Finally, they reached their destination and everyone got out of the tram.
Since the entire group consisted of experienced climbers, Tim decided to forgo his usual safety speech. He did remind them that this wasn’t the moon and that they’d have to deal with less gravity than they were used to. Then he put the group through some practice drills on a small incline. After twenty minutes, Jeff was satisfied with their ability and started the actual climb.
“Okay, everyone, we’re ready to climb.” Tim anchored a section of rope and snapped it into the clasp of his harness. Everyone else followed suit. “We’ll need to keep twenty meters distance between each other. About half way down there’s a series of ledges. You’ll be able to tether there and take a break. Now follow my lead, and be careful.”
Magic Time.
Tim started down into the crater. Even though he’d made this descent more than a hundred times his heart was racing. Nothing compared with climbing, nothing. On this part of the crater holds were easy to come by and the descent proceeded quickly. About two hundred meters into the descent Tim didn’t like the feel of one of the course’s pitons and decided to replace it. He checked the piton gun to make sure that the barrel’s sleeve was locked open. It was, and he fired a piton into the rock wall. Tim felt the impact of the piton, and watched the propellent gas pour out of the holes in the gun barrel. If not for the escape holes in the barrel of the gun, the recoil would have pushed Tim off the crater’s wall. In a higher gravity the holes would have been unnecessary. On the way back up, Tim would have to move the sleeve down to cover the holes when he fired the grappling hook extension. Without the sleeve, he simply didn’t have enough range to get past any of the tricky parts of the course.
It took the group about an hour to reach the ledges. Tim was impressed: it took most groups two hours to get this far. He considered pushing on, but decided against it. “Time for a break, folks. Jeff and Hank, you’re on the lower ledge with me. Erica and Luke, you’ve got the upper ledge.”
Tim disconnected himself from the rope, set his jet pack aside, clipped onto a tether set into the crater’s wall, and sat down. Inside of his suit he could feel sweat trickling down his body.
Hank sat down beside him. “What a great place to climb,” Hank said.
Tim smiled. “I’ve been everywhere, and I've never seen anything to compare with this crater. There’s something about being able to see a million stars and the sun at the same time that does it for me.”
“This is incredible. I feel like I could climb here for years and not get enough.”
“You could never get enough of this place.”
“I can’t believe you get paid for this. What a great job.”
Erica’s frantic voice broke in on their conversation.
“Tim, Luke slipped before he could fasten onto the tether. He’s coming your way. What should I do?”
“You don’t have to do anything, Erica. I can handle it on this end. Luke’s not in any real danger.”
“Are you sure I’m going to be okay?” came Luke’s terse voice.
“You're fine.” Tim told him. “This ledge is wider than the one you’re on. We’ll be able to pull you in.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Tim saw Jeff scoop up the jet pack. “I’ll help him,” Jeff said as he squatted down.
“No. Don’t jump!” Tim shouted, as he grabbed for Jeff. He was too late. Jeff had already straightened his legs and was shooting upwards. Jeff held the jet pack in one hand and reached for Luke with the other. He missed by inches.
“Jeff, listen to me,” Tim ordered.
“Oh my God, I’m not slowing down. What do I do?” Jeff yelled, flailing his arms about.
“Calm down, damn it, calm down! All you need to do is put the jet pack on.”
Jeff tried to do this, but the jet pack went spinning away as he cleared the lip of the crater.
“How long until he lands?” Hank asked.
“Never,” was Tim’s reply. “This asteroid doesn’t have enough gravity.” Tim quickly subvocalized the order for his helmet transceiver to switch to his long range channel. “Toshiba Base, This is Ross. Come in please.”
“Ross, this is Base. What can I do for you?”
“One of my climbers just jumped. I need help.”
“How bad was he hurt in the fall?”
“He didn’t jump down, he jumped up!”
“Oh my God. How long ago?”
“Less than a minute.”
“Let me see if I can get him on radar. Got him. He’s not very far from the crater. At his present speed and vector, he’ll be off our radar screen in about three minutes. If you don’t get to him, no one ever will. I can direct you.”
“The jumper lost my jet pack when he jumped.”
“Was he trying to kill himself?”
“No. I’ve got to talk with the rest of my climbers, I’ll be right back, Ross out.” Tim quickly switched back to his short range channel. Hank was just pulling Luke in.
“What do we do now?” Luke asked as he tethered himself to the line.
Tim looked around quickly, picked up the piton gun and drove a piton into the ground, then he tied off one end of the unused climbing rope to it and clipped the other end into his harness’ clasp. “When the rope becomes taut, pull me in.”
Hank and Luke nodded.
Tim clicked the piton gun’s sleeve into place, over the holes in the barrel, and jumped. He went quickly forward, praying that his idea would work. Tim put the piton gun between his legs facing down and fired. The piton flew out, and he sped up. “Thank you, God,” he whispered, firing off three more pitons.
This is crazy, Tim thought, as he sped into space. I should be in bed with Sam right now, not jumping off after some stupid tourist. What if the piton doesn’t hold when I reach the end of the rope? I might never see Sam again. Sam . . .
*
Tim tore himself away from his introspection and contacted Toshiba Base. “How is my vector compared to the jumper’s?”
“He’s off to your right and behind you.”
Tim fired another piton. “How am I doing now?”
“You’ve matched his upwards trajectory, but he’s still behind you.”
It took three more adjustments before Tim got it. Once he had the trajectory right there was nothing to do but wait.
“Tim, this is Base, you’ve passed out of radar range. We can’t do anything else for you.”
Tim looked up. He could just make out what he prayed was Jeff. “Base, I think I can see him now. As long as my rope holds out everything should be okay. I’m going to switch channels now.”
“Sure thing, and, Tim, good luck.”
“Thanks.”
When Tim switched channels, Jeff’s voice, screaming unintelligibly, accosted him. “Jeff, can you hear me? This is Tim Ross, I’m right under you and gaining.”
Jeff stopped screaming and moaned.
“Jeff, I need your help, buddy. I’m going to try to catch you as I pass. If you can reach out for me, that would help a lot.” Jeff didn’t reply. Must be in