Day One Hundred and Fourteen

Day 114: 23 Nov 2010

We could see Thule was wrecked before we even landed. The fires had gone out, but the place looked like it had been bombed. It also looked quiet -- we didn't see anyone moving below as our Black Hawk touched down.

"Heat scans read nil," Vince's guy said. He'd introduced himself as Captain Jason Black, but I doubt that's his real name.

"Nothing?" I asked.

"Nada. And that's odd. In this kind of cold, we should be picking up something -- even if it's just a space heater in a building down there. But nope."

We were dressed in ECWG -- extreme cold weather gear. It was just me and Captain Black. The pilot stayed in the chopper, but not us. We started to walk through the dark, silent base.

"Dead body," Black warned, but I'd already seen it. I see well in the dark. It was a man, dressed in the same ECWG as we were, but he was missing his head.

"I expect we'll find a lot more of these," I said.

"Agree. So what do we do if we run up against one of the slug. . . things? We really need a name for them."

"Not a clue," I said. "And I've just been calling them slugs."

"I'll stick with 'hostiles' for the moment."

Black's radio suddenly burst to life.

"Captain, we have an unidentified vessel closing in, looks like it's heading for the dock."

"Copy that," Black said. "Come on. Let's see who's come out to meet us."

He raised the M4 from his chest strap and led the way to the dock.