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August 28, 2526. It’s been another day, but the survivors have made it to
the top of the hill, which was harder than they believed, but it will give
them their best chance of getting out of this alive, so no one is
complaining. During the walk, Breanna and Cash taught everyone how to use
their parachutes. The Levins were in awe of how the chutes were able to
expand and retract with the push of a button. Base jumping was a not
unpopular sport under their dome, but they never developed anything this
sophisticated. The Breckenridgers were just in awe of the concept in general
as they had not even dreamed of such technology. Everyone has done well, so
Breanna thinks they’re ready to make the jump. She and Cash will not be able
to help them if something goes wrong, but they’ll have the beetloid, which
is evidently inclined to help people.
One by one, they help the other survivors launch. They get a running start,
deploy their chute, jump off the cliff, and activate hang gliding mode. An
electrical current is sent through the canopy to stiffen it up. This is the
only way they’ll be able to cross over four kilometers without plunging into
the depths. In fact, they might be able to go a lot farther, depending on
the temperature and pressure on the other side. The gases would actually
kind of be the holy grail for this sort of thing if the price for failure
wasn’t death. If they remember Breanna and Cash’s instructions, they’ll stay
aloft for long enough to reach the other side. From there, they will be able
to continue northwards. They have beacons and comms, so if they end up
separated—which they probably will, because it’s safer to let that happen
than to try to stick together, and risk losing altitude—they will be able to
reunite somewhere. They were all good students. They’re gonna be okay.
Breanna couldn’t have asked for a better group, and while she won’t be
around to get them all the way there, she got to see them through most of
the journey.
“You’re not coming, are you?” The guy who Tertius saved from the cyclone is
the last one, and the only one to see the writing on the wall.
“You should go. We’ll be right behind you, I promise,” Breanna lies.
He’s not buying it. “Why can’t you come with us?”
Breanna sighs. “We don’t have our parachutes. Well, we do, but not the kind
that can be switched to hang glider mode.”
“I was born in Leviss. They had this thing called tandem diving. I never got
a chance to do it myself before my family left, but...” He trails off,
having said enough to get his point across.
Breanna nods. “We’re not equipped for that. Your suits are a different
model, and don’t have the straps that we would need. We have
some straps, but they’re worn out and too short.”
“We could rig something up,” he reasons. “Calypso is still in comms range.
Let’s call her back, and figure this out.”
“It wouldn’t be safe. We didn’t want to lower your chances of making it
across. If we were just base jumping together, I would go for it, but you
need all the luck you can get to go as far horizontally as possible. It’s
not worth the risk. We’ll be fine, we have education and experience in this
sort of thing, so we’ll figure it out.”
“No, you won’t. You’re just getting ready to die. I was wondering what those
looks of calm on your faces were about. Now I know. Now I understand.” He
crosses his arms like a petulant child.
“That is not your concern,” Cash argues. “Tertius saved your life, and then
it looks like he lost his. Don’t waste that gift. Get over there with the
others, tell them we’re proud of them, and then keep moving until you find
safety.”
Now he sighs. “Okay. Thank you...for everything.” He steps back, leans
forward, but stops again. “Wait, the beetle.”
“Cash already suggested that,” Breanna says. “It can only hold one person,
and before you ask, it can’t make two trips. It’s not designed to fly
around. It’s just meant to hop from one part of a dome to another one
nearby. It barely got Calypso back to us.”
“I took a look at its diagnostics,” Cash continues. “It’s running low on
fuel, and the toxins are damaging its components almost as much as it would
our bodies. Honestly, it might not make it across itself, and I certainly
don’t want it trying to make it back up to higher ground. We can’t rely on
it for another trip.”
“Over here, she and I stand a chance of finding another way,” Breanna
finishes. “Now go on, git!”
“Very well,” he gets back into his stance, then runs off and flies away from
them.
By the time he makes his jump, the first survivor has landed on the other
side. They can’t see her from this distance through all the fumes, but the
augmented reality is showing everyone as little dots on their huds.
The two of them stand on the cliff’s edge, watching those dots get farther
and farther away. In under five minutes, everyone else has landed, including
Notus. Breanna tries to make contact with them, but there’s too much
interference. They’re on their own now, but she’s confident that they will
do what needs to be done. The worst is behind them already. If they
encounter any dangers up ahead like the ones they’ve already faced, then it
means the whole planet is unsafe, and nothing would matter anyway. They
continue to watch as the dots reconvene back on the ground. They’re surely
close enough to communicate with each other by now, so everyone knows the
deal. Even though it’s getting quite hot up here, Breanna and Cash don’t
want to leave in case they see someone try to glide back to them. It might
be possible, but more likely for an expert, which none of them is. There is
just too much verticality to cover.
“We best be heading back down, eh?” Cash offers, feeling it safe to let them
go.
“We best,” Breanna agrees. “Where exactly are we gonna go, though?”
“I suggest we head back for the nearest dome. There might be something there
we can use. Hell, they might have left a rocket behind for all we know. This
close to the safety zone, it would have been impractical for them to take
it, but for us, it could be our only shot.”
“That would be cool, but I would settle for a couple new IMS units with
working hang gliders.”
The two of them climb back down the hill, and walk back eastward along the
edge of the chasm. They become tired, so they initiate the vacuum tent,
which was too heavy to risk sending with the others. They climb inside and
remove their suits to a great deal of relief. Then they look at each other.
They’re alone together for the first time in a long time. Something has been
brewing, but they have not had any opportunity to explore exactly what that
might be until now. So they clamber to remove the rest of their clothing,
frantically trying to help each other. And then, at last, at the very end of
the only world they have ever known, they consummate their love.
