here. But there was something about this land. Something about this place. It meant more to her than she knew.
And so what if the station was deserted? There were eight fresh bodies here now. They could do this.
She could do this.
Wilkins came up behind her. She felt his hand on her shoulder, even through the thickness of her parka. 'Chief?'
'Yeah.'
'We've got a situation here. We got people looking for a little direction, I think.'
She turned. 'That include you?'
He shrugged. 'I'll back you one hundred percent whatever you want to do, you know that. I didn't sign on to this jaunt to second-guess anyone. Your word is good enough for me.'
'You're a good man, Wilkins.'
'I try.'
She smiled. 'Kendall wants to bail, doesn't he?'
'Kendall's real good at giving the impression he wants to run away from everything. It's bullshit. He'd play the paranoid routine long enough until we got home and then he'd stab you in the back and say you turned tail and ran when you should have stuck it out.'
'How's the rest of the team feel?'
'They've stopped unloading. I think they're waiting for some sort of cue from you.'
'We could go home.'
'Someone'd have to come back down eventually.'
She smiled again. Wilkins had said it. He really did want to stay after all. Inwardly, she felt relieved. She needed her second-in-command to back her. She felt better knowing how he really felt.
'Give me five minutes.'
Wilkins left her. Julia walked the edge of the improvised runway feeling the hard-packed snow crunch further under her boots. The pull yanked at her stomach. Unseen. The way it had always been.
She looked at the base. What had happened to the members of the research station? Everything inside still intact. That ruled out an attack by penguins, she smirked.
But what had happened?
One thing was certain: she wouldn't be able to find the answer to that question if she loaded her team back on the C-130 and headed back to civilization.
The answer was here.
As was the source of the unseen attraction to this continent.
And Julia didn't want to leave either of those questions unanswered. Not now, not after working so hard to get here.
She felt seven pairs of eyes watching her and she turned around. All the men on her team faced her some twenty feet away. She could make out the pilot of the plane having a smoke near the back of it. She walked over to him.
'You heard?'
He exhaled a stream of smoke that vanished in the wind. 'One of your guys says there's no one home.'
'That's right.'
He shrugged. 'You want to come back? Doesn't matter to me. We're heading home anyway.'
'You think we'd be crazy sticking it out here?'
'Nope. Not crazy. Might get a little lonely. Might be a little scary. But you're not crazy.'
'When you get back, you'll tell them what happened down here, won't you? Maybe you can arrange for a fresh team to come down?'
'I can pass the word, sure.'
'We're not really fit to run the station. We were coming down to do adjunct work to their efforts here.'
'I'll bet they have new folks down here within a week. Provided the weather cooperates.' He ground the cigarette butt under his boot and then bent down and retrieved it. 'Which reminds me.' He removed a sheaf of papers from his parka. 'Got the latest weather report here.'
'Bad news?'
'Not for us. For you, maybe.'
'The storm?'
'Be here tonight what they're saying. Going to be a big one, too. You might be snowed in a few days. Or it might pass and leave you unscathed. How's that for accurate forecasting?'
'I've got a meteorologist on the team. The station's got instruments. We can monitor it and see how it hits.'
'What about food?'
Julia frowned. 'You brought some more rations down with you, didn't you?'
'A resupply, yeah.'
'How much?'
'For the station? Ought to last them about a month, until we can get another flight down here.'
'And the station's equipped with an emergency stockpile as well.'
'They've got a greenhouse in there, I hear. They grow some fruits and vegetables, that sort of thing.'
'I think we should be all set for food then.'
The pilot smiled. 'Plenty of water.'
'Yeah.'
'Guess you're staying then.'
'I guess we are.'
'In that case, I'm out of here. I don't want to have to fly into that front. As soon as my chief's got that bird pumped full of gas, we're out of here. I've got a crew to get home safely.' He stuck out a gloved hand. 'Good luck, Miss Devereaux.'
'Thanks. Have a safe flight.'
She turned as the pilot hurried up the ramp and into the plane. Havel came over as she continued to walk.
'We will stay, yes?'
'You want that?'
'It is a long time for me to be wanting to come to this place. Now that I am here, I have no wish to depart so soon.'
'I know the feeling.' Julia waved the rest of her team over. 'Listen up.'
Kendall frowned as he stepped into the circle. 'Bad news, Boss?'
'Not likely, Kendall. Here's the poop: we're staying. If we don't someone else will just have to come down here and sort this whole thing out. We're here, we've got supplies and the expertise to keep things running until we get a fresh team down here.'
Vikorsky cleared his throat. 'What about the mission?'
'The mission profile stays the same. We've just added a few more responsibilities, that's all. If we can get to the bottom of why there seems to be no one around this place, we will. If not, then we won't.'
'Sounds promising,' said Kendall.
'Plane's right there, if you want to back out of this and go home,' said Julia. She waited for Kendall to say something.
He didn't.
Julia took her cue again. 'I'd prefer you stayed, however. I need every one of you and your knowledge. We've got a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it in.'
Kendall bit his lip but said nothing.
'There's more good news,' said Julia. 'We've got a storm heading straight for us that's due to hit within a few hours. It's going to be a big one. That means we need all that equipment and supplies unloaded from the palettes and stored inside the station. Are we clear?'
All of the men nodded. Julia smiled.
