"Dan Simmons - The Terror" - читать интересную книгу автора (Simmons Dan)

тАЬNothing since them shots тАж that one shot тАж almost two hours ago, sir.
Just a while ago I heard, I think I heard тАж maybe a scream, something,
Captain тАж from out beyond the ice mountain. I reported it to Lieutenant
Irving, but he said it was probably just the ice acting up.тАЭ
Crozier had been told about the sound of the shot from the direction of
Erebus and had quickly come up on deck two hours ago, but thereтАЩd been no
repetition of the sound and heтАЩd sent no messenger to the other ship nor
anyone out on the ice to investigate. To go out on the frozen sea in the dark
now with that тАж thing тАж waiting in the jumble of pressure ridges and tall
sastrugi was certain death. Messages were passed between the ships now only
during those dwindling minutes of half-light around noon. In a few days, there
would be no real day at all, only arctic night. Round-the-clock night. One
hundred days of night.
тАЬPerhaps it was the ice,тАЭ says Crozier, wondering why Irving hadnтАЩt reported
the possible scream. тАЬThe shot as well. Only the ice.тАЭ
тАЬYes, Captain. The ice it is, sir.тАЭ
Neither man believes it тАФ a musket shot or shotgun blast has a distinctive
sound, even from a mile away, and sound travels almost supernaturally far and
clearly this far north тАФ but itтАЩs true that the ice pack squeezing ever more
tightly against Terror is always rumbling, moaning, cracking, snapping, roaring,
or screaming.
The screams bother Crozier the most, waking him from his hour or so of
sound sleep each night. They sound too much like his motherтАЩs crying in her
last days тАж of that and his old auntтАЩs tales of banshees wailing in the night,
predicting the death of someone in the house. Both had kept him awake as a
boy
Crozier turns slowly. His eyelashes are already rimmed with ice, and his
upper lip is crusted with frozen breath and snot. The men have learned to keep
their beards tucked far under their comforters
 THE TERROR || 7


and sweaters, but frequently they must resort to hacking away hair that has
frozen to their clothing. Crozier, like most of the oямГcers, continues to shave
every morning, although, in the eямАort to conserve coal, the тАЬhot waterтАЭ his
steward brings him tends to be just barely melted ice, and shaving can be a
painful business.
тАЬIs Lady Silence still on deck?тАЭ asks Crozier.
тАЬOh, yes, Captain, sheтАЩs almost always up here,тАЭ says Hickey, whispering
now as if it made a diямАerence. Even if Silence could hear them, she couldnтАЩt
understand their English. But the men believe тАФ more and more every day the
thing on the ice stalks them тАФ that the young Esquimaux woman is a witch
with secret powers.
тАЬSheтАЩs at the port station with Lieutenant Irving,тАЭ adds Hickey.
тАЬLieutenant Irving? His watch should have been over an hour ago.тАЭ
тАЬAye, sir. But wherever Lady Silence is these days, thereтАЩs the lieutenant, sir,
if you donтАЩt mind me mentioning it. She donтАЩt go below, he donтАЩt go below.
Until he has to, I meanтАж. None of us can stay out here as long as that wiтАУ тАж
that woman.тАЭ
тАЬKeep your eyes on the ice, and your mind on your job, Mr. Hickey.тАЭ