winter in greenland

Due to the inverted and sunken terrain in the ice bucket, the outside cold wind cannot blow in, and the temperature does not drop so fast.Hearing the sound of the airflow whistling into the top of the ice cirque, rolling snowflakes and hitting the walls, and then rushing out screaming, I can feel that it is warmer below.

Dan sat beside August on his knees, the collar of his winter jacket pulled up to his chin, and the scarf August had given him was still wrapped around his neck.His eyes were half-closed, and in the dark and silent environment, his other senses were maximized, and he could even imagine how the raging storm outside covered the entire ice sheet.

Suddenly, a slight "click" sound came from the ice wall opposite him.Dan's eyes widened suddenly.

At the same time, Geographic Society was on the opposite coast of the island.

A long and narrow promontory, like a sudden arrow, plunged deeply into the frozen sea, and the originally white ice shelf was trembling slightly at this moment, as if something was about to break out of the cocoon from under the ice.Tiny cracks, like spider webs, slowly climbed up the ice layer. After a few seconds, the ice surface seemed to be overwhelmed, and gradually cracked with a slight "cracking" sound.

The crack spread extremely fast, and within half a minute, the entire coastal ice shelf cracked into four or five pieces, and a faint low roar came from the direction of the seabed.

The headland seemed to feel the anger from the depths of the sea, and the rock shelf began to tremble slightly, and the four walls of the scientific research station on it began to shake.After persisting tenaciously for a few seconds, without any warning, a crooked crack opened from the middle of the whole rock. The crack was like a poisonous snake spitting out a letter, and it crawled to the location of the scientific research station at an extremely fast speed. Relentlessly split the concrete building in half from the middle.It can be clearly seen that the equipment in the house, including computers, desks, chairs, and bookshelves, have fallen into the bottomless abyss under the crack.

Inside the ice bucket.

When the first sound came, Dan still suspected that it was his hallucination. After the second sound came, he straightened up vigilantly and turned on his headlight.

The pale light illuminated a range of several feet. He got up and walked to the ice wall a few steps away. He saw a few ugly cracks on the originally smooth wall, and the source could not be seen. During the few seconds he was observing, it was still slowly spreading towards the top of their heads.

An ominous premonition welled up in his heart, he turned his head and knelt down beside August, shaking him gently: "Major, major?"

August opened his eyes when he yelled a second time. He raised his hand to block the light from Dan's headlight, and his voice was a little hoarse: "What's wrong?"

"I'm afraid we have to move, the opposite ice wall shows signs of breaking."

After hearing these words, August's eyes instantly cleared up. He got up from his sleeping bag, turned on his headlamp, walked to the ice wall and made a judgment after only one glance: "It seems that the movement outside has not yet It's over, we can't stay here for long, this ice wall will soon break again."

Dan looked up to see the direction they came down: "Up?"

Just as August was about to speak, a long and narrow shadow fell towards where they were. Dan's eyes were quick and his hands were quick, and he pulled him in his direction, and the icicle fell on him just now. station position.Before the two could speak, ice cubes of different sizes fell from above their heads.At the same time, the ground under their feet began to shake slightly.

"Retreat inside!" August only had time to shout, and the two hurriedly picked up their backpacks and sleeping bags from the ground, and retreated to the depths of the ice bucket.

When he retreated to the hole that only allowed one person to pass through, Dan stopped and looked at August with some hesitation.

The shock outside was still going on, and August also knew that rushing in was not the best choice, but at this moment, the two of them had no other way out, either they stood where they were and were crushed to death by the falling ice above their heads, or they took a gamble and went inside.

"I'll go in first, you follow me, be careful." He gave Dan a serious look, turned around and got into the hole.

Dan looked back at the direction where they fell. The second fracture had made the slope unrecognizable. He gritted his teeth, turned around and followed August into the narrow hole. .

Port Ferringe base, 6:45 am, training ground.

The sky is still gloomy, and there is a faint trace of dark blue in the eastern sky, as if it is the biggest concession it has made.

A helicopter was parked in the middle of the playground, and the propeller stirred up the airflow, bringing up a bitter cold wind.Heath and several team members stood in front of the helicopter, and Professor Murphy stood by the door of the helicopter.

After finally confirming the personnel and supplies to go to the rescue, Heath said to Newman: "The command center of the base is temporarily handed over to you, keep in touch with Professor Murphy's headquarters, and notify us in time of any changes."

The expression on Newman's face was serious: "Don't worry."

Heath glanced at him, took a deep breath, pointed to the team members who had been called earlier, and climbed up the cabin first.

Ian was the last one to go up. When he walked past Newman, Newman raised his hand and patted him on the shoulder: "Be careful, bring August and the others back."

Ian shook his hand on his shoulder and nodded silently.

With everyone in place, the helicopter roared into the air and circled toward Greenland's eastern coast.

Eastern Greenland, inside the Cirque.

The long and narrow gap stretched forward, and August and Dan walked in it one after the other. The top of their heads and the walls were filled with bottomless darkness.In order to save energy, Dan turned off his own headlights, leaving only the faint white light of August's lamp, which hit the ice walls on both sides and was refracted back coldly, showing the depth of the space. cramped.

"We've been walking for about 10 minutes. Is there still no end in sight?" Dan asked hesitantly.

August stopped, raised his watch and looked at it, his voice was a bit dignified: "According to this orientation, we should be very close to the inland of Greenland, and the coastal ice shelves cannot extend so far into the inland. , I guess if we go further, the ice shelf is likely to be bordered by the formation. Anyway, we can’t get out now, let’s go inside first.”

Dan said "hmm" and didn't say much.There were sharp pains in his right ribs again, accompanied by continuous pain in the chest and abdomen.He didn't want August to see his strangeness, so he gritted his teeth and pretended to be nonchalant.

They walked about another 6 to 700 meters, and the front suddenly opened up. August took off the headlight and held it in his hand, scanned around, and let out a sigh of relief: "It seems that I guessed right. "

This is a cave in the shape of a horizontal funnel. The ice layer on the walls gradually thinned as they walked along the way, bordering the rock layer of the earth's crust until it completely melted into the dark brown rock layer.In front of them was the entrance of the cave, and they couldn't see how big the space inside was just by the light of the headlights. They could only feel the thick darkness, like giant beasts about to move, waiting to devour them.

Dan walked up to August, turned on his headlamp and looked ahead, frowning slightly: "Is this an underground cave?"

August nodded. Just as he was about to say something, his body swayed.

Dan held him by the arm, a little worried: "Major, are you okay?"

August waved his hand, put the backpack on his back on the ground, and sat down slowly with Dan's arm: "It's okay."

Dan felt something strange on the bare skin of the back of his hand—it was a little too hot.With the help of the dim light, he carefully looked at August's face. The expression on that face was as usual, only the lips were slightly white.Dan directly raised his hand to cover his forehead, as expected, the temperature was hot.

He frowned fiercely: "You have a fever."

August sighed: "I know, it's not a big problem."

"We don't have extra supplies right now, and antibiotics may not be available. Once the wound on your arm is infected, it's not a small problem." Dan's tone was not polite at all, he almost half-forced August to lie down in the sleeping bag.

It must have been a severe fever. August did not refute, and let him stuff himself into a sleeping bag, took off his coat and covered his upper body, and then made a pillow out of their hats.

"I remember that there should be some emergency medicine in this supply bag. I'll look for it." Dan knelt beside him, pulled the backpack aside and began to search.After he shook everything in the bag to the ground, he found a small box of antibiotic injections from the interlayer, only two.

August let him have a needle in his arm, and when drowsiness struck, he fell asleep on the ground without any resistance.

It wasn't until he heard August's breathing calm down that Dan slowly unzipped his jacket.

He had learned some basic first aid knowledge before, and based on the rib pain, he estimated that there was probably a rib fracture on the right side.But when he lifted up his underwear, under the dim and pale light, he clearly saw an obvious bulge on his chest and abdomen near his ribs, and he could vaguely see the bleeding spots under his skin.

The pain that had been deliberately suppressed before was now doubled, and Dan took a breath and let out a wry smile.He is used to making the worst estimate of the possible development of things, not to mention their current situation, whether the existing materials can last until the arrival of rescue is a problem.Over at Ferringe base, did Heath and the others receive any news?Are you leaving?Is it possible to reach this vicinity and land with the weather conditions on the ground?Without radio communication, it is impossible to locate it accurately. Even if they find the ice cirque they fell from, can they find the gap that came in?What if a collapse caused by a secondary rupture blocks the entrance?

He just couldn't convince himself to see the possibility of rescue.

After rearranging his clothes, he bent his knees and closed his eyes, trying to let his thoughts go as far as possible, allowing himself to be immersed in this bottomless darkness.

The author says:

Happy New Year everyone~