Outpost by Adam Baker

should reduce portion size,' said Jane. 'Use rice and pasta for bulk.'
    'There
must be someone on board who knows how to fish. Remind me at dinner, when
everyone is in the canteen. I'll ask around.'
    They
heard running feet. The squeak of trainers on tiles. Sian stood panting in the
doorway, holding the frame for support.
    'There's
a message from Ghost. Rawlins is hurt. Injured or something. They're on their
way back.'
     
    They
descended the leg of the refinery and stood on the ice. Jane scanned the
horizon with binoculars. The zodiac was a black dot approaching fast.
    'Jeez,'
said Punch. 'He's pushing it hard.'
    Ghost
swerved the boat to a halt, kicking up spray. He killed the engine. Rawlins lay
at the bottom of the zodiac. His right arm was wrapped in a foil insulation
blanket. They dragged him from the boat and laid him on ice surrounding the
refinery leg.
    'Don't
touch him,' said Ghost. 'Don't touch his skin.'
    They
hauled Rawlins across the ice to the deck of the platform lift. The lift was
bolted to the south leg of the refinery. They laid him on the floor plates.
    'Where's
Dr Rye?' asked Ghost.
    'Waiting
at the top.'
    'Okay.
Punch, you had better stay behind and secure the boat.'
    Ghost
jabbed the Up button. The elevator jolted to life.
    Jane
leaned over Rawlins. His face was hidden beneath a ski mask and goggles.
    'Is
he conscious?' she asked.
    'He
moves now and again. He's not talking.'
    'What's
wrong with him?'
    'Easier
if you see.'
    Rye
met them at an airlock. She helped carry Rawlins inside and lay him on the
stretcher buggy.
    Convulsions.
Rye wriggled on nitrile gloves. She pulled off Rawlins's mask and goggles. His
eyes rolled. His lips were blue.
    'No
skin contact,' warned Ghost. 'No mouth-to-mouth, whatever you do.'
    Rye
ripped open Rawlins's coat. Twenty chest compressions.
    'He's
breathing. All right. Let's go.'
    The
buggy's headbeam lit the way as she steered down dark corridors. Jane, Sian and
Ghost jogged behind, keeping pace as best they could.
     
    Medical.
Rye restored power. The white room lit up.
    They
laid Rawlins on the examination table. Rye re-angled the light canopy above
him.
    'There's
a convection heater in my office,' said Rye. 'Get it going.'
    She
put on a mouth mask and goggles. She wriggled on a pair of surgical gloves.
    'Okay.
You folks better get in the office and stay there.'
    They
sat in Rye's office and watched through an observation window.
    Rye
took scissors and forceps from a drawer. She snipped through the foil blanket
that sheathed Rawlins's arm and peeled it back. Blood dribbled on the floor.
    'Treat
every drop of that shit like AIDS,' advised Ghost, via a wall-mounted intercom.
'Scrub it. Bleach it.'
    Rye
scattered swabs on the floor to sop the blood.
    'And
be careful with his arm,' said Ghost. 'Don't touch it, whatever you do.'
    Rawlins's
hand had turned dark, skin mottled like a bad bruise.
    'Frostbite?'
asked Jane.
    'No.'
    'Are
you sure? Looks like Simon's hand when we pulled him off the ice.'
    'Look
closer.'
    The
flesh bristled with needle-fine splinters of metal.
    'My
God.'
    Rye
sliced away Rawlins's clothes with trauma shears. She plucked dog-tags from his
neck.
    'O
neg.'
    She
wriggled on a double layer of gloves and canulated Rawlins's left hand. She
took a bag of O neg from the fridge and set it to feed.
    'His
heart rate is high,' said Rye. 'His breathing seems unimpaired. So what
actually happened?'
    'We
opened the capsule. Frank crawled inside. There was a body, an astronaut. Frank
tried to take off his helmet. Next minute he was screaming and bleeding.'
    'An
astronaut?'
    'Some
kind of cosmonaut. He was dead. Way dead. Then he woke up. He grabbed Rawlins.
They fought. I hauled Frank out of there and torched the whole thing.'
    'His
fingers. That looks like a bite mark.'
    'Yeah.
Frank said something about teeth, metal teeth. I don't know. Frank wasn't
making a lot of sense. Like I said, I didn't investigate. I didn't climb
inside. I hauled Frank out and threw a