Jim and the Flims by Rudy Rucker

Author:Rudy Rucker [Rucker, Rudy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9781597802802
Publisher: Night Shade Books[Start]
Published: 2011-06-07T04:00:00+00:00

16: Under the Pit

And then the four of us were whizzing down the slope—Flam, Durkle, Ginnie and me. The sand rose behind us in plumes, the sky was a watery disk of blue, the Earthmost Jiva was watching.

Flam held the lead. He had a special way of crouching and rocking that set his board to bouncing. He arrowed down the slope like a skipping stone, moving his arms in rapid ideograms of grace.

Hell-bent on besting his cousin, Durkle lay down on his pigpopdecorated board, making his flexible body as flat as a fried egg. He pushed his lever all the way forward. Feeling a sense of responsibility for the excitable lad, I followed close behind, squinting against the flying sand.

Ginnie, to our rear, wasn’t so interested in the race. She was getting a feel for the ride and the slope. She stood erect like a surfer, swooping back and forth in huge slalom loops, having fun.

For a little while, Durkle and I were gaining on Flam. I started to have some hopes of passing him. But then he glanced back at us, laughed, and began bouncing harder, redoubling the lengths of his hops down the slope. Our boards’ power-drives didn’t seem to make much difference in the face of Flam’s skill at using the natural dynamics of the pit.

The miles flew by, and the pit grew steeper. In the process of our cat and mouse chase, we’d amped up to the speed of a Bonneville race car. I worried that if we wiped out and tumbled, we’d be sanded down to oozing scraps.

Up ahead, Flam rocketed into the shadowed zone near the cone’s base. Seconds later, Durkle and I entered the gloom as well. Deep below, a wet patch twinkled. The cone was but a half-mile across here, and the walls were nearly vertical. The cavity murmured with the echoes of our headlong chase.

Something clunked and shattered against my board—shit, that was an abandoned zickzack skull! Flam continued accelerating down the tightening cone, continued increasing his lead. I was seeing damp spots and sparkles of color in the sands, and further down, the colors flowed into a sinister, glowing pool of living water. Flam had warned us about the bottom. Time to bail.

I hoped I could figure out how to teleport myself. Imitating what I’d seen Weena do, I wove an invisible cocoon of tendrils around myself. And then, reaching upward with some longer tendrils, I felt for a suitable a target zone at the cone’s lip. Flam was still ahead. The race was done.

As if to confirm this, Flam disappeared. He’d jumped back to the top. And behind us, Ginnie had jumped too. But that crazy little Durkle was still racing straight ahead—what was he thinking? The pool below us flickered with pearlescent light.

Somehow I felt responsible for the boy. I decided to stay with him a little longer. I asked Mijjy if she’d delay the jump I’d just prepared. Mijjy gave me an answer of sorts, but not what I’d expected.

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