YMIR

Daniel wore layer upon layer of clothing, and fur trimmed the outer edges of the hood of his parka, sticking out in tuffs around the cloth and goggles covering his face. He looked down at the sprawling patch of newly formed ice in the otherwise solid sea of snow that stretched in all directions around him. In the ice’s center, rested the charred remains of what looked like a man.

Daniel knew it could only be Simpson. He and the scientist were the only two base personnel cleared to be outside today. Daniel shook his head as if trying to wake up from a nightmare. Whatever had fried Simpson had melted the snow so much that his remains now rested at least six or seven feet down inside the ice. Daniel didn’t even consider taking the time to raise anyone on the com. unit in his gear. When he snapped out the shock of his discovery, he turned and
ran back towards the base. His heart pounded inside his chest like a sledgehammer as he fought his way across the snow.

Deep in the bowels of the YMIR base, Jack reclined in his chair at the monitoring station. His feet propped comfortably on the control panel and a half drunk beer rested in his lap. Beads of sweat dripped from his skin soaking his tank top and shorts as Jimmy Buffet's voice echoed inside the room. Jack nearly spilt his beer as the room's lights switched to a dim red and the control panel lit up like the fourth of July.

"Shit!" he cursed, jerking himself upright in his seat as he slid over to the control station. The base's alarm klaxon blared. He slammed it off. Five levels above him, someone had just crashed the party. Someone had entered YMIR not only unscheduled but also over-riding the surface door's protocols in a big hurry. Jack clicked open the internal intercom channel to inform the rest of the crew and swore that if Daniel was jerking his chain again; he'd take the
damn sergeant out and shoot him himself.

"What the fuck, Daniel?" Jack shouted over the com. "What is it this time? Snow monkeys?"

Jack didn't even bother to hide the sarcasm in his voice. Daniel was just too jumpy to be stationed on YMIR. He should have been kept on some holiday planet guarding tourists. But he'd pissed someone off and gotten sent to this frozen wasteland where he needed to work as a team, and Daniel was just not team material.

Jack felt himself getting more and more angry as he jabbed the elevator button repeatedly.
"Piece of shit lift," he cursed it, jamming the "up" button one last time.

"You have to be gentle with it," Katrina's soft British accent cut through his thoughts as she stroked one manicured thumb across the button. The elevator chimed happily and opened its doors.

Jack glared at her as he stepped inside and wondered briefly how the science leader managed to keep up her polished exterior when the rest of the station had long ago given into the grunge look. Katrina turned to him as the doors closed and the lift began heaving itself up the five floors to the surface door. "What do you think it is this time?" she asked.

"That fool probably saw his own shadow and came crying home to Daddy," Jack answered, the anger rising in him again.

About once a week, Daniel set off the alarms by overriding the surface doors with some ridiculous
excuse. He'd seen abominable snowmen, something was chasing him, blah, blah, blah. The rest of the base staff laughed it off, but Jack had long ago ceased to find it amusing. Each time Daniel broke protocol, Jack had to fill out pages of reports and properly reset the security system. He'd toyed with the idea of resetting the codes and not telling Daniel, but his fear of Captain Duncan held him back.

"I haven't been able to reach Simpson," Katrina broke in on his thoughts again. “Something could really be wrong this time."

"We'll see," Jack grunted as the elevator doors dinged open on the first floor.

Jack hurried over to the surface Door’s security panel, attempting to reset the alarms. It was Katrina who noticed the blood. Red streaks of frozen liquid smeared the interior of the lock leading to the Surface and a trail of still fluid redness led away from the entranceway into the base proper.

Katrina took hold of Jack's arm pulling him away from the controls with which he was working. He started to say something nasty before he saw her face and realized something was terribly wrong. He eyes darted to the blood around them. His hand instinctively reached for the sidearm he was supposed to carry at all times, being the base's security officer. His hand met the empty space where his holster used to be. As no indigenous life had ever been encountered on this stinking ball of ice and the base's crew never had any serious problems amongst themselves, Jack had long ago given up carrying a weapon.