"How many days in a row can a man eat chilli anyway?" Hannibal asked as Murdock served them all another steaming bowl.

The three invalids sat in the rec room, dressed and showered and shaved for the first time in over a week. All three were still weak but the doctor that Decker had talked to over the radio had insisted they didn't stay in bed any longer.

Decker and Murdock on the other hand, Hannibal thought, looked like they were about ready to take to their beds. Both were pale and had dark shadows under their eyes from several nights of broken sleep.

"We kind of made a lot of chilli," Murdock confessed. He smiled. "Well I made a lot of my – ahem - prize winning chilli." He smirked at Decker, who ignored him. Murdock had made a fifteen-minute acceptance speech in the bedroom block corridor after they totted up the marks and found that Murdock was the winner of the chilli cook-off.

"Does that mean this is the same chilli we were eating a week ago?" BA scowled, looking disgusted.

"Isn't it dangerous to keep on reheating meat like that?" Face asked nervously.

"Are you dead?" Murdock asked. "Well stop complaining."

Decker glanced over from where he stood at the window. "Ignore him. We froze it and reheated it in batches." He went back to looking outside. Hannibal looked at him.

"Any wolves, Rod? Jackals? Lions? Woolly mammoth?"

Decker turned to look at Hannibal, eyes narrowed. "I heard it howling last night."

"You're paranoid." Hannibal said.

"The wolf that one hears is worse than the orc that one fears." Murdock said, in an ominous voice.

"What's the fool talking about now?" BA asked.

Murdock glanced back quickly at the bookcase, then reached behind himself without looking and tossed a book from a shelf to BA, who caught it one handed. Hannibal glanced at the book. The Fellowship of the Ring. He studied BA for a moment. BA versus an orc? Where would the smart money be there? He looked at Decker again. Decker was eyeballing Murdock dubiously. And Face was doing the same.

Murdock had brought the food in on a tray. He now put the tray down on the floor, stood on it and started pretending he was on a surfboard. Arms out for balance, body leaning from side to side, humming Beach Boys tunes

"Murdock," Face said after a moment. "I'm cold, would you get me a blanket please?"

At once Murdock jumped off his 'board'. "Sure, Face." He ran out of the room carrying the tray under his arm.

"We need to talk about him," Decker said quietly.

BA shot Decker a dirty look. Face just looked at Decker and then turned to Hannibal.

"He's right, Hannibal. If there's -"

He shut up as Murdock came back in with a blanket. Hannibal shifted uncomfortably in his seat and put down his half-finished bowl of chilli, no appetite now. He hadn't realised he would feel so guilty about this. And not just for Face and BA's worrying, but even for Decker. Was Decker worried about being stuck here with a crazy man, Hannibal wondered, or did he feel actual pity for Murdock? He sighed. Well that was what Hannibal wanted, wasn't it? Plan's working. So why, he wondered, do I feel like taking myself outside and punching me in the mouth?

Murdock gave Face the blanket, taking his empty bowl from him then collecting BA's too. He wandered to the stereo. "How about some music, guys? I'm in the mood for Dark Side of the Moon."

"Dark side of the moon?" Hannibal said, glad of the distraction as the music started. "Feels like that's where we are right now." He glanced at the window, at the blackness outside. Decker was watching Murdock who had sat down beside Face. "Why don't you get away from that damn window, Decker?" Hannibal snapped. "There's no damn wolf!"

Decker scowled at Hannibal. "I'm telling you it's still here."

"You're seeing things."

"Yes. Wolves."

"Actually, Decker is right," Murdock said. Hannibal and Decker turned to look at him.

"You've seen it too, Captain?" Decker asked.

"No. But it's still here."

Face turned to look at him now too. BA tore his attention away from Bilbo Baggins's eleventy-first birthday party to frown at Murdock.

"What you saying?"

Murdock looked around at them all. Then he spoke.

"I probably should have told you before. It's in the kennel."

Face broke the long silence that followed.

"The kennel, Murdock?" He asked quietly.

"Yeah, the one for the huskies, you know. We don't have any huskies, so I thought I'd let him in there. So at least he'd have some place warm to sleep."

Hannibal and BA came to their feet, their weakness forgotten. They stared at Murdock.

Decker went quite pale. "It's in the building?" He said, rather faintly, then all in a rush. "It's actually inside the building?"

Hannibal's gaped at Murdock. The kennel was part of the building, but since they had no dogs none of them had been back in there since the first exploration. Well, none of them except one person apparently.

"You let it inside?" BA was too shocked even to scowl. "What if one of us had gone in there?"

"There's no reason for any of us to go in there." Murdock said. He frowned. He looked quite surprised by their reactions.

"When?" Hannibal asked. "How long has it been in there?"

"Day after Christmas," Murdock said. "I just left the exterior door open. Later I was listening and I thought I could hear him in there."

Hannibal shook his head slowly. If this was faked craziness then Murdock was doing a better job than Hannibal had ever imagined he could. But if he really had done this...

"The door into the kennel is kind of hidden by the workshop when you're outside." Murdock went on. "And with it being dark most of the time you wouldn't spot it unless you were looking right at it."

"Why, Murdock?" Face's voice was quite soft, gentle.

"Well it's so cold out there and there can't be much to eat. I just wanted -" He didn't finish because BA grabbed him and dragged him up to his feet by his shirt front. Face jumped up too, tried to pull Murdock away

"Let him go!" Face yelled at BA. Hannibal jumped in too, trying to pull BA back.

"Tell me you ain't feeding it!" BA shook Murdock violently. "If you tell me you been giving our food to that animal then you're dead!"

"Decker! Don't stand there like a dummy!" Hannibal yelled. "Help me!" Decker sprang forward and he and Hannibal managed to pull BA off Murdock, probably only because BA was still below par from his fever. Decker dragged BA away and pushed him into a seat. Hannibal stood over Murdock and Face, who had both fallen back down onto the sofa when BA let go of Murdock.

"Have you been feeding it?" Hannibal demanded. Murdock didn't speak. He put his head in his hands.

"Leave him alone!" Face glared up Hannibal.

"Be quiet, Lieutenant. I want an answer now, Captain!"

"I said leave him alone." Face got back on his feet, stepped between Hannibal and Murdock. His voice was low. "Just leave him alone."

Hannibal raised his hands intending to push Face to one side. But he saw the look in Face's eyes. A look that said this time he'd go further than 'shut up' if he had to. Hannibal took a step back.

"It's all his fault we're here in the first place," BA growled. Hannibal glanced back at BA. Decker stood ready to restrain him again. "First the fool crashes the plane. On purpose! Then he blows up the kitchen. Now we'll end up starvin' cause he's giving our food away to an animal!"

"I am not!" Murdock looked up. "Bones! I gave him some bones. Left them in there when I knew he was outside. We can't do anything else with bones, he might as well have them."

"You crazy fool!"

"And I did not crash the plane on purpose!"

"Okay, that's enough!" Hannibal yelled, shutting them both up.

Face sat down beside Murdock again and put an arm around him. BA looked away muttering and frowning. Hannibal rubbed his forehead with the heel of his hand. My god, this was insane. They had a wild animal actually on the premises.

"We can't let it stay in there. I'm sorry Murdock." Hannibal silenced Murdock's protest with a raised hand. "It's just too dangerous. If it somehow got through from the kennels to the rest of the station. We can't risk that."

"He'll die out there!"

"He - it will probably move south," Hannibal said. "That's probably where it was heading before you let it in. Face, keep Murdock in here. BA, Decker, you come with me."

Hannibal got them far away from the rec room so that Murdock couldn't hear them. He stopped outside the radio room. BA was still fuming. Decker had his arms folded, eyes narrowed.

"Okay, the three of us go in there and search. If it's there we try to chase it out and lock the door. If it won't go, or it tries to attack..." He glanced south down the east corridor, towards the boiler room and the tiny room tucked behind that.

"The guns." Decker said. Hannibal nodded.

"If it comes to that then we don't tell Murdock, okay? We tell him we chased it out and last we saw it was high-tailing it for the horizon."

"I think we should kill it anyway." Decker said. "Even if we chase it out it might not leave. Not now it knows there's food here.

"Yeah, and what's to stop the fool letting it back in?" BA said.

"Because I'm locking that door and hiding the key." Hannibal said. "I don't think he'd let it in any of the other doors. Not actually into the parts of the station we're living in."

"Are you absolutely sure about that?" Decker asked.

Am I? Hannibal wondered. Murdock wouldn't endanger their lives, surely? The kennel was one thing but he wouldn't invite the beast into the rec room, would he? No, Hannibal was sure of that. They'd spare the animal's life if they could and pray the damn thing got the hell out of here.

"Let's get the guns."