Everyone agrees, so Hogan heads back to the plane to radio for help.

Kerr heads to the back of the tent and quietly addresses Baragli and Brennan. Jack is busy tending to his gear, out of earshot.

Thompson sets up his main computer on stand-by mode, so the emergency kit can be used if need be. He works an extra command into the emergency procedures, so that they are activated they will auto-send a pre-recorded message to team one immediately, and on the hour, every hour. It will append to this message any extra information he manages to transmit at the time.

His main gear case (which until recently was chock full of components) now has a mix of clothes, a palmtop, a couple of the calculator-sized computers, and some remaining components.

Working on his cover, Jack decides on being some sort of electronics technician, as it is the easiest to keep up and is one that is close to the truth. He then manipulates some of his components in series to create a couple of weather monitoring devices or mock-ups of something similar to show a bit of his 'work' down here. Because his components are all pretty non-descript, it is easy to create series of devices that do an innocent task while also doing some spy work for us.

In the back, Kerr addresses the two. "First of all, I've been thinking about this for a while. I don't think that they will just kill us when they get out here. They'll have to kill us in an accidental way, like the last team. We may have caught them a little off guard by surviving the bomb. So, we may have bought some time until they figure out a different way to kill us."

"Second of all, the knife that Jack showed me, is from a rather black area of the CIA Research and Design. I don't think we need to worry Jack any more than he already is, and I thank you both for not telling him about the knife. But the issue is, is this a CIA front or has someone (or group) split from the CIA? It makes sense that someone from the CIA is here and still has contacts. Hence the bomb."

"Third, is Jack... I'm worried about him. He's a fairly young kid, who just realized that he may never go home again. He may be unstable, he may act rashly, he may be a danger to all of us. He may be all right, I don't know for sure. It's all of our responsibility to make sure that he remains stable. Pass the word to the others."

"So, do either of you have any thoughts on our situation?"

Brennan is the first to speak. "I agree with Hogan. We should just wait this out and see how our welcoming party reacts. Perhaps we should draft a contingency plan, should we become separated once inside Whitout base?"

The wonderfully earthy aroma of whatever Anna is working on disrupts the conversation.

She's making coffee! Boiling water over a survival stove, then pouring it into her French press... Surprised and somewhat longingly the two stare at her. "I will share!" she replies to their unasked question.

Baragali takes the first cup over to Jack. He is grateful, and the warm drink and company seems to lift his spirits. After going over what he's been working on, Anna excuses herself and serves coffee out to the rest of the team.

After a while, the four are talking about current events and politics. Baragali finishes her drink and bundles up. Upon exiting, she mentions she has to take care of some of her equipment.

Speaking of which, Kerr shows Brennan a trick, while Thompson looks on. "Freezing skin to metal is a real problem, but watch this..." He slips a small gun out of his pocket into his hand, then pulls on an oversized mitten.

Brennan smirks outwardly, privately wishing he had thought of it. Oiling your weapons with extreme temperature lubricants will do no good if your hands are too cold to function.

Outside, Baragali ditches her electronic surveillance equipment. To dispose of the modified police radio she bashes the case and destroys the electronics, as if it were damaged in the crash. She then hurls it into the distance away from where anyone has walked, with the hope it isn't found and modifications noticed.

Meanwhile, Hogan is in the downed plane's cockpit radioing your last known coordinates to the Whitout rescue team. He mentions that that you were on your way to Siple when you experienced pilot trouble.

After about an hour, two Sno-cats with spiderweb frameworks extending from their front bumpers pull up to your makeshift camp. One guard type with winterized submachine gun slung over a shoulder is first out from each vehicle. Scouting about, they then signal for the others to follow.

Hogan is first to met them. "Like I said, we're a group of technicians sent over to Siple to help with the repairs from the last big winter storm. We had pilot trouble, and had a hard landing in the storm."

The guards are ever watchful and stay by the vehicles, while the other four people help you pack into the heated cabs. For the most part they are friendly and don't seem suspicious.

As your camp is folded up, Brennan begins to stagger as though drunk. He then shakes his head, trying to clear his thoughts. Unsuccessful, he stops in his tracks and gazes out into the distance, mouth slightly open.

When people begin to notice, Kerr covers quickly by saying that "he was our co-pilot, and hasn't quite recovered from the landing." He then helps Brennan into the Sno-Cat. He can hear the other muttering, 'where am I, what is going on...'