With my success at making the connection with the Welsh station I was expecting to find the Arctic stations without much trouble, but try as I might I could not lock onto them.

I wondered if the batteries might be failing so I got one of the portable sets and put in fresh batteries, then projected a Reimann sphere to seek for the stations.

I cried out as I saw into the domestic buildings, for there were paramilitaries in protective clothing spraying a green gas into the air, and the hunters, disturbed from sleep were either on the floor or had fled out onto the ice.

I made a note of the settings for that station, and sought out another. That one was all in darkness, all undisturbed. Quickly we created a portal, and roused the sleepers. The Captain carried a rod through the portal with her and at once I could fix the station using the office equipment. I found another two and put in the batteries, and went out onto the floor of the Hall.

The Captain returned with a group of hunters, some dressed for the ice and others in indoor garments, but all carried the most ferocious weapons, spears and harpoons. I opened a portal to the first station, siteing it outside an open door. The hunters vanished through it at a sprint, and the Captain followed them briefly to place the rod.

More hunters arrived dragging sledges piled high with pelts, or carrying a couple on their shoulders. I set the Chorister to organising the evacuation of the station and to closing the portal when all the hunters were out.

I then looked into the third station, and saw that there was a turquoise ring in the mess hall, and men were emerging from ring cars and putting on the protective clothing.

I projected the scene so that the hunters in the hall could see it. They were a little slower than I would have liked to react, but when they did it was with commendable speed.

By the time I had a stable portal and the Captain standing by with the rod, they were armed, and they went after the paramilitaries with dreadful ferocity.

Some of the green gas must have escaped into the Hall and the smell of chlorine wafted about. I went to open the windows of the offices, and saw the glow of fires in the city. The wolf hunters must have been the culprits, I thought, but did not think much of it, even though a brisk wind blew in through the windows and rapidly dispersed the gas.