Part Three
The situation with the mutated Malamute further fueled Cara’s
interests in those videotapes recovered from the Norwegian camp. Along with
Gumball, Darwin, MacReady, and his crewmen, they watched footage of the
Norwegian team. In it, she noticed a tall African American gentleman
accompanying the Norwegians, wearing a black hoodie and the same necktie Cara
found at the ruins.
Oddly, she felt as if she recognized the man, despite
never having met him.
According to the recorded footage they watched, the man
and the Norwegians found something big
within a region northeast from their camp. Thermite charges were used to clear
it from the ice that incased it.
Cara joined with MacReady and the station’s geologist,
Norris, to the site.
There, they discovered what was previously unearthed: a
flying saucer.
“I knew it,” Cara jubilantly shouted.
“Knew what?” MacReady asked.
“I told Blair there had to be aliens involved, and this is proof,” she said. “No way was
that scorched body we found some sort of deformed human being. It was a mutation,
just like the Malamute. Some type of alien parasite that mimics its hosts –
only it doesn’t seem like they can maintain it for too long, otherwise they
revert back to extraterrestrial form. Man, what kind of juiciness have I come
across in this dimension!”
She began to scan the alien structure with her sonic
screwdriver, a device MacReady still believed to be nothing more than an
experimental Norwegian instrument.
“Could be Dalek in origin,” she supposed. “No…wait. It’s
100,000 years old.”
Norris’s eyes enlarged with amazement. “That’s right! You
got that all from that little tool in your hand?”
MacReady cringed.
A lot of Cara’s rambling was as off-putting as the
massive saucer itself.
And what did she mean by “this dimension” or all this
talk of something she referred as a “Dalek?”
Who exactly was this so-called “Norwegian investigator”
whose accent apparently vanished whenever she spoke with such enthusiasm?
It only got worse once after the three of them returned
to the station.
“An alien with a capability of mimicking any type of
genome,” she overexcitedly reflected on her earlier observation. “The only
other time I’ve ever seen something like that is during a scrap with the
Zygons. Of course, the assimilation part is much akin to the Cybermen, just on
a more genetic level rather than a cybernetic one.”
None of the others – not even Childs – heard her slipping
accent; they just thought she was talking crazy.
Blair merely sat to the side, looking very reserved.
MacReady was alone in his increasing
disbelief of this strange woman.
-----------------
“It’s so unfair! He was just a
puppy!”
“Actually, dude, he was full-grown dog.”
“But he had so much of his life ahead of him!”
“He was eight years old, which – in dog years – is like
fifty.”
“B-B-But…waaaaaaahhhhhhhhhyyyyyyyy?!”
“It was just his time, man – his time to be fused with
some alien organism bent on assimilating every dog on the planet…apparently.”
Unfortunately, word got around the station about what
happened in the kennel, and Darwin found out the truth of the Malamute he
befriended earlier that day. Gumball never imagined it to be so difficult
consoling his brother over the death of a dog he only just met.
Hidden away in a freezing storage closet from the others,
they got their privacy until MacReady showed up.
“Hey, you boys got a minute?” He inquired.
Gumball shook his head. “Sorry, dude. Now’s not a good
time. Darwin’s…”
“No,” Darwin said, cleaning his tear-drenched face and
smiling brighter than ever before. “I’m all good.”
Gumball was impressed how quickly his brother got over
his grief. “Well, in that case…what’s on your mind, Mr. MacReady?”
MacReady did his best to be as subtle as he could. “It’s
about your mother.”
Darwin and Gumball swapped curious glances.
“What about her?” Gumball asked MacReady.
“Is she really
who she says she is?” MacReady
questioned.
Gumball sighed. “Alright, Mr. MacReady. I’m gonna level
with ya. Our mother is a complicated woman. She’s a hard-working person with a
butt-load of secrets. Just last month, we found out that she has this age-old
feud with her childhood friend that they dished out in epic anime style at our
school gym. And before that, she kept my real name – which used to be ‘Zach’ –
from me, and I had the worst identity
crisis. And don’t get us started on when she made a huge fuss about the
anniversary when she and our dad first met. I mean, who tells you not to make a fuss and still make a fuss?!”
“Okay, okay,” MacReady interrupted. “I get it. Cara’s
more complex than I thought.”
“Cara?” Gumball reacted bafflingly. “Our mom’s name is
Nicole.”
MacReady’s eyes flared – something that didn’t go unnoticed by Darwin.
“You were talking about Cara, weren’t you?” The fish-boy gathered.
Gumball stupidly smacked his forehead, recognizing his
blunder.
Before MacReady could grill them further on the truth,
the storage room door burst open.
“MacReady!”
“Now’s not the time, Fuchs.”
“Something’s not right with Blair. I’ve been going
through his notes—”
“Fuchs, I said not right…”
The blaring of the station’s alarm ended all
conversations within the storage room.
Everyone piled out, running into an extremely spooked
Windows.
“It’s Bennings,” he informed. “Something was attacking
him – had him wrapped up in some kind of tentacle or something!”
They searched all over the station, finding no trace of
Bennings.
Moving outside, they discovered a lone figure hunched
down in the snow.
“Bennings!” MacReady called to him, but he did not
answer.
Surrounding the unresponsive crewman, what they perceived
to be Bennings was not in fact
Bennings. Under the light of a flare ignited by MacReady, they saw how
hideously mutated Bennings’ hands were, clawed and amorphous.
“He’s been assimilated!” A mortified Gumball noted.
“Burn him now, MacReady,” Childs urged, indicating the
fuel barrels near them.
“NO!” Cara protested. “Don’t!”
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