ICE

Chapter Three

Environmental Control

After some time searching the passages and living quarters, Daniels suggested they moved on to the Admin sector. They found no signs of life, and their hopes of finding anyone alive dwindled. Each security lock gave way to James' access, and with each new area the same cold frigid wastes greeted them. All about them the stillness of the installation preyed on their minds, eerily the structure continued to groan and tick. The only voice within, and one they could do without.

"We are approaching the Administrative Offices, sir. We should be able to gain access to the mainframe and seize control of the environment controls. We shall have sustainable atmosphere within an hour or two."

"Any word from Flight Lieutenant Rodgers?" Daniels questioned.

"Last report was that the storm was upon him, and that we would lose comms. That was over an hour ago."

"Vitals are at fourteen hours and dropping. An hour or two to get the heating on, that's good enough for me."

At the terminal James looked towards the camera watching, as he pressed the access tab upon the screen the doors opened without resistance. "Odd..." he said looking at Daniels.

"Be prepared." Daniels said as he gripped his rifle tightly.

They entered and turned left along the atrium, the floors below seemed clean and unused as they looked over the balcony, sweeping their tourches. Pristine and crisp with the coating of frost, a winter wonderland which belayed the horrors of what had happened there. No lights, dark and uninhabited, all was as it had been left.

"Third door on the left, central control." James said as he pointed to the large shimmering doors ahead.

Staying their march Daniels looked at them all in turn. "Morgan, Bryce, Cortez, keep point. James, the door. Dr Cole, stay close to me. Martin, Kitch, Houser, get ready to cover us. We don't know what we may find behind those doors."

Guns poised, positions covered, James worked at the terminal and within seconds the locks clicked and wound. A hiss released the pressure lock and the doors slid open. As the breach widened Martin, Houser and Kitch stepped forth into the gloom, lights searched for life and cold frost replied with loathsome imagery.

Daniels and Dr Cole followed with James. Morgan hit the lighting panel upon the wall. Dimly the lights began to flicker and steadied. Shimmering sugar coated candy monitors and terminals stood, with dusted seating's at their stations. A thermal readout upon the wall read minus one hundred and eleven degrees. Smashing the slender coating of ice off the terminal port, James plugged Betty into it.

"Betty's accessing all controls, sir. We should have full access in twenty seconds." he said as the monitors flickered into life. Whirring of cooling fans broke the silence, and the large towers which housed the processors lit up. "Power coming online, stable source, no fluctuations, all protocols running without problems... We are in!"

"Well done, James. Get the heating on, we'll get to other things soon."

"Heating coming online now, all other systems in queue and booting up as we speak." James replied as he searched the terminal screen for anomilies.

"Chief!" Shouted Bryce. "We got lights out here, looks like something is happening and I don't know what!"

Daniels went to the doors and looked across the presidium, indeed lights were igniting, flickering and dimming, then all went dark again. "James, hows the power doing in there?" He asked as he looked down the sights of his rifle, searching the dark of the presidium.

"Stable, yet... There is a drain surging from an unknown origin. I'm trying to locate it now."

They kept watching as lights pulsed and dimmed across the floors below. Shadows danced their crystallised shimmer in many colours, and once more they illuminated the whole area before going out.

"Sir, there seems to be an offline system, isolated from the mainframe. It has been in constant use since we arrived. It would seem that it has a wireless connection, one that constantly switches it's connections throughout the mainframe. Isolating it and locating the traffic route to the source will be difficult, even for Betty."

"Morgan, Bryce, Cortez, I want you inside, now!" he said returning to the terminal. "Close the doors, James. Keep an eye on our watcher, and their doings. Can you get a comms to the Lander?"

"With this storm? Unsure... Transmission relay not in alignment, accessing controls... Allignment in twenty minuets, sir."

"Good!"

"So now what?" Morgan asked, shouldering his rifle and leaning against the frame of the door.

"We wait until environment control is at full speed, take our lids off, breath the air and recharge our tanks." Kitch replied as he looked around the room.

"About an hour or two, eh?" Morgan said and looked at the control pannel upon his wrist.

"Yeah, wait till the walls start to melt. You know it won't be long then." Kitch replied as he sat upon a desk and drew his knife. Turning it in his hand and watching the glimmering lights in it's reflection.

Power surges continued throughout the complex, beyond the door the lights strained to stay stable, often dimming to a low level. As time passed the atmosphere began to warm, the frost and ice began to slowly melt. Small pools of water gathered upon the floor. Kitch sat and watched as a frozen piece of paper slowly began to droop over the edge of one of the tables. Occasionally a drip of water fell from a corner, until it became a steadily repeated dripping into a small pool.

"Gentlemen, you may remove your helmets. We have a cool, yet comfortable environment." James said breaking the long silence as he looked at the readings. "It would seem that some areas are not responding though. I have made a note of these on the structural map, and will advise as we go."

Daniels unlocked his helmet, twisted the locking ring and slowly lifted it. Breathing in deeply he smiled, and switched his suit to recharge. "Two hours to refill the tanks, then we move. The archives, that's where we'll find answers. Admiral Stevens has a lot of questions."

"What's that?" Kitch pointed with his knife as the screen of a monitor lit up.

James approached it and paused, wiping the moisture off the screen it read "Incoming Message". "Betty, trace the link to its source, send me coordinates." James requested. "Sir, it is pre-recorded."

"Open it..." Daniels said as he stood by James.

Swiping the tab aside, the channel opened. A muffled, pained, almost robotic voice began to speak...

"Welcome to Nilsen Heavy Industries Mars Installation. I am Dr Christopher Samuel... I see you have not heeded my warnings, not to enter this, facility. I did not wish to endanger more lives. Yet, you gave me no choice... I have allowed you to access the environmental controls, though I think it... unwise, unsafe. I believe it's time we met, in person... Come to the Lazarus Complex, I will give you, everything you need."

The terminal switched off and Daniels looked at them all. Kitch sat cutting his knife into the surface of the desk at which he now sat, what thoughts he had, he kept them to himself.

"So, Dr Samuel is alive... James, I want two things from you. Get a transmission to the Dorchester, Admiral Stevens only. Send a recording of Dr Samuel' message, an update of our findings so far, and keep it within Veronica status! Secondly, can we leave Betty here, will she still be accessible to you?"

"Will do, sir! Comms online and stable, storm raging, might take some time to punch it through. As for Betty, the answer is yes, she is part myself, and part... something else."

"What now, Chief?"

"Accept our invitation. Get your Prom dress on, and be polite to the escort, Bryce." Daniels said as his brow lowered.

"Life support only at eighty percent, sir. Do you think we will have enough for the return?" Asked Morgan.

"I believe it will be, though it would be wise to keep recharging the tanks as we go." James piped up. "Commander, I'm connecting to the Lander. Messaging Flight Lieutenant Rogers, sending access codes for Betty. He will have comms with us at all times. Channel twenty one, sir."

"Good call, James. Anything else we should know before we head out to the Lazarus Complex?"

"Nothing more, sir... But that may change as we go." He replied and placed the terminals on standby.

"I want all information, frozen zones, directions and distance."

"It's a steady trek down three levels of the presidium to the airlock, then a short walk along the Skyway." James said.

"The Skyway?" Daniels questioned.

"Yes, a walkway across the Byar Rift, no more than six hundred yards to the entrance of the Clifton Biological Labs. Once within, its a short climb to the fourth level, and the Central Management Department. Wherein, Betty has revealed to me... Dr Samuel's office lies."

"Clifton Biological Labs?" Daniels pondered, rubbing his chin and narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, sir. It is there that all Biological research is carried out. It is the main supplier of food production here at the facility. There is a research and development project which holds focus on Biofuels, efficient food production, and recycled hardware's. In such a harsh environment, it's quite impressive in its results."

"Listen up people!" Daniels called out. "I'm not going to lie to you. We will be going outside once more. There is a walkway of some six hundred yards across a crevice. The storm is building and it shows no sign of calming anytime soon. Keep you guns on standby, the last command stands. We don't know what happened here, and we cannot take chances." He looked at them all in turn. "Gather your tethers and strap them to your harnesses. We leave in ten."

Morgan placed his hand on Kitch's shoulder "Let's go, brother." he said and read what he had etched into the desktop. "Hell on Mars. You could be right!" he said as Kitch rose to leave.

The doors slid open and the dark presidium lay before them, guns on point they filed out in formation. The pulsing lights showed how much the ice and frost had melted, now the lights reflected ghostly images of them in the rippling pools of water as they passed.

"Watch your step, and eyes open." Cortez said as he covered the rear.

They came to the stairs to the lower levels of the presidium and pressed on. The silence of the frozen installation was broken by the dripping of water upon the flooring. A sound which repeated in an orchestral display of a fear renewed. They came to the doorway to the east wing, beyond, the passage to the airlock. The door gave way with ease, James wondered why Dr Samuel was now not opposing their entry. What did he wish to gain from his arrest? A lighter sentence maybe? Who knew?

As they pressed on through the passages the structure creaked and groaned with the expansion. Valves hissed releasing steam, it was all so distant from the frozen breath of deaths icy curse. The doors of the airlock loomed within the dim light and James approached the terminal. "Helmets on and locked." he pressed the screen and the doors slid open, hissing as they widened. "All aboard!" he said as they filed in. The doors closed behind them and he reached for the controls once more. Swiping the tab the security protocol gave the option to open or decline. His hand hovered over the screen.

"Open it, James." Daniels said. And his hand swiped the open tab aside.

The doors ground open taking the atmosphere along with some discarded paper, and the storm revealed itself as the breach widened. Howling winds almost subdued the comms with a roaring voice of anger. Swirling dust shrouded the walkway, visuals were down to less than thirty yards.

"Tether yourselves!" Shouted Daniels. "Dr Cole. Your in the middle, Cortez, Houser and Bryce to the rear. James, Morgan, Martin and myself will lead the way. Keep comms minimal and be aware of the weather."

They tethered themselves together leaving five feet between them, on Daniels orders they left the airlock and made their way to the walkway. This they followed holding onto the railings, often the winds pulled hard and tore them from the holdings. Wavering in the strength of the gusts they stumbled as the laboured to anchor themselves. Each footfall was guided by where the wind would allow them to place their feet. Determination drove them on, a brotherhood of a unit and the faith in their Commander willed them to. But the Devil had other devices to plague them with.

"How much further?" Daniels asked.

"Some fifty yards and we will reach the doors of the complex." James replied. "My uplink may be a little off due to this storm, but I should be quite close to the mark."

"Halt!" Cried Daniels suddenly. "The walkway is gone!"

From the gloom of the dust storm, the broken beams and supports of the walkway twisted dimly before him. Some twenty yards of it was ruined. Cast violently into the deep canyon below. The swirling dust obscured his vision, and his visor was dirty. Wiping his hand across it made little difference as the debris swept past in a broiling fume.

"James, I need your vision!" he called out amidst the howls of the wind.

"Scanning all frequencies, sir." A short moment passed and he answered. "There is a supporting beam, no wider than twelve inches to the left of the walkway. However, in this current state of atmospheric disruption, I would suggest another option. We cannot cross it tethered together. If one fell, we all fall."

"That's what I thought. What's the second option?" He questioned as he gripped the railings to his left, fighting the wrath of the hateful winds.

"I have assessed our situation, Betty has confirmed it, though she has suggested another route, it would seem that we would not make it in time. Your life support would diminish to a level I could not allow."

"So how do we cross it then?" Bryce asked as he pulled himself along the railings from the dusty gloom.

"I have scanned the area and it would seem that we can cross it. There is a supporting structure that will hold our weight one at a time. All I need is your tethering lead. I can use it to bridge the gap. We can clip ourselves to it as a safety line while crawling across the supporting girder to our left."

"Untether now, and clip your harnesses to the railings!" Daniels called out without a second thought.

Without question they unclipped and secured to the railings, while James gathered the tether in his hands and tied a noose like hoop to one end.

"Are you sure?" Questioned Bryce.

"Private Bryce, I am capable of calculating two billion equations a second. I have calculated the distance, the variations in wind speed, and your irritating doubt of me since leaving the Dorchester. If you would like to step back, I will do what I can to cross the breach."

With a swift swing of his arm, the tether was cast into the swirling dust storm, and with a sharp pull, the hoop tightened. James strained to tightly fasten it to the railings. Then he looked at Bryce, and offered him the choice to be first to cross. "I'm confident it will support you, all of you."

"I'm fine, I'll wait!" Bryce said uncomfortably.

Within an hour they had crossed safely, James and Bryce remained upon the walkway. "You're next!" James said.

Bryce unclipped his harness from the rail and approached the tether. As he reached out for it, a sudden gust of wind drew up and took him off his feet. Falling forwards against the beam, franticly scrambling to grip it, and slipping from his grasp he fell into the chasm below. James stood still and did nothing. His Human Protection Protocol was denied. Even as he fell screaming lost to the dust which whipped below, he did nothing, standing upon the walkway without remorse...