Chapter 20: Down We Go
So, I set off down the Mountain. I pushed my way through strange plants of almost-bamboo, gnarled trees with sharp leaves, and odd insects that buzzed menacingly. The ground was slick with a grayish moss, and the boots I had lifted off the corpse were worn pretty thin. My leg kept barking its truth about the state of my bones, as I used the cane as best I could among the rocks. I could hear running water as I struggled to avoid the thorns of some sort of carnivorous plant that had half a lizard dangling from its bloom, and I made my way towards it. The sound soon became a roar as mist began to fill the air, and the jagged rocks became even more treacherous and slick, jabbing into the soles of my feet through the boots, and cutting my shins. I hoped the mossy lichens weren’t toxic.
The trees soon gave way to a precipice, opening up on a massive waterfall. For a moment, the past few days gave way to a stunned tranquility. My mind can deal with a lot of stuff associated with living in The City, with its high technology and low motivations. But this; this was something else. Above me, the cliff rose hundreds of feet in the air, its sides polished smooth by the water rushing over it. Hundreds of feet below, the water plunged into the darkness of a chasm, the canopy obscuring how far down it actually went. And the water itself! It was a bright blue, blue like a crayon, blue like a crashed computer before the Singularity Merger. It practically leapt from the crest like an animal, as spray flung away from the rock face, while the water itself crashed and boomed it’s way past me.
An errant jet of the blue liquid broke on an outcropping next to me. My nose and tongue picked up the scent of blood, and I reached out to wipe my fingers against the outcropping, and then stuck them in my mouth. A sharp taste snapped my head back, and I realized what made the water so blue. There must be an extremely high copper content in that waterfall, which is why the rocks were so smooth. I sat down, unsure of myself in such a place, wondering where to go next.
Something buzzed by me, almost lumbering through the air. I looked around and saw an insect, about as big as my finger. I didn’t know what the hell it was. It had wings, almost like a dragonfly, but nowhere near as graceful. It seemed to be thrown off balance by its large frontal claws, and a wicked looking tail that arched over its back. A winged scorpion, I guess, except for having only 2 legs, like a sparrow. And big, black eyes. It hovered for few seconds, looking at me. I was slowly reaching for my cane when it came at me, buzzing furiously with a speed it hadn’t shown before. Its claws dug into my chest, and that tail jabbed into me, just below my left collar bone. I managed to grab the cane with my right hand and smash it into my own chest just as a cold numbing spread through my left shoulder and down my arm. I hear a crunch, but that damn tail seemed to be burrowing into me. I smashed it again with the cane, and this time it stopped moving, and hung limply from my chest, my fresh blood mingling with whatever juices that thing was keeping inside it.
That cold numbness had made its way all down my arm, and I suppose that was a small blessing, as the damage I had suffered in the cave was muted to a more manageable level. But I could also feel it making its way through my torso, and I wondered what the hell I was going to do if I became an almost-walking study in full-body Novocain. Using my cane, I struggled to my feet, and noticed a change in the timbre of the waterfall. It had grown deeper, more resonant, less like water, and more like something familiar, something man made.
Over the edge of a waterfall, some sort of ship appeared. Well, I thought it was a ship, but as it cleared the edge of the waterfall, it kept going horizontally. It didn’t fall over the edge. I could feel the numbness creep up my neck as the craft, vehicle, whatever it was, clear the edge of the falls, and begin to gently descend. It was circular, about 20 yards in diameter, with a clear domed top. It also made a muted roaring sound that was a mixture of a constantly collapsing building and the afterburner of a jet. As my entire left side went numb, I was reminded of some old movies my grandfather used to show us before unauthorized media devices were outlawed. He called them “Flying Saucers”.
My numb left leg and my broken right one could no longer support my weight. I collapsed as gently as I could against the sharp rocks, half grateful again to whatever the fuck was in my bloodstream.
The craft settled until the clear dome was level with the ledge I was on. The dome parted in the middle, and a man with flying goggles called out to me, “Are you LMNO?”
I weakly raised my right arm in affirmation.
“Oh, good. I’m Reverend W.H. Name. Looks like you might need some help.”
A hatch opened in the side of his vehicle, and some attachments, that looked like a very large spatula and some tongs, emerged and scooped me up. I couldn’t tell if it was gentle or not, as my body was totally numb at this point, but the occasional mutterings from Name didn’t give me much confidence. Eventually, I was dumped into some sort of medical-looking cot with various attachments looming all around it, fortunately on my back. Name got up from the controls, and stood over me.
“Damn, you look like shit.”
“Wh. Ah. Yuh...”
“Hold on a sec. I can flush the poison, but we may as well take advantage of the situation.” He removed the splints on my arm, and then with little grace, planted one foot in my side, and pulled as hard as he could. I could hear various pops and cracks as he re-broke the bones. If I could grimace at the sound, I would have. I couldn’t feel anything, but I knew he just undid whatever sort of healing had been taking place. I wanted to scream at him, but I was helpless. He proceeded to do the same thing with my leg. Turning away from me, he pressed a few buttons on the ship’s wall, and a shell-like lid closed over my body, leaving only my head exposed. I could feel my body being pulled and prodded by unknown devices, and Name went back to his controls. I could still see him from the cot as the persistent rumbling got louder, and he began to speak.
“Yeah, so, I was hanging out at the Open Bar, when Mangrove started talking about you. Said you were all off on some quest with some hot chick. Didn’t see her with you, I hope you had the good sense to put her in some safehouse before coming to the Mountain. Anyway, no one had heard from you for a while, so Open Bar put some tracers out, and wouldn’t you know, the fuckin’ cops are looking for you. You really got to learn how to keep your head down, y’know?
“Anyway, on a hunch O.B put in a call to Zeke’s. Which leads us to here, and to now.” He stood up again, and grabbed a syringe from a compartment in the wall. “Ok, I guess the medbot’s done what it can. Time to set you free.” He jabbed the needle into my neck, and dropped the plunger. A warmth spread through my shoulders, and crept down my chest. I could feel my throat loosen up, and I swallowed. I opened my mouth. I wasn’t sure what to say.
Then it got to my arm. The warmth turned to fire, and I could feel every newly-broken bone. I screamed. And then it hit my leg. I squeezed my eyes shut against the pain, and I could hear Name scramble around, muttering to himself. Another jab in my neck, and I was out of my body. Out of my head. The bastard gave my synthetic OBE, I thought. What the fuck is going on here?
“I heard that,” he said, tapping the side of his goggles. “A neat little trick I picked up from the scrids. Float for a while, we’ll talk.”
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