Outpost Read Free

beneath his bunk and began to pack. Jane sat on a chair in the
corner and sipped black coffee.
    Clothes
on the floor. Jeans so narrow Jane wouldn't be able to pull them past her
ankles.
    'It
seems a bit premature,' said Punch. He stripped out of chef's whites and a blue
apron. 'I'll probably have to unpack half this stuff during the week. But I
just want to be gone.'
    'You
like comics?' asked Jane. Posters of Batgirl, Ghost Rider, Spawn.
    'That's
why I'm here. Six months, no distractions. I was going to draw my masterpiece.
Blast my way to the big-time. Brought my inks. Brought my board.'
    'No
joy?'
    'I
pissed away the time. Thing is, what does a hero look like these days? Muscles
and Lycra? Life isn't a contest of strength any more. Jobs, banks, taxes.
Boring social reality. You can't solve anything with a fist. Those years are
long gone.'
    'Don't
feel bad. Pretty much everyone on this platform is in a holding pattern.'
    'Sure
you're okay?'
    'I
may switch rooms later. All that despair. The smell hangs around like cigarette
smoke.'
     
    Jane
picked a new room and unpacked her stuff. The room was identical to the last
but it still felt like a change. She flushed her remaining painkillers. She had
psyched herself for suicide, but the moment for action had passed.
    She
sat on the bed. Her life was one lonely room after another.
    A
double beep from the wall speaker in the corridor outside. A Tannoy
announcement broadcast throughout the refinery, echoing down empty passageways,
gently stirring motes of dust in distant rooms.
    'Reverend
Blanc, please come to the manager's office right away '
     
    Rawlins's
office was at the top of the administration block. A wide, Plexiglas window
gave him a view of the upper deck of the refinery. A vast scaffold city of
gantries, girders and distillation tanks lit by a low Arctic sun.
    Rawlins
ran the installation from his desk. A wall panel showed a plan of the rig
dotted with green System OK lights.
    Submerged
cameras monitored the seabed pipeline, a concrete manifold anchored to the
ocean bed.
    He
sat by the radio. Speakers relayed the hiss and whistle of atmospheric
interference.
    Jane
pulled up a chair.
    'Nothing
from the mainland?'
    'Comes
and goes,' said Rawlins. 'I get snatches of music. The occasional ghost voice.
Hear that?'
    A man, faint and desperate:' Gelieve te helpen ons. Daar
iedereen is? Kan iedereen me horen? Gelieve te helpen ons .''
    'What's
that?' asked Jane. 'Swedish? Norwegian?'
    'God
knows. Some poor bastard. He's out there, somewhere, calling for help. I can
hear him, but he can't hear us.'
    'This
is starting to scare the crap out of me.'
    'Look
at this,' said Rawlins. He re-angled his desk screen. 'I managed to pull this
from the BBC News site a couple of weeks ago.'
    He
clicked Play.
    Police
marksmen creeping through a supermarket. Footage shot low to the ground. A
reporter crouched behind a checkout.
    '.
. . suddenly attacked paramedics and fled the scene. She seems to have taken
refuge at the back of the store. Police have cleared the building and are
moving in . . !
    Something
glimpsed between the aisles. A figure, creeping, feral.
    'There
she is . . !
    Sudden
close-up. A woman's snarling face masked in blood.
    Police: 'Put your hands up. Keep your
hands where we can see them . . !
    She
lunges. Gunfire. Her chest is ripped open and she is hurled backward into a
shelf of coffee jars.
    She's
still moving. A marksman plants a boot on her chest, cocks his pistol and
shoots her in the face.
    Rewind.
Freeze frame. That bloody, snarling face.
    'What
the fuck?' said Jane.
    'That's
what I wanted to talk to you about,' said Rawlins. 'Not here, though. Outside.'
He threw Jane an XXXL parka. 'Let's take a walk.'
     
    They
descended metal steps that spiralled round one of the rig's four great
floatation legs.
    Winter
was coming. Ice had begun to collect around the refinery legs. Soon Rampart
would be sitting on a solid raft of ice. As the days drew short and the
temperature dropped