"What do you mean by a body?” Cougar demanded.

He listened to the crackly radio message from the drill site as Keith looked on.

“Look, just stay there. I’ll bring Michelle with me.”

He shook his head at the operator.

“They must be hallucinating. No ruddy corpses can be found in at the North Pole.”

“They wouldn’t just make it up,” Keith said.

“Wait till Michelle hears this,” Cougar muttered before marching off to the research area.

He found the grey haired fifty-year-old scientist peering into her microscope as he entered.

“We seem to have a problem.”

The short woman glanced up.

“How can that be? Simon and Gerry are only supposed to measure the rate of methane release.”

“I know Michelle. They claim to have a body out there.”

She laughed.

“They on that brandy again?”

“Here we are,” Cougar said. “Standing inside an arctic station that costs a million dollars a year to run and they discover an anomaly.”

“I know how you feel. You want me to come with you?”

He nodded.

“Remember to wrap up warm first. It’s minus seventy out there.”
...
When they climbed onto the snowmobile, the freezing air hit them at once. Their goggles prevented snow blindness but reduced their ability to see properly.

“We should be there in fifteen minutes,” Cougar said. “It’s only a half mile distant.”

The transport slid easily across the frozen landscape as snow flurries drove into their unprotected cheeks. In the distance, thick grey clouds rolled towards them at ground level.

“That’s a damn storm,” Michelle pointed out.

“We should outrun it,” Cougar said reassuringly.

When they reached the drill site, the team members were waiting for them.

“Glad you could make it,” Simon said.

“What’s the flow rate?” Michelle asked.

“About ten pounds per hour,” Gerry replied.

“That’s much higher than was feared,” she said. “It’ll sure push the temperature up.”

“Where did you find the body?” Cougar asked.

“Over here,” Simon replied.

Cougar and Michelle followed to the drill head. The actual drill stood at the side of the short borehole.

“See for yourself,” Gerry said.

Cougar peered down at the obvious arm amid a pile of dark material.

“How old do you think it is?” Michelle asked.

“At this depth about ten thousand years,” Simon replied.

Cougar turned to the scientist.

“What do you want to do Michelle?”

“Dig it up and bring it back to the station of course.”

Cougar shrugged his shoulders.

“Everyone grab a shovel then, and start digging before the storm hits us.”

It was a long dig, but the unusual specimen was finally retrieved and placed on the vehicle. Before departing, Cougar pointed towards the rolling clouds.

“You two had better call it a day.”

When they arrived back, the ice block was placed upon the examination table as Michelle just stared.

“For something that should not be here it’s pretty solid.”

Cougar smiled.

“Suppose you’ll take samples and run them under that microscope?”

“Of course I will. I’m pretty eager to find out how he died.”

Cougar pointed to the arm.

“Perhaps an animal got him?”

“That would explain it.”
...
After careful defrosting, Michelle donned the obligatory facemask and began a battery of tests. Scooping up the dark material, she prepared a slide and gazed into the viewer.

“It looks like ash. Better turn the magnification up.”

She did so promptly and looked again.

“That settles it then. No sign of wood remains though.”

She used a small probe to sift the sample as she watched.

“Definite signs of body fat here. Now that is peculiar.”

She had a thought and carefully removed a sample from the undamaged arm. As she looked at a higher magnification, she gasped.

“That shouldn’t be there.”

She raised the magnification again and peered.

“I really don’t like the looks of that.”

She pulled back and wandered across to the com. As she did so, Michelle suddenly sneezed.

“Cougar, I need you in my lab.”

When he arrived, she looked worried.

“What’s the problem?”

She pointed to the microscope.

“Have a look yourself.”

Cougar was no biologist but he recognised cells when he saw them.

“You took a body sample?”

“Yes I did. What else do you see?”

“The DNA strand is pretty pronounced.”

“That is what I thought.”

“You sound rather concerned.”

As he pulled away, she let her thoughts be known.

“What you are looking at is a virus.”

Cougar shook his head.

“We all know that viruses use RNA not DNA. You must be mistaken.”

She shook her head.

“Today’s viruses use RNA that’s true. Fortunately for us though, it makes mistakes during replication.”

“Whereas DNA does not,” Cougar reminded her.

“This one matches that,” she said softly.

“How is that possible?” he asked.

“I think that we are dealing with a completely new viral strain. An advanced type if you like.”

“What? From ten thousand BC?”

“We would never have found it had we not been sent here to check for escaping methane levels.”

“I know that,” he replied. “Did this kill the bloke?”

“For a start the arm is female and yes, I think it did. That dark material is really ash.”

“She died in a fire out here?”

Michelle looked grim.

“Yes she did but not a conventional one. I believe that she was a victim of spontaneous human combustion. Perhaps we have accidentally found the original progenitor of this rare event.”

Cougar was sceptical.

“I have never believed in those stories.”

“Even when we have proof here?”

“So explain how a virus could cause the body to immolate itself.”

She had already considered that.

“By driving up the temperature rapidly, whilst shutting down the sweat response. At a certain point, the fat tissue would self ignite.”

“Pretty good theory Michelle, but how many viruses do you know can do that?”

“None of course.”

“Exactly. What I really want to know is how she got here.”

“Perhaps she came from Alaska or Russia and somehow got lost.”

“Rather unlikely don’t you think. We are at the top of the world my
dear. Could there be a settlement nearby?”

“Even ten thousand years ago the pole was deep frozen. A settlement should not exist.”

“That’s my whole point. She is an anomaly. I’ll think it over and say what conclusion I’ve come to later.”

As he left, she returned to the curious artefact.

“Where did you come from?”
...
Cougar looked around the mess hall at his team of experts.

“Where has Michelle got to?”

“She is not too well,” Keith replied.

“Very well then. You all deserve to know what I think about the
find. As we all know, there have been many expeditions out here. Especially during the late nineteenth, early twentieth century’s. I think that one of them brought the ash and arm.”

“You mean a hoax?” Gerry asked.

“That is the most likely explanation.”

“Michelle will not like that,” Simon said.

“Probably not but that is what my report will say.”

Cougar wandered off then to her quarters and knocked politely. A weak voice tried to reply.

“Come...”

When he entered, he got quite a shock. Michelle was breathing with a loud rasping noise and large pink blotches covered her face, neck and hands.”

“You don’t look that well.”

She tried to shake her head.

“I’ll have you evacuated to Alaska by copter.”

“You can’t,” she croaked.

“What do you mean by that?”

“It must be that virus Cougar. When I defrosted that block, it must have woken up.”

“I just cannot buy that,” he said. “Not after ten thousand years.”

“We must isolate ourselves,” she croaked. “We must all be infected by now.”

Cougar shook his head.

“Thankfully you are the only one so far. You are being taken out of here.”

As he left, he sneezed.

Entering the mess hall, he called Keith over.

“Contact Northern Command. Tell them that we need Michelle taken out.”

“I’ll try to but this storm will have to subside first.”

The rolling clouds had indeed reached the base. As the blizzard intensified, even the radio signal was badly disrupted.

As the day wore on, Cougar became quite ill himself.

“I’m heading for my quarters Keith. I’ll check on Michelle first though.”

When he stepped through her door, he saw that she was at least sleeping. As he tiptoed over though, he noted the scorched sheets.
When he pulled them back, he reeled.

Apart from the head, the rest of her had been reduced to a fine, black ash. He staggered toward the radio room, coughing violently.

“We need a total evacuation now,” he croaked. “Michelle is dead.”
Keith shook his head.

“Not in this storm. All signals are blocked.”

“Just keep trying. I’m going to bed for an hour. Send Simon to wake me.”
...
The storm raged on and an hour later Simon did indeed try to wake their leader. He quickly rushed out again, coughing violently.

As he entered the mess hall he said, “He’s dead too. Burned out.”

“What the hell are we dealing with?” Gerry asked.

“Michelle thought it was an ancient virus but Cougar did not accept that,” Simon replied.

“No virus could do that surely?” Keith asked.

“Certainly not one we are familiar with,” Keith said.

Simon suddenly keeled over. As the three colleagues rushed forward, they saw the red blotches.

“He’s got it too,” Gerry said. “I’m not sticking around for it to catch me.”

“You won’t last an hour out there,” Keith warned him.

“I really don’t care man.”

Gerry threw on the heavy wool protection and found his way to the snow mobile. As he tried to fight through the raging blizzard, he coughed twice.

“Not me too,” he croaked.

The storm raged on as silence descended.

A week had passed without a signal and the copter was rapidly heading toward the base to check out why.

“You are off home to Washington tomorrow I hear,” the pilot said.

“Glad to go mate. My six-week tour is over. I can see the base.”

Arctic One remained silent despite attempts at radio communication so they landed nearby. As the six-man team climbed onto the wasteland, they quickly entered the base.

“One of the vehicles has gone,” the medic reported.

“Everyone fan out. Let’s see what happened here.”

They found one of Keith’s legs under the table of the radio room, lying beside a mound of ash.

“What the hell happened to him?” the pilot asked.

When they entered the mess hall, the burned out remains of Simon lay upon the floor where he had fallen. The rescue team became even more puzzled.

They found Michelle and Cougar dead within their quarters. Back in the short corridor, the medic shook his head.

“I really cannot explain this one.”

“I’ll radio in,” the pilot said.

When he reached the radio room, his message was simple.

“Arctic team dead. One missing. Will return to base.”

As the copter took off, the co-pilot coughed.

“I hate colds,” he muttered.

The pilot just smiled.

“Enjoy the holiday mate.”

The doctor had decided that for safety reasons, the remains should be left behind. Whilst a special medic unit from the CDC would investigate the cause.

Wow, this is definately a best seller..

Ta...