Nexus- Ascension by Robert Boyczuk

Author:Robert Boyczuk [Boyczuk, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9780981374680
Publisher: ChiZine Publications
Published: 2010-08-11T04:00:00+00:00

The sky was overcast, but the snowfall had lightened. Here at the foot of the glacier, a smooth plain of hard-packed snow opened out in all directions. It had once been a vast lake; now it lay beneath a thickening crust of ice and snow fifteen metres deep. Three hundred and eleven klicks due south, anchored on the far shore, was the Speakers’ dome. From this distance, it wasn’t yet visible.

The others were ready.

Liis had struggled to remove her crampons and was still trying to unpack her skis. Penirdth, who had prepared himself in minutes, had moved over to Liis’s sled and tried to help her. She’d waved him off angrily. Now he stood to one side, watching her. Liis tried to ignore him. Her broken arm ached sharply, but she couldn’t be bothered to apply another patch. Being in pain somehow felt appropriate. Instead, she continued fumbling, mostly without much luck, at the buckles and knots of her gear. She managed to remove one of her skis, but the other one stubbornly refused to come free. As she worked away at it, Penirdth knelt down and gently moved her hand away from the strap she had been trying to loosen. She felt too tired to resist. She let him undo the second ski, then free her single pole. He handed the pole to her. Liis wrapped her thick fingers around it without looking at him.

Hebuiza had finished sorting the items from Losson’s sled; he redistributed equipment from one of the piles he made, dropping two or three things next to each of their toboggans, indicating they should add them to their loads. When he reached Liis, he dropped a dark case whose contents she had never seen and a box of explosives—two of the heavier items—beside her. As soon as Hebuiza had turned his back, Penirdth scooped up both items and slung them under the white tarp on his own sled. Liis took a step toward Penirdth, stopped. She chewed on her lower lip, watching Penirdth continue to arrange his gear as if nothing had happened. Turning around, she walked back to her own sled.

Liis tied down her load as best she could; she deployed her tail, securing it along the harness and the side of her sled. To her right, her skis lay atop the thin crust of snow. She stepped into the bindings and the clips on the front of her boots snapped into place. Floundering with her single pole, Liis tried a few halting strides back toward the glacier. Behind her, when the harness went taut, the weight of the sled almost toppled her. She tried again, managing three smooth, gliding steps before being thrown off balance and nearly falling. Looking up, she saw the others were huddled tightly around Yilda. In faltering steps, she made her way over.

Yilda had organized them into a line, their tails lying to the side. A steady wind blew at their backs. Penirdth was first. He would begin by breaking the trail.

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