The seismograph needle had been dancing erratically for three minutes when Dr. Augustus Foster first noticed something was genuinely wrong. He stood in the monitoring station deep beneath the Antarctic ice, his weathered hands gripping the edge of the instrument console, watching the readings spike far beyond anything the continent's geological activity should produce. At fifty-eight, with silver threading through his dark hair and the permanent squint of someone who'd spent decades studying data, Augustus prided himself on careful observation and measured response. Panic was the enemy of understanding.
"That's not normal," said Marcus Chen, the facility's lead geophysicist, his voice climbing an octave as he leaned over the adjacent terminal. "Those magnitudes—we're talking massive seismic event. Multiple epicenters. That shouldn't be possible."
Before Augustus could respond, the facility shuddered. Not the gentle tremor of distant seismic activity, but a violent, sustained convulsion that sent coffee cups sliding across desks and sent both men stumbling backward. Emergency klaxons erupted throughout Shackleton Research Station, their wail echoing through the corridors carved into the ice three kilometers below the surface.
"All personnel, this is emergency dispatch," a tense voice crackled over the intercom. "Structural integrity alert. All non-essential staff proceed to designated shelter zones immediately. This is not a drill."
Augustus's mind raced through possibilities—equipment failure, ice shelf collapse, seismic cascade—but none of them fit the data. The readings suggested something massive had struck the ice shelf from above, generating a kinetic impact that registered across their entire sensor array. The energy signature was unlike anything in their geological database.
A second tremor, more violent than the first, threw them both against the wall. Fluorescent lights flickered and died, replaced by the sickly glow of emergency illumination. Through the monitoring station's reinforced window, Augustus could see other researchers pouring into the corridors, confusion and fear written across their faces.
Marcus grabbed his arm. "Whatever that is, it's massive. And it just hit us."
Augustus stared at the seismograph, his scientific mind struggling to process what the data was telling him. Impact event. Confirmed. But from what? And from where?