Ice Station

smiling.

The two of them came to the outer perimeter of the station, where they found Montana standing on the skirt of one of the Marine hovercrafts. The hovercraft was facing out from the station complex.

It was dark?that eerie eternal twilight of winter at the poles?and through the driving snow Schofield could just make out the vast flat expanse of land stretching out in front of the stationary hovercraft. The horizon glowed dark orange

Behind Montana, on the roof of the hovercraft, Schofielc saw the hovercraft's range finder. It looked like a long-barreled gun mounted on a revolving turret, and it swept from side to side in a slow 180-degree arc. It moved slowly, taking about thirty seconds to make a complete sweep from left to right before beginning the return journey.

'I set them just like you said,' Montana said, stepping down from the skirt so that he stood in front of Schofield 'The other LCAC is at the southeast corner.' LCAC was the official name for a Marine hovercraft. It stood for 'Landing Craft?Air Cushioned.' Montana was a stickler for formalities.

Schofield nodded. 'Good.'

Positioned as they were, the range finders on the hovercrafts now covered the entire landward approach to Wilkes Ice Station. With a range of over fifty miles, Schofield and his team would know well in advance if anybody was heading toward the station.

'Have you got a portable screen?' Schofield asked Montana.

'Right here.' Montana offered Schofield a portable viewscreen that displayed the results of the range finders' sweeps.

It looked like a miniature TV with a handle on the left-hand side. On the screen, two thin green lines clocked slowly back and forth like a pair of windscreen wipers. As soon as an object crossed the range finders' beams, a blinking red dot would appear on the screen and the object's vital statistics would appear in a small box at the bottom of the screen.

'All right,' Schofield said. 'I think we're all set. I think it's time we found out what's down in that cave.'

The trudge back to the main building took about five minutes. Schofield, Sarah, and Montana walked quickly through the falling snow. As they walked, Schofield told Sarah and Montana about his plans for the cave.

First of all, he wanted to verify the existence of the spacecraft itself. At this stage, there was no proof that anything was down there at all. All they had was the report of a single scientist from Wilkes who was himself now probably dead. Who knew what he had seen? That he had also been attacked soon after his sighting of the spacecraft?by enemies unknown?was another question that Schofield wanted answered.

There was a third reason, however, for sending a small team down to the cave. A reason that Schofield didn't mention to Sarah or Montana.

If anyone else did happen to make a play for the station?especially in the next few hours when the Marines were at their most vulnerable?and if they also managed to overcome what was left of Schofield's unit up in the station proper, then a second team stationed down in the cave might be able to provide an effective last line of defense.

For if the only entrance to the cave was by way of an underwater ice tunnel, then anybody wanting to penetrate it would have to get there by an underwater approach. Covert incursionary forces hate underwater approaches and for good reason: you never know what's waiting for you above the surface. The way Schofield saw it, a small team already stationed inside the cave would be able to pick off an enemy force, one by one, as they broke the surface.

Schofield, Sarah, and Montana came to the main entrance of the station. They trudged down the rampway and headed inside.

Schofield stepped onto the A-deck catwalk and immediately headed for the dining room. Rebound should have been back there by now?with Champion?and Schofield wanted to see if the French doctor had anything to say about Samurai's condition.

Schofield came to the dining room door and stepped inside.

He immediately saw Rebound and Champion standing at the table on which Samurai lay.

Both men looked up quickly as Schofield entered, their eyes wide as saucers. They looked like thieves caught with their hands in the till, caught in the middle of some illegal act.

There was a short silence.

And then Rebound said, 'Sir. Samurai's dead.'

Schofield frowned. He had known Samurai's condition was critical and that death was a possibility, but the way Rebound said it was?

Rebound stepped forward and spoke seriously. 'Sir, he was dead when we got here. And the doc here says he didn't die from his injuries. He says ... he says it looks like Samurai was suffocated.'

Pete Cameron was sitting in his car in the middle of the SETI parking lot. The searing desert sun beat down on him. Cameron pulled out his cellular and called Alison in D.C.

'How was it?' she asked.

'Riveting,' he said, flicking through his notes of the SETI recording.

'Anything to go on?'

'Not really. Looks like they got a few words off a spy satellite, but it's all Greek to me.'

'Did you write any of it down this time?'

Cameron looked at his notes.

'Yes, dear,' he said. 'But I'm not so sure it's worth anything.'

'Tell me anyway,' Alison said.

'All right,' Cameron said, looking down at his notes.

COPY 134625

CONTACT LOST?> IONOSPHERIC DISTURB.

FORWARD TEAM

SCARECROW

-66.5

SOLAR FLARE DISRUPT. RADIO

115, 20 MINS, 12 SECS EAST

HOW GET THERE SO?SECONDARY TEAM EN

ROUTE

Cameron read his notes aloud for her, word for word, substituting English for his own shorthand symbols.

'That's it?' Alison said when he was finished. 'That's all?'

'That's it.'

'Not much to go on.'

'That's what I thought,' Cameron said.

'Leave it with me,' Alison said. 'Where are you off to now?'

Cameron plucked a small white card off his dashboard. It was almost covered over by Post-its. It was a business card.

ANDREW WILCOX

Gunsmith

14 Newbury St, Lake Arthur, NM

Cameron said, 'I thought that since I was down here in the Tumbleweed State, I'd check out the mysterious Mr. Wilcox.'

'The mailbox guy?'

'Yeah, the mailbox guy.'