2040 Revelations (46 page)

‘I really don’t like this!’ Trish yelled as the sound grew ever stronger. She took her hand off Sarah’s arm, but whatever process had begun was not stopping now. Trish jumped off the platform.

Jason also removed his hand from Sarah’s arm. ‘Sarah,’ he shouted over the noise, ‘I think you should stop, this is some mad shit!’

Sarah was beginning to agree with them; this was nothing like the small doorway they’d opened earlier. She tried to pull her hand away, but it was stuck fast.

‘I can’t move my hand!’ she told Jason, who still stood next to her.

He grabbed her arm and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. Seeing their plight, Trish came back to help. A few more seconds passed, then Sarah’s hand came free and the sound stopped. As they fell back to the middle of the metal platform – which was now pure blue light – Sarah felt an odd sensation of weightlessness. The rope, tight about her waist, went slack and before she even had time to scream she was falling through the floor.

♦

As Sarah plummeted down she heard nothing but the rush of air and a deep constant hum. An intense blue light forced her eyes shut and time lost meaning as the drop continued on and on. Waiting for the inevitable fatal impact that must soon come, she tensed. And yet it didn’t come. The sensation of the descent slowed. The winds encircling her lost their ferocity and the accompanying sound altered pitch, peaking even louder and then cutting out. The light vanished and she felt her body gently come to rest on a hard, warm surface. A vortex of air swirled around her, but then that, too, faded and ceased.

‘Guys?’ she called out to her friends in the darkness.

‘I’m here,’ Trish said, her voice quavering.

‘What the fuck was that?’ she heard Jason say, close to her side.

Sarah didn’t know; she was more concerned with locating her torch rather than thinking about anything else. She pushed herself to her knees; for some reason she felt exhausted and it took an effort to extend her arms. Her hand touched something cylindrical and rubberised. Grasping it with both hands she pressed a button. A wide beam sprang into existence, illuminating a rock face to the left and a dark abyss to the right. Moving the light around, she saw they sat on a near identical metal platform to the one they had just been on.

‘You two all right?’ she said, getting up.

‘Fine, just shook up.’ Trish struggled to her feet and turned on her own torch.

‘I’m okay,’ Jason said. ‘What just happened? I thought we were all goners!’

Sarah shone her torch on the cliff that soared above them. ‘Well, we’re not where we were before.’

‘Then it was some kind of transportation device?’ Trish said.

Sarah gazed down at the platform. ‘Looks that way.’

‘Then where the hell did it transport us to?’ Jason said. ‘And – more importantly – how do we get back?’

Sarah moved past her friends to take a closer look at the wall adjoining the metallic slab on which they stood.

‘That isn’t good,’ Trish said as they looked at the wall, which failed to reveal a circular inset.

‘A one way transportation device,’ Jason said in despair. ‘This just gets better and better.’

Sarah shifted her rucksack and picked up the rope, which was frayed at one end.

‘So much for the rope,’ Trish muttered.

‘Well, we’re not going to get anywhere by just standing around talking,’ Sarah said. ‘We better start moving, try and find a way out of wherever
here
is.’

Strength had begun to flood back into her body since the fall and with Jason and Trish following, Sarah struck out in the only direction available, forwards. With one hand on the rock on her left and conscious of the cavernous drop to the right, she walked with care, staying away from the edge. After a while it became apparent they were slowly descending in a massive spiral. As they travelled further and further down, Sarah slowed and stopped. The road ahead was blocked – or more precisely, gone. The rock face had given way and taken a large swathe of the pathway with it; small sections still stood, but between them only the void remained.

‘Wonderful!’ Jason said. ‘What now?’

Sarah narrowed the focus of her light and directed it further ahead. ‘It looks as though it’s only this section that’s dropped away. If we can get past this we’ll be able to carry on again.’

‘
“
If
”
being the operative word,’ Trish said, also shining her light over the scene which greeted them.

Sarah measured the distance to the first ledge with a small laser built into her torch and then estimated the severed rope’s length with her arms. She heaved a sigh. There was only one option available to them.

‘I can climb across and then secure the rope,’ she told them, ‘then I’ll throw it back and you two can follow me over.’

‘The rope that broke?’ Trish said.

Sarah nodded. ‘It’s the only one we have.’

‘It didn’t save us before,’ Trish said. ‘I’m not risking my life with it a second time, no way.’

‘That was different,’ Sarah said. ‘Whatever mechanism put us here obviously cut through it somehow. It will hold, I guarantee it.’

Trish didn’t appear convinced.

‘Surely we’ve got to anchor the rope here?’ Jason said. ‘You climb over and tie it off and we follow you across. If you’re throwing the rope back to us that means it’s unsecured on the way over, which won’t work.’

‘We can’t do that as we only have a small emergency climbing kit,’ Sarah told him, ‘and it contains one device to anchor a single point once only.’

‘So then Trish and me tie it to ourselves and you go over; secure that end and then one of us climbs over, we then chuck the rope back to the last person and they climb across too.’

Sarah shook her head. ‘That won’t work either. The first gap is almost the same length as the rope. If it was long enough to tie it around you and Trish and for me to reach the other side – which it isn’t – you’d both be perched right on the edge, and if I fell we’d all go over.’

‘So that leaves only one option then,’ Jason said, frowning as realisation dawned on him.

Trish looked confused. ‘And what’s that?’

‘Sarah climbs over without using the rope, secures the anchor point and then throws it back for us; we then climb over one at a time.’

‘You mean to climb over without a safety rope?’ Trish said, aghast, as she looked at Sarah. ‘Are you serious?’

‘There are enough cracks and other handholds, I can make it.’ Sarah’s expression turned grave. ‘Besides there’s no other choice, it’s either that or stay here and die of dehydration within the week.’

‘What if you slip?’ Trish said, nearly in tears.

‘That would be bad,’ she replied.

Sarah knew she could do it. Well, she knew she had to do it as they had no other options open to them.
It’s just free climbing without the safety rope
, she told herself.
Just!
she thought, the notion of it making her mouth go dry. Climbing without any safety equipment was actually a discipline called free soloing. Sarah had never fancied it. Her competency at free climbing was all right, but she rarely made an ascent without needing the rope to catch her fall and this time she had no chalk or rock shoes to aid her. On the plus side the distance she had to cover wasn’t great or particularly challenging; if she’d had the right equipment, that was.

After some more impassioned discussion Sarah realised they were getting nowhere.

‘Enough!’ she said. ‘It’s the only option. I’m doing it and the longer I think about it the more nervous I’ll become, so let’s get on with it.’

There wasn’t much Trish or Jason could say, as neither of them could suggest a suitable alternative, so they were forced to watch in abject silence as Sarah prepared herself by shedding her thick clothing and rucksack. She now wore a short sleeveless top and waterproof combat trousers. Deciding her shoes were too thick and heavy to climb with, she took them off, too, along with her socks.

She stretched the muscles in her arms and legs, warming up her body for the job ahead. She couldn’t afford to attempt this when cold; stiffening up or getting cramp could prove fatal. As she limbered up, she realised her combats were restricting her movements too much.

‘Don’t get excited,’ Sarah told Jason, before slipping off her trousers, ‘that’s as far as I’m going.’

Jason, however, looked pensive, lacking his normal joviality and didn’t even register a smile.

As she continued stretching she was glad she’d worn her hotpant briefs rather than anything skimpier – or worse, gone commando.
Modesty is the least of your problems
, she told herself.
Get your mind in gear, Sarah!

Attaching the harness to her waist, she slung the small climbing bag onto her back and Trish tightened the straps for her, making sure it was firmly in place. Sarah asked Trish if she could use her hair tie. She held it in her teeth as she used both hands to pull back her locks and then held them back with one hand, while she used the other to fasten her ponytail in place with the tie.

‘All right,’ she said, all business now the task was at hand. ‘You’ll need to make sure you keep the light on me and the area above and to my right at all times. If I need it below me or to the left I’ll let you know.’

Trish gave her a fierce hug and so did Jason.

‘Good luck,’ he said as he released her.

‘Thanks,’ she said, and then she turned to eye up her challenge. After a few minutes of studying it, she felt satisfied at her chosen route across to the next section of intact pathway. The expanse measured about seventy feet; the next two sections to climb were shorter, at roughly twenty feet, but she wouldn’t be able to assess them until she got closer. With Trish and Jason aiming their torches along the rock face, she faced away from the edge and lowered herself down, her feet searching for a foothold. Satisfied with the support from below as her toes held onto a tiny outcrop, she swung her right arm out to grasp a near vertical crack. Shifting her weight, she located another crevice with her right foot.

As she edged out across the void, her concentration was total. Her first scare came when she misread a handhold. Her fingers slipped downwards and she flattened herself to the wall, her other hand tightening painfully onto its position. As her weight bore down to one side, she felt her toes slipping from beneath her. She didn’t have much time to think, removing her hand and putting it back wasn’t possible now her body had shifted its balance.

‘Down to the right!’ she shouted at her friends. The light that wavered above and to her right shifted at her request. There! Now illuminated, a large outcrop cut through with a long wide crack ran perpendicular to the wall. With no more time, she twisted as best she could to face it and launched herself into the air. As she dropped towards her target she felt utter horror, she’d misjudged the distance! Flinging out her hands she slammed into the rock face, the air knocked out of her as her right hand scrabbled for purchase on a smooth vertical surface. She didn’t fall, though, as her left hand just managed to hold onto the crack she’d aimed for. With one arm dangling by her side, she saw the cliff face below her flailing legs disappearing down into a deep black nothingness.

Grunting, she braced her left leg against the wall and sought a hold with the other. Sweat dripped into one eye as she steadied herself. Breathing hard, she tried to regain her composure. The sudden fright, however, meant her mind and body had other ideas; she was rooted to the spot, secure in her position and yet paralysed, unable to move away from it. Her heart beat loudly in her ears and the fear sought to destroy her nerve. After a while she heard Trish’s voice calling out to her.

‘Sarah! Are you okay? You have to move!’

‘Come on, Saz, you can make it!’ Jason shouted in encouragement. ‘Just reach up, there’s a hold just above you!’

Sarah still didn’t move, but she tilted her head up to look at the section Jason had suggested.
It’s too far away
, she told herself,
I won’t make it
.

‘It’s too far!’ she screamed back at them, hearing the terror in her voice.

Her friends didn’t say anything for a moment and Sarah remained clinging to the rock face, her arms and legs beginning to tremble with the effort.

‘Sarah, listen to me!’ Jason shouted across. ‘Trish, shut the fuck up will you?’ Sarah heard him say, and then he continued addressing her again. ‘Sarah, if you don’t get moving Trish and me are totally fucked. You have to move or we’re all dead!’

Sarah closed her eyes tight. He was right, it wasn’t just her life she risked, it was theirs as well. Steeling herself, she brutally suppressed her feelings and gritted her teeth, summoning something, anything. Anger welled to surface and with a snarl she sank down a little and heaved upwards with her arms, propelling herself up into mid-air once more. Her hands grabbed onto the ledge above and she was moving again. She heard Trish and Jason whoop and cheer, but she was back in the zone again and everything else fell away for her except the wall. Amidst the terror of imminent death, Sarah worked her way across the gaping chasm before finally scrambling up onto the middle section of intact pathway, where she collapsed onto her back, her chest and stomach heaving from the exertion.

Once she had regained some energy, she took a tiny oblong-shaped device from her kit and placed it against the wall. Holding it in one hand, she pressed a button on the top, which released a loud charge sending a spiked cam deep into the rock. Sliding off the outer sheaf of the device revealed an elongated shackle on which to attach a cord. Ensuring it was locked in place, she tied the rope to it, coiled it up, and threw it across to Trish and Jason, who caught it after a couple of attempts.

The two both had rock climbing experience, but nothing like Sarah, which made her more than a little anxious as she waited for them to negotiate the hazardous route.

Securing herself to the rope, Trish came across first and she made good progress until she reached the section Sarah had found difficult. Sarah had been telling Trish to feed the rope through her harness, keeping the slack out of it. This advice paid off when she slipped and fell, the rope springing taut as it held her weight, her scream echoing out through the darkness that surrounded them. After a few more scares, and much to her relief, Trish made it to the other side and Sarah helped haul her up onto the safety of the ledge.