She noted the oceanographer’s eyes focused on the curled grendels and remembered he had never finished his last thought. “You mentioned some misgivings. Something about the old Norse symbol of the curled dragons.”

“Yes.” He rubbed his chin, making it slightly harder to read his lips. When he saw her squinting, he lowered his hand. “Like I was saying, the symbol signifies the circle of eternal life, but it also has a darker, more ominous significance. And with all the tragedy found here…the fate of the base…” He shook his head.

“What else does the symbol represent?”

He faced her fully so she could read his lips. “It means the end of the world.”

Lacy Devlin crouched elsewhere in the Crawl Space. As a junior research assistant with the geology department, her shift under Connor MacFerran did not begin for another two hours. Then again she had already spent most of last night under Connor in his makeshift room here at the base. He had a wife back in California, but that didn’t mean the man didn’t have needs.

She smiled at the memory as she laced her skates.

All set, she stood and stared down the long, slightly curved ice tunnel. She did a few stretches, working loose the knots in her thighs and calves. Her legs were her trademark. Long and smoothly muscular, swelling to powerful hips. She had been a speed skater with the U.S. Olympic team back in 2000, but a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her knee had benched her career. She had eventually finished her undergraduate work and moved to graduate school in Stanford. That was where she had met Connor MacFerran.

Lacy took a few steps in her short-track skates. They were ankle-high, composed of graphite and Kevlar molded to the shape of her feet. When worn, they were as much a part of her body as her own fingers and toes. She also wore an insulated skin suit — striped red, white, and blue — over thermal underwear. And of course a helmet. In this case, not her usual plastic racing headgear, but one of the geologists’ mining helmets, equipped with a light on its brim.

She started down the tunnel. She had skated many times across the surface of the polar ice cap, but the tunnels were more challenging. The swooping water-melt channels were a delight to fly through.

She pushed with her legs, extending fully, still feeling a bit of that deep ache from last night with Connor. It added to her exhilaration and excitement. Last night, for the first time, he had said he loved her, whispering it urgently in her ear, panting each word as he thrust into her. The memory warming her now, she barely felt the cold.

As she began her run, the tunnel slanted in a short decline, increasing her speed. She had a set course that she ran each morning since the discovery of the Crawl Space. It was out of the geology team’s way. There were no interesting inclusions to sample, so the passages in this section were not sanded. Two months ago, she had first walked the course to sight any obstacles and memorize which turns made a complete circuit, ending where she started.

Lacy sped around the first bend, sweeping up the curved ice wall. The wind of her speed whistled in her ears. She crouched as she came around the corner. Ahead lay a series of switchbacks, a crazy S-shaped twist of tunnel. It was her favorite part of the circuit.

Balancing herself, she kept her left arm tucked behind her back and swung her right arm in sync with her stride. Back and forth, she pushed with her legs, accelerating into the switchbacks. She hit the twisted section of tunnel with a shout of glee. With each cutback, she flew high up the walls, momentum keeping her riding in perfect balance.

Then she was out of the switchbacks and into a section that required more attention. Tunnels crisscrossed in a funhouse maze. She braked a bit, slowing to catch the spray-painted markers on the ice. She had memorized the turns, but she knew better than to make a mistake.

She swung her helmet lamp, which cast its single beam far down the dark tunnel, giving the ice a translucent glow. The markers — orange arrows — were easy to pick out. They seemed to shine with their own light.

She shot into the first of the arrow-painted passages, passing by dead ends and tunnels that led out to dangerous terrain. As she passed one of these unmarked tunnels, shadows shifted deep inside, but her speed was too fast to get a look. As she shot past, she risked a glance behind her. No luck. She was already too far down the tunnel. The angle was wrong for the beam of her helmet lamp to penetrate the rapidly retreating tunnel mouth.

She faced forward. At such speeds, her attention needed to stay focused ahead of her. Still, her nerves were now jangled, like someone had drenched her with ice water. She had gone from easy contentment and joy to a hard-edged anxiety.

She tried to dismiss it. “Just the shadows playing tricks,” she said aloud, hoping her own voice would comfort her. But the echoes of her words spooked her. They sounded unnaturally loud.

She was now acutely aware of how alone she was down here.

A small noise caught up to her. Probably a bit of ice sliding and scraping down the tunnel. Still, the scritching tightened her jaw. Twisting her neck, she glanced behind her again. The beam of light revealed only empty passage, but the length of view was only twenty yards as the tunnel twisted away behind her.

She turned back around, almost missing one of the orange markers. She had to brake and kick out with her left leg to make the sharp turn into the correct passage.

As Lacy shot into the proper tunnel, her legs trembled under her. Fear fatigued her muscles. She realized she should have taken the tunnel just before this one. She had marked this passage because it led outward into a long half-mile single loop. The other was a shortcut, too short for her usual four-mile run. Now she just wanted to get the hell out of these passages and back to other people, back to Connor’s arms.

As she raced down the loop, she increased her speed, seeking to put some distance between her and the shifting shadows. After a full minute with nothing but her own thoughts, she realized how foolish she was being. There were no more suspicious shadows or noises — just the clean hiss of her blades over the ice.

She began the climb out of the loop. The passage slanted up and required work to keep moving forward. But her momentum and the smooth ice helped. Shoving with her legs, falling into her familiar rhythm, she raced back out of the loop — heading toward home again.

A small laugh escaped her. What was she so afraid of? What could be down here? She studied her reaction. Maybe her night with Connor had awakened some deep misgiving in her after all. Maybe this was an echo of guilt. She had met Connor’s wife many times at university functions. Linda was a sweet, gentle woman with an easy, welcoming manner. She didn’t deserve to be so—

The noise returned. The slippery sound of ice on ice.

Now it came from ahead of her.

She braked. Far down the passage, near the end of the loop, shadows shifted. Her light could not reach that far. She slowed but didn’t stop. She wasn’t sure. She wanted to see if there was truly anything to fear. Her light bled ahead as she advanced.

“Hello!” Lacy called out. Maybe it was another of the researchers, off to explore on his own.

No answer. Whatever movement she had noted had now stopped. The shadows had settled to their usual stillness.

“Hello!” she repeated. “Is anyone there?”

She crept forward, gliding on her skate blades. She followed the glow of her light as it stretched down the passage.

Ahead, the loop came to an end, reentering the funhouse maze of passages again. Her throat had gone dry and tight from the cold, as if someone were choking her. I only have to get through the maze…then it’s a straight shot back to civilization.