by Diana Abbott and Eric S. Brown

Katrina nodded towards the lift, without saying a word. Jack followed her lead as the two of them crept back towards it. Whether Daniel had finally fully "flipped" from the isolation out here in YMIR base, or there was something unfriendly out there in the snow that had waited until now to show itself, his only thoughts were getting to the armory and finding a damn gun.

As the lift's door closed behind them, Jack let his feelings out. "What the freakin' Hell is going on? That was blood! Human blood from the looks of it."

Katrina stared at the level indictor as the lift continued to sink downwards. "We've got to get
Captain Duncan and the others together. They have to know to know about this. Whatever it is, whether Daniel's hurt or something worse is going on, somebody or something is up there bleeding to death on the surface level of the base."

"Did you have a chance to check the lock's sensor records while you were fiddling with it?" Katrina asked.

"Yeah, I did. I didn't have time to get any detailed info out of it but I got enough to know that it wasn't just one person who came in through that lock. The records showed two life forms inside it when it closed."

Jack stopped the elevator three floors down. “You get the captain and whoever else you can find.
Send them to the armory where I’m going to check on weapons,” he told Katrina. “Don’t use the coms. If Daniel’s flipped, we don’t want him to know what we’re doing.”

“Got it,” Katrina stepped through the doors.

“Oh, Kat,” Jack called, as the doors began to slide closed, “Watch your back.”

Jack cursed himself, as the lift seemed to take eons reaching the bottom floor. He shouldn’t have gotten lax about his weapon. He should have continued enforcing the emergency drills whenever the Surface alarms went off. His list of errors was endless and now they were losing valuable time. Much as he hated that little prick, he didn’t want Daniel to die on his watch.

Before the lift doors had even fully opened, Jack was through them and running back towards the monitoring station and the armory beyond. As he dashed past the monitors, a bizarre image brought him up short. He could see Daniel on one of the Surface floor screens. Something, someone as there were arms, was holding him down. It seemed to be covered in white fur, though the large hands on Daniel’s small shoulders looked human enough.

The creature had its face pressed against Daniel’s neck. As Jack stood transfixed by the screen, Daniel spasmed and all the color drained from his face. Jack reached for the com, “Katrina!” he shouted into it, hoping the scientist had not turned off her headset.

As he waited for a response, the creature rose from its kill and turned towards the camera. When Jack looked at the slightly warped human face, he felt cold to his bones, like he’s just stepped through the doors to the frozen surface. The creature’s ice blue eyes stared into the camera and a blue tongue darted out to lick Daniel’s bright red blood off its frozen lips. Then it turned and loped out of sight.

“Jack?” Katrina crackled hesitantly over the com.

“Get everyone down here now!” he shouted back.

“But you said not to use the…”

“That’s no longer a concern,” he cut her off. “But we’re in trouble. Red alert.”

He quickly punched in the code to put the station on alert. The doors all over the base closed and locked, requiring a security code or key to gain access to any room and the red emergency lights flickered on, warning those out in the halls. Jack stomped into the armory to prepare weapons for
the rest of the crew. As he pulled out the artillery, he mimicked the high-pitched voice of the suit who set up this mission, “What could you possibly need with a whole bank of security monitors? It’s a science expedition, not a military posting! We don’t have the funds to cover all those cameras.”

“God forbid I try to secure my station, do my job,” Jack muttered to himself, loading an M-16. “I’d hate to actually protect someone.”

A loud pounding at the door brought him back to the present.

“Use your code, asshole!” he shouted at the door. But the door didn’t open. Instead Jack stared in horror as Daniel’s shimmering form flowed through the solid steel. The apparition stopped just inside the door and seemed to examine him.

“Daniel?” Jack asked in shock.

“Hello, Jack,” the ghost-thing answered in a voice that’s pitch rose and fell like a fast changing tide.

“I just…You’re dead,” Jack stammered. “I saw that thing kill you.”