Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Steady. Calm. A mantra I repeated as I hovered the chopper over the hole Velma fell in.
I wanted nothing more than to be the knight in arctic camo armor dropping down to save her.
Instead, as the only pilot, I had to keep the whirlybird in the air, with as little movement as possible, while Vernon climbed down the ladder.
While he did my job, Joslyn kept me apprised via our connected headsets. “Vernon’s made it to the hole, but for some reason, Velam’s walking away.”
I frowned. “Could be she’s disoriented from the fall.”
“Whatever the problem, it seems resolved. Vernon’s putting the sling over her now.” A pause, then, “He just gave me the thumbs up.”
My signal to start slowly rising. Too fast, and they might end up swinging and smacking the sides of the chasm or spinning.
“They’ve cleared the edge of the hole,” Joslyn declared, meaning time to shift sideways and lower the chopper. Not for landing, though. I didn’t trust the ground at this point, but I wanted to make it less of a climb for Vernon and Velma since we lacked a winch or hands to haul them aboard.
“I see Velma’s head,” Joslyn announced before grunting. “She’s on board and Vernon’s right behind.” “Vernon’s inside. Shutting the door.”
My cue to get us out of here. First, though, I couldn’t help but half turn so I could see Velma for myself. She knelt on the floor, head hanging.
Safe. No thanks to me.
I angled us upwards, away from the bloodied ice sticking up in jagged chunks and headed for the mountain.
We wouldn’t be returning to McMurdo Station, though.
Between the creeping magma, the thick falling ash, and the possibility of lethal poison-laced the air, it wouldn’t provide a safe haven.
Instead, I headed for the Mario Zucchelli Station, about a ninety-minute trip or so, and far enough from the exploding volcanoes that we could hunker and wait for extraction.
“What do you mean you heard a voice?” Joslyn stated, her headset capturing her words but not Vernon’s or Velma’s.
Before I could find out what they spoke of, the mountain in front of me, the one I was still rising to cross over, began to shiver. Must be another quake. I pulled us upward, concerned by the amount of ice exploding, sending out missile-like shards.
“…get out of here.” Velma’s panicked tone came through my headset as she geared up.
“You’re safe now. We are heading for a station outside the danger zone.” Joslyn did her best to calm, but Velma remained distraught.
“You don’t understand. We need to get as far from here as possible. It’s awake.”
“What’s awake?”
Before Velma could reply, a deeply timbered voice bellowed—inside my head, I should add—How dare you leave!
The tenor of the exclamation actually caused my craft to wobble, and I fought to straighten us even as Joslyn yelped. “Did anyone else hear that?”
“What the ever-loving fuck?” Question and shocked reply all in one.
“The creature from our dream.” Velma offered a soft and quavering explanation.
I wanted to laugh and ask her how hard she hit her head, only… I feared she spoke the truth. For I had heard that voice before. Heard it when I was alone outside, carried on the wind. Usually, however, it demanded I free it.
“Okay, that’s impossible,” Joslyn squeaked. “More like someone hacked the headsets. Right, Captain?”
I wanted to agree. I really did, but… “I don’t know what that was, but I doubt it came from the equipment.”
“It’s the thing stuck in that ice cave,” Vernon stated.
“Yup,” Velma affirmed. “And here’s the even wilder part, it claims it’s an alien who’s been around for millions of years.”
I snorted. “That’s impossible.”
“I’m aware it sounds crazy,” Velma replied in a weary tone.
“What happened to you down in that hole?” Joslyn’s query.
As I flew us away from the shaking mountain, Velma related not just the moment she’d spent conversing with the being, but the previous dreams she’d experienced, along with what this supposed alien being said the night before when she got lost outside.
The entire thing sounded like a fantastical tale. An alien, millions of years old, who’d caused the ice age, eaten dinosaurs, went through sleeping and pillaging cycles, now planned to go on another feeding frenzy, oh, and use Velma’s eggs to make babies.
Joslyn snickered at that part. “Why would it choose your dusty eggs?”
“Hey!” Velma protested. “I am not that old.”
Agreed. At thirty-five, she was just right for me.
“Just saying. Why you? Why not me, or that cutie who works in the galley?”
“You’re asking me to figure out how some psycho alien came to that decision?” Velma huffed in annoyance.
“Why did it wake up, anyhow?” Vernon queried, changing the subject. “And how long before it goes to sleep again?”
As they argued about the voice—and supposed alien being—I navigated us over the fracturing mountain, heading for safety. Although, would anywhere be safe if any part of Velma’s story was true?
An alien that hit the Earth hard enough during its arrival it started the ice age that killed dinosaurs. A being that used to feed on dinosaurs. A thing that had been sleeping but, now that it had woken, hungered for flesh.
I couldn’t help but recall the conversation we’d had about the eye she’d seen in her dream.
An eye she claimed had to be ten feet or more wide, leading her to do the math on the size of such a creature.
A mile or more long. Sounded impossible, but if accurate, no wonder it mocked the military jets.
They’d be like mosquitos in comparison. But the fact it also didn’t seem bothered by nukes? That terrified the most.
“This thing claims it learned about humanity’s advancements by listening?” Vernon sounded skeptical. “Listening to what? Antarctica ain’t a hotbed for news and information.”
“I didn’t say it made sense. The whole thing is insane. Maybe we’re being pranked,” Velma suggested.
“Pretty fucking elaborate prank, don’t you think?” Joslyn countered. “I mean, exploding volcanoes, including three that should have never erupted. People’s dreams being manipulated. A voice that we shouldn’t have been able to hear, yet it was as if they spoke to our brains.”
“Maybe I’m dreaming then,” Velma countered.
“Aren’t you the one always saying there has to be a logical explanation?”
“I’d welcome a rational alternative.”
Only, no one had anything to offer.
Velma ended up coming into the cockpit and collapsing in the copilot seat. I glanced at her. “Rough day?” My poor attempt at humor.
Her wan smile squeezed my heart. “Just a bit. Thanks for coming back for me.”
“I wouldn’t have left if we’d had the proper equipment in the first place. My bad for not ensuring we were better prepared before leaving.”
“Not your fault. I mean, who could have predicted the events of the day?”
I removed a hand from the controls long enough to grab hers for a squeeze. “Even the station’s scientists didn’t have a clue.”
“Because nothing makes sense.” She sighed. “This has to be a nightmare. I’m going to wake up and find out I’m still on the plane to New Zealand and none of this happened.”
“That would be a shame, since some parts were quite nice.”
“More than nice,” she murmured.
“Um, guys, we can hear you,” Vernon interrupted.
Velma uttered a short laugh. “Sorry.”
“Hold on, I’ll put us on a private channel.” I fiddled on the dash and said, “There. Should just be the two of us now.”
“Assuming that alien thing isn’t listening.” She uttered a short barking laugh. “I can’t believe I said that. This isn’t real.”
“Felt real to me last night.”
“To think, a few hours ago, I was looking forward to our return to the station for round two.”
“If we’re keeping count, wouldn’t it have been round three? And who says it won’t happen? We’ll be at the Italian station within the hour,” I informed. I’d not been able to raise them on comms, but even if they’d abandoned their posts, the infrastructure would remain.
“Pretty sure you’re going to be busy.”
“If I were at McMurdo Station, yes, but I don’t have jurisdiction or duties at this outpost. I’m going to be as much of a guest and refuge as you.”
“How long before we’re picked up from there?”
“Depends. The C17 that left McMurdo will be at least a dozen hours before it returns. I’ll have to find out where it’s going to land. Those who didn’t make it aboard for its first run are kind of scattered right now.”
“But they will send a plane, right? We won’t be stranded here.”
I wanted to reassure her, however, as someone who believed in honesty, I couldn’t lie. “I can’t say for sure because it will depend on a few factors. Visibility for one. Safety of the crew. In other words, can they land safely and take off again?”
She glanced to her left. “Those volcanoes are spewing a lot of smoke.”
“It’s mostly steam, actually, from the lava hitting the ice.”
“McMurdo station is gone?”
“Yes. And last I heard, Ross was evacuated because it was expected to be next.”
“Is this Italian outpost far enough?”
“I hope so. If not, we’ll climb back into the bird and move to another location.”
She said nothing for a few minutes, and when she did murmur, I had to strain to hear.
“…military do if there is an alien in the mountain?”
“That will depend. First, is it causing immediate harm? Second, can it be reasoned with?”
“And if it’s no on both those counts?”
“Then they’ll scramble some jets and subs, and the Navy will chug over some of its battleships in a show of force.”
She snorted. “Because that worked so well with Godzilla and Kong.” Fictional movies that provided the only point of comparison.
“Didn’t humanity end up winning in the end?”
“Barely. And in those movies, Godzilla wasn’t the size this alien might be.”
“Assuming there is an alien.”
“You don’t believe me.” Her flat reply.
“I didn’t say that. But who’s to say this voice isn’t lying? Or that the dreams are accurate. Maybe it wants you to think it’s bigger than it is. More powerful.”
“To frighten me into obeying,” she added, her tone thoughtful. “I hadn’t thought of that.” She turned to face me. “You don’t think I’m lying.”
“We all heard the voice. Now, where it came from, that’s up for debate, but I will say, I don’t think we’re being pranked. Something is happening, and we need to be prepared.”
I just had no idea what that preparation might entail. Although, I did wish my helicopter came equipped with a gun.