Wednesday, September 7, 2022

The Terror

The temperature is - 50 degrees Fahrenheit and dropping fast. Because of the fog that came through earlier, during the single hour of weak twilight now passing for their day, the foreshortened masts - the three topmasts, topgallants, upper rigging, and highest spars have been removed and stored to cut down on the danger of falling ice and to reduce the chances of the ship capsizing because of the weight of ice on them - stand now like rudely pruned and topless trees reflecting the aurora that dances from one dimly seen horizon to the other. As Crozier watches, the jagged ice fields around the ship turn blue, then bleed violet, then glow as green as the hills of his childhood in northern Ireland. Almost a mile off the starboard bow, the gigantic floating ice mountain that hides Terror's sister ship, Erebus, from view seems for a brief, false moment to radiate colour from within, glowing from its own cold, internal fires.

Dan Simmons



Image by Scott Daniel Ellison.

4 comments:

Scarecrow Atelier said...

First watched The Terror TV series. The story was so fascinating that I got the audio book and listened to it while I was working in the Halloween workshop. Almost 29 hours. Really enjoyed it.

Mike C(JASONV123) said...

Very cool.. I also dig the image!!

MR. Macabre said...

Which came first, the TV show, or the book? Stupid question, huh?

Mr. Macabre

Rot said...

The book.