The sound woke him. It wasn't a crash. It was a groan. Deep. Resonant. Like the hull of a ship under pressure.
Ezra sat up in the chair. The rifle was across his lap. His muscles were stiff. The fire in the hearth had burned down to embers. The room was dim. Grey light filtered through the frost on the windows.
He stood. His joints popped. He walked to the window. He wiped the frost away with his sleeve.
The ice dome outside was glowing. Faint blue. Pulsing. But there was a line. A dark fracture running from the apex down to the north ridge. It looked like a lightning bolt frozen in glass.
He opened the window. The cold rushed in. It smelled of ozone. Of stress.
He climbed out. He landed on the ice. It held. Solid. But it vibrated under his boots.
He walked toward the fracture. The s
