Survival Aptitude Test_Hope's Graveyard by Mike Sheriff

Author:Mike Sheriff [Sheriff, Mike]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: THE EXTINCTION ODYSSEY - ORIGINS
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

6

Compromise

LAOSHI EXTRACTED FOUR wedge-shaped sonic charges from the drop-pack. No bigger than a fist, they packed enough impulse energy to punch through three-inches of ceramic armor. He handed them to Dominus.

“Give me an extra charge,” he said. “Just in case.”

Laoshi pulled out a fifth charge and handed it over.

Dominus distributed them among his web pouches and cinched the draws of his climbing harness tighter. “Got the line?”

“Right here.” Laoshi fed the flexglass line’s running end through the harness’ snap lock and tied it off with a figure-of-eight knot. He’d already launched its other running end up and over one of the ceiling’s I-beams using the pneumatic gun. It created a solid top-anchor. “Hope I tied that knot properly.”

“If you don’t know knots, tie lots,” Dominus said.

Laoshi clipped the line into the belaying cam on his webbing and ensured it ran freely. “All set.”

“Don’t let go.”

“Just like climbing Rhyger’s Cliffs on the Western Mound, hmm?” Laoshi said.

“Little more challenging, I’d say.”

He was right. The chamber’s walls provided few handholds and footholds to mount an ascent. Odds were good that Dominus would slip several times; a solid belay was vital for preventing a fall. From such a height, a broken leg would be a given. Commander Nehjal had already demonstrated what a broken leg could lead to.

“Ready?” Laoshi asked.

“Ready.”

“On belay.”

Dominus climbed using cable mountings and scattered protrusions as holds. Laoshi drew line through the belaying cam, maintaining enough slack to permit freedom of movement—but not so much that his friend would drop more than a few feet if he peeled away. The rest of the team busied themselves collecting data disks and other intelligence artifacts.

Within two minutes, Dominus had reached forty feet above the floor. As was the case with most climbs they’d undertaken, the last ten feet proved the most challenging. The handholds thinned out, and the closest I-beam was five horizontal feet from his position on the wall.

“I think I can reach it if I jump,” he said, the dome’s natural acoustics amplifying his whisper. “Be ready to brace my fall.”

Laoshi opened his mouth to issue a warning. Dominus jumped before he got a word out.

Dominus arced through the air, spinning one-hundred-eighty degrees to face the I-beam. His hands found its leading edge.

Laoshi leaned back, ready to absorb the energy of his friend’s falling body.

Dominus didn’t fall. His legs swung like a pendulum beneath the I-beam. At the same time, he pulled up with his arms and tucked his knees to his chest. Momentum carried him up and over the I-beam. In one smooth motion, he found himself kneeling on its upper surface. He grinned at Laoshi, looking both surprised and elated. “How was that?”

Laoshi rolled his eyes. “You always were a show off.”

Dominus stood, balancing on the narrow beam, and tightroped to the first junction box.

Laoshi relaxed. No one was as sure-footed as Dominus; the odds of him falling now were virtually null. He took less than three minutes to place all four charges.

“Charges are set,” Dominus called down.

Nehjal wandered over.

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