Building One: General appearance is that of an oversized shipping container. Four stories high. The only windows are a small circular one on the front door, and a bay window in both of the work stations which occupy the bottom floor and are on opposite ends of the building.
Worker A is the data miner. His duties are to process the signals being sent to his computer via the DSAA sensor that sits 5,000 feet beneath the ice. Using military software he then plots the information onto a virtual representation of a sphere. Once the rendering is complete he will make a physical copy out of clay. Each node on the surface of the sphere on the screen will be represented in the real world by a tiny metal pin that he inserts at the correctly calculated coordinates.
Once the model is finished he puts it into a foam padded metal sphere about the size of a bowling ball, locks it up tight and slides it into an elevator-like apparatus. When he presses a large green button the elevator takes the metal ball up to the fourth floor. At this point the ball will be ejected into a complicated network of tubes, much like plastic gerbil play tunnels, set on an incline. Every few feet the ball triggers sensors that read the positions of the embedded nodes on the rolling encapsulated sphere.
The ball finally creeps into the second workstation on the other end of the building. Worker B then has the task of removing the nodes for repeated use and of shaping the clay into the form of a cube. She inserts all of the nodes on one side of the cube, locks it back up in its spherical casing and sends it back to Worker A, this time in a different tunnel system but sans sensors. She is also responsible for managing the incoming helicopter traffic, the daily data reports, and performing routine system checks on the transport tubes.
There is a large metal door that rolls up right next to the entrance. This is mainly used for incoming deliveries. The helipad is 100 feet from this door.
Building Two: More of a sunken dome. Connected to Building One by an underground passageway. This is used as a living area for both workers. There are couches, a small kitchenette, a television and telephone. There are two doors on the far side that lead into the living quarters.
Building Three: A perfect red cube shape about 20 feet high. It sits 200 feet away from Building One and Two. It has four large antennas on the roof. No windows. There is no visible door on the outside. There are no tunnels that lead to it. Worker A assumes it is some sort of power system, perhaps a backup. Maybe a communication hub or the DSAA relay station. Worker B thinks the same.
DAY ONE: Worker A, full name Theodore Langley Stromberg, whistles as he works. The heating system is acting up again so his office is colder than usual. His fingers hurt as he presses the metal nodes into the clay ball. Worker B, full name Amanda Lynn Castellano, is sweating and in her underwear. The heat is well over the comfortable level in her office and the windows weren't made to be opened. Her door is locked in case Theo should pay a visit. She goes over the delivery log. For the first time in her 8 months at the station the helicopter didn't show the day before to make a scheduled drop. She double and triple checks to make sure the mistake isn't hers.
DAY TWO: Theo wakes up to the sound of a distant helicopter. He gets up and gets dressed slowly, not eager to unload supplies at 20 below. He runs into Amanda in the tunnel. They walk together to Building One without much chit chat. When they get outside the helicopter is no where to be seen. "Maybe I was imagining it," says Theo. Amanda frowns. "I heard it too."
They start the day without dwelling on it too much. The heating system is back to normal. As darkness sets in Amanda sees some lights in the on the horizon through her window. It unnerves her a bit. The nearest point with any electricity is a few hundred miles away.
DAY THREE: Around lunchtime Amanda calls Theo on the speaker phone. No answer. She decides to walk to his office to see if he wants to eat together. She strolls down the length of the building eyeing the byzantine tube system. She gets to Theo's door and knocks. No answer. She opens the door. No Theo. Must be eating already. When she gets to the living area she is surprised that he isn't there either. Maybe he caught a cold; he was complaining about his office being a glorified ice cave. She knocks on the door to his room. No answer. She opens it slowly. Empty room. He's gotta be in the bathroom. She knocks. She knocks again. "Theo?"
Just open the door, she tells herself. If he's jerking off or taking a crap, so be it. You'll say you're sorry. She opens the door. In the bathtub there is an oversized sphere, much like the models that Theo makes, nodes and all, but much bigger. This sphere is the size of large sofa chair and it isn't made out of clay but glistening meat. The nodes are fistsized lumps of wet flesh. It seems to be gurgling. It smells awful. It is awful.
DAY TWENTY-THREE: Building One is on fire. Building Two is cracked in the center and spewing out black smoke. Building Three is intact. The antennas on the rooftop are crackling with green electricity. It hums.
