City of Ruins - By Kristine Kathryn Rusch Page 0,53
corridor.
The back of the hovercart is here, bent forward from the weight of the rock on its front. The back end is unbroken, not even marred by dents or dust. The bench seats, however, are full of rock.
“Where are the guides, you think?” I ask.
Mikk shrugs. He knows as well as I do that they usually don’t wait near the hovercart. They often return to the surface while we work.
The guides might be under the rubble. They might be just fine up above. We might not know until we get out of here.
If the guards are under that rubble, they’re dead.
We don’t say anything more. We walk across the unbroken part of the corridor to the next rock fall. There I peer through the opening, which is, again, on the left side.
Through it, I can see natural light. The cave opening, up above. Several meters above, meters we’ve traveled only by hovercart so far.
“We can get to the opening,” I say, “and there’s daylight.”
“That’s one step,” Mikk says.
We both know the next step will be even more difficult. Without the hovercart, getting to the surface will be incredibly hard.
We don’t say anything, though. Instead, we return to the group.
Mikk is going to lead them through the two rock falls. This time, I’m going to bring up the rear.
It takes another hour to get us through this new series of fallen rocks. I don’t watch the group make its cautious way through the pile.
Instead, I investigate the hovercart.
The force of the rocks has crushed the front half. The back is mostly intact. The middle is damaged, but not as badly as I would have expected.
Even though I touch the rocks and the ground near the cart with my bare ringers, I feel nothing liquid. No blood. I don’t smell anything rank either, and death without environmental suits would have a smell. When they die, people’s bladders void. Their bowels let go.
And in this warmth, the blood itself would have an odor.
It does not.
I am more relieved than I want to say.
I’m the last through the second rock fall, which is remarkably stable. I reach my group in the daylight-filled corridor. The Six sit, sharing a bottle of water. Mikk and Roderick are investigating the opening.
The opening differs from the openings you normally find going into ships. It doesn’t come down in a straight vertical. It has a slope. The upper part of the opening is steep, but almost immediately widens into the cavern. The walls themselves go upward at an angle.
However, that angle gets sharper and sharper the closer to the top one gets.
There’s a built-in ladder. I’ve noticed it every time we come down. It’s precarious, and even more so now. The ground could shake again, and we’d be stuck. Whoever is on the ladder might get shaken off, might fall, might be crushed.
Of course, the group waiting below might get crushed too.
I saunter over to the Six as if I don’t have a care in the world. I glance up, see no obvious debris on the edge of the cave opening above, and see no visible cracks in the wall.
“I’ll climb it,” I say.
“Boss,” Roderick says. “We need you. If something happens ...”
He doesn’t finish the sentence.
“If something happens, I’m in as much danger down here as I will be on that ladder,” I say. It’s not entirely true; being shaken off the ladder might make me fall, and the fall could kill me.
“I’m not sure I can climb that,” Kersting says.
“You don’t have to,” I say. “That’s why I’m going up. We’re either going figure out if there’s another way to lift you guys out or we’re going to pull you up with some kind of rope. I won’t know until I get up there.”
“Boss, this isn’t like pulling someone out of a wrecked ship,” Roderick says. “We—”
“I know,” I say. “Gravity isn’t our friend. But I need you and Mikk down here to help the others. You’re the strongest, most athletic members of this team. You can boost them if need be.”
Roderick and Mikk can also tie rope properly, attach cable well, and can handle most emergencies. And, most important, Roderick knows how to pilot.
“So, I’m the logical one to climb.” I sound braver than I feel. I’ve never climbed something like this in full gravity, but I have climbed, and I’m in good shape as well.
Before I can change my mind, I stand beside the ladder.
“I’m assuming you’ve tried to communicate,” I say to Mikk.