ENCOUNTER by Hep Aldridge (bill gates books recommendations .txt) 📕

it happen?” I asked no one in particular as I stood there surveying the crevasse.

“I almost have the feeling that this whole rock fall was purposefully put here as a barricade. But if so, when and by whom? And if it was by the original inhabitants of the city, why would they block it off? Why not just leave it open? It’s not like you’re not going to be able to see that the roadway is gone.

I heard Doc over the Comms, “What did you guys find?”

“The roadway is gone,” I replied, “looks like the earth opened up and swallowed it.”

“What?” came his startled reply.

“Yeah, it’s gone. A huge fissure opened, and the road is gone as far as we can see,” Dimitri said in a dejected voice.

It was then that I realized that Reggie was still standing there, looking at the scene before us, and hadn’t spoken a word.

“Reggie, you okay?” I asked. No answer.

“Reggie, what’s wrong?” I said as I reached out and touched her shoulder. She flinched as if shocked and turned to me in surprise, “What, what did you say, Colt?”

“I asked if you were all right; you haven’t said a word.”

“Yeah, I’m good,” she said and turned back to look at the massive gash in the earth before us.

Doc, O’Reilly, and Eduardo had made their way to the top, and we all sat and stood there, staring at the devastating scene before us.

“Now, what do we do, Senor Colt?” Eduardo asked.

After a pause, I dejectedly said, “Eduardo, I have no idea,” as I stared down at the giant fissure.

A sense of hopelessness seemed to have fallen over us as no one spoke. Finding the roadway had buoyed everyone’s spirits and given us renewed hope and a burst of positive energy and motivation, only to come to this. From the heights of elation to the pits of despair was a considerable drop for us, one deeper than the black chasm below.

I’m not sure how long we stood and sat there; it seemed like an eternity when Reggie turned again and picked up the coil of climbing rope I had brought up, uncoiled it, and began tying one end to her climbing harness. I stared at her in disbelief.

“What the hell are you doing?” I asked.

“I want to take a closer look down there,” she said, pointing to the crevasse.

“What?” I exclaimed, “what for?”

“I just want a closer look, so are you going to help or just sit there?”

I stood and looked at the sight below. “That’s too dangerous; there’s no reason to risk your life like that.”

She ignored my comment and said, “Dimitri, get up; I need your help too.”

Dimitri looked at me, shrugged, and slowly got to his feet. “You’re nuts, lady; you know that.”

She looked at him with a mischievous grin and said, “Yeah, I know…but I’m cute and smart.” With that, she tossed him the rope and said, “You’ll control my descent. Colt, grab the end; you’ll be my anchor point.”

During this insane exchange, we had grabbed our gloves, and Dimitri had draped the rope behind his back, found himself a level place to stand, and braced his right foot against a large rock. I picked up the rope, did a double wrap around my waist and stood about six feet behind Dimitri.

Since we could not see over the edge in our current positions, I told Doc to position himself so he could keep an eye on Reggie as she descended. Reggie looked over her shoulder to the drop-off and backed slowly toward it, stopping at the edge.

She said, “You boys ready?”

“Ready,” we both said in unison.

“On rope,” Reggie said as she began her descent.

Dimitri kept tension on the rope and played it out as she descended, letting it slide across his lower back as he controlled it, paying it out with his left hand, and keeping it taught with his right. My job was to stand there and be ready to stop the climber’s fall should she get into trouble or if Dimitri were to lose control of the descent.

We were all on Comms, so a running dialogue from Reggie to us and Doc’s comments kept us apprised of her progress. We figured she had around eighty feet to go to reach the opening of the fissure. We had three hundred feet of rope, so there were no issues there. Dimitri was approximating the rope playout as she descended. He got to about forty feet and asked Doc how far down she was.

“She’s about halfway. It’s hard to know for sure; I keep losing sight of her as she passes some of the large boulders sticking out.”

Reggie came on the Comm link, “I’m doing fine, guys. I’m having to weave around some of the outcroppings, but no problems so far. You guys good?”

“Good to go,” Dimitri answered.

“All good,” I added.

I had every confidence in Reggie’s abilities as a climber, but this rock face was a jumble of potentially loose boulders and rocks. We had no idea how stable the face was, and I was still not sure that the value of this endeavor was worth the risk.

After twenty minutes, Reggie came on Comms. “Okay, guys, I’m about ten feet from the edge of the fissure. I think I see a flat spot right on the edge I can use as a perch, so lower me slowly.”

We did as she ordered and heard, “Okay, I’m touching down; seems solid enough—give me some slack.”

We fed out about six to eight feet of slack, and I asked Doc if he could see her.

“No, she’s under an overhanging rock. I can’t see her.”

We waited and, after a few minutes, heard, “This is weird; give me some more slack.”

We played out another eight feet or so, and I said, “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know, not sure what I’m seeing. I’m looking down into the fissure and, oh, shi…!” Reggie’s Comms went dead, and there was a violent jerk as the rope slid through our gloved hands, eight