Krafft's Anomaly Notes

Chapter 82 Ice Fog
Seaman dragged him into the cabin and hid in the dark cabin. When the sailors on shift passed by, all of them disappeared on the steps leading to the deck.

"Could it just be drifting towards us?" The companion answered his own question with another out-of-the-ordinary question, his eyes flicked around, searching for the landing point, and finally converged on Seaman.

You could tell he needed a bit of approval, a nod, or an affirmation, but Seaman couldn't give it to him.

I have never seen a large iceberg, but the large ice floes are much more visible.Ice floes can often be used as a reference for movement. They have no sails, and their limited movement is nothing compared to the speed of the ship. After a while, they will be thrown behind them, and the crew will know that they are getting closer to their destination.

He had never seen an iceberg, but he felt that an iceberg should be no exception.From the perspective of simple logical reasoning, it is necessary to give a negative answer, but Seaman does not want to admit this, "Who knows? It may not be the same building at all."

This statement effectively convinced the companions, as well as Seaman himself.The probability of encountering two large icebergs in a row, which are rarely seen in ten years, is too small to calculate, but it is much more likely than the possibility of icebergs moving at the speed of a ship.

The two returned to the cabin with the last bit of light, and decided to sleep.The manager of this batch of shifts is the captain himself, the trustworthy old Binghai at the helm Becker, maybe the matter will be resolved as soon as they wake up?

With this thought in mind, Seaman combed his not-so-dry hay mat, shared the frozen meat left over from yesterday with his companions in the dark, went to sleep, and prayed that he would not see it again when he woke up tomorrow morning.

The tiring day labor did not make the night more stable, and the turbulence of the ocean often interrupted the tossing and turning sleep.He heard scattered footsteps on the deck above his head, probably adjusting the sail again.

The things I saw during the day emerged from my memory more than once, and I was reminded of them when I was sleepy, and they overlapped with my companion's frightened expression.He recalled those images, the unfurling of the sails, the full speed of the ship, throwing the ice floes behind his head.

What's on that horizon hasn't been thrown off.It was too far away, too far away to see any details, far enough for Seaman to deal with himself and his companions by not seeing the same thing in the morning and evening.

In the corner of my heart that is hard to detect, there is a thought that I am glad I only watched it twice, otherwise I will not be able to find an excuse to avoid it.It's just that he couldn't realize it by himself, and he was talking about two icebergs that happened to appear in the same position, trying to clear up the messy memories.

Waking up from light sleep for the third time, Seaman heard conversations from other sailors who had fallen asleep earlier.They thought they had lowered their voices.In the gap between the sound of the waves, these sounds are like the patches of moonlight shining in from the small window, and the environment determines that no matter how faint they are, they will be noticed.

The content of the conversation is something that I dare not say when I can see the sea and the sails.The waves that occasionally beat on the cabin partially covered it, the first half of the whisper was swallowed up, and the second half of the sentence was like cold water dripping into the earholes of the silent eavesdroppers.

"...It seemed a little bigger in the afternoon?"

The unintentional words got into Seaman's mind, and he couldn't wait to compare the memory of overlooking the icebergs in the morning and evening, forgetting to comfort himself just now that they are two different ones.The black shadow framed by the afterglow of the setting sun was indeed a circle larger than what was seen in the morning.

The sleepiness accumulated for half the night was gone, and only then did he face his heart and admit that he couldn't deceive himself, taking what he saw in the morning and the evening as two different things.

Seaman felt damp in the dry grass under his body, and the water stains wet a large piece of underwear.After touching it behind him, the surface of the leather jacket was as dry as before, and the body was covered with cold sweat that did not know when.

He turned over and reached out to pat his partner to wake him up, but found that the other party hadn't fallen asleep either.There was no snoring, but irregular and thick breathing instead, showing that his heart was not at peace.

Not only here, the snoring cabin in the past is so quiet that whispers can be heard clearly. I don’t know how many sleepless people are listening to the conversation late at night, recalling the foreign object that is inconvenient to talk about in a place where you can see the sails and the sea horizon , without saying a word.

"Heavenly Father bless." Seaman tore off his collar, held the double-winged ring amulet hanging around his neck, stuck it on his forehead, plugged his ears and waited for the dawn.

The same prayer came from beside him, and Seaman knew that it was another sailor. He hoped that the power of the heavenly father could extend to this wild land without churches, drive out the evil, and bless you to stand on the deck again tomorrow morning without seeing it.

An atmosphere was contagious in the cabin, and whispered prayers sounded everywhere, some of which were one or two simple verses, and more devout people on weekdays could recite the exorcism fragments in the holy scriptures.

The sacred hymns provided some psychological comfort, as if this small space had returned to the civilized world, and the light of the Heavenly Father protected His believers, even though it was only the dark and small cabins that witnessed such pious prayers, not the dome icon of the church.

After getting some comfort, feeling tired, Seaman made a promise to go to the church to donate when he returned safely.Close your eyes, you can hear scattered footsteps on the deck, shouting in unison to pull the cables, and the sails are adjusted again.

……

Seaman thought he would be woken by the urging of the sailor change at dawn, but he was awakened by the chill on his bare skin.

The light coming in from the small window is no longer moonlight, but it is not as bright as a normal day. It is like passing through a layer of gauze, becoming fluffy and weak, providing only a minimum of lighting.

Habitually propped up on the bulkhead, the slippery feeling almost caused him to fall back into the dry grass.Seaman took a deep breath, and the low-temperature water vapor was thick enough to make breathing sluggish, like diving underwater.

"What's the situation?" The humidity was heavier than the eve of the storm, Seaman wiped his hands on his trousers, and the clothes he put on were stained with a cold damp feeling, and the damp cold feeling penetrated into the untight neckline.The sweat hadn't dried out last night, and my clothes were sticky to my back.

Lowering his head and avoiding his companion who was not sleeping well, Seaman walked towards the exit leading to the deck with his hands and feet spread out all over the floor.

The uncertain lighting conditions took him more time to look carefully at the road, and it took him several times more effort to find the stairs.

Looking up, Seaman didn't see what he thought was the faint morning light, but a chaotic white. The light above passed through a long barrier, so far it was at the end of its strength and exhausted.

Rubbing his eyes in bewilderment, Seaman moved towards the deck, climbed up the water-soaked slippery wooden steps with hands and feet, and boarded the unusually quiet deck.

He finally knew what the heavy, cold vapor in his breath was.

The boundless fog surrounded them, and the tumbling thick white rushed towards the ship, with the sharp and sharp chill characteristic of the icy sea, covering all the surfaces that could condense, passing the coldness to the skin and the mood of everyone falling to the bottom at this time.

The speed of the ship is limited along with the field of vision. The wind speed is too weak to blow away the thick fog. Without reference objects, it can be seen from the flagging sails that their speed will not be able to get out of this boundless ice fog for a while. .

What exactly is going on?Seaman really wanted to ask the sailors who were nervously watching the sides of the ship so loudly, but the people on the poop made him give up this idea.

Captain Baker leaned on the wheel, staring ahead, performing his duties at the helm.Hearing the sound of footsteps, he glanced at Seaman, waved his hand with a straight face and motioned him to take over.

Such a captain is rare. Most of the time, Becker is an easy-going and talkative person. He likes to be lazy and let the first mate and bosun take over. He goes back to the captain's cabin to enjoy the leisure time, and chats with the sailors on the deck. .

There are no reefs and undercurrents on the ice sea, no matter how poor the vision is, you can go straight, and hitting an ice floe that is at most slightly bumpy is not worth his full attention.

"Get to your post, Seaman, it's not your first day on board." Seeing that Seaman was still hesitating, Becker reminded him aloud, the eyes under the hat seemed to see through his thoughts, "Some fog, see too much."

Seaman walked behind the nearest sailor and tapped him on the shoulder.The man turned his head, his hands were still firmly grasping the side of the boat, unwilling to leave, the red fingers that had stayed up all night in the cold fog unconsciously exerted force, as if they were about to dig into the wood.

He glanced at Seaman, then at the captain, and would rather continue to suffer from the cold than leave.

"Change shift, don't stay!" Becker yelled at them.Anyone can sense that the good-natured slob is out of patience today, that something is consuming most of his energy, and he has no time to answer the sailor's little problems.

Forced by the captain's majesty, the man reluctantly let go of the edge of the ship, his nervous and fearful eyes never leaving the white mist, until he left the deck under the captain's order and disappeared into the hatch.

"If you see something on the sea, remind me to turn in time." Becker ordered.

This sentence is a bit redundant, Seaman can fully see what everyone is on guard against.While the captain looked away, he touched the hand of the sailor beside him who was holding the side of the boat, "What are you looking for?"

He didn't think that this visibility distance would allow the captain to spot small things like ice floes in time, and he couldn't dexterously avoid them if he found them.

The frozen lips murmured out the answer he had already guessed:
"That thing from yesterday."

"Father bless." The prayer was blurted out habitually, and Seaman immediately found the bad humor in it. To some extent, yesterday's prayer was fulfilled in a strange way.

The so-called responsiveness, the sailors hoped that they would not see that thing on the sea level again today. Unexpectedly, the cold fog fell suddenly overnight, not only could not see it, but now they could not see anything.

"last night……"

"Closer." He knew what Seaman was going to ask, interrupted the question with a short answer, and stared intently at the fog, as if he could penetrate the barrier and see its whereabouts.

An iceberg that had never been seen before, or something that looked like an iceberg, came towards them in the cold fog of the vast ice sea that could not see anything.

Seaman touched the water on the edge of the boat, and held it horizontally in the air, without feeling the wind he wanted.

(End of this chapter)