The lift carries the team down, out of the wind and rain, and into darkness.
“Fáðu henni hjólastól,” says a voice. Another voice grunts.
Out of the darkness, two people emerge. Both are wearing white lab coats. One is pushing a wheelchair.
Maury smiles in appreciation, but waves off the extended arms offering aid. She hauls herself into the chair, orients and adjusts it, then wheels forward off the lift. The others follow.
The lift rises behind them, to close off the portal leading to the outside.
As everyone’s eyes adjust to the darkness, they can see a third figure, standing a distance away.
“Evan Ellason,” says this man, and gestures to his colleagues.
“Kristjana Hreimsdóttir.” This woman is frowning, seemingly annoyed at getting sprayed by the rain outside.
“And Franklin Unnarsson.” This man is also scowling, though not at the team. When he looks at them seems to be the only time he’s willing to smile.
“I’m Charlotte Palmer, also known as Ghost Girl. With me are a team of experts in the supernatural. We’re here to assist with the problems that were reported.”
“‘Supernatural’. Hah,” Kristjana mutters.
“You must forgive her,” Evan says indulgently. “We are scientists here. We look for solutions within a naturalistic framework. This ehh, this recent incursion is simply outside our experience.”
“Does everyone here speak English?” Maury asks curiously.
“Yes. Although we are all busy with our respective tasks.” Even gestures down a hallway, leading away from the lift and toward the center of the station. “If we do not speak to you on something, remember that we have urgent business to attend to.”
“Such as now,” Kristjana mutters, and walks away on her own.
“There are two guest rooms,” Evan explains. “We will situate you there. You can dry out. We will call for a meeting at which time we’ll brief you on what we know. Please refrain from exploring the station until then.”
Charlotte nods. “We will comport ourselves as guests and respect our hosts’ wishes.”
Bodark and Vermillion are shown to one of the two “guest rooms”, and bring Manny’s cat carrier with them.
Daph, Maury, and Charlotte find themselves in the other guest room. Charlotte has seen hotel bathrooms larger than these rooms. At least they have two bunks, a shallow closet for storing clothing, and attached lavatories. The three of them quickly work out a rotation where one can dry herself off while the other two are out of the way.
“There’s some bad vibes here already,” Daph says out of the blue. “That’s even before any ghosts get involved.”
“We must tread carefully,” Charlotte says in a quiet voice. “I’m here for the prince’s help, to be sure, but there is a possibility I helped cause this situation. It would not do to make a snap decision that worsened matters later on.”
Maury starts taking notes. “If you don’t mind, what did you do?”
Charlotte explains her battle with the Hidden Family, beneath the main island.
“I felt overwhelmed. An entire society of hostile occultists. A powerful demon. Friends that needed me. Hostages that I needed to save. A whole civilization on the line. I made a choice, and in the short term, it worked.”
Charlotte looks up at Maury, eyes focused and intense. “Twice in my unlife, the weight of an entire people was on my shoulders. I acted with whatever wisdom and dignity I could muster. But I am not a queen, and don’t wish to be.”
She looks away, and sighs. “Perhaps giving up the mantle of Magus was a selfish act. But even without it, these grand responsibilities still seek me out. I don’t flee from them, but I don’t particularly appreciate them either.”
She forces a smile, and looks at her friends. “We must unravel the mystery here. We must defend these people, but we must understand what we are defending them from, and why it is here.”
There are six researchers in the conference room when Charlotte and her team are called for. There’s a seventh member, on an internal video conference system.
The lead researcher resumes his introductions. “Doctor Evan Ellason. I am the pre-eminent researcher into high-energy physics on the island. Comparing myself to the outside world, you could think of me as a Nobel laureate. That is why I have been chosen to lead this team.”
“Doctor Franklin Unnarsson. He is a fine scholar in the field of quantum physics.”
Franklin nods curtly.
“Next, Kristjana Hreimsdóttir, whom you met. Her field is organic chemistry.”
If anything, the woman’s greeting to the team is even more perfunctory - the merest inclination of the head, and a blink.
Evan gestures to the video screen. “Rakel Rósbergsdóttir. She is our robotics expert, and has automated much of the work we do at Thridrangaviti. She ah, prefers to stay at her station. If you need her, you can call her on the video intercom, or meet her where she works.”
Rakel’s smile seems genuine over the video link, and her half-lidded eyes don’t betray the strong emotions being expressed by the other researchers here. “Góðan daginn,” she drawls. Charlotte understands the phrase to simply be “good day”.
“Aldar Sillason, our geneticist.”
The small, balding man bows his head and smiles broadly. “Welcome, welcome to all of you.”
“Miriam Alvinsdóttir. She studies microbiology and is also responsible for some of the life-support systems in the underwater part of the station.”
“Good day to you,” the lady scientist says. “Evan does not say that I am also a gardener. If you want to enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables, I grow those too.”
“And finally Steinmann Jarlsson, studying acoustics.”
This man doesn’t meet anyone’s gaze, preferring instead to look at his feet or at the table. “Pleasuretomeetyouall,” he says in a rush.
Charlotte introduces herself and the others by name, one by one. When it comes time for Manny, she hefts the cat carrier onto the table, opens it, and lets the flaming skull reveal himself.
The reaction of the scientists is understated, to say the least. Some peer curiously at the floating figure. Others withdraw from it in either fear or disgust. And Charlotte gauges the reactions, one by one, to learn what she can about each of the scientists.
“A pleasure to meet ye, to be sure,” Manny says loudly. “Ye must forgive me appearance, I am not what you could call a fashionable fellow.”
“Er, quite,” Evan says, regaining his equilibrium. “I should say you have established your bona fides as scholars of the supernatural quite thoroughly with this, er, display. We all understand that expertise in a field must be respected, and therefore should defer to you as to what should be done next.”
Charlotte smiles appreciatively. It’s nice to be treated with respect.
“I should like to understand the reasons we’ve been summoned here. What has happened, how often, when it was last noted, when it might next be expected - anything you can tell us.”
“You’ll want to watch the security footage,” Rakel ventures over the video. “I’ve got tapes. I’ll put them on now.”
Charlotte, her friends, and the scientists watch as grainy, static-filled surveillance footage comes on.
First, a long shot from an external camera. Fog rolls in from over the ocean. As the timestamp swings over to local midnight, the fog intensifies.
Second, what looks like an airlock. Charlotte began her unlife being unfamiliar with the modern world, but she’s learned quickly, and she has seen such things in her travels. Part of the base is underwater - perhaps this airlock is there?
The video stream breaks up several times. First, klaxons briefly light up, then silence themselves. After a brief video glitch, a dark figure is suddenly seen in the airlock chamber. After another glitch, it’s gone.
Next, footage of darkened hallways. Video glitches precede and follow brief sightings of similar figures, always stock-still despite being surrounded by indications of activity such as blinking lights.
“Did you cut this video, or was it always like this?” Maury asks.
Rakel answers. “Something damaged the security system. Much degradation to the tapes. You’re seeing what I was able to splice together from what’s left.”
“A byproduct of the manifestation?” Daph asks curiously to Charlotte. “You’re one of our two resident ghosts. Shit sure looks ghostly to me. How about it?”
Charlotte extracts her cell phone and holds it up for inspection. “I certainly do not interfere with electronics. I will not rule it out, however.”
Evan fills in. “The footage you’re seeing is all from the underwater section. When it first began, we shut down the elevator connecting this part of the base, just in case they were intruders. But some of our experiments - like the nuclear ones - are located in that part of the base. We can’t simply cut it off. The systems require tending to.”
“Ghosts could go through walls,” muses Maury. “They wouldn’t need the lift, right?”
“Unless there’s wards,” Daph counters.
“There are no wards here that I can detect,” Charlotte says firmly.
“Much fear,” Bodark says. He begins to light a cigarette, only for Evan to gesture imperiously at him, then point to a sign on the wall. Although it doesn’t say “no smoking” in English, the icon on the sign is clear enough. The werewolf reluctantly puts away his lighter and pockets the remaining cigarettes.
Charlotte nods. She returns her attention to Evan, the lead scientist. “Our next course of action is clear. Go to where the manifestation occurred. The underwater part of the base. We ask that you re-activate the lift.”
Evan has been listening to the team’s exchanges. He looks to his colleagues, then back to Charlotte. “You clearly know your business. Very well.”
The lift to the underwater section is only big enough for four people. Charlotte, Daph, and Vermillion take the first ride down. They’re joined by Evan.
“Your friend’s wheelchair will find the entire station accessible,” the scientist boasts. “Our Rakel has made strides in automating the facility. Her own robots are wheeled as well.”
“You can’t use those robots to stabilize the experiments here?” Daph asks curiously. “Go back to the mainland and safety?”
“Not according to my colleagues,” Evan admits. “I’ve suggested it a few times. In addition, if the presence of these… things… can affect the security system, it stands to reason they could interfere with the robots as well.”
“Logical,” Daph concedes.
The connecting tube from the surface part of the station to the underwater part is semi-transparent. Charlotte notes the transition from tempest-tossed seas to the relative calm of the ocean depths. She comes more and more to rely on the artificial lights mounted on the lift itself.
The lift comes to a bumpy stop. Once everyone is off, Evan sends it back upwards for the rest of the team. He gestures toward one narrow corridor. “This way.”
The team walks slowly, examining everything around them.
“Something pretty bad came through here,” Daph confirms.
Vermillion speaks up as well. “I smell blood and hunger, and other things.”
They reach the inner door of the airlock they saw in the security footage. Evan explains how to cycle the lock from this side, and the inner door opens. He steps inside.
“The outer door can only be operated from within the airlock or from outside,” he explains. “The red Call button will summon someone on the intercom. Do not operate the other controls. If you are inside the airlock, you may close the inner door using this.” He indicates the controls, but doesn’t operate them. Finally, he steps back out into the hallway.
“For safety, I encourage you to leave one person outside the airlock if another person goes in. That way, you can operate the mechanism manually should something go wrong.”
Charlotte nods. “Quite so.”
Evan smiles in return. “Now, since we are here, I should like to inspect the status of my experiments’ wind-down. As I’m sure was explained, we are shutting systems down, but it takes time.”
As he speaks, the lights flicker.
“That ain’t good,” Daph mutters.
Charlotte smiles. “Doctor Ellason and I can go inspect the experiment. Daph, can you and Vermillion stay here and perhaps inspect the airlock? The others should be down in a moment.”
“Sure,” shrugs Daph.
Maury, Bodark, and Manny are on the lift, just past the waterline, when the lights flicker. The lift lurches to a stop.
After a moment, Rakel’s voice comes over the intercom. “A glitch. Try the system again.”
Maury reaches out for the lift control Evan had showed them. After a moment, the system shudders and resumes its descent.
“Good to go,” she calls over the intercom.
The lift settles at the base of the station. In the dim light of the corridor ahead of them, the trio see a pair of humanoid shadows. They brace, just for a moment, until they recognize the silhouettes as Vermillion and Daph.
“I can’t see one of you on camera,” Rakel says via radio. “The one near the airlock. Only the tall girl.”
“He is vampire,” Bodark says. “Is normal.”
“Innnteresting,” the scientist says. But there’s nothing more over the intercom.
Maury wheels the way, with Manny and his cat carrier in her lap. Bodark follows behind. He pats the pocket with his cigarettes inside, then remembers the injunction about smoking and sighs.
When they reach the airlock, Daph is already inside. “Definite spooky shit went on in here,” she reports.
“Aye,” concurs Manny. “There be a hauntin’ afoot.”
“Can we just camp out down here, and wait for it to re-manifest, and kick some ass?” Maury asks.
“That’s a possibility,” Daph says reluctantly. “It sounded like Charlotte wanted to proceed with more caution.”
Maury looks around “Where is she?”
“Off with that physicist. Evan.”
Evan cycles through an interior airlock of sorts, along with Charlotte.
He pins a radiation detection badge on himself, and extends one to Charlotte as well. “I’m unclear on your metaphysical status,” he says with a light laugh. “But just in case radiation exposure affects you. Should this badge turn dark, you’ve been exposed.”
Inside the nuclear laboratory itself, the air is thick. It has the same distinctive smell Charlotte has learned to recognize from Leo Newman’s work areas. She tries to remember the term–
“Highly ionized oxygen? Ozone?” she guesses aloud.
Evan’s smile lights up. “Yes. A side effect of the research.”
He begins checking readouts and displays on the various panels in the lab. But what he says next surprises Charlotte.
“The video tapes were damaged before the first manifestation.”
She looks at him curiously, wondering if he’ll elaborate. And once he’s done inspecting the systems, he does.
“This room is electromagnetically shielded. A Faraday cage, I think is the English term? We call it something else. But there will be no eavesdropping here.”
“I was privately inspecting the security tapes recently. Much of the footage was damaged.”
“What were you looking for?” Charlotte asks in surprise.
Evan grows serious. “I began to suspect–”
A shudder runs through the entire underwater base.
The two look at each other, and go for the airlock.