THE SPIRAL
The aurora borealis fluttered overhead, a show for one and all in the cold that seemed to bite bone deep even without a wind. Everyone in camp had trotted outside to watch for a while, the scientists standing around electric heaters and the few soldiers around wood fires in cut-up oil drums. Only a week or two before, it would've been too cold, but winter was ending at last.
Craning her neck to look upwards, Anne stood just outside the prefabricated hut that she shared as living quarters with her team, a mug of hot chocolate in her hand. The green streamers of light made her skin itch. The disappearance happened when there was an aurora overhead, one half of her mind whispered, It's connected, somehow.
The more rational part of her didn't speak so softly. We're in the North West Territories, Anne, it stated with certainty, The aurora is happening all the time here. All that changes is how much you can see it.
She sighed loudly. "You're tired Anne. Flying doesn't agree with you. And quick trips to Ottawa and back is a lot of flying. Twenty hours of cars and airports and cramped seats..." She shuddered, regretting having voiced the memory.
Seeking something else to look at so she could let her neck rest a little, Anne saw a figure moving towards her. The excavation area not fifty steps from the door glowed white in the darkness under the glare of a few floodlights, all the ground covered in fresh snow. He was skirting the edge of the lit area, rifle slung behind his shoulder, his camouflaged cold-protection covering every inch of his body. The soldiers' area was on the other side of the pattern of megaliths, closer to the nearest road.
Anne snorted as she knew exactly who it was. There was only one man who refused to walk on the Spiral. Not without orders, anyway. She remembered the first time he had been commanded onto it, he looked like he was walking on thin ice the whole time.
"Teixeira!" she called with a smile on her lips. One of the soldiers newly posted to the site after the original group were withdrawn, Lucas Marques Teixeira held the rank of master-corporal, whatever that meant. A nice, friendly, fills-out-his-uniform-nicely master-corporal, though Anne didn't have much chance to appreciate it given his uniform was usually under coats and armour. Can't wait for lunch in the mess.
The man waved and pulled his ski-mask down off his face. "Professor!" he called back as he got closer, "I heard you were back."
"I am," she confirmed, as the Sergeant kicked off his snow shoes beside her.
"How was Ottawa?" Teixeira asked, warm hazel eyes looking up in the way which made Anne feel just a little weak-kneed, "You know, I've never been there myself."
Knowing she couldn't discuss much about what she had done in Ottawa, Anne rubbed her neck like it was still hurting from the journey. "Can't say I've seen much of Ottawa myself. I flew in, got dragged to the big shots to speak my piece, flew back. All with a military escort that wouldn't speak to me and wouldn't let me speak to anyone but Doctor Shih."
Teixeira cocked an eyebrow. "Wouldn't speak to you?" he asked mockingly, "Some people have no taste."
"Well, we found some crazy stuff out here," Anne shrugged, "It's going to change the world."
Glancing behind to the lit up area, Teixeira shook his head. "And that's why I don't go near the thing. Don't want to be part of any world changing events, thanks. Well, I half expect to be in a war some time soon. Just keep me away from magic holes that swallow up whole vehicles and let aliens onto the Earth."
Anne's jaw dropped. "Why the hell do you think it's aliens? The whole reason your unit was brought up here was…"
Teixeira flashed a toothy grin, and Anne realised she had just screwed up. Just confirmed everything to him. "Not much makes it past the notice of the First Battalion, ma'am. If those Third Battalion pukes were up here, someone would've found them already."
Anne stared at the man, expecting a better answer. Eventually, his head dropped for a second and then returned upwards to deliver one.
"Your collection of scientists aren't so great at lying. Don't think we missed what's going on in the 'sample hut', did you? We guard the doors from a distance, sure, but your CSIS friends seem to forget we have scopes. You've got a couple of dozen Roswells here at least."
Anne scowled, finding it hard not to lecture him on the importance of secrecy. Not least because she didn't want half her research team arrested for breaking their new confidentiality agreements by accident. Best to say nothing, shouldn't further confirm his ideas by complaining that he knows something.
She made a mental note to call the CSIS Director and arrange something, before he did another something entirely. And now I'm working with military intelligence, God help me.
"Why are you back so early?" Teixeira asked, "Thought you'd be in the capital another few days."
"First Nations leadership need to be shown what we've discovered," Anne said, "There's rumours all over the place that we've found a native site. We need to show them it isn't one before we get accusations of desecration. Luckily, I had the wisdom to bring in the local patrimony experts from the start, so we can crush those rumours once we've got the local politicians caught up."
"So it is aliens," Teixeira smirked.
"I said it isn't First Nations," Anne corrected him, "I didn't say ET."
"You know those politicians will leak this, right?"
Anne grimaced. "No journalist will believe them. None that the public will believe anyway. More likely some accuse us of desecration anyway, that'll get the journalists sniffing around regardless." God, I sound like the Director. His words in my mouth.
"What happens when the CBC shows up with some cameras?"
"We show them some artefacts, show them there's no desecration happening. Tell them the finds are so unique that their value is massive and we got credible threats of looting, so we're protecting the site."
Teixeira laughed, a sound Anne very much liked. "Protect the site with mechanised infantry? They won't believe that, it's overkill. RCMP can do this shit, we've got IFVs. What are they saying we're afraid of, the Chinese gonna airdrop in light tanks?"
"Sure they'll believe," Anne grinned back, "It's all just part of the ongoing northern exercises. Instead of wasting money on driving around pretending, they're using the situation usefully."
His laugh dampening down to a chuckle, Teixeira stood up on the step of the prefab with Anne and looked up at the aurora himself. "All this over Angel Eyes disappearing. Can't say I'm surprised, man has bad luck all around."
Anne blinked. "Angel Eyes?"
Teixeira shifted his weight from side to side, still watching the sky. "Ah, wasn't supposed to mention that… One of the missing guys. The Lieutenant. He used to be with the First Battalion. My company, in fact. His nickname was Angel Eyes."
Anne's brow knitted. "How do you get a nom de guerre like that? Does he have a face like a Hollywood star or…?"
Teixeira stopped aurora-gazing, his mouth thinned. He nodded to and waited for two other soldiers to walk by before answering, out of earshot. "Something like that. I guess you've never seen the Good, the Bad and the Ugly?"
Anne searched her mind for what he was talking about. It took her a minute. "A western?"
Teixeira nodded. "Didn't remember it either until I heard the nickname and asked someone."
A pang of cold hitting her, Anne drank her hot chocolate. Someone had turned off the electric heater. She stood aside to let some of her team inside the building, getting tired nods of greeting as they passed. "So what? What's a western got to do with Lieutenant Duquesne?"
"The movie's about three guys. One good, one bad, one ugly. Angel Eyes is the bad guy."
Anne's eyes widened at that, forcing her eyes to tear up and half-blinding her. She rubbed them with her wrist, almost spilling her drink. Aren't bad guys in westerns really bad? "What did he do to earn that?"
Teixeira frowned. "Sorry Professor, some things have to stay between soldiers. We have a code. The whole thing was dealt with anyway, not for civilians to judge us."
Her mind filled with all sorts of criminal acts, Anne glared at him. He might be easy on the eyes, but he's still military. "A code? An omertà you mean."
Teixeira held up his hands in apology, causing Anne to sigh loudly. She couldn't stay mad at him, who knew what consequences he'd face for speaking out. "Sorry. Not the first time this week I've heard something like 'it's not for civilians to judge us', okay?"
The master-corporal didn't respond, his gaze aimed out over the Spiral, his eyes narrowing. "Jesus, what is that?!" He pointed.
Anne looked for herself, following the line drawn by the pointed finger. There was a figure in the centre of the megaliths; the exact spot where the soldiers went missing. She squinted, not sure what it was, except that it was made of ice and was shaped vaguely like a person. "An ice sculpture? Who put that there?" Annoyance rose like acid in her throat. Who is playing games with my artefact site?
"The thing moved," Teixeira declared, before mumbling into his radio mouthpiece and getting audible chatter back into his helmet.
It moved? Anne frowned, staring at the thing and blinking. The brightness of the lit-up area meant her eyes wouldn't focus quickly enough, and she had left her glasses inside. But as soldiers and CSIS agents began pouring out of the other buildings with their guns, she saw exactly what the Sergeant had; the ice sculpture was a man, with a massive sword. And the man was looking this way and that.
"Stay here," Teixeira said, jumping down off the stairs, stepping back into his snowshoes and flipping his rifle off his back. He began moving towards the Spiral without any of the superstition about being disappeared he had voiced before.
The hell I will stay here, Anne thought, jumping down behind him as he moved off. It was hard going without being able to stand on top of the snow, until the snow was properly dug out over the top of the stones. By the time she caught up with the knot of soldiers seemingly under Teixeira's command, two more groups had formed, catching the figure in the centre of what would no doubt be free fire zones if it made to do anything with the sword.
The figure turned towards Anne and Teixeira briefly, revealing glowing blue eyes and sending a shiver down Anne's spine.
It was shaped like a man but it couldn't possibly be human. As it moved, the light seemed to bend around inside it, like it was passing through clear ice or calm water, before shifting back to whites and blacks. Its outline was that of some kind of ancient warrior, armour and all.
She couldn't identify the culture of origin from its possessions, but military archaeology or history wasn't her speciality by any means. That fact let the rational part of Anne's brain quickly overwhelm whatever fear she was feeling, analysing what she was seeing before her. A new curiosity came to her quickly. It isn't one of the little three-fingered ones, it isn't a sasquatch type either. What is this? Why is it here?
"Copy, will approach and attempt to detain," Teixeira reported over his radio, before turning to his subordinates, "Okay, with me. Safeties off. Don't be afraid to back off if he gets too close with that blade. Everyone else will light him up like it's the First of July." He waved the soldiers with him to follow. Anne tagged along behind them, dancing this way and that to keep her eyes on the figure. It looks like it's made of ice, she thought, unable to stop herself trying to get a closer look, How is that possible?
Together, the troops spread out into a small line, aiming their weapons at the thing. It took the figure a minute to realise it was being approached, but when it did, it took its sword in hand. Teixeira's battle line stopped, some of the men kneeling to get a better shot.
Anne froze, afraid they would start fighting at once. And more afraid the soldiers wouldn't win. A creature made of living ice, would bullets even harm it? She fought back a sudden urge to run away. She had to see this up close.
There was a silent standoff for a moment, until Teixeira spoke. "What the hell do I say to the thing?" he asked, presumably to someone else over the radio. There was more chatter and eventually the master-corporal responded. "Copy."
"You have illegally entered a protected facility of the Canadian Forces!" Teixeira boomed, "Place the sword on the ground! Then step away and kneel, placing your hands on your head!"
The ice figure did nothing, its glowing eyes scanning the line of soldiers, even as Teixeira repeated the order. Anne saw no understanding or recognition there, its gaunt white face not reacting to the words. She knew what she needed to do.
She stepped up beside Teixeira, careful to not get in front of any of the weapons of his subordinates.
"What are you doing?" the master-corporal demanded, seemingly unwilling to drop his weapon's aim on the creature in order to stop her.
Anne ignored him and took one more step towards the ice figure. It gave her its full attention, and she found herself unable to get closer. It looks like it hates me.
Wanting to get what she intended over with, she gestured to the creature, and then mimed throwing away a sword, dropped to her knees onto the light dusting of snow and put her hands on her head. The creature blinked, definitely understanding what she was saying. But it didn't move.
Anne pointed at it again. Come on, do what you were told…
At last, the thing reacted. It lowered its sword and threw its head back, letting out loud laughter that sounded almost like someone crushing ice cubes. There wasn't a person alive that would mistake what it was communicating; mockery.
Teixeira grabbed Anne by the upper arm and dragged her backwards onto her feet and behind the firing line. He gave her a quick apologetic face, before speaking into his radio mouthpiece once more. "It's not obeying, not dropping its weapon… No, I don't think we can grab it without someone getting hurt… Yes, sir, we're clear, nothing behind it but trees… Yes sir, I understand."
Anne watched with horror as the master-corporal raised his weapon once again, and with a tone she had never heard him use before, passed on the command.
"Open fire."
The line of rifles aimed at the ice figure erupted like a volcano, half-deafening Anne, the bullet trails flying through the air and the figure, then into the woods, visibly bouncing off the ground between the trees. The laughing of the ice figure stopped, and it flinched and twitched. Yet it still stood there.
"Cease fire!" Teixeira called out, "Cease fire, cease fire!"
The soldiers stopped shooting, and Anne finally could see things clearly again without the flashing of the weapons. The ice figure had not dropped dead or been shattered by the attack. But it was clearly no longer amused or curious. Its ethereal face curled with what Anne would have guessed was frustration, if it had been a human.
Not responding to his radio, Teixeira crouched briefly, gathering snow up in his gloved hand. Anne watched with amazement as he balled it up into a snowball, and like a baseball pitcher, threw the packed ice straight at the creature. His aim was perfect, and the snowball sailed straight for the thing's chest… and then sailed right on through it.
The ice creature dissolved into nothing, melting into the air like it had never existed at all.
Anne rubbed her eyes, unable to believe what she had just seen.
At last, Teixeira responded to the chatter on his radio. "It was some kind of a projection, sir. It was never really here. We'll debrief, sir."
"What!" Anne half-shouted.
The master corporal leaned close to answer. "Our bullets never hit anything," Teixeira quietly responded to her, "They just flew on by, into the woods."
Anne glanced between him and where the figure had been standing. "But why? What was it doing here then?"
Teixeira frowned. "My guess? Taking a look around. And it didn't like the reception we gave it. That's the one thing keeping me from running for my life. Rifle fire doesn't agree with it."