And then the vibrations and groaning around us slowed. The reverberation persisted for a few moments longer...

  And then nothing.

  Module A was now jutting out over empty space. Three quarters of the structure were still on ice, but it was clearly unstable. Even as I watched, fragments continued to fall from the canyon edges.

  “It doesn’t have much time,” I muttered.

  “Which means this clinic doesn’t have a lot of time either!” Marius yelled. “We have to perform the operation, now Tanner!”

  I pondered it for just a second. “Not yet. I have to check on Sato first. Then I’ll be back.”

  He stared at me, openmouthed, as I turned and sprinted from the clinic.

  * * *

  Passing through Module A on my way to the tube that led to F, I moved slowly, hoping not to attract attention. If Lefave or Dinova were in the levels above, I didn’t want them to pursue. For one, I was weaponless. For another, a confrontation was the last thing I wanted right then and there.

  The tube to the main entry module was quite long. I remembered marching through it when we’d first landed at the facility. There were viewports along the curving bulkheads which gave an incredible panoramic view of Europa’s surface. The tube was fifty meters long and I sprinted the entire distance. My breath misted my visor, and despite the pain in my chest and my throbbing jaw—and my exhaustion—the run helped warm me slightly.

  The hatch to the large air lock slid aside and Janice Snow and Robert Cray spun to see who was entering.

  Cray whipped the pistol toward me. I threw my arms up. “It
’s just me.”

  The look on his lined face said it all.

  “Thank God,” Snow hissed. “We were scared—”

  “Did you hear Lefave and Dinova? Do you know where they are?”

  Cray shook his head.

  He was holding a duffel at his side and I gestured at it. “Is that everything?”

  “Yes.”

  “Throw it over there.”

  He glanced at my outstretched finger and frowned. A moment later, he threw the bag to the edge of the deck, where it met the bulkhead. I searched through it and identified the vials of nanos from the director’s lab.

  I took a step back and reached out for the pistol. Cray hesitated and then placed it in my grasp. I aimed at the satchel and fired.

  The fabric immediately melted and the entire thing turned to a bubbling puddle. I continued to fire; vapor rose from the mess. Soon everything was liquid or gas.

  I had to ensure that it would end there, that no one could retrieve the vials from the fissure when the lab finally collapsed into the chasm.

  Now the experiment was over.

  Almost.

  * * *

  We found Sato outside, twenty meters from the edge of the landing pad. He was kneeling on the ice with the comm spread out before him. Wires trailed from it, all leading to The Freezer’s damaged communications array. It was a metal framework that rose ten meters from the ice. At the top was a dish that the exploding jumpship had damaged on Wednesday. I could tell that Sato had been up there, attempting to piece it back together. He had reconnected cables, twisting them together and wrapping the joins in black tape. It was a rough patch job, something that Shaheen would never have tolerated. Still, I guess it was the best we could do in this situation.

  Jumpship wreckage littered the pad, where the ice was warped and severely cracked. Individual pieces of hull had torn into the surface and melted downward, leaving a myriad of angry slices.

  It was dark outside now. Jupiter was in full shadow, but its lightning show revealed its presence over us and cast dim strobes on the ice. Our helmet lights threw tunnels of white before us, showing the floating mist and ice particles just over the surface, and the yellow flashes from the facility also contributed to the overall illumination.

  Sato was studying the comm that we’d carted over the ice, tracing each wire back to a labeled panel on its side. There was also a power supply lying next to it, already connected; a flashing display indicated its operation.

  “What’s your progress?” I asked him.

  His helmet shot up. “Jesus, that scared me!”

  “Sato, we don’t have much time here.” Despite the situation we were in, it actually felt nice to see him.

  He grunted. “I know. I saw the cloud of debris from the facility. One of the modules?”

  “Tell me about the comm.” I ignored his question.

  “I’m almost ready to try. Just have to finish with these wires. Power’s up, the dish is back together, but who knows if it’ll work.” He finished twisting the last cables, wrapping them in tape to keep them insulated from bare ice, and stepped back to inspect his work. “It looks horrible. I have no idea—”

  “Is it ready?”

  He exhaled harshly, then glanced at the power indicator on the comm. “Seems okay.”

  I bent to study the display. I had earlier seen it at the jumpship at the bottom of a thirty-meter hole in the ice.

  It said one word: Booting.

  Here we go.

  Then came the familiar Awaiting Dest. Signal.

  I hit Identify Nearby Contacts. At this point on the jumpship, it should have shown us nearby relays and colonies that could intercept our signal, elevate it to FTL status, and bounce it out to a different destination. It hadn’t worked then, but now...

  Titan Colony.

  Jupiter Relay One.

  Jupiter Relay Two.

  Jupiter Relay Seven.

  Snow blurted, “It’s working!”

  “Good job, Sato,” I murmured. The array had located nearby comm stations. I selected one of the Jupiter relays.

  Destination?

  I typed in Fort Iridium.

  A second later my comm beeped and a voice sounded in our helmets. “Iridium, go ahead.”

  Smiles spread across the faces before me. Incredible. Against all odds, Sato had done it.

  “Give me CCF HQ, Captain Malcolm Lawrence. Emergency call from Lieutenant Kyle Tanner.”

  The technician didn’t hesitate; he put it through in an instant.

  There was a long pause and I pressed a button on my wrist controls. This was for my ears only.

  The others registered the change and turned to me, surprised. I ignored them.

  And then Lawrence’s voice pierced my helmet. “Tanner! I haven’t heard anything from you in days!”

  “There have been...complications,” I muttered.

  “Explain.” His voice was now formal and curt, as it should be in the military.

  “Turns out this base is a secret military installation. The director. He’s lost his mind.”

  “He’s the capture?”

  I paused, wondering how to fill him in on everything while there were still two threats on the ice with us. “Yes and no,” I said finally. “What did your investigation show?”

  He sighed. “No one on the surveillance video near your cabin unfortunately, Tanner. I’m still investigating. We’ll figure it out.”

  I hesitated. “What about Bojdl’s movements?”

  “Nothing out of the ordinary in the days leading up to his death.”

  “I see.” I pondered that as a pressure mounted on my chest. I moved my hand to it and rubbed absently. “We are in desperate need of help here. A transport off Europa.”

  “Where’s the jumpship you took?”

  “Blown up.”

  There was a long break now, and static abruptly filled my helmet. Sato was working on the comm, fiddling with some controls.

  “Sounds like a—story—tell—report—”

  I turned to Sato and switched the channel again. “Ed, there’s a problem here.”

  “I can see...seems like it’s overheating.” Smoke was rising from the comm, or perhaps it was sublimating ice from the heat it generated.

  “Captain,” I said, flicking the frequency back to Ceres. “Don’t have much time. We need a transport in the next few hours or we’re dead.”

  No response.

  Sato eyed me and frowned.

  Damn.

  Had Lawrence heard my last?

  And then Cray yelled and I spun to the man. He was looking toward the air lock, where we had just exited The Freezer.

  Lefave.

  “Oh, shit,” I muttered.

  * * *

  The director stopped and studied us for a heartbeat. His legs were bent slightly, his fists clenched, and there was a scowl on his face. And then he noticed me. “Tanner, you have nine lives, don’t you? Very difficult to kill.”

  “I still have work to do.”

  “Not for long.”

  I jerked the pistol from my holster and in a flash turned to the comm that Sato had spent hours repairing. I fired at near point-blank range.

  “Fuck, Tanner!” Sato screamed as he threw himself to the side. The equipment shorted and sparked and smoke rose. Ice melted around my blast and the equipment crashed into the new crater formed from the pulse.

  “Sorry, Ed,” I muttered. “I can’t let them use that comm.”

  “But did your call—”

  “Doesn’t matter anymore,” I whispered. He would understand soon.

  And Lefave darted toward me. I fired again and again, each pulse blasting outward and heading straight for t
he man. He lunged to the side to avoid the rain of energy, and swatted at Janice Snow as he surged past her. The knife edge of his hand crushed into her throat. She spun away like a marionette and sprawled across the ice, silent and still.

  Cray jumped for Lefave and bounced off him as he charged me. I centered my pistol again to fire—

  But Cray was directly in my line of fire.

  And then Lefave was on me.

  His fist hammered my chest and the throbbing renewed with an intensity I had never before felt. I rocketed back from the strike and slid meters across the ice. Panting from exertion, I hefted the weapon and aimed at Lefave, but I was on my side and attempting to aim while lying on my right arm.

  My first pulse went over his head.

  He dodged the second.

  And then he kicked me while I was on the ice. The force spun me around and I watched in horror as the pistol soared toward the landing pad.

  And then a new voice stabbed into my helmet. “Lefave!”

  Marina Dinova.

  She had stepped out from around Module F. She’d been outside, perhaps searching for the man. Behind her, more mist was rising from around Module A. It was continuing to sink...the fractures were opening further.

  Lefave turned to her. “Doctor,” he snapped. “You want to die next?”

  “You can try,” she snarled.

  And then the two ran for each other and locked in a deadly embrace. Dinova’s right arm was free, however, and she swung at the director’s helmet. Perhaps her rage at being forced to work here doing weapons development for the CCF drove the strike.

  Her anger at what Lefave had done to the live subjects...

  Her intense hatred at his sadism in how he had treated the personnel...

  And Lefave spun to the side as the impact forced him to the ice.

  He hit hard and stayed down for a moment as he realized what had happened.

  He lifted his helmet and turned to her. A crack in his faceplate was now visible, and his expression was one of surprise.