"Damn, we've lost contact." Denis turned to Silv who was too busy being dazzled by the snow.
"Huh... I've never seen snow except in pictures... it rarely snows in Italy." She sighed and immediately lay onto her back in the snow, moving her arms up and down while moving her legs side to side. "I saw it in a movie once, they're called 'snow angels'."
"Silv let's do what we came here to do and get back to the ship as soon as possible. I don't like the idea of being stranded in the barren tundra of a wasteland."
Just then Denis felt the force of something small crash against the back of his suit. He glanced at the ground to see parts of what had been a snowball. She was enjoying herself, actually enjoying herself. He reached down and grasped the snowball, managing to pack on more snow so the ball was bigger. Strangely enough the gravity wasn't much different from that of Earth's. Just as he was going to throw it at Silv he noticed something was wrong . She wasn't moving. It was as if she was frozen in place, staring out into the distance.
It was windy and you could barely see ten feet in front of you. Snow was continuously being kicked up and swirled around. It would be considered a blizzard on Earth. They definitely weren't on Earth.
"Denis what's that on the horizon?" He wasn't sure what was out there lurking.
"Captain had said he was getting 'strange' readings on the GPR before we lost contact."
It wasn't visible for at least forty seconds. Once it was visible it appeared to be getting bigger and bigger by the second. It was the kind of thing that couldn't go unnoticed -at least eight feet tall, white as snow, eyes blue as the ice they were standing on, teeth inches long coming to points at the ends, bared in a fierce snarl - and not to mention barraling straight toward them.
"RUN, RUN NOW" Denis yelled out to Silv who was standing barely sixty feet from the creature.
"I WON'T LEAVE YOU" She grabbed his hand and it was decided they would both run. As they were running for their lives, something could be heard from underneath them.
*CRACK* The ice was breaking.
"WE'RE NOT GOING TO MAKE IT!" Silv exclaimed.
"WE HAVE TO TRY! I WON'T LOSE YOU!" And he meant it. He would do anything to insure that she live.
The thing was gaining fast and it didn't help that their suits just added more dead weight. The ice collapsed below them and the three were free falling for what seemed like a lifetime, which in reality was only two seconds. They landed with a thud onto a cold, hard floor of some kind. Denis looked over to see the creature looming over Silv. The panic alarm in the back of his head was screeching. Suddenly he was overcome with a sense of confusion. It took a long moment to understand that he wasn't feeling those feelings.
This creature was communicating the only way it knew how. Telepathically. Denis could tell there was no immediate danger. He slowly looked around to get a sense of his surroundings and was astonished at what he saw -it was a natural cavern with intricate looking columns and tunnels as well as rooms at the ends of the tunnels, all made of ice.
This creature seemed to automatically sense that something was different about Silv. It looked at Denis and sent him a feeling of protection. It would protect her no matter what and he knew why. Denis knew that Silv had a secret, it was one they both shared. Silv was pregnant and he was the father. It was the main reason why they had both volunteered for this mission in the first place. The creature helped her up and Denis saw immediately that her helmet was cracked. He ran over to her, disregarding the creature entirely, tore off his helmet to give to her. He was never informed the air was breathable. The Captain had been given the information and contact had been lost before it was shared.
The creature looked at him as if he was the mystery.
"Are you hurt?" He asked her with increasing concern as she thought carefully about what her answer would be.
"No.. I think we're fine, I'm not hurt and I'm pretty sure the baby is fine too. I'm going to need to rest though..." She was being strong for him like she always was.
Denis was aware suddenly that the creature had left and they were all alone. He found himself missing the thing and he laughed as he was sent the feeling of the creature missing him too. Five minutes later the creature was back with an animal slung over it's shoulder. Food. That type of animal was definitely foreign but had the strange impression of deer.
An unspoken bond was formed rather quickly and as the time passed the creature kept the promise it had made to protect the family at all costs and in return was accepted into the family. Denis often got the sense that having been the only intelligent life force on the planet got very lonely.
Eight months and two weeks later, the new arrival of the next generation was brought into the world. The world was later named 'Subglacies'transleted from latin as 'under ice'. Only a select few of humans had inhabited the world as a 'back up' option in case something were to happen to Earth. In return the family protected the creature who was given the name 'Il Protettore' by Silv. It was Italian for 'The Protector'.
