Eva Maria (© Jesus Riddle Morales)
Page 1 What Happens in Antarctica, stays in Antarctica
"There! –That’s him. Hurry,
Gustov, move the ship closer!" Vladimir Smirnoff led the
Russian ice cutter so close to the banks of a large plateau of inland snow that
large plumes of powdery vapor blinded the crew. But their mission to capture
their target was imperative. Several decades ago, the KGB lost one of its most
valued spies. Captain Vladimir knew about this from tales by his own father,
but he’d never thought that he would be chasing the very same man across
Antarctic tundra. "Look," replied Gustov,
"he’s running from some monsters – abominable snowmen!" "No, comrade, he’s not
running from them; he’s leading them. Hurry up and prepare the Tesla ball!" In a rushed tussle of
motions, the twenty-man crew scurried down the boat’s ramp and rolled a weird,
round cage of iron to the icy earth below. The boat never stopped, the huge
ice cutter kept creeping through the thin ice that paralleled the old spy’s
path. The other men focused their attention on seven large creatures that
followed the human spy. They were bizarre things to behold: with long thick
tails, inverted legs and bat-like ears. But a pair of rabbit-ish teeth, infused
to the front of their more carnivorous ones, compelled the Russians to refer to
them as killer rabbits. "The cable! Damn it, Gustov
- secure the cable line!" Yelled Vladimir. He was referring to a thick
metal cable that was tethered to the large cage ball, which the boat towed
along side of them. By now, it was dangerously close to the old spy, whose
stamina and speed seemed supernatural. As the cage rolled closer to the naked
spy, Vladimir gave the order. "Do it. …Do it now!" In a blinding flash of
electrostatic shock, a wave of paralyzing energy shot out from the Tesla ball,
instantly knocking out the rogue spy and three of the seven killer rabbits that
accompanied him. Yet within seconds, the creatures began to awaken and tried to
rustle the spy from his unconsciousness. "Fry those mangy things!" At the Captain’s request,
four men aimed their Burnmasters at the odd animals and squeezed their
triggers. What resulted was a barrage of fire that erupted from the
flamethrowers. They instantly created a firewall around the spy and sent the
abominable were-rabbits scurrying through the blinding white. "Reel the cage in, Captain,
we got him. We finally got the son of bitch!" The ice cutter reeled in
the Tesla ball, which now contained a semi-conscious man. He was naked and
sporting a tough mane of long white hair. His eyes were wild and he bared his
teeth as the team pulled him onto the icy deck of the boat. Without hesitation,
Vladimir came near his side and mocked the old spy through the thick iron bars of
the cage. "Ha, Colonel Tulane. You ran
a long way to escape the KGB, yes? But even you must know our arm reaches long
and far. …Even pass the protection of monsters it seems." Like the Captain, the other
men, who were all huddled around this strange man, expected an answer. Yet all
they got was a queer humming, one that began to grow so loud that it started to
rock the cage. As the noise got even louder, the boat’s sensitive communication
antennas began to spark and the windows of the front deck started to crack. "Captain, that noise is
disrupting the navigation meters; if this continues we’ll never find our way
home!" Heeding his underling’s
advice, Vladimir pointed a flamethrower at the spy. "Stop at once!" But Tulane kept sounding his
ionic roar. The men were now fearful of the old colonel, fearful of an evil
resonance. "Don’t let him spook you,
men. He’s using an echolocation call. He’s no monster, just a freak!" But even as Vladimir spoke,
the spy’s skin began to ripple, as if a thousands worms were under it. Seconds
later his skin split open and chunks of flesh spattered on the men from within
the Tesla ball. Tulane’s human face began to stretch and distort in a wide and
evil grimace. [ Continue to page 2 ] |