" _" " The demon's jaw crunching." "Man's head is full of fairytales." "The victim was assaulted, murdered and decapitated." "I'm not leaving my home and that's what the doctor will do." "He punched Hildur Odegard." "Michael Lennox!" "Your boat!" "Three hundred thousand tons of ice and snow buried forever." "We're just clinging on." "Dan?" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "_" "Dan has acute alcoholic poisoning." "Traces of ethylene glycol still in his blood, antifreeze, coolant, can't be sure... that's why we have him on dialysis." "There's renal failure, cardiovascular compromise." "In your opinion, the condition you see him in now... would he have been capable of... strenuous physical activity in the last twenty four hours?" "I'm surprised he could even walk." "How did he survive all that time and we never saw him, heard him?" "Nobody." "Could he have anything to do with the dead man?" "I'll find out." " How is she?" " Afloat." "It's horrible." "It's like an assault on somebody you love." "Probably get the wiring done today." "Patch up the rest tomorrow and Saul's got cable he can..." " Michael." " Pick up a finder second hand." "There's no money for a finder." "Every boat in the fleet is out there, using that data, my data." "Hauling in money." "The Muriel's finished." "I'll be on the crab by the weekend." "Michael." "Baby." "You have to start facing up to reality." "I am." "You okay?" "Mum." "Listen." "Anything unusual..." "Or anybody around who shouldn't be out here, let me know." "Okay?" "Call me." "So that man was murdered then." "Just call me." "Eric?" "This thing wasn't bent out of shape." "It's supposed to be like this." "It's called a wrecker bar." "Geologists use them." "FARC said only one of their researchers has one like this." "It's a German make." "Laszlo Hindemith." "Arrived here last month." "Connecting flight from Kinshasa." "He rents a place out on the airport road." "Five, Amundsunveien." "So let's go..." "Hindemith works at the geology department at FARC, but he's not affliated to the centre." "He is an independent researcher." "Freelance, no colleagues." "What was he researching?" "Nobody knows." "Mr. Hindemith!" "Fortitude Police!" "I could probably get in through the kitchen window..." "Mr. Hindemith!" "There's nobody home." "He's been living here a month." "Eric?" "Aruwamo." "I think that's where Hindemith was based." "The Congo." "Mustard." "Mustard and chilli sauce." "And no hotdogs." "Hot spices and condiments." "This kind of food can be a sign of depression." "People need the kick it gives them to feel alive." "He was taking animal sedative." "Anything else?" "What?" "No..." "Just drugs..." "Lots of drugs." "Yeah." "Prints and swabs, then we can bag it all." "Don't go in today." "I have a date... with a hermaphroditic reindeer foetus." "So I'm chucked." "You are so chucked." "Thought you were done with those biopsies." "The reindeer..." "Thought you had ran out of little foetuses." "Few left." "I saw absolutely no behavioural changes in the first rat." "When the larvae matured inside, the rat simply died." "The larvae feasted on the rat's tissues." "Standard parasitical wasp outcome." "Perhaps the wasps function as a vector." "Like mosquitoes and malaria, deer tick and Lyme's disease, sand fly and Oncochersiasis." "Oncochersiasis?" "A sandfly gouges a wound in the victims flesh in order to feed the parasitic roundworm forces its way out of the sandfly's head into the victim's blood." "Result... river blindness." "There's just no nice way to be a parasite, is there?" "How do you mean?" " I'm being facetious." " Oh, I see." "The wasp I brought down from the glacier is clean." "It's not a vector for anything horrific." "It's just... a wasp." " It's a nasty little syringe with nothing in it." " Yes." "Then we can declare an all-clear." "We can start telling people this." "That would be... injudicious." "Injudicious?" "Precipitatous." "Premature." "Ill-advised." "That's a "no", isn't it?" "You might think I'm not smiling at these occasional witticisms because I'm humourless." "You might think that, Natalie, but you'd be wrong." "I'm not smiling much at all these days because everything about this place has me shitting my pants in expectation of some hurtling environmental catastrophe." "Boom boom." "Ow, fuck!" "You can't take this boat out there." "The fire did us a favour." "Just collect the insurance." "Make the best of it." "There is no insurance." "'Course there is." "Michael." "It's gone." "You didn't tell me." "What would it matter if I told you or not...?" "Lamont...?" "I couldn't let you go out there alone." "We both know what the seas are like this time of year." "Get the fuck off my boat." "The Muriel wouldn't have made it back..." "Get the fuck off my boat!" "I need to speak to Rune straight away." "Rune Lennox..." "Fortitude police need to ask him some questions..." "Is he in some kind of trouble?" "No..." "I need to ask..." "What's the flight time from Kinshasha to Oslo?" "What?" "Would Hindemith fly in from the D.R.C via Schiphol?" "Err?" "I'll find out." "Who's that, what's going on?" "Nothing." "I'll check the flights for you now." "Now I know I've got to run away." "I've got to get away, you don't really want any more from me, to make things right, you need someone to hold you tight." "I'm not convinced this is a suitable environment." "It's the only suitable environment." "She'd be more comfortable in my hospital." "Until the patient has been determined to be pathogenically sterile, then it is my responsibility to contain her." "Isn't that right, Governor Odegard?" "The specialist committee from the mainland agreed this arrangement." "Yes." "You think this is acceptable?" "Keeping the girl like a rat in a Perspex box?" "The subject is in an irreversible vegetative comatose condition." "I'm sorry, governor, had I been part of that conversation, I would never have agreed to do this." "Maybe he's right." "Here, she contributes." "Her sacrifice has meaning." "What we learn from her may yet save lives." "Doctor." "Governor." "And her existence is not without some stimulation." "Fortitude police." "It's Michael Lennox." "I just saw a flare go up near Matti's husky pen." "It's a reindeer." "We're four months too early for bear." "I know, but it's still gotta be logged, Eric!" "Michael, you see Matti, you tell him, frankly I've more important shit to worry about." "I did what I could for you Hildur." "But they were always going to get you." "What is this?" "You gave them their excuse." "You'd loaded the gun yourself." "What gun?" "What, what are you talking about?" "In direct contravention of express instructions from minister himself." "You released fuel subsidies." "Yes, I know... but I, I had to do that." "Without authorisation." "The fleet had to have fuel." "I told you this would never work on the ground, Erling, Oslo always trying to second guess..." "You're right." "It didn't work." "The idea of prosecution was mooted." "Criminal prosecution." "Misappropriation of governmental... you know the kind of shit they can cook up without even blinking." "Who's behind this?" "They all are." "Termination of appointment." "You will be given time within reason to clear your desk and to make interim arrangements." "I will be in charge during the transitional period." "Until a new appointment is made." "New appointment." "As of this time, you are no longer the governor of Fortitude." "I'll check into my room." "Give you time to take this in." "Hey." "Hi, mum." "Rune's been messing around with a girl." "Of course he has." "Do you know her?" "I know she's gorgeous and she's a bit older than him." "And she's from Vukobejina." "Do you know her name?" "They don't use names when they text." "You read his texts?" "No, Ingrid." "I read their minds using my special psychic powers." "I have to find her." "Are they in trouble?" "No." "They always meet in the MS. I'm assuming it stands for Midnight Sun." "Laszlo Hindemith." "Geologist." "Recently arrived at the, err," "Research Centre." "Anyone know Mr. Hindemith?" " That the headless human being, Eric?" " You know him?" "You said it was not my plough that took his head off." "It was a clean cut." "It wasn't your plough, Lars." "Forensics established that." "Forensics." "You mean Petra and her eyebrow tweezers." " What are you saying?" " I'm saying... if it was a clean cut, then it was a blade of some kind." "Means he was murdered." "That right?" "This is a road accident." "Two days ago, you were hiding up a glacier." "How the fuck did you get to be sheriff?" "Sit down, Lamont." " Don't tell me to sit down." " Sit down." "Answer the fucking question." "Sit." "Down." "I knew Laszlo Hindemith." "What?" "Hindemith." "He comes in here when the place is quiet." "Drinks scotch." "Lots of it." "What do you know about him?" "Talks a lot." " What about?" " The "demoniacal cacophony" he said." ""Childrens' voices"." "They die in the hands of cannibals." ""The demon's jaws"." "Stuff like that." "Permit me to corroborate the barman's account of things." "Demons and Cannibals." "But I'm sure you have contingency plans." "Hmm?" "Just like last time." "All the time you were gone, Dan." "I prayed that Eric would find you and bring you home." "Those terrible events... we, we wouldn't have survived them without you." "I don't know if you even know I'm here." "Know it's me talking to you." "You remember...?" "Do you remember the little model I had made, the ice hotel?" "Little lights inside." "You laughed at me." "You said I was like a princess with a doll's house... and I was all tight-lipped but, you were right." "Teeny little lights." "Elena didn't die the night you shot her." "She hasn't woken up since that night." "She's in a special unit, inside FARC, on life support." "They don't think there's any chance she's ever going..." "Dan." "Dan!" "Help!" "Someone help!" "I need some assistance here!" "Oxygen and lorazepam!" "Move away from the patient." "He's in seizure." "Try it on." "Quickly." "Go ahead." "Hey!" "Wait!" "Stop or I'll shoot...!" "Shoot you!" "I'm Rune Lennox's big sister." "I know." "I found this in Laszlo Hindemith's house." "In his room." "And his room was full of fucking drugs." "Never been in his house." "Don't tell lies." "Is Rune doing heroin?" " No." " Don't lie to me!" "Hit me again and I will fucking garrote you." "Okay." "Okay." "Just... tell me this." "Two nights ago." "Were you and Rune with Hindemith?" "Is Rune involved in what happened?" "Please." "You can't arrest me." "You can't do anything to me without getting him in trouble too." "Hey, wait." "Please." "Why were you and Rune stealing all those carrots?" "Bad things come at night." "You need to be ready; you need to see what's coming." "The princess lay in the coffin of glass." "Dead to the world till the end of time." "And no one cared." "No one remembered her." "The sound of her voice, her laughter." "No one at all." "The end." "Poor Snow White." "Hey what's going on?" "Hey." "What's happening?" "There's a bear." "Where... the playground?" "No." "Inside." "Inside?" "Yes." "Mr. Huseklepp...?" "Yeah." "Harald's not here." "What do you mean, he's not here?" "I saw him with us!" "Hey." "You know it's okay." "No one's angry with you." "Where did you see him?" "He went to get Princess." "He said bears eat rats." "Give me the rifle." " No." " Give me the damn rifle!" "Look, you stay here." "These kids, they need you." "Alright?" "Have you been drinking?" "You're not fit to be around my children if you're..." "Hey." "If you wanna wait for the police, go ahead, call 'em!" "Call Eric." "Go on, call him." "I don't think he's coming very soon." "Bears don't come into town here unless they're starving." "Really desperate." "Certainly not in daylight." "And even if they are crazy with hunger, they don't enter buildings." "They just don't do that." "Look at its eyes." "They're red." "Inflamed." "Possibly this bear was infected with something." "That's hemorrhaging from the head-shot." "Maybe." "This bear isn't starving." "It isn't even fucking peckish." "So this is a typical predator behaviour." "Again." "Vincent." "This isn't it happening again, this isn't what your so frightened of." "I know what you think." "This isn't it!" "What?" "Tell me what you think it is I think." "Wasps." "I know all about wasps." "And you know they're all gone." " Do I?" " We'll never see them again." "Chance in a trillion." "You two brought the roof down on the glacier cavern and that was that." "No more wasps." "As for this bear, you can't tell aberrant behaviour from stomach contents." "I think you need to find a live one." "Yes." "No." "I, I understand." "It's just..." "I've been calling all day." "But I'll try again tomorrow." "Maybe the minister will have time to speak in the morning." "She is not up there." "And who, may I ask, are you?" "I'm here to help." "You can't help me, my business is with the Governor." "I am officially authorised to expedite gubernatorial concerns." ""Gubernatorial"." "I'm sorry, my time is spent in the corridors of power in" "Oslo, and um, we often employ language which must seem to be a quaint and hermetic." "Get out of my way, you ridiculous man." "Oi, oi, oi, where the fuck do you think your going?" "You were not here!" "The authorities lost control of everything!" "People died, and now people are dying again and what the fuck are they doing about it?" "!" "You're not going up there!" " Hello!" " Hildur, can you come down and take a look at this?" "I'll be down in five minutes." "Nine years he worked out there and the conditions in the Congo were truly hellish." "Warlords being financed by multi-national mineral companies." "Hindemith in the middle of all this." "They excavate enormous mountains of mud, they use little children and they find diamonds, called blood diamonds." "Rubies, emeralds, valuable rare earth metals like coltan..." "Where does this take us?" "All of this activity, most of this activity, involves unspeakable suffering." "Child labour, mass executions, there are reports of cannibalism." "Eric I, I don't see..." "The barman says he spoke of it." "Hindemith?" "All the time." "So...?" "I think he witnessed things that haunted him." "Terrible things." " And...?" " They sent someone here to kill him." "To silence him." "Who did?" "These people." "So who cut the spine out of the husky?" "That could have been a warning." "They sent him a warning after they cut off his head off?" "I'm trying to build a profile of the crime." "This isn't how it's done." " I'm trying." " I know you're trying!" "I have to tell you something." "What?" "I can't come home tonight." "I have so much to do, I'll sleep in the office." "Oh." "Don't turn on the light." "Where were you?" "Been phoning." "Stuff happened in the school." "What stuff?" "Come here." "How are you?" "Mmm?" "You okay?" "I have, erm..." "I'm having a little trouble swallowing." " There is a clinic..." " No clinic..." "No, don't." "Shh." "No, no, no." "I am going to sell the Muriel for scrap." "To Bergson." "Fifty thousand maybe." "This place that I've found as a treatment that I read all about..." " It's a fraud." " Hey..." "No." "There's testimonials from people... people who've got better." "It's the one thing they know for sure, honey." "Nothing has ever slowed this down or changed its course in anyone." "It's scientific..." "The worst thing we could do... is lie to ourselves." "They are taking everything away from us." "Everything." "And this is how it starts." "I am no longer governor of Fortitude." "Good night, Dan." "There we go, princess." "I thought it might be whisky, but it doesn't smell like whisky to me." "Know what it is?" "Smells like reindeer juice." "I appreciate this, Captain Tannar." "What the hell's going on?" "Ingrid." "Fuck's sake." "Get in the car, Rune." " Hello, Tavrani." "Got a moment?" " Yeah." "You remember once you got hold of some, err, reindeer juice?" " What?" " You know." "Muscimol." "We didn't dare take it, we were just kids." "Ever try it since?" "It's not like a bit of weed, Eric." "You don't mess with that stuff." "We used to mess with everything else." "This is a very serious trip." "It can go very wrong." "And then?" "Horrors." "Nightmares." "Unnameable dread." "It can last for days." "Some people don't ever come back." "They say it lets your soul join the spirit world." "Battle demons so you can heal your tribe." "Sounds like just your kind of stuff." "Why are you here, Eric?" "Ever heard of a Laszlo Hindemith?" "Nope." "Just started at the Research Centre." "About two weeks ago, he dropped out." "Started doing weird stuff." "Pills." "Animal sedatives." "No shit." "Seems he was hiding some serious mental health issues." "In fact, I'd say he was falling apart." "Why are you telling me this?" "He was drinking reindeer juice, Tavrani." "I told you." "I don't do it." "Let alone give it out." "So if I open this and find a fresh batch, you'll have an explanation for that?" "I bet you've got half a litre chilled down in here." "_" "The demon is among us." "Ingrid!"