Ice Cold

Day 2

        Mardon blinked, trying to see in the gloomy room. The rack he slept on was only one step up from the floor. Barely. It had been two hours since he was finally able to lay down, and he had not slept at all. This was going to be a rough day. He rolled over and put his feet on the floor. The chill shot through his bare feet. With a grunt, he lifted himself.

         The room was already empty, or had been empty to begin with. Mardon couldn't remember anyone coming in throughout the night, and didn't check if anyone was there to begin with. It was a large berthing, after all. This base had been built for a larger contingent, but was never filled to capacity. Mardon dressed quickly and left.

***

         The mess was as full as yesterday, but with a different assortment of people. Grace sat with Kevin and Megan, Chris sat alone now, Captain Offal was gone, but Will sat in his place. He looked pitiful, head down on the table, the bowl of..."White food"... sitting untouched nearby. Mardon walked by him on his way to the Machine, and patted him on the back, offering him a half smile. Will looked up, a pained expression on his face.

         Mardon grabbed a bowl and filled it, before joining Grace and the others. He gestured at the soupy white stuff.

         "Grits?" He suggested. The others were staring at him intently. He sighed.

         "Are we getting invaded?" Kevin asked bluntly. Mardon looked around the mess once more. Offal was probably on the radio now. He returned his eyes to the others, shook his head and shrugged.

         "Dunno." there was a collective sigh from the others. Chris stood up and crossed the mess to sit with them. Eventually Will joined them. This would look bad if Offal walked in now. With a rough noise, Mardon cleared his throat. "Look. We got one word. Only one. It doesn't mean anything right now."

         "That's Bullshit." Kevin said simply. Grace put her hand on his arm, but he didn't need it.

         "No." Mardon shook his head. "Even a word as strong as 'Invasion' means nothing without context." He put his spoon into the bowl and lifted some to take a bite, then reconsidered. "We don't know what they meant. Are we being invaded? Them? Are we doing the invading? We literally know nothing." He paused. A deep breath and a long moment later he spoke quietly but with enough meaning to catch their attention. "We will have our answer tomorrow."

         The words hung between them, weighty. Especially considering who had imparted them. Finally, Mardon took a spoon full of the food and put it in his mouth.

***

         The small radio room was the only warm room on the entire base, due, in part, to the amount of electronic equipment crammed into it. Mardon stepped in and embraced the warmth. Offal was staring at the screen, sullen expression saying all Mardon would need to know. He pulled up a chair and sat next to him.

         "Nothing new." Offal said through gritted teeth. Mardon nodded in response. There was a pregnant silence as he tried to decide how best to tell Offal.

         "Well." Mardon began.

         "Everyone knows." Offal finished. Mardon tried not to be surprised, but it showed on his face. "I'm not as dumb as people may think I am." The way he said "People" translated easily in Mardon's mind.

         "Never thought you were." Mardon lied. Offal turned to look at him. There was a minor hint of anger behind his eyes, but the predominant emotion was one that Mardon knew far too well. Times like this, facing the unknown, fear was expected. Especially in someone who had never served in a combat role. Offal relaxed at his passive look.

         "The men respect you. More than they respect me." Offal turned back to the screen. The blinking icon taunted him.

         "Sir?" Mardon said. Offal replied with a grunt. "This your first command?" Another silence, longer than the last. Finally, he nodded. Mardon nodded with him. He cleared his throat. "The men respect me because I have experience. Both in leadership and in combat. You are an unknown. The only thing we know about you..." He trailed off, gauging Offal's reaction. He was laughing silently.

         "It's true, you know?" Offal turned back. "The story. Everything is true." He shook his head in disgust, though Mardon wasn't sure who he was disgusted with. "It wasn't my mom's fault... well, I guess it was. She was just trying to stick up for me. When she called the commander that day, she just wanted them to stop making fun of me." He chuckled again. Mardon sat patiently waiting for him to finish the story. "'Stop makin' fun of my boy's name' she said. I didn't know what to expect when the commander made that announcement. When..." His turn to trail off. "I'm not proud of what I did. But thinking about all of those men laughing at me on the mess, and the commander's voice just echoing in my mind. I barely even remember getting up and walking to his office. But...boy I remember the sound of my fists pounding against his face. Sometimes I was sure it was my mom, others I saw my childhood bullies."

         Behind every story, there was a human who had lived it. Mardon knew that as stories spread they grew. Given he had heard everything from "Offal killed his CO." to "Offal turned a rifle on everyone in the mess" He wasn't sure what to believe. It was always good to hear it from the horse's mouth. For a moment, he wondered how big his own story had grown.

         "When I finally came to my senses, I was pinned to the ground. The MP made sure I wouldn't be able to hit anymore, my hand was broken. Didn't even feel it till the next day. Next came the trial, and technically the commander was at fault. But I had ruined my career and they sent me here to forget about me." Offal finished his story with a sniff.

         Mardon let the silence descend. There was nothing to say. It took an adult to accept their responsibility, and Mardon could tell Offal saw himself as guilty. How long had he served here? Offal had been here when Mardon first arrived, but that hadn't been long ago. Less than a year. He was a Captain now, so he had been in for a while. Not as long as Mardon had been, but still a respectable amount of time.

***

         There was one area of the base that couldn't be entered without a suit, the hanger. This suit wasn't like the armor for watch. In some ways it was better, in others it was worse. For one, it was much lighter. Mardon moved around the hanger with ease. But what it made up in freedom, it lacked in defense. It was much colder. The giant doors needed deicing before the resupply, and parts of the room had to be cleared.

         This was a good job for Mardon, at least in that moment. Very little needed as far as brain power. It freed his mind to think about the message. No matter how he thought about it, there was still no clarification. He shifted some boxes out of the way, into the back of the room. The worst part was that he could see the effect it was having on the crew. A light crust of frost had frozen one box to the floor, Mardon gave it a quick kick, reveling slightly in the small victory.

         Will was demoralized, because it was his job when the message came in. Of course, you could tell him all day, it could have been anyone. It wouldn't help. Kevin was already annoyed, and this new development, especially the uncertainty, just made it worse. Everyone else was nervous, bordering on scared, and Offal was cracking.   Already cracking...

         With the box problem solved, Mardon stepped onto the platform. With a press of a button, the console flickered to life. The readouts were fine. He prompted the computer to start the heating elements. Barring any sudden storms during the night, everything should be thawed by... his thoughts trailed off as he stared at the security monitor.

         The blue of the ice was tinted green with the low light filter. As usual the screen just showed the ice. Mardon cycled to the next camera. Frozen. The next. Then the next. Three of the cameras were out of commission, probably frozen solid. The other four showed nothing out of the ordinary. He could have sworn there was something... He shook his head, clearing the thoughts. A loud clunk signaled the end of the first cycle.

         Despite being sure that he had seen nothing, Mardon was suddenly on edge. His job complete, he left the hanger. There was no destination in his mind, he just wanted to think. And worry.