Peter Hamilton awoke with a start from the strangest dream he’d ever had.  Rubbing his eyes, he looked around the unfamiliar room with a blurry gaze.  Groaning, he realized that he was still a thousand miles from his nice room at Elmendorf Air Force Base and still snowed in on Victoria Island.  His Canadian hosts had insisted that he join their mess and have a . . . what had they called it?

 A wee dram.

 “I promise I will never ever again have five wee drams of Canadian Everclear.  Never, never, never.”  He told himself solemnly while half falling out of the bunk and heading for the half-bath next door.  The room spun a little but it mostly stayed put while he staggered in and pissed away the night before.  Pulling up his long johns, he looked at himself in the mirror above the sink and groaned.

 He looked like he’d gone three rounds with a boxer and lost.  His sandy blond hair hung lankly on his forehead, his blue eyes were reddened and the stubble on his face looked like it had grown into a beard overnight.  But some good soul had left him a toothbrush, toothpaste, towel and a razor with a little bar of soap from some hotel and he drank some water first before splashing his face with the glacially cold water.

 “Have I ever told the other two about the Hamilton curse?”  He mused out loud while working the soap into a lather and trying to decide if his hand was steady enough to shave without cutting his throat.  “I have to remember to tell Sam and Toby that three drinks is the absolute limit for the Hamilton men.”

 Shivering, he finished waking himself up with a sponge bath before heading back into the guest quarters to see how bad his flight suit looked.  But he’d remembered to hang it up so it wasn’t in too bad a shape.  He was going to smell pretty ripe by the time he got back to the other base where his spare clothes were.  Because there was no way he was going out into 60 degree below zero weather without his long underwear under his flight suit even if he had slept in them.

 His flight jacket was shrugged on then he pulled on the parka the Canadians had loaned him when they realized the odd weather front had closed down the exercises for the day.  He pulled up the fur lined hood and took a deep breath before going out into the freezing corridor that would eventually lead him to the base mess hall.  He could see his breath even inside the metal corridor.  He amused himself with remembering the movie ‘The Thing’, the original version.

 Just what he needed - an alien to land and go berserk on them.  Stopping dead, he remembered his dream and the . . . what had she called them?  The Indiri . . . no the Ikiiri. And they were going to be landing near here soon.  He shook his head unable to shake the feeling of impending doom.  Yeah, the Goddess of Earth was a polar bear.

 “I swear I will never drink again.  Never, never, never.”  He chanted under his breath while returning a salute to the young airman he passed.

 “Major Hamilton, good morning.”  The cheery accents came from one of the officers he’d met the day before.  What the hell was his name?

 “Captain Brewer, good morning.  Do I have you to thank for my toothbrush this lovely morning?”

 “Standard supplies in the guest quarters.  People are always getting stranded here by the weather.”  The young man grinned cheerfully.  “The Colonel asked if you’d feel like joining him for breakfast.”

 “Sounds like a plan, Captain.  Lead on.  I’ll try not to trample you on the way to the coffee.”  Peter smiled through the headache that was tightening around his head like a vice.

 “This way, sir.”  The perky young man led him down the right hand branch of the corridor and into a much warmer room filled with metal tables and folding chairs.  Early morning chatter echoed from the men and women eating at the tables.  Peter unzipped his jackets and pushed back the hood that had been so necessary in the halls.

 “Ah, Major Hamilton.  The weather is breaking up and you’ll soon be on your way back to civilization.”  Colonel Green smiled up at him and waved him to a seat across from him.  “But not before you have breakfast.  Neil, see about a plate for the Major.”

 “Yes, sir.”  Captain Brewer left them for the chow line on the other side of the room.

 “Sit yourself down, Peter.  You look like you could use some coffee.”  The twinkling blue eyes across the table smiled up at him.

 “Yes, sir.  I think a gallon or so should be just about right.”  He sat down and pushed the extra layer of coats onto the back of the chair.  The Colonel reached behind him to the table against the wall and pulled out a full coffeepot and an extra cup, proceeding to pour for Peter.  “Thank you very much.”

 “You’re welcome, son.  Are you up to speed about the ship that’s moving toward Earth?”  The smile faded a little.

 “No, sir.  Are they sure it’s a ship?”  Peter felt a frisson at the base of his spine.

 “Yes.  It’s moving on a course that will bring it right over the North Pole.”

 “Any communication from it?”

 “If there is, the top brass are keeping it a secret.”

 They exchanged a grin that spoke of what they thought about that.
 
 The young Captain returned with a tray full of food then departed with a smile for them both.  Peter dug in immediately and found the headache fading while his stomach filled.  Once the initial hunger pangs were quelled, Colonel Green continued their earlier conversation.

 “We’ve gone on high alert.  Just because it appears their flight path ends here doesn’t mean anything.  They’ve already demonstrated maneuvering capabilities.  It’s not some big asteroid or comet that we simply never saw before.”

 Peter nodded.  “I had a dream last night that explained it.  Isn’t it odd what your unconscious mind can come up with?”

 At the Colonel’s urging, he told him the dream, amazed that he remembered so much detail.  When he finished, he sat back and waited for a reaction.

 “You know, that’s very interesting.  There’s some kind of odd weather pattern north of us, centered on Meighen’s Island.  It’s the reason you got stranded here.  My weather man is pulling out his hair because there’s no underlying cause to explain why the high and low pressure zones have reversed themselves.”

 “And the rest of it?”  Peter grinned at him.
 
 “Have you ever studied polar bears, Peter?  They are wondrous majestic creatures who inhabit what we consider a cold hell on Earth.  The Inuit consider them sacred and if they must kill one for food, they always ask its permission then thank it for the gift of its life.”  The Colonel’s wise eyes surveyed him from across the table.

 “I can understand that, sir.  She was so powerful yet so human when I was scratching her ears.  I think that must be something that all people share, that desire to embrace a wild creature to try and tame it.”

 “Or experience that power for themselves.  Do you remember an old TV show called Gentle Ben from the seventies?”  When Peter nodded, he continued.  “The real star of that show was the bear and every time he hugged someone, we all experienced it for ourselves.”

 “I think I see what you mean.  But the woman in the dream was so real that when she called the bear ‘Mother’, I believed her.  And her scarring was so extensive.  Her left side was completely disfigured while her right was free of scars and rather plain.  But the silver eye seemed to see right through me.”  Peter accepted another cup of coffee.  “And what about that whole thing about my mother?”

 “Ah, well it may be that your unconscious mind is reminding you to give her a call.”  He grinned at Peter’s wry nod.  “And you’ll be the first to know if the rest of your family shows up.  The weather is clearing up to the south so if they’re on their way, they’ve got clear skies.”

 They both laughed at that and when the Colonel suggested they go and check on the weather conditions, he agreed.  The Command Center was in the middle of the base buried beneath a fresh layer of snow.  They trudged through a barely shoveled walkway that led from the housing complex to the maintenance cluster of workshops.

 There wasn’t much going on but the lieutenant in charge of weather was staring at his computer with a slack jaw.  When the Colonel tapped him on the shoulder, his eyes never left the screen that was showing colored spectrometer readings.  “It’s impossible.  Winds don’t move like that.”  Then he dragged his eyes away from the computer and registered their presence with a blush.  “Sorry, sir.”

 “What has you so flummoxed, Tim?”  The Colonel smiled down.  “This is Major Hamilton who got stranded here yesterday.  Now, Lieutenant Davis, explain what has you puzzled.”

 The young man nodded a greeting to Peter then went right back to the slowly changing colors on the computer monitor.  “Do you see this swirl of red?  That’s the center of a low-pressure area, just west of our sensors on Meighen’s Island.  And it shouldn’t be there.  It should be a high-pressure area according to all the rules I learned in weather school.  The temperatures are well below freezing, the ocean waters are nicely ice packed and all conditions point to high pressure.  But there it sits, gathering in more and more wind.  There’s never been a hurricane at the North Pole but that’s exactly what that looks like.  There’s even an eye, right there.” And he pointed to the yellow dimple in the middle of the mass of red.

 Peter shivered slightly in the warm room.  Every pilot needed to know the rudiments of weather so he could gage what he might be flying into or out of.  And what he was gazing at looked like a little piece of hell to him.

 “Is that why our skies have cleared up?”  The Colonel had a contemplative look on his craggy features.

 “Yes, sir.  It’s like there’s something up there that’s sucking all the wind right out of the whole Arctic Circle and pulling it into a . . . I don’t know what to call it.  I tried calling down to Toronto to see what they think but the communications are down.”  He sat back and shrugged.

 “Ted, what’s this about communications?”  The Colonel swung around and addressed the master sergeant at the complex board that controlled all communications for the base.

 “Sorry, sir.  No explanation but we can’t get through on any channel and all the bands have some kind of weird hissing sound.  We haven’t been able to communicate with anyone since just after midnight.”  The bald headed man scratched his head and turned to his commander.  “I even tried Morse code down to Elmendorf and nothing.”

 “And I’m just now hearing about it?”  The Colonel frowned down at him but the man met his gaze with equanimity.

 “Well, there wasn’t anything you could do and I just kept trying to make it work and not succeeding.  We thought it was the storm brewing out there but literally nothing is working including the satellite feeds.  If I didn’t know better, I’d say we were being jammed by something.”

 “Then how is Tim getting the pictures from Meighen’s Island?”  Colonel Green swung back to his weatherman.

 “I don’t know.  We tried bouncing a signal off the weather sensors and it didn’t work.  It’s one way only.  We can receive but we can’t send.”  He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders.  “Hell, we even had the Padre bless the equipment and that didn’t work either.”

 The Colonel finally smiled and clapped the master sergeant on the shoulder.  “Keep me informed, Ted.  Well, Major, it looks like you’ve got the option to fly out of here and try to find out what’s going on or stick around and see first hand.”

 Peter didn’t even stop to consider.  “I’ll stick.  This could be a very interesting place for the next 24 hours.”

 “Sir, I’m receiving a signal.”  The excited voice came from the console.  “It’s a military flight coming in . . . a Colonel Griffin and passengers from the States.  They’re requesting permission to land.”

 “Give it, Ted.  Well, I suppose I should go and greet our guests.”  Colonel Green shook his head.  “If it’s Seth Griffin, this could be very interesting.  I flew with him twenty years ago.”

 “Permission to join you, Colonel?”  Peter wasn’t sure what he was feeling but he had an itch that told him this could be important.

 The Colonel just nodded and put his parka back on.  “Zip up, Major.  Let’s go see who’s brave enough to fly up here.”

 In ten minutes, they were standing by an aircraft-parking stall next to Peter’s frozen F16.  The dot in the sky had just landed and was taxiing in.  Peter watched the pilot park the gray jet and blinked when he thought he saw Sam in the co-pilot’s seat.  Five minutes later, the door opened and the steps came down.  The first person off was a bearded, longhaired man followed by one of the most beautiful woman Peter had ever seen.

 But it was the next person that dropped his jaw.  Toby.  His little brother, Toby followed closely by his study buddy, Mei Ling.  He almost didn’t notice the grizzled man behind her.

 “Toby?”

 “Hi, Peter.  See guys, I told you he’d be here.”  Toby greeted him with an exuberant hug.  “You remember Mei Ling, don’t you?  And this is Marag Griffin, Simon Hughes and Joe . . . um, Joe, I don’t know your last name.”

 The old man chuckled.  “Peterson.  Nice to meet you, Major.”

 “Toby, what are you doing here?”  Peter felt like he’d fallen down the rabbit hole.

 “Well, it’s kind of a long story.  Colonel Griffin can probably tell it best.  Or Sam since it kind of started with him and Joe.”  Toby shivered a little and tried to tuck his head a little further down into his down coat.

 “Well, Peter, I wonder what else is going to come true from your dream.”  Colonel Green was eyeing the group with an assessing eye.

 But Peter didn’t answer because he was too busy staring at his other brother come out of the plane followed by a Marine.  “Sam?”

 “Hi, Peter.  It’s a very long story.  Could we go inside and start telling it?  There isn’t much time left.”  Sam looked like he hadn’t slept for a week but his hug was as strong as ever.

 “Seth, you old horse thief, what in the world are you doing here?”  Colonel Green was wringing the hand of the Marine.

 “David, long time no see.  Can we continue this inside in a secure area?  There’s a few things you should know.”  Colonel Griffin gave Peter a measuring look that made him wonder what he’d done.

 He didn’t think he knew him but he cast a quick look back over the Marines he’d met in the last few years.

 “You don’t know him, Peter.”  Sam’s affectionate tones were just low enough that he was the only who heard him.  “He came in a few weeks ago to head the Marine unit at my base.  We met in Kosovo a couple of months ago.”

 There was something Sam wasn’t saying.  Peter could hear an emotion under the words that he wasn’t sure he understood but for now, he just nodded and followed them in.  They went to a conference room that joined Colonel Green’s office.  The women immediately disappeared into the women’s restroom down the hall while Captain Brewer was sent to bring back coffee.

 Peter was impatient but he held it in while the others stretched and took turns in the restroom down the hall.  He would have given almost anything to have five minutes alone with both his brothers but they seemed to be avoiding him.  The odd looks they exchanged were bad enough but the whole dynamics of the group confused the hell out of him.

 When they were all settled around the conference table with orders they were not to be interrupted unless communications came back up or they were invaded, Colonel Green made sure they all had the beverage of their choice then he sat back and gazed at the group with an assessing eye.

 “Seth, I’m expecting one hell of a story to explain all of you and why you’re here.”

 “It will be easier if we tell it in the order it happened.  Which means it starts with Joe, then brings in Sam.  Why don’t they start and we’ll fill in as we go.  If you could hold the questions until we’re done, we’d appreciate it.  Time is running short and we still have to get up to Meighen’s Island.”  The Marine Colonel sat back and waved a hand to the old man to start.

 Peter sat spellbound by the unfolding tale, watching Sam weave the story into a coherent whole with Toby and Mei Ling chiming in.  If he hadn’t pinched himself, he would have thought he was still dreaming but the pain reminded him that he was indeed awake.  The dynamics of the group changed back and forth while the story came in parts from one side of the table to the other.

 He could sense there were quite a few things being left untold, especially when Sam or Seth spoke and occasionally when Toby chimed in.  But when they were done speaking, they all looked at him as if he had the last piece of the puzzle.

 “Well, I did have a dream last night.  With a talking polar bear and a scarred woman who was playing with bear cubs and talking about promising Mother none of us would come to harm.”  Peter condensed his dream into a few words.  “Why do you all believe her?”

 “It’s hard not to when you find yourself speaking ancient Chinese and remembering a life that feels as real as today.”  Toby shrugged and bit into an apple from the tray on the conference table.

 “And when you see her speaking to birds and taming the wind.”  Sam sat back and rubbed his eyes.

 The Marine Colonel’s voice was somber.  “I don’t think we can afford to not take her seriously and act as if every word was true.  If the ship headed for us is carrying aliens . . . and if they are Ikiiri . . . and if they challenge us . . . how are we going to react?  What weapons do we have that might stop them?”

 “The storm that’s growing west of Meighen’s Island, the one that shouldn’t exist but does.  The last element, air.”  Colonel Green was drawing little triangles on his note pad.  “So, you came up here to do . . . what?”

 “Be with her.  Give her someone tangible to fight for.  Give her a reason to maybe break the chain reaction and live through the encounter.”  Sam leaned forward and divided his gaze between Peter and Colonel Green.  “You said the polar bear goddess said she has always chosen love and that free will is what sets us apart from all her children.  Well, she’s been so intent on making sure that she doesn’t get anyone else killed that she’s left herself completely alone.  Something she never was before in any of our lives.”

 “Are you sure that you haven’t shared a life with her?”  Toby asked.

 Peter hesitated and replayed that part of the dream in his mind.  “Ruth asked her twice if she was sure we hadn’t met and the second time the polar bear said . . . ‘certain.  Marag was King Orion in Atlantis.’”

 The tall bearded man choked on his coffee and the woman at his side pounded on his back.  “Not one word, Simon.  Or I’ll be forced to tell them just who you were in Atlantis.”

 The rest of the table dissolved into laughter while Peter and Colonel Green just looked on.  Peter could feel the tension in the room lessen and he smiled a bit while he watched Sam smile and rub a little circle on his temple.  He wondered if that meant he had as bad a headache as Peter did.

 “Sorry about that.”  The Marine Colonel’s eyes were also on Sam’s hand and they were worried.  “We need transportation up to the island.  I’m not sure how much help we’ll be but there’s something telling me that the countdown has ticked down quite a bit while we were flying up here.  I’m hoping you’ll help, David.”

 “It’s a story that’s right out a book of fairy tales, Seth.  And by rights, I should lock you all up as dangerous lunatics.”  Colonel Green shook his head.  “But I must be as crazy as you are because I believe every word.  So, we’ll organize some transportation for you and get you on your way.  The last time we had any communication, the alien ship was still twelve hours out.  Did you hear any different?”

 The Marine Colonel shook his head.  “That sounds about right.  How long will it take to get up there?”

 “Four hours by plane.  We’ve got an old Albatross that can land on snow pack.  And a pilot who can fly her.”

 “Excellent.  Would it be possible to catch a few hours sleep for all of us?  We’ve been going on adrenaline the last couple of days.  And I want us fresh when we face the Ikiiri.”  Colonel Griffin asked.

 “Of course you can.  We’ve got guest rooms galore.  In fact, Peter here used one last night.  He and I will sort out your transportation while you’re catching a few winks.”  Colonel Green smiled and shook his head at Peter when he took a breath to ask for some time with his brothers.

 “Peter, we’ll have time to talk on the flight up, I promise.  But I really need a nap right now.”  Sam looked at him apologetically with his eyes at half-mast.

 “I could use a tour of the base.  I slept during the flight up.”  Toby looked alert and Mei Ling nodded agreement.

 “That’s doable.  I’ll have Captain Brewer take you around.  Anyone else like to join them?”

 “I would, if it wouldn’t be too much trouble.”  The old man said hesitantly.

 “It’s been a while but I think I’d enjoy it as well.”  The bearded man, Simon spoke up with Marag joining in with a nod.

 “Fine.  Seth, I’ll let you and Captain Hamilton have my suite for your naps and the rest of us will keep busy.”  Colonel Green stood and went to a door at the opposite end of the conference room.  “Right in here.  Excuse the mess but I wasn’t expecting company.”

 “As long as there’s a bed, it could look like a tornado hit it and I’d think it looked fine.”  Sam faltered a little when he stood up and Colonel Griffin put out a steadying hand.

 Peter watched with narrowed eyes while the two of them disappeared through the heavy door.  There was something going on but he couldn’t tell just what.  Swinging around, he caught Toby’s grin and knew just who to go to for the information.  “Toby, could I speak to you for a moment?”

 “Um, no.  I need to get going on that tour.  We can talk later.”  He was already heading for the other door with Mei Ling right behind.

 Peter’s eyes swung to the other three but they all had pleasant smiles on their faces and they were edging out of the room as quickly as they could.  So, they all know but they’re not talking.  It is definitely something to do with Sam.  Maybe he’s sick?  And he needs this Ruth to heal him like she did the other two?

 Colonel Green came back in chuckling.  “Seth hasn’t changed a bit.  He always was a bit of a mother hen and that brother of yours looks like he’s out on his feet.  I think the responsibility of Ruth’s health and his empathy for her have combined to overload him.  I’ll bet he’s a very good doctor.”

 “Yes, he is.”  Peter unclenched his jaw.  That might be the explanation.  “Well, since the rest have deserted us, why don’t you let me help with getting the Albatross on line and ready to fly?”

 “You’ve got a deal.  Ever flown one before?”  Colonel Green led the way to the command center.

 “A hundred years ago but I think I might remember what goes where.”  Peter followed him.  For now, he’d let it rest but then he and Sam were going to have a little talk.

 Would that be before or after you meet the alien invaders, Peter?  That little voice in his mind could be so annoying some times.  But it did have a point.  Okay, first we beat off the aliens, get out alive and then Sam and I will have a little chat.

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End chapter fifteen