Kraken Orbital (11 page)

I’m not sure I like the idea of sleeping on
his watch. I’d almost rather battle on and try to make it through
the dinosaur infested mess, then make the climb up the mountain the
next day. I know that will be hard but I’ve pulled many double
shifts and feel its worth a shot.

‘I think we should keep going.’ He looks at
me dazed for a second.

‘Ok, it’s your call.’ He answers and starts
looking for a way off the rocky outcropping. It doesn’t look like
the way down will be any easier than the way up though.

There are no vines to climb down as we reach
the last possible point where we can get down and stay on track as
we head for the base of the mountain. There is no more water
either. The rocky fissure has dried out almost completely, and by
the looks of it as I dangle my head over the edge, the climb is
going to be long and difficult.

I sigh, look longingly at the deceased sun,
and prey that I’m doing the right thing by keeping on going. I’m
surprised that Kolt doesn’t stop me.

I lower
myself from the rocky edge and grip the top ledge as hard as I can.
The sharp rock cuts deep and slowly into my bare palms. Blood
begins to trickle along my extended fingers and down into the
sleeve of my torso plated
armor. The
warmth of it feels nice but the metallic smell of the fresh blood
immediately hits me.

It makes me feel sick. I run my feet down the
wall until they find a small, narrow and dangerous ledge to take my
weight. I can’t see where I’m going at all. I wouldn’t mind the
climb at all, but I don’t like the feeling of doing it blind.

I hang on tight and work out my route. My
heart is pounding and the stress is having the opposite effect than
the one I want on my grip. I have to concentrate and fight the urge
to let go all of the time.

I can see the rock face slopes away to my
right and forms a sort of chimney feature that I think I can just
about wedge myself into. I can brace myself between each of it’s
sides. That might make the climb a little less harrowing and will
undoubtedly increase my already low chances of survival.

I feel my way along the crag, bouncing my
feet along the wall as I find ways to lower myself inch by inch to
my target. The light is disappearing fast. I hadn’t thought. I
though by the position of the sun when we were on the ridge
chatting, that we had a good few hours left. I guess the orbit of
the planet might be different than I am used to.

Come to think of it, the days certainly do
seem shorter than I had grown used to back on my own world. They
were certainly shorter than an Earth day of 24 hours. I try to look
on the bright side as a I scramble down the cliff. If the day is
short then the night will be short too. I hope. My logic insists to
me that the spin of the planet will be even and the night will be
just as long as the day or thereabouts.

My hands are starting to throb. I graze them
across the sandy and abrasive rock every time I reach down for the
next insufficient hold. They wont stop bleeding and the slippery
texture of the sickly red liquid makes every move all the
harder.

I finally reach the entrance to the chimney
feature. It is a hollowed out half tunnel shape in the side of the
rock. I brace one foot hard against the other side and tense my leg
muscle to hold myself in place. I take that time to rest, get my
breath back, align my thoughts and make sure I get my gloves back
out from my pocket. I thought my bare hands would have better grip
but I’ve just torn them apart.

My legs will
be doing the work for a fair while now so I put my gloves on to
stop the bleeding. I glance up to see Kolt follow. He is much
taller than I and he is, frustratingly, finding the awkward moves
much easier than I d
o. He pushes down
hard on each precarious shelf and lowers himself with ease given
his immense strength.

I have to get going again or he is going to
be on top of me and impatient to complete the next section of the
wall. I find a good spot for my hands and brace my back as hard as
I can against the back wall of the tunnel shape. I think if I
increase my surface area against the rock then I will be able to
stay on it for longer! I start to slide my leg down and step by
step lower myself down. I slip occasionally but a quick brace of
the back and a tight tensing of whichever leg is taking my weight
stops the slide dead before I end up plummeting the remaining few
feet into the jungle overgrowth below.

I glance up
to see Kolt enter the chimney. He braces his two arms against each
side and takes on the shape of a starfish.
Alright for him.
I think to
myself. He is as strong as an ox and I can‘t help but feel deeply
envious of him. I take another few steps and descend below the
canopy of the jungle.

I can finally see the end of the climb. My
body brushes past some moist leaves and I battle a few sharp
stabbing branches to descent into the darkness of the jungle. I can
see the water below. It is murky and I can’t tell how deep it is
through the veil of darkness. I have two choices. Leap for the
water and let my battered and aching muscles rest a while as I
embrace the fall, or I jump for a tree trunk near by and try to
wrap myself around it and shimmy down. My muscles scream for me to
take the first option.

I scream in anger and to let out the
frustration, let myself go limp, and leap with all the might my
legs can manage, away from the hard and crumbling wall. The fall
feels like a long time. But in reality it was probably only a few
seconds. I flail my legs around and swing my arms to try to stop
myself toppling and spinning before the impact of the water.

I feel the
waves part as my feet hit first. The cold of the water is unreal,
not welcoming, and very scary as I feel my head sink below the
surface. It’s immediately pitch dark and the water gushes up my
nose and fills my lungs. I want to breath in with shock but fight
the urge. My
armor suddenly feels heavy
and I battle with already over exerted legs to make the
surface.

I finally
break through the water tension at the top and gasp for air. I must
have been the loudest thing around. A few flutters sound from the
jungle undergrowth to the side of the body of water. I
didn’t
realize at first but the water is
fast moving.

I only
realize when I look up to see Kolt, he is still
clinging to the rock surface with his massive hands. It looks for a
while as though he is floating there, suspended by his enviable
ability to stick to vertical walls, but I realize that I’m quickly
moving away from him. I just about catch the look of horror in his
frightening eyes before turning my attention to wherever it is I’m
being sped off to. I hear the splash behind me as Kolt dives in to
try to help me.
Why do I keep
second guessing this guy?

I’m starting to panic hard. I have no control
over where I’m going and can’t steady my erratic breathing. I
suddenly feel a cold, wet, but very strong hand grip around my
shoulder. I jump a little at first then quickly remember that it’s
Kolt.

‘You should have stayed on the wall!’ I shout
to him, mostly through sheer embarrassment, but also because I
don’t want both of us to have to die because of my silly
mistake.

‘Hold on
Parker!’ He shouts back and lifts his drenched arm out of the water
to point to a sheet of white foaming bubbles ahead. My heart leaps.
My mind irritatingly points out the cliché but we are sure as sure
heading for the cusp of a waterfall!

I instinctively try to battle against the
rampaging current but find I have nothing against it. Kolt just
stares at it and focuses.

‘Don’t fight Parker.’ He pushes me back and
launches himself forth. He swims a few hard breast strokes towards
the fall and leaps out of the water like a majestic dolphin. He
transforms his stance into a practiced, ornate swan dive and jumps
headfirst down into the unknown. I can just let the fury of the
water carry me helplessly. I take a few breaths and hope inside
that they aren’t my last.

The force of the waves pound me over the edge
and I immediately see the distance I’m about to fall. The vertigo
hits me immediately as my helpless body is thrown over the side. I
feel weightless again, just like I had back in the rig when I first
stole it, but the feeling that follows I had not predicted.

The adrenaline calms me, focuses my eyes,
soothes me and appeases my panic. I even enjoy the fall. The
darkness is broken by the reflections cast upon the jungle from the
moons in the sky. The silver light sharply penetrates the jungle
canopy and shows us the way. The fall is not long but the impact of
the next body of water hurts bad.

That sensation of enjoyment fades quickly,
luckily, so does the powerful current. I though it might drag us
both under and drown us before we had any chance of breaking past
the gushing torrent of water from above. We are, instead, thrown
aside and float gently to the shore of the calming river.

Kolt laughs
contently, through
labored, rattling
breaths and grabs hold of the first boulder big enough to support
his weight. He holds out a solid hand and pulls me from the rivers
cold grasp. I waste no time in hauling myself up onto the muddy
shore, rolling onto my back, and staring up at the sky as I’m
filled with an overwhelming sense of gratitude. The river has, I
eventually notice, carried us in the right direction.

The jagged
edge of the
frowning mountain sticks out
like an unwelcome thorn from the sides of the horizon. The crisp
moonlight illuminates the compacted snow that settles so firmly to
the rocky abyss. We are just about at the start of the mountains
foothills. We are by no measure out of danger yet.

‘We should get going.’ Kolt insists and drags
himself out of the water. He stands tall, un-fazed, and waits as
the water gushes over his shoulders and washes down the leather
apron across his chest. He leans down, stretches out his hand, as
water droplets from his chest and shoulders splash onto my bright
red face, and pulls me to my feet. I’m amazed I can still
stand.

The
atmosphere of the crowded jungle turns tense as I look around,
still panting for breath. I straighten out my
armor, take off my gloves and turn them up side down to get
all of the water and blood out. I can feel the humidity rise and
know that means my clothes aren’t going to dry out until the
morning sun breaks.

The steam coming from my soaked body chokes
my nostrils and stops me taking a deep and satisfying breath. Kolt
reaches around his back and takes hold of his ancient gun. He
starts playing with the rifle and takes off a few parts to let
water out.

I don’t think
it’s ever going to work again. He must reach that same conclusion
and tosses it aside. I really should protest, those guards from the
Morris-Cooper Company could be anywhere behind us, and I don’t want
to give away any clues as to where we might be. I comfort myself
with the thought that they will most likely lose
th
e track as we entered the water and
decide to say nothing.

I start to
look around and watch the gentle sway of the leaves above my head.
The wind gently caresses the tree tops but I feel nothing of the
benefit of a light breeze. It
’s still
stifling and hot down here at ground level. We need to move but the
tense atmosphere has me genuinely spooked.

Maybe we should have camped after all. I
start to listen for every sound against the eerie backdrop of
silence. A bug here or there chirps away until it gets picked off
by a lizard or frog. I can hear their tongues slapping away trying
to catch the flies and crickets.

We start to walk, minding our every single
step, and make slow progress though the mud and grass. I can hear
my boots squelch with every rise of my leg and I wish that I could
do something to stop it. I feel like there is something listening
to my every move. I feel something has eyes on me at all times. I
hope I’m just being paranoid but can’t dismiss the feeling that we
are being watched. I control every single exhale as I battle the
urge to suck in a deep, loud, and oxygen filled lung full of
air.

I’m following Kolt, trying to focus on his
every footstep so that I can follow it. I watch his apron fold and
sway as he picks his way into the deep vegetation. I take care as I
brush past the oversize leaves not to snap them and alert the
surrounding predators to our whereabouts. I calculate every sway
and press of my heel, sometimes balancing one hand on his shoulder,
to stop myself falling into a muddy hole.

I can make out a few creatures against the
green, silver lined, and harshly yet unsatisfactorily lit
background of trees and shrubbery. The odd spider or two, dinner
tray sized each of them, and a few snakes coiled around the
branches above our heads. I can hear their tongues slide out of
their greasy mouths and slap the air, tasting it to see what new
victims had entered it’s territory. They must be poised to strike
but we give them no reason to and pass on by amicably. These snakes
aren’t big enough to feast upon us. I think if we leave them be
then they will leave us be. They will only strike out if we
threaten them or give them some other reason to do it.

I try my hardest to comfort my over active
mind with that reality but it does nothing to calm my sharpened
nerves. I let Kolt step ahead a little and give him some breathing
space. He must think I’m some small child who just needs to be led
by the hand the whole time.

I don’t know
how long we have walked but the effort of hiding my every motion is
tiring me out faster than I thought it would. I start to get angry
at myself. I should have listened to Kolt and stopped for the night
up on the safety of the ridge. But those thoughts are useless now.
Hindsight pain
ts a wonderfully vivid
image.