The Thing: from the Depths of Hell (22 page)

He thought of
the incredible operation the Russians must have carried out getting
the voyager at the other ice station and wished that he had been
part of it, and the digging up of the black object beneath the ice,
and them digging out the cavity.

The amount of
equipment and men they must have used must have been tremendous,
and they must have gone to incredible lengths to get people into
the ice station, and to monitor it and prevent them discovering
what they had been doing.

He wondered
how long they had been there trying to enter or make contact with
it, and then a stray scientist from the ice station entered the
cavity and simultaneously made it into the voyager.

He recalled
when one of the Russian scientists had told him and that Willis had
entered it and it had shown him its flight in space!

He was sure
that it had wanted something, and perhaps it wanted someone to
pilot it, and he was sure he never gave it what it had wanted.

He went over
and over it through his mind trying to grasp some clue that would
show him what it wanted.

He examined
the soldiers ahead of him moving in closer, preparing themselves
for action and were ready.

A loud blast
of a gun exploded out and he saw one of the front soldiers beside
Commander Craven was hit and Weaver swiftly moved behind a wall,
preparing for the gunmen to attack.

The bullet had
instantly killed the man and he was heaped over the snow and he
realized that someone had blown their cover and they had given away
their element of surprise, and he realized it was one of the
Russian soldiers from the Russian base that had given them away! He
then realized that they could very well be in it with them! The
Russian soldiers with them had not been checked out and had even
been with them!

It was lucky
there was cover for all the soldiers and they rushed into position
and he watched the Russian soldiers and what they did and wondered
what he was missing about them.

Suddenly
soldiers rushed forward fast shouting at them to throw down their
guns and started blasting at them with everything, and bullets flew
out everywhere hitting the snow all about them, and the gun battle
stopped and they shouted to them the gun battle was over and they
all moved in.

He rushed in
the building and realized that there were only six of them left,
and two were dead on the floor!

A Russian
soldier with them translated what the Russian gunmen said and they
started questioning them, and Weaver noticed that he was holding a
hidden conversation with them as he asked their questions and gave
their replies.

“
Where
and when will the airplane land?” Commander Craven asked them, and
the Russian translated what he said and replied.

“
It is
not going to land until they ask it to! They cancelled it landing
until the alien sphere was found!”

“
What
does he mean by that?” Commander Craven replied.

“
After
their battle with the people at this ice station the person that
had it was killed and someone took it, and nobody saw who or what
he did with it!”

Weaver
listened confused! How can someone lose an alien artifact? Then he
considered what size it was!

“
How
what size was it?” Commander Craven asked, amazed, wondering what
the hell it was.

“
He does
not know!”

“
How did
you see anyone carrying it?”

“
No! It
was in one of the dead men’s pockets!”

It was clear
that the people that saw it were now all dead, except the person
that took it!

Commander
Craven was staggered, and clearly wondered how they could they
possibly have an ultimate weapon capable of destroying the world in
someone’s pocket?

Someone there
took it so they searched all their pockets and belongings,
including the bodies, and they found nothing and decided to stay
the night!

Chapter 20

The Battle

They had been at the Russian ice station two
days searching everything and had not found the slightest clue to
its whereabouts, while they curiously watched the Russian soldiers
with them!

There clearly were soldiers amongst them
that thought they could get hold of the alien sphere and sell
it!

Their mission was a disaster, even though
they had killed or captured the remaining renegades!

The ice station, huts, and buildings were
small and cold and he had never slept in anywhere so cold, which
was exaggerated by the coming winter! He could see now why the
people that stayed in such places and conditions were rugged and
hardy.

The Russian food supplies were feeble and
left them longing to get out of the place, and to find the alien
sphere!

Who the hell took it? What had they done
with it? Where had it ended up? And what the hell was it? Its size
made everyone gasp! What if they got its technology and increased
its size?

People were now investigating each other,
and he had been watched by just about everyone, and he himself had
listened in on others and followed their movements!

He noticed some of the places in the
structures were dirtier and in many he had to sweep away webs and
he realized that the place was not being searched as much as they
were making out, and he eventually put it down to them
concentrating in the main areas! So he started looking in the areas
that they missed and looked for signs that someone had visited
there and hid it.

Reeves joined him searching an old hut with
a rusted discarded snow vehicle in it, and they rummage through the
junk!

“
Well,
”
Reeves announced, breaking his
silence with him.
“
We now know that the guy that took it has not
been here!
”

The place looked as though it had been
untouched for decades and he examined different things to see what
they were, and their uses, and if they had been recently used.

“
Look at this
monster!
”
Reeves announced, jumping into the worn seat of the
vehicle.

“
Any fuel?
”
he replied, wondering if it could
be used.

“
What
’
s that!
”
he spoke, looking closely at the
controls.
“
Someone has recently checked it! The fuel
meter has been cleaned recently!
”

Weaver checked it to see the petrol in it
and saw it had been checked, and realized the person had been
planning to use the thing and checked it and the mess that it was
in! There was so much rust and dirt over it that it looked
unusable.

It was like being at an ice station on
another world with the strange sun and snow, and appalling
coldness. He recalled a story that he had once read of Artic
explorers all being found frozen to death! Which made him consider
if there was such a condition that could instantly freeze people
and everything at the one time? He had seen things there that had
suggested it! There were immense waves that were entirely frozen!
How could you freeze an entire large falling fast moving wave
without instantly freezing it! There were cases of large amounts of
animals and humans being found frozen at the same time!

The place was like it was haunted at times;
creaking and rustling from huts, ice shifting, and strange
whistling breezes.

He thought of all the years of people living
there and it interested him. What kind of life did they have? Why
did they stay in such places?

The place must be one of the most empty and
empty of life places that there could be on the planet! He wondered
what it was like at its worst, freezing in drifts of heavy snow,
silent and empty of life as was possible. Even indoors with the
lights on at night there were strange haunting dark shadows and
glows that held secrets and dangers!

They finished searching the rubbish and
structure and moved out together and wandered about before joining
the others having their meal.

Most of the people around the dinner table
looked startled and tired and looked as if they wanted to leave the
place, and he realized again the difference there was at the proper
ice station.

Even the Russian base looked as though it
had things wrong with it and that many of them would have preferred
going home, when their mission was complete.

He noticed that Commander Craven looked
happier, but still depressed, as though he had achieved something,
but he could tell that it was not enough. Yet he still looked the
happiest there!

“
Anything new?
”
one of the soldiers finally
asked, smiling.

“
We think we may have who was behind
taking the alien sphere!
”

Everyone looked up, and Weaver gasped at the
attention that it got from them, and especially from the Russians
there and he sensed how desperate they had become!

“
Where is he?
”

“
He was one of the dead! We searched
him and everywhere he was seen!
”

“
Have you anything on what he was
like?
”
another soldier asked curiously, looking at the Russians for
reactions, jokingly.

“
I got some information about him from
the X1 Ice Station, and from the Russian base, and from
civilization
!
”

He showed them a sheet of printed paper, and
when the others had finished looking at it blankly Weaver managed
to get a look at what was on it and realized there was little
there. Yet as he was handing it back he realized it said that he
had an interest in vehicles and rebuilding them and he wondered if
he had been the one that had cleaned the petrol meter on the
vehicle, as he surely would have been the most likely person for
wanting to leave there!

They had other vehicles there and he
wondered if he might have hidden it on one with other things, which
he intended to take if he left there in it. Would they actually
look there?

Suddenly he noticed that some of them
thought that he had found something and he realized that he had
reacted too much, and he decided to play safe and not check there
until at least the following day. Even if there was a chance that
someone found it first! The Russians there were desperate and would
try anything, and he wondered again what Commander Craven was up to
allowing them to stay there! They were a menace to them and threat
to their lives, and the end of them if they got unlucky!

He tried to work out what Commander Craven
wanted with them and was sure that they he might consider at least
one of them knew where it was!

Chapter 21

The Search

When he finally searched the vehicles he was
on his own and he started to realize the true danger if he found
it! What the hell were they actually looking for anyway, and what
would he do with it?

He finally started to lose interest and just
completed his mission anyway, by checking the vehicles swiftly and
intensely and finished by checking the vehicle with the cleaned
petrol meter, and never realized how dark it had actually been
there and had a bad time seeing properly!

When he finished he wondered why the petrol
meter had been cleaned anyway! Then he started to realize that he
could have thought the petrol tank was a good place to hide it and
Weaver removed the petrol cap, which looked like it had been
loosened, and he wondered if he could have traveled with it in the
tank, without it stopping with it there! Not many people would
search a petrol tank for something!

He used a thin pole to probe inside and
heard something rattle about, and felt it move about, and he looked
about him and found a second thin pole and used them to grasp the
object and pull it out the tank.

Once it was out he saw it could not be it
and that it was just a ball of rusted metal in a ripped up plastic
bag and he threw it away, and fitted the cap on and cleaned himself
up, and went for something to eat!

He realized that the ice station was a bad
place for a party or for an active life, and that there was little
to do there!

He wondered what would happen next! They had
to leave there, and the object would be lost and could be
discovered months or years later!

They could send in a team of people to
search everything, with specialized equipment.

Later when he was eating at the dinner table
one of the Russians burst in the door and started arguing loudly
with other Russians there, in Russian and so they could not
understand and come to any conclusions, and Weaver noticed that he
had a hidden handgun that he had not shown before, and he watched
him start an argument with Commander Craven!

The scene was incredible! None of them knew
what he was talking about and he avoided saying anything and blamed
him for something that he refused to say what! It was strange also
as they reacted differently at the cold desolate lost ice station!
They seemed to want the conclusion of what was going to happen
more!

To their surprise he removed the handgun and
shot the roof, spraying pieces of the ceiling over the table and
them, and stood shouting in Russian! The explosion left them
stunned and they all considered him mad and that some form of ice
station isolation madness existed!

People from other rooms rushed along to the
doorway with guns and he started shooting them or at them as they
avoided them! Then one of the younger soldiers suddenly rushed out
and shot him dead, and he fell over and hit the floor with a
thud!