The second movie started at 9:50 pm It was another documentary (yet another), this time portraying one of the incredible adventures of Ernest Shackleton, considered by many to be the most courageous explorer of Antarctica. In view of Amundsen's conquest, he decided to cross the entire Antarctic continent on foot: 'Now remains the greatest and most remarkable of all expeditions — the crossing of the continent', says the publicity pamphlet he distributed. So, at the end of 1914, the Imperial Transantarctic Expedition set off for its destination, but it didn't get any further than the Weddell Sea because the Endurance got stuck in the ice sheets. In the description of one of the crew members: 'Like an almond in a chocolate bar'. The boat ends up being crushed by the movement of the snowdrifts and sinks. Adrift on a giant iceberg, feeding on seals, Shackleton and his 28 men faced two long, dark years until they were rescued.

     During the movie, the admiral opened a bottle of wine. The only one who didn't agree to accompany him was me, because I thought I'd used up my quota of alcoholic beverages for those days. After a toast and a sip of the elegant drink, of which I only smelled, Carlos Eduardo whispered something in his wife's ear, and I heard her say: "I'm only going after the movie's over". However, after a few minutes, looking sleepy, he said goodbye to us and left. Before he did, however, he kissed his wife, whispering again in her ear, something I imagined to be: 'I'll be waiting for you, hot baby'. At this point, it must have been half an hour before the end of the second tape. The two of them really were a case apart when it came to the pleasures of sex, but throughout the night I had noticed a strange air of coldness on her part, culminating in that insouciant good night. Maybe they had a fight?

     Soon after the biologist left, the admiral told me that he needed to check with Captain Azevedo, the station chief, how the storm was doing. And that was the subject that interested me most of all, but everything pointed to the fact that we weren't going to leave the next morning. When he returned, the news was terrible: the chances of us taking off early were definitely nil and, as there were still ten minutes to go until the end of the movie, H. Nunes decided to finish his bottle of wine, along with Inês and Ema. Curiously, the film at the time portrayed the moment when Shackleton faced blizzards and undertook an epic 105-day trek to get help, saving the entire crew. Seeing him in that situation, I feared for my own fate. Shackleton had come out unscathed, but on a later expedition he would not be so lucky. He would perish like everyone else. With so many tragedies in the Arctic and Antarctic, wasn't it fair to fear for your own life?

     'All adventurers end up dying. Will that be my end as well?'

     At 10:50 pm, when the second film had finished and, between the participants of the last session going to the toilet, we headed to the civilian ward for a well-deserved rest, entering our rooms at 11 o'clock.

     Everything seemed calm, but in just over half an hour, things were going to get very hectic at the station.