Cold Ground

- Good evening. - Good evening.

- Are you Professor Herman?

- I am indeed, it's nice to meet you.

Yeah nice to meet you.

Sorry we're late, we got lost on the way.

It's a really small village, and there were no signs.

- It's true there's not very much civilization out here.

Problem with it is it's the last refuge

before the mountains.

But, I'm glad you've arrived safely.

Thanks.

You must be David.

- Yeah that's me, nice to meet you professor Herman.

Oh please, call me Gunter.

Can I help you with your bags?

No, it's okay.

- You sure? - Yeah.

- Okay well let's grab this stuff and get inside,

it's bloody freezing.

- Thank you for putting us up for the night.

I should be thanking you.

This is a very unusual case.

It's great that we've got media coverage.

David, I have to apologize I don't speak French.

It's a bit embarrassing really for an English scientist

working on the French-Swiss border, but all us English

we're not renowned for speaking languages.

Come on in.

- It's okay, David and I speak English.

- Yeah I understand English, but sorry

I have a very bad accent.

- Well I can understand everything.

This is a pretty cool place, we've got researchers

from Switzerland, France, Germany.

It's a cosmopolitan place.

We've been collecting samples now for over a week.

So we setup this self-sufficient research camp.

It's up in the mountains.

We're trying to find out why there's been a drop

of temperature and micro-climate in this particular area.

- Do you think it has anything to do

with the cattle disappearance?

I do yes.

I mean the problem with these unusual weather conditions

is that sometimes it can actually affect

even the other side of the mountain.

It can alter the environment completely.

Like a climate anomaly.

Is that why people are talking about this virus spreading?

You've heard about the virus.

Well probably it's the glaciers melting,

and yet the temperature's remaining abnormally low

especially on one of the sites just over here.

We've discovered this new bacterial strain.

Now it's very different from any other bacteria

we've seen on the glacier.

It's the same species that's for sure,

but it has a minor difference, and it's mutating fast.

We just don't know what it is yet.

Now we think it might be a new virus developing

as the glacier is melting, and they're saying now

that it can be extremely contagious

especially when the temperatures are really low.

- And this new virus is infecting the animals?

- There's no proof that the bacteria is actually harmful.

But what if, the animals had inhaled it a while ago

without us knowing?

- And this bacteria made them disappear?

- The guys in the camp, they're doing everything they can

to find out why they're having these disappearances.

Have you heard about the horse carcass?

Yeah, yeah it's scary.

So the criminal act suspicions hasn't been ruled out then.

What do the experts think?

- Discovery of a horse carcass, I don't think

has anything to do with our case or our studies.

I just think it's one of those isolated cases.

Where are the others?

When's the rest of the team coming?

I don't know.

They were supposed to be back here a few days ago.

- We haven't been able to get in touch with them.

We can't establish any radio contact with the base.

- Melissa, David, let me introduce you

to Blake Turner.

He's a police investigator from Colorado.

Nice to meet you Melissa.

Nice to meet you.

David, how are you?

Nice to meet you.

- You're just in time for dinner my friend.

Sounds good, what's on?

Okay?

Hmm, really good.

Cheesy enough?

Yeah.

Yeah it's very nice.

Cool.

What are you filming for?

- Making a documentary about the case, it's French TV.

Yeah, it's our first big case,

and we wanna collect as many reports as possible.

Okay.

- What are we gonna do though if there's no one to interview

in the refuge?

That's a good point.

It's looks like you might have to go up to the top

of the mountain to interview them up there.

Okay.

- For some bizarre reason, something must be

keeping them up there.

And, if the radio is not working,

we can't contact them anymore.

We don't know if they've decided to come back

without even telling us, which could be the case.

Or, whether they've decided to stay up there

and wait for supplies.

Supplies?

- There is a helicopter that makes a supply run

every two weeks, food, provisions,

shuttles people back and forth.

Last run was four days ago.

Pilot said everything was fine at that point.

- A few of the scientists were supposed to be back

a few days ago.

The pilot said that there was nothing really unusual.

We only lost contact this morning.

- Okay so why are we going if they're coming back then?

It's already been four days.

Only takes a day to get up there in a jeep,

all the jeeps are up there.

Should have been back by now.

- You're leaving for the camp tomorrow, aren't you?

Right, yeah.

- He taking an English biologist and the mountain guide.

Daniel.

Daniel right.

So what we'll do is we'll give you some of the extra parts

for the radio.

It's really, really cold up there,

maybe the circuits to the radio are frozen.

Okay, maybe we could follow.

We could shoot some pretty nice footage on the way.

- Well um, okay, happy to have you along.

- How long does it take to get up there?

- Um, I don't know it's about three or four days or so.

- Three days? - Yeah.

And, are you sure it's safe?

- Yeah. - It's safe.

- Blake, Daniel, they can take the tents.

We're obviously gonna have to camp up in the cold,

windy mountains.

Nah, you'll be fine.

A few days in the snow, a few nights, no big deal.

You have winter coats if you need them?

- Hmm-mm. - Okay.

Good, anybody care for some Swiss cheese?

Hmm, yeah.

- Sure. - I'd love some.

Look who's filming already.

Sleep well?

- Yes, I slept very good, thanks.

- It is the first day of hiking,

we've got a good one ahead of us today.

Good morning.

- Good morning. - Blake.

- Daniel. - I'm Lori-Ann.

Nice to meet you. - Nice to meet you, Blake.

Daniel.

- Uhm, shouldn't we be roped up?

- You just walk behind me.

- Well, Detective Turner. - Yeah?

- What's an American investigator doing

in the French mountains?

Investigating.

There have been similar cases of animal disappearances

in the US over the past 10 years.

I've been investigating the Snoopy Case,

happened in Colorado in '67,

I don't suppose you ever heard of it.

You ever heard of the Snoopy Case?

- No no, what is the Snoopy Case?

- Snoopy was a horse who went missing.

His owner saw he had meat in his daily rations.

They found him a quarter mile away from the ranch.

Skin, hide on his shoulders, neck, skull,

been torn off, his skull was cleanly exposed,

it was terrible.

The bushes around the carcass, they found

they were flattened.

They found his mane about 50 yards off.

- Wow, so you came to which conclusion?

- I haven't come to any conclusion yet.

The investigation is still ongoing.

- Actually all the blood, organ, cerebral spinal fluids,

and brain tissues were all gone.

The full autopsy conducted one month later

was inconclusive.

The forensics said there was nothing

particularly odd about all the organs being gone,