Calan - The Immortality Paradox

Chapter Fifteen: Storm on Crin Peak, Part One

Date: 361, OA19,655

Location: Crin, E'blanche

Nighttime brought with it another blizzard. Flakes clouded together in the soulless light of a single generator lamp in a ghost town. Alarmingly, the city of Crin had been subjected to another metre of snow in the last couple of days, one and a half on higher ground. Logan's extemporary hut was on the verge of being engulfed, with the external layer of compact ice threatening to burst through his only windows. In spite of its appearance, the hut had served him well on his many shifts. Like the Leonis Chapter, it was resilient and endured the primitive life of survival at all costs.

Logan filtered through the dregs of his eighth hot beverage of the day, the stale grains refusing to dissolve in the flask. It tasted more like mouldy water. He didn't drink it for the taste. A radio receiver in the corner whistled and hissed as it battled for comprehensibility, capturing the odd, incoherent phrasing whenever the storm felt generous. Drilled onto one of the metal wall plates was an artist's impression of Mereclat wallowing in sunshine, a stark difference to the maelstrom outside.

Customers were in short supply due to the inclement conditions, and also in part due to a major contingency of people in the neighbourhood who were part-time residents. Professor Steale's absence was conspicuous, along with a number of those who were employees at the Astronomy Base. There was talk of the government ceasing all operations. Logan's last customer, three long days ago, was a regular who took a daytime jaunt up to a Pyramidale viewpoint during a quiet period of snowfall. Since then, it was only the microbes on his facial hair that kept him company.

He was in the middle of reading his battered copy of Lion in Flames: The Full Account of the Third Mining War, when he heard the unmistakable sound of a shaken gate; harmonising with the wind. 'Blast!' He bemoaned. Placing the book to one side and his unpalatable beverage on a windowsill, he unlocked the hut door and barely had the chance to tug on the handle as it was blown open in the wind. The sound it made as it collided with the hard, metal framework of the building must have alerted the passer-by as the sounds ceased. Logan peered out uncertainly, feeling a little unprotected in his uniform. Through the white haze, a silhouette of a large figure faded in and out of clarity.

'Who's there?', he called out moronically. For some strange reason he hoped that his voice was carried away in the wind.

Unfortunately, the silhouette intensified as the individual approached, footsteps muffled. They were almost a foot taller than Logan, wrapped in innumerable layers of clothing as if they'd dressed in everything they owned. It took three consecutive evaluations to realise that they were not amorphous in shape. A broad, black-clad arm was stretched to one side and a gloved hand grasped around a nondescript cane. It made deep impressions in the snow as they crossed the street. Logan could distinctly hear them breathing like a strained machine - either the altitude or their unwise choice of attire was to blame.

'Stop right there.' Why do I always get lumbered with the strange characters? Authority never came easily to Logan. Alone, and confronted with a faceless individual in a bitterly cold snowstorm did nothing to bolster his confidence. He held out a splayed hand as a gesture of warning. Mercifully, the individual stopped. Reaching up, they removed the snood partially obscuring their face. Logan hadn't a clue what he'd expected to find underneath, but he was simply happy to see a mouth and nose.

'I had not expected to find persons so far up the valley in weather such as this.' The stranger's accent and cadence were foreign; unlike any Logan had heard before. More syllables than necessary. Even in the relentless whistling of the wind it sounded mildly patronising. What was blatantly obvious was their antagonism towards the weather; they were not remotely used to the climate.