Lucas stopped for a moment, turning back toward Simon and Max, who were following two steps behind. With the bright light from his helmet shining right into Simon’s face, he asked, “You mean you have no idea what the fuck is going on down here?”
“Absolutely not,” replied Simon.
“Then how did you bring this amazing vehicle three thousand feet below the ice? How did you possibly escape from the CS-23s?”
“Would you mind?” said Max, referring to the beaming light from Lucas’ helmet that was blinding him.
“Yeah, sorry.” Lucas flipped the light mechanism upward, which illuminated the ceiling of the tunnel.
Simon didn’t really know how to begin. “We were heading to Station 35, thinking that maybe we would find some sort of clue as to where my father had been taken.” He didn’t want to give up too many details-the journal, the message, the coordinates given to him in Corsica. Simple is better, he thought. And safer. “The submersible started to malfunction, and we got lost, only to find ourselves in a long underwater tunnel. It led us to the gigantic dome under the ice.”
Lucas nodded, knowing all too well what Simon was referring to-the submarine drop-off at Fissure 9.
“The next thing we knew, we were being chased by these strange whatever-the-hell-they’re-called, and then you started shooting at us.”
Lucas looked stubborn and embarrassed at the same time. “Well, you looked like new Vector5 tech at first. You understand. But as soon as you showed yourself-”
“-you mean ‘didn’t fire back,’” Max said acidly.
“-then we stopped.”
Max held his hand in front of Simon for a second and interjected, “Before Simon continues, I should ask who the hell you are and what the fuck is going on down here.”
“All right guys.” Lucas picked up the case he had dropped. “Let’s keep on walking before we all freeze. I’ll explain.”
He had barely taken a few steps before the words came out of his mouth. “This is the greatest secret ever kept. We were lucky enough to escape from the people who control it just a few weeks ago, and we’ve been trying to navigate through this maze ever since, hoping to reach the very fissure through which you entered. But we’ve never been able to find it.”
“It wouldn’t matter anyway,” Max said. “All the ocean-to-dome entrances in the Fissure are underwater for a significant portion of their length. You’d need a submersible or gills to escape the continent that way.”
Lucas looked crestfallen. “I know that now,” he said. “Just from what I learned talking to you and glancing at your data-logs. It’s very…disappointing.”
“Escape from what?”
“From here. From the underworld of Antarctica. We escaped from the Vector5 installation after being imprisoned for years, but we never could figure a way off this damn continent, not even during the crazy quarantine evacuation.”
“You keep talking about them-about this ‘Vector5.’ I’ve never even heard of them.”
“Not surprising,” Lucas said. “In fact, I’d be surprised if you had heard of them. I don’t really know their exact origin. They’re a military force, an intelligence-gathering operation, and a global smuggling cartel. They’ve used advanced technology to penetrate thousands of feet through the ice, and they’ve been extracting valuable minerals and resources from Antarctica without anyone’s knowledge for almost twenty years.”
“But that’s impossible,” Simon blustered. “You mean, no one knows this has been going on? With all the satellites, telescopes, and scientific explorations on the continent in the last two decades?”
“If anyone found out, the whole world would turn upside-down.”
“So how did you end up here?” Max asked. “What makes you so special?”
Lucas turned for a quick glance back at Max while he kept on walking. “They still need scientists and technicians. Always will. I was recruited for a legitimate job as a chemical engineer by one of their shell companies and brought to Antarctica to work at one of the topside stations, thinking I was going to assist in a mining robotics research project.” He stopped and swiveled his flashlight left and right, looking for some sort of landmark or signpost. He must have found what he was after; a moment later he turned forty degrees to the left and trudged off, obviously expecting the two men to follow.
“I must have impressed them,” Lucas said. “After three years, I was taken captive and dragged below, where I’ve lived for over eight years. My wife and kids have probably forgotten about me by now. They think I’m dead.”
The last few words pierced Simon like a dull knife. He and Max exchanged a quick glance, both of them realizing how similar Lucas’ story was to Oliver’s.
Simon took a long step forward, clapped a hand on Lucas’ shoulder and pulled at him. “Stop,” he ordered.
Lucas halted without resistance, as if he was expecting it. He turned to face the other two men, his mask unbuckled and blowing warm air again, so at least they could see his pale, haunted eyes.
“Do you know my father?”
Lucas’ smile was as cold as the terrain. “Everyone knows your father, Simon. He’s a very important man to Vector5. One of their prized possessions.”
The response sent chills down Simon’s spine, totally unlike the penetrating cold of the arctic caves. “Have you spoken to him? Can you get a message to him? Where is he?” He wanted to shake the truth out of Lucas. He wanted to know, now!
Lucas put his gloved hands in there air. “I only had one chance to speak to him, and that was months ago,” Lucas said. “Just before we broke out. I tried to convince him to come with us, but…but you know what? He said we’d get free of the prison, but never get off the continent.” His smile grew bitter and dark. “He was exactly fucking right.”
“What did he say? Where-”
“He mentioned your name to me.”
Simon was absolutely stunned. “What?”
“In those few minutes, when he knew we were going to try and escape, he made sure to mention his boy Simon and made me promise to tell you everything if we ever met.”
Max gaped. “I don’t believe it,” he said.
Lucas shrugged inside his well-insulated coat. “Neither do I,” he said. “But here we are.”
“Then what…” Simon began. “Where…?”
“He’s being held in the special facility-the secret one that everyone knows about, almost five thousand feet below where we stand right now. Part of it is secret, though. No one really knows what Vector5 is doing down there, but everyone knows its name: Ground Zero, sometimes called ‘The Nest,’ though I’m not sure why.”
Simon stood stock-still, surrounded by the freezing dark, as Lucas continued.
“That’s where I last saw him, anyway. It was almost a year ago. I and the rest of the guys you saw today had been working on the eastern side of the continent on coring machines that had mysteriously stopped working. We were called in but couldn’t find a thing wrong. That’s when they brought Oliver in-under armed guard, no less-to take a look, since he’s the spook expert.”
“‘Spook expert?’” Max echoed.
“Something weird happens, call Oliver. Somebody sees something scary, or goes crazy, or starts talking about the elder gods eating the earth? Call Oliver.”
He looked past them now, deep into the endless darkness. “Simon, Vector5 is one of the most secretive military forces ever assembled, and the fact that they have created this world is beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. But listen to me carefully-there is something far stranger down here. No one knows anything about it, but your father was brought down here when certain…unexplained things…started to happen at the lower depths. Geophysical anomalies and such. These are just rumors. I’m just an engineer specializing in heavy machinery, so I’ve never been allowed in Central Command, but believe it or not, this is only part of the mystery.”