Into the Black

"Into the Black" is a short story by Scottish author William Meikle.
==Synopsis==
When a drilling expedition to the Antarctic breaks through the ice into a millennia-isolated chamber, they accidentally release a viscous and highly aggressive predator. After consuming one of the group and inhabiting the body of another, it takes off into the nearby mountains. Two of the survivors pursue it in the hope of saving their colleague, entering a series of manufactured caverns and passageways culminating in a vast pool filled with the same black, tarry substance which composes the predator, and they flee.
==Characters==
*The Unnamed Narrator, the expedition's biologist.
*Carruthers, team leader.
*Greer, another member.
==Publication History==
"Into the Black" was published in the collection of Meikle's own works Into the Black: Tales of Lovecraftian Terror in May 2019.
==Behind the Mythos==
"Into the Black" was given a rewrite and published as "Starry Wisdom" in March 2021. This version contains complete passages which are entirely unchanged, but lacks any direct reference to the Cthulhu Mythos and features William Hope Hodgson's occult investigator Thomas Carnacki as it’s protagonist.
==Trivia==
*Despite lacking any direct reference to the works of H. P. Lovecraft or the greater Cthulhu Mythos, the entities featured in "Into the Black" bear more than a passing resemblance to Shoggoths, and the bas reliefs encountered by the team in the underground complex are reminiscent of the ones described in At the Mountains of Madness. 
*The story may have also taken its cue from the 1982 sci-fi/horror film The Thing, which features a similar setting and premise.
Category:William Meikle works
Category:Mythos-Inspired Works