Chapter One – Safe Haven

The Amundsen-Scott research station, originally established to study the geophysics of the Earth's polar regions, had far outgrown its original purpose. Years ago, the site had fallen into disrepair and was, for the most part; abandoned until very recently. A new investor had stepped in and provided fresh perspective and financial backing for the site, essentially saving it from demise mere hours before the decommissioning deadline set by the National Science Foundation. As a result of extensive modernisation and upscaling, the name was the only remaining connection it had with the original site that once stood in the same location. Named in honour of Norwegian Roald Amundsen and Englishman Robert F. Scott, who led separate teams that raced to become the first to the South Pole in the early 1900s; the site had become the staging area for the practical application of myriad scientific disciplines. The compound jutted out of the polar landscape and stretched out for a mile in all directions; a sprawling metropolis filled with eager minds and, for the most part; good intentions. The new investors allowed the researchers to continue with their pursuits relatively unhindered, all they asked was that they were kept in the loop on progress and, if appropriate; given an honourable mention should the work yield any significant findings. One of the more extravagant additions to the site had been the construction of a row of "smart" helicopter landing bays that utilised the bleeding-edge "Optical Docking and Intelligent Navigation" system, or ODIN for short. Since the deployment of the ODIN system, all take-off and landing functions of the site's helicopter fleet had been fully automated. The powerful machine learning routines employed by ODIN had seen a vast drop in reported collisions and incidents. The system was even capable of confidently plotting landing patterns during white-out storms, landing the helicopters with inch-perfect precision. The main source of pride for the ODIN system came from the fact that it was developed by a research team operating out of this very station.

One of the smart bays began to rotate. Landing lights burst into life, sending crisp blue shafts into the darkening sky, illuminating the thick snowy mist, lending them an eerie quality. On the approaching helicopter, a small screen was suddenly filed with an image containing three interlocked triangles; this was the Valknut, or "Welcome of ODIN". The symbol had been adopted by the developers of the ODIN system. In mythology, it was believed that the Valknut was used by ODIN to guide fallen Norse warriors to Valhalla, it seemed fitting to use it as the logo for their very own ODIN.

The pilot of the helicopter regarded the new symbol on the screen turned slightly to face his co-pilot, "ODIN sees us. On final approach now."

"You know you can let go of the controls now, right?"

The pilot smiled, "Sure. I'd just prefer to be here in case."

"Statistically, ODIN's a better pilot than you. The numbers speak for themselves"

"I just don't want to entrust our safety to a toaster"

"A 25 million pound toaster?"

The pilot laughed with faked derision "Still a toaster". He knew there was no real danger, it was purely force of habit. If a situation arose that ODIN couldn't out-manoeuvre, he sure as shit wasn't going to be able to do much about it either. He keyed the mic on his headset, "We have our bay and we're prepped to land." He thought for a moment and then keyed his mic again, "I've run out of things to do up front. Anyone need help doing their jobs?"

The medic tending to Kristanna glanced at his colleagues and tapped his own mic, "Shelley, this is Erik. We've pretty much got everything covered, but feel free to come see the masters at work." Erik laughed to himself and reviewed the vitals for the prone and now unconscious survivors. Kristanna was stable, but by no means out of the woods. He keyed his mic again, "Shelley, can you prep a medical dust off? I want to limit my patient's exposure."

"Sure thing. Flipping the switch now."

The helicopter gracefully hovered above the helipad, its landing lights matching perfectly with the beams of brilliant blue emanating from the ground. The screen in the helicopter began flashing a new message as it began its meticulous landing sequence. It was mere moments before the helicopter kissed the surface of the pad and the side door slid open. The pad was littered with gurneys and medical staff. With a rehearsed precision, Kristanna and Sverre were gently bundled onto the gurneys and covered with further thermal sheeting and hooked up to various small pieces of machinery. Erik slid from the side door and approached the nearest member of the medical response team, "Patient 1 is a female, estimated in her 30s. Hypothermic and confused. She's sedated. Patient 2 is male. Maybe 40s. Big guy. Took quite a lot to sedate, but he's under. No obvious conditions; but seemed slightly confused when we found him."

The medic nodded and herded the team down the ramp leading to the infirmary block. Erik watched as the gurneys disappeared into the giant loading doors at the end of the ramp. "Right. Time to get drunk."

"Need a hand with that?" Shelley swung his legs out of the pilot-side door and hopped to the ground. Nodding in acknowledgement as the co-pilot made his way into the base's main entrance.

Erik stared off into the distance before glancing at Shelley through the corner of his eyes. "Sure do."

The infirmary could only be described as "sterile". Every inch of the room was brilliant white and spotless. The air smelled of disinfectant and cleanliness. A tall thin nurse busied himself around Kristanna's bed. He hummed an indistinct tune as he read from her chart and compared it to the readings on the monitor that sat beside her bed. This activity caused Kristanna to stir. "W-where?" she fought against the burn of her sore and dry throat. As she formed the word, she could feel the skin of her lips begin to split.

"Just a sec", the nurse lifted the head section of the bed and held a small cup of water in front of Kristanna's mouth. She carefully took a tentative sip. The water burned as it coated her lips and skid down her throat. Before long, the burning was replaced with a feeling of relief. She took another, larger sip. The water felt like nectar from the gods as she swallowed.

Though still sore, she tried again, "Where?" she whispered.

"You're in the infirmary. You should be okay now that you're less. Y'know, frozen?"

Exhausted, Kristanna let her head lol to one side. As began to regain her senses, her eyes focussed on a disk containing several vials containing blood. Her blood. "Please. Can you? Can you do something? For me?"

"Sure" purred the nurse using an overly practiced tone that he believed constituted good bedside manner.

"My blood. Take some more."

The nurse lifted the vials to the light, "I think we have all that we need."

"Please. I need to check something. An infection"

The nurse eyed Kristanna with incredulity, but seeing the look of concern on her face, decided to humour her. "What sort of infection? We can add it to the test form for these samples."

"We can test it now. Pour some of the blood out of the vials. Just a drop is all."

The nurse reluctantly unscrewed the cap off the vial and spilt a small drop of blood into the cap. "Now what?"

"Burn it. Get something hot. And burn it." Kristanna gestured to a cauterising wand on a nearby trolley. "Use that."

"You know how weird this is, right?" he questioned as he powered on the wand. The tip glowing bright red. He slowly raised the cap of the vial and dipped the tip of the wand into the small drop of blood. A hiss emanated from the cap and small steam vapours rose from within. "Okay. We now have burned blood. Is that relevant?"

Kristanna sighed with relief. She wasn't infected. Then she remembered. "The other survivor. Sverre. Where is he?"

"He's safe. Recuperating next door."

Kristanna began to roll from the bed, causing the cannula attached to her wrist to jolt and sending sparks of pain through her arm. With a gasp, she pulled out the cannula and rolled onto the floor. Rising to her feet took every ounce of strength she could muster. Grabbing onto a portable IV stand, hoisted herself upright.

"What on Earth are you doing?" The nurse bellowed as he attempted to return her to her bed.

"Need to find Sverre. Might be too late." She made for the door, causing a second IV line to pull tight and the attached canula to yank violently in her other arm. The resulting pain causing Kristanna to yelp and drop to the floor. The exhaustion and pain were taking their toll on her fatigued body. Sobbing, and curled into a foetal position, her vision began to narrow, and darkness enveloped her. The nurse carefully scooped her up and placed her back onto her bed, deftly reattaching the various leads and replacing the now bent cannulas in her arms.

"Look. If seeing your friend is that urgent, at least let me prep you for a wheelchair. At least then, you won't have to rupture blood vessels every time you want to go anywhere." The nurse smiled in an attempt to provide reassurance. It didn't work.

In the next room, Sverre sat upright in his own hospital bed, his arm outstretched. He winced slightly as a needle punctured his skin, pushing its way into a waiting vein. "Jesus. That stings." He glanced around the room; various beds lined the walls with slumbering occupants. This was some sort of medical ward. He returned his attention to the nurse and with a wry smile quipped "Do you have to be so rough? I've been through it, you know?"

The nurse performing the procedure snorted, "But you're so big. Surely you won't let something as minor as this bother you?" As the needle found its target, blood began to fill the vial attached to the end. The nurse, much like the one in the other room; was tall and thin. Not thin enough to be called gaunt, but lean and almost androgynous in build. To the untrained eye, other than the colour of their hair, it would be near impossible to tell the two apart. Instead of the thick black hair of his counterpart in Kristanna's room, this nurse had a short crop of blonde hair fashioned into a military-esque buzz cut. The nurse carefully removed the now full vial and scribbled furiously on the label before placing it on a trolley next to the bed. Sverre gazed over the trolley. Rows of small bowls sat in uniform ranks on three shelves, each one containing vials of blood from the patients that lay sleeping in the ward. "That from everyone here? Is it your lunch?"

The nurse smiled, "Nah, I like to keep some aside for snacking. Lunch will happen when you least expect it."

With a clatter, the twin doors of the ward burst open, causing the nurse to spin and face the source of the sound. "Will you please be careful? Oh, looks like you have a visitor. How nice."

Kristanna trundled through the doors sat in a wheelchair adorned with IV bags. On her lap sat the cauterising wand. Sverre grinned, his eyes lit up at the sight of Kristanna. "You made it. They haven't told me much about what happened to you out there. Where's Morris? Is he round here too? I'd love to see that shithead about now."

Kristanna stared blankly at Sverre, not wanting to give away an inch of emotion, "Morris didn't make it. He died saving me."

"Oh. I…"

"You don't need to say anything. I know how close you two were."

"Did he suffer? You know, at the end?"

"I don't think so. But he went out on his own terms."

"Well. That's something I guess." Sverre slumped back against his pillows. "Oh god. His wife. She needs to know."

"I'll take care of it later. But right now, there's something else I need to do." Kristanna wheeled herself beside Sverre's bed and grabbed the oxygen line. With a deft flick, she switched on the cauterising wand and held it in front of the line.

"Krissy. What the fuck?"

"Back at the outpost. When we were escaping. We got cornered by that blue haired thing. You got between us and it. You helped us get out of there."

"Right? I did! So why are you doing this?"

"We heard you scream. We heard you die."

"You heard!? Do you hear yourself now?" Sverre raised his hands in frustration.

"That thing was infected. It got to you. You're one of those fuckers now!"

"That's not right. I fought with it, that part is true. It pinned me and I ended up with a fist-sized hole in my side." He lifted his shirt to reveal significant amounts of stitching across his torso. "It was going to kill me, then it saw the other one. The one with the armour, so it left me."

"I don't believe you. And even if it did, you said it yourself. It cut you. You know just as well as I do, it only takes a cell to infect you."

Both nurses were now attempting to edge their way in between Sverre and Kristanna. Their attempts to pacify went unheeded.

"I don't know what to tell you. I'm still me."

Kristanna's nurse finally caught their attention, "Kristanna. That test you did earlier. The one with your blood? Is that related to this?"

Kristanna raised the wand closer to the oxygen line. "That's what you need to do. If you're really who you say you are, that'll prove it."

Sverre sighed, "prove what?"

"Remember? In the holding cells? The blood tests?"

"How could I forget? Am I supposed to have completely forgotten about having to torch my own fucking brother?" Sverre anxiously rubbed his palms against his face, causing his cheeks to turn bright red. "Fine. Alright. I'm not too happy about being cut on again, but if that's what it will take."

Sverre's nurse grabbed the vial of blood from the bowl marked "Sverre" and tossed it to Kristanna, "I'm not having you cutting or otherwise harming my patient. If you're so set on this and you really need his blood, here. I just drew this from him five minutes ago."

Kristanna gazed at the thick red liquid in the vial. This much infected tissue alone wouldn't be strong enough to overpower a person, but she would need to be wary. As soon as he was exposed, Sverre could easily kill her and everyone else in the room within mere minutes. Carefully, she removed the cap from the vial and poured a small drop into the cap. Keeping Sverre in her eyeline, slowly she lowered the cauterising wand into the cap. Steam rose from the cap along with a hiss as the wand touched the small drop of blood.

Sverre clenched his fists and bit at his lip as Kristanna stared in disbelief, "You see? Satisfied? You. Nurse. Did she do the same test just now?"

Kristanna's nurse nodded nervously

Sverre leaned in to Kristanna's personal space, "I get it. I get why you needed to check. I'm sure we'll get through this together. But it doesn't change the fact that I just found out that along with my brother, I just lost my best friend. So, for now, if you don't mind. I want you to leave me the fuck alone."