Terror

In 1845, an expedition led by the experienced polar explorer Sir John Franklin set sail on the ships "Terror" and "Erebus" to the northern coast of Canada in search of the Northwest Passage from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific – and vanished without a trace. The search lasted for several decades, and information about its fate was gathered literally piece by piece, leaving a picture of events still marred by white spots – although in the fall of 2014, a sensation struck: after more than a century and a half of searching, "Erebus" was finally discovered, and scientists began studying the remains of the ship, perfectly preserved in polar waters; two years later, in the fall of 2016, with the help of a remotely operated mini-submarine, "Terror" was also found.

But even several years before this astonishing discovery, Dan Simmons, the famous author of "Hyperion" and "Endymion," "Ilium" and "Olympus," "Song of Kali" and "The Dark Game of Death," proposed his version of events: the main threat to the expedition was not the crushing embrace of ice, not the cold with blizzards, and not spoiled canned goods – but an unknown colossal monster, seemingly woven from snow and polar darkness.