The Tundra

Part 2

While Silas and the others gathered samples of the snow for examination at the lab, Poehler and I ventured to the cave and tentatively entered. We found it was slightly warmer than outside due to the lack of windchill. The cave was built of stone and ice, and seemed to burrow into the half-mountain deeper than we had anticipated.

"What is this dimension?" I murmured as we walked into the darkness.

"A universe where Earth suffered another ice age, perhaps," theorized Poehler. "Or this is the aftermath of a nuclear war on American soil."

"I thought this was an alternate reality, not three weeks into the future," I said bitterly. Poehler chuckled, but then stopped abruptly. He held out his arm and halted me, staring directly ahead.

"What is it?" I rasped.

Poehler produced a flashlight from his pocket. He flicked it on and took a painfully slow step forward. I followed his lead.

We were at the end of the cave. Here it was oddly warm- just below room temperature, in fact. The flashlight beam landed on something- a strangely-shaped form crammed into the back of the cave.

"What the..." breathed Poehler. We moved closer, and soon the odd shape came into clearer focus. I felt every cell in my body go completely cold. I stopped breathing.

No... it couldn't be...

Bodies. Dozens of them, stacked in some grotesque pile in the corner of the cave. They were all covered in a thin layer of frost from the infiltrating cold, and they all wore similar- no, identical- orange NASA suits as ours.

"Hernando," gasped the leader. I managed to tear my eyes away from the mass grave of astronauts and see what Poehler saw: etched writing on the cave wall.

I'm sorry, it read. I felt my stomach drop.

The Dorr Expedition may have succeeded in some universes, but not ours, not the others. Not yours. We left bodies by the entrance point, but by the time you arrive they'll probably be buried. This cave is the warmest place for miles. It's a good a place to die as any. -Nicholas Poehler

"What... what does this mean?" cried Poehler, panic creeping into his voice.

Trapped in a horrible trance, I drifted to the pile of dead astronomers. I grabbed one of the bodies and flipped it over. His body was so stiff, so... indifferent. It barely resembled a person anymore, just a thing in a spacesuit.

I wiped frost from the helmet's glass and peered into it. When I realized what I was looking at, I suddenly felt extremely dizzy. I wanted to throw up.

In the background, I heard Silas' voice on Poehler's communication link. It was staticky and panicked.

"Nick! The portal- it- it's gone! I don't know what happened, it just disappeared... our tethers are cut... what's happening in the cave? Nick, what-"

Her voice, along with Poehler's frantic response and the severe whistling of the outside winds, faded into nothingness as I stared at the dead astronaut's face. It was partially decomposed and stuck in a permanent expression of misery, but none of that mattered. It was unmistakable. It was me.