#27 The Telescope

I couldn't operate the controls with my gloves on. But I knew if I took them off, the pain would be excruciating. I had no choice. I took them off and loaded the shells into the magazine as fast as my shaking hands would allow. Several dropped into the snow. I wasn't foolish enough to try and pick them up.

A cruel gust of wind stole the breath from my lungs. I crumpled to my knees. Blotches of bright red and yellow flashed in my vision. I clutched the pistol to my chest trying to keep from toppling over. I knew if I fell forward into the snow I wouldn't get up.

I got my gloves back on but I couldn't feel my fingers. I didn't know if they were even in the right finger slots so I bent them against my chest to be sure. They seemed to be in right. My head stopped spinning, my vision returned. It took me a couple minutes to stand without collapsing. I walked to the telescope structure.

I walked like a marathoner about to experience the helplessness of body shutdown. It took me fifteen minutes to walk the thirty feet from the station hut to the telescope. But I made it inside. I closed and locked the steel door. I rounded the massive telescope. Miraculously, the heater was where I left it and it still worked!

But then the door to the telescope building opened and my heart began pounding. The telescope obscured that side of the space so I couldn't see the door. I knew what came in all the same.

I slid off my right glove and all but touched the heating element coils. A slight tingle but not enough to allow me to fire my weapon with accuracy. I maneuvered it into my hand anyway

I tried to face the barrel where I thought it would come for me. It was patient. Terror gripped my brain anew. I scanned the walls and ceiling forgetting it could climb. The shadows made it impossible to tell.

The heater made a loud click-clack sound and the coils faded from glowing red to black. I thought about putting the gun barrel in my mouth. I knew my tongue and flesh inside my mouth would stick to the barrel. There would be no changing my mind.