Prey

She turned. His blue eyes bore into her. "Yes?"

"You ready to go inside?"

She nodded. But the only place she wanted to go was to the mountains over the horizon.

4

Julia thanked her guardian angels for including Wilkins on the trip. As soon as they got inside he stood right behind Julia. She could feel his strength and warmth behind her and it lent her the stability she felt she needed.

"Vikorsky's gone missing. We're going to find him."

Kendall's predictable frown stood out among their faces. "How are you planning on doing that? Remember, the other crew vanished without a trace."

"We're not discussing my memory," said Julia. "The others disappeared before we got here. There's not much we can do about that right now. What I'm concerned about is Vikorsky. He was here with us last night." She glanced around again. "Did anyone see him after we went to bed last night?"

Mick spoke up. "Just what I told you a few minutes ago."

"What was that?" asked Kendall.

"Mick heard some noises down by the greenhouse, apparently," said Julia. "It was late, he was tired and didn't investigate. It doesn't help us much."

Kendall peered at Mick. "How come you didn't check it out?"

Mick stared back at him. Julia marveled at his stony expression. "I was tired. I wanted to sleep. Besides, it might have just been a strong gust of wind."

"It might have been Vikorsky pleading for help, too."

Wilkins cleared his throat. "I don't think we're accomplishing anything debating what might have happened."

Julia nodded. "We'll search in pairs."

"We're not an even number, anymore," said Kendall.

"Wilkins, Mick and I will search as one group. The rest of you can pair up. We'll take the greenhouse. Everyone grab some radios out of communications and we'll stay in touch that way."

"Does this mean we aren't going out today?"

Julia looked at Kendall. "I think we'd all agree that our first priority is to see if Vikorsky is still here. If he hasn't vanished, he might be hurt."

"And if we don't find him?"

"We'll go out tomorrow. Weather report says there's another batch of snow headed our way."

Kendall sighed. "This is turning into one helluva trip."

Julia smiled. "You can always start for home, Kendall. Provided you don't mind walking and swimming."

Kendall frowned and walked out of the room followed by Darren. Julia turned to Wilkins and Mick. "You guys ready?"

Wilkins held up a walkie-talkie. "Already grabbed a radio on the way in. Let's go."

He led them down the cylindrical corridor. Overhead, an extensive array of ductwork funneled heat throughout the station. Julia felt like she was walking down a long series of tubes. Behind her, she heard Mick chuckle.

"I feel like I'm in a habitrail."

At the next intersection, Wilkins bore right. Julia could see the heavy door ahead that kept the greenhouse warmer and more humid than the rest of the complex. Wilkins punched the open button and they stepped inside.

A wave of sticky heat enveloped them.

"Sauna City," said Mick.

"Has to be this way," said Julia. "The vegetables and plants do best in this kind of weather."

"What exactly do they grow here?"

Wilkins moved off from them, already poking among the tall stalks of green that sprouted up from the floor. Julia inhaled the scent of produce. She could pick out the rich scent of soil, the delicate fragrance of flowering buds and an almost ethereal quality to the air.

"The greenhouse grows everything from carrots and potatoes to onions, tomatoes, and broccoli."

"I hate broccoli," said Mick.

Julia could see Wilkins ahead some ten feet. "Anything up there?"

Wilkins looked up. "Not a damned thing."

"What exactly did you hear last night?" Julia looked at Mick.

He frowned. "Wish I was more awake. It sounded like it might have been a thud or something. I mean, there was nothing especially exciting about it. If it had sounded unusual, I would have come down."

"Well, let's see if there's anything here." She turned right and moved down the narrow walkway. She heard Mick fade off the other direction.

The greenhouse itself was forty feet by forty feet. Julia's direction took her toward the leafy stalks of plants the station used in horticultural research. She didn't recognize the varieties, but knew the station had been attempting to study soil conditions hundreds of feet below the surface. One of the scientists apparently believed the conditions would be extremely fertile. The plants had been flown in to test their ability to grow in soil samples retrieved through deep-boring efforts.

From the look of it, they seemed to be doing well.

Indeed, as Julia stooped lower to check in and among the plants, the stems seemed to loom larger around her, almost closing in and shutting out the sunlight that filtered in through the opaque heavy duty roof.

Julia sighed, hoping she wouldn't find Vikorsky's body down in the dirt and among the plants.

At the same time, she longed to hear the crackle of the radio informing her that Vikorsky had been found — alive and perfectly safe.

But she only heard quiet.