by Mark Wandrey
"Sounds like a plan," she agreed and the others were quickly on their feet. Even Pip was looking better after the short rest. He was still the weakest physically of the five, but the constant physical exertion was beginning to work at hardening his body. Minu was glad; she felt it was only going to get harder.
“Where are we going anyway?” he asked as he finished securing his pack.”
“We keep going in the direction from the computer map,” she told them. “There will probably be some clues, or another hut, sooner or later.”
To the surprise of those not used to the desert, the going quickly got easier. The last of the serious vegetation was soon left behind leaving only hard rolling sand dunes and occasional rock shelves or outcroppings. With very little to trip them up they made good time. Until they reached their first obstacle.
"That's quite a canyon," Pip said as they looked down into the yawning rock chasm that had suddenly sprung up from the dark. They could all see in the greenish light of Remus how it wound away in both directions like the jagged maw of some monster.
"Good thing we waited for Remus to rise," Minu said half to herself, "we would have just walked right into this abyss." She gave a little shudder at the thought of how deep the canyon might be. The walls looked almost sheer, as if it were carved from the living rock of the planet with a huge knife. Cutting from north to south, it perfectly bisected their path of travel.
"So what now? Aaron asked for them. Minu had long since stopped being amazed or even bothered by their turning to her as a leader. It was just how things worked out.
"We need to find a way around," she said.
"It would be faster to split up," Gregg suggested.
"Good idea," she agreed, "but we don't want to get separated by too far. Cherise and I will go north, you three go south. We'll march for an hour then retrace our steps and meet again in the middle to report." Immediately the boys didn't like it.
"Not by yourself," Gregg disagreed.
"Not safe," Aaron shook his head.
"Your just girls," Pip added. The two other boys both cringed and Minu saw Cherise inflate like an angry cat, ready to pounce.
"Any of you want to see what it's like to mess with this girl?" All three of them took a step back. "Shit, I can probably beat all three of you in a stand up fight." Minu could see the look on Aaron's face change subtly and decided that Cherise made her point.
"We're all armed," she told them, "and there is more than enough light to see anything coming. We go as I said." And that was the end of discussion. She could see they were anything but happy with the idea, and less happy that Pip burned their chances or creating a carefully worded argument. Cherise put her hands on her hips and gave them a steely eyes glare. None of them said anything, Gregg going so far as looking around and whistling. With her victory still fresh, Cherise turned and marched off along the canyon to the north.
"If you find anything soon, yell," Minu told them then quickly turned and trotted off after her very dominant feminist friend. "I don't understand you," she said when she'd caught up.
"What is there to understand, after a sexist slur like that? Pip should have known better."
"I don't understand how you can lay with a boy, giving yourself to his sexual advances, and then practically start a fight over your being equal to a man's task." When Cherise started to yell at her Minu held up a hand. "Don't start with me; I'm on your side. I was more than willing to remind them that if they insist on following me as a leader, they had to close their eyes to the fact that I have breasts."
"Aaron would find that most difficult," Cherise said. It was too dark to be sure, but Minu thought her friend had a most peculiar little smile on her face.
The two groups set out by the dim moonlight, Minu was careful to stay far enough away from the canyon wall as they walked to avoid slipping in any of the occasional gouges caused by seasonal rains. Some where quite steep and wide enough to make a fatal toboggan run to the valley floor.
"How much longer do you think the Trials will go?" Cherise asked after a few minutes.
"My father never gave a lot of details, probably because he really didn't want me to take them." Cherise just gave a grunting acknowledgment of the comment. "The one thing I remember is him saying that when he thought the Trials were over, one more challenge remained, and that surprised him the most."
"One wonders what that could mean."
"I tried several times to get more out of him, but he can be quite difficult, when he wants to."
"The First Among the Chosen has to be made of strong stuff," Cherise said as they picked their way around another runoff. "I can't imagine being the representative for our planet to the rest of the galaxy." When it was put that way, neither could Minu.
They walked on for a time in near silence, only speaking when one of them noticed an obstacle in their paths. Then Minu spotted something ahead. "I think there is a tree growing on the edge of the canyon up there." They were both intrigued because they hadn't seen a tree for more than a day. They sped up and reached it in another minute. Only it wasn't a tree.
"A bridge!" Cherise said excitedly. A series of dualloy posts were driven into the rocky ground bracing heavy rope that stretched out over the abyss of the canyon. It was too dark to see the other side making it look like the ropes simply disappeared into outer space.
Minu couldn't think of the contraption as a bridge. Just three ropes, one to stand on and two others on either side at chest level to balance yourself with. It seemed to her to be more of an obstacle course challenge than a way to cross the gorge. She moved closer to examine the bridge and came away with the only logical conclusion possible. The bridge was new and placed for the Trials, and that struck her as wrong.
"Too easy," she said as she examined the structure.
"How hard can it be?" Cherise asked. She grabbed the robe and tried to pull it sideways. It gave a little taunt quiver, but that was all. It was obviously under intense stress.
"You ever used one of these?" Minu asked.
"No, not like this. But I've heard of them, and climbed a lot of ropes as a little girl. Let's go get the boys."
Even though they'd only gone about twenty minutes of the planned hour it didn't seem likely that a two lane vehicle bridge was just a little ways farther on. This area of Bellatrix was essentially uninhabited. It seemed likely that they found the only way across. "Okay, lets go back."
The walk back went much quicker because they didn't have to stay closer to the canyon to avoid missing anything. They just kept the dark line of the canyon wall in view and walked along quickly. To both their surprise, the three boys were already there.
"We found a bridge," Cherise told them. They looked stunned.
"We found a way down to the bottom of the canyon," Gregg told the girls.
"What kind of way down?" Minu asked. The boys described three ropes tied by securing poles to the ground. When they were done she and Cherise were sure they'd just described another bridge like the one they found, only this one was cut loose from the other side. She explained this to them.
"Why would someone cut the bridge?" Pip asked them.
"To slow another group down," Aaron said. They all nodded in agreement. It made sense.
"Ivan," Minu hissed. They all looked at her.
"The Rusk bastard couldn't know there was another bridge," Cherise said.
"Unless they sabotaged the other bridge," Minu said. Everyone's look of smug satisfaction turned to shock.
"He wouldn't dare," Gregg spat.
"Wanna bet?" Cherise asked.
"Wanna bet your life?" Minu added. They all looked at her again. It would be her decision. Take a chance on the bridge, or take the sure way to get half way across and climb down the broken bridge.
"We could cut this side of the other bridge," Pip suggested, "that way we would at least be sure of having a way up the other side!"
"Any sabotage of the bridge would still be an issue," Minu reminded him.
He gave a dejected nod of his head and just waited for her to make the decision. Considering her distrust of the bridge idea, it wasn't hard. "We climb down."
* * *
The trip down hadn't proved too difficult, not even for Pip. The only challenge was the rope itself. It was at least three times thicker than a regular rope and so long and heavy you couldn't just wrap it around your waist or your arm. You were forced to almost slide down it like a fire pole using your thighs to keep from racing out of control. A fire pole made of flesh shredding rough fibers more than a hundred meters long. Two hours later Pip was the last to touch down at the bottom of the canyon bringing cheers from all of them.
The canyon floor turned out to be very unlike the top. The small river canyon provided a small oasis out of the harsh desert sun. Short fruit bearing bushes lined its banks (given the okay to eat by Cherise) and Aaron managed to produce a pair of fat lazy rabbits for dinner. The lop eared rodents had found a perfect paradise to live in and he’d practically been able to walk up and take them. With day approaching Minu called it a perfect place to camp so a fire was quickly built and the smell of roasting rabbit began making their mouths water.
By the time the rabbits were devoured (supplemented by their carefully hoarded freeze dried rations) the sun was well up in the desert above. The little river and the depth of the canyon acted to keep them cool and before long the whole group was sound asleep to the sounds of the gently bubbling stream.
Some time later Minu woke up with a start. She'd been having a strange dream. As she lay there fighting with sleep and trying to recall what the dream was about the images ran away from her mind. With a half shrug she yawned and looked around. The sun finally climbed high enough to cast its rays down into the canyon, warming them considerably. Even though it wasn't as hot as the actual desert she was still sweating.
One sniff of her clothes reminded Minu how long it had been a since she'd bathed so she quietly got up and walked the short distance to the river. All sense of modesty was long gone, so without looking around she skinned out of her clothes and dipped a toe into the river. It was much colder than she'd expected, likely ice melt from the mountains behind them. The need to be clean beat out the chill so she gently stepped out into the flow. A sound to her right made her look an she stopped to stare.
She wasn't the only one awake this early; Aaron was also in the river, upstream about twenty yards away. He was naked as well in nearly waste deep water and it looked like he was furiously scrubbing his stomach. He turned slightly toward her and she realized he wasn't scrubbing his stomach, he was stroking his penis. She let out a little gasp that didn't carry over the distance. Aaron took no notice of her but just kept stroking.
Minu was stuck like a kloth in the camp light, horrified at what she was seeing but far too titillated to look away. She felt her cheeks burning with heat and her belly tingling with a newly familiar warmth that extended all the way down between her legs. Aaron let out a little moan and liquid shot rhythmically from his penis to splash into the river. Minu finally managed to turn away with an act of sheer mental will. She stepped a little deeper into the water and scooped some up to wash herself. A white glob of something floated by in the water and she squeaked in surprise.
"Minu!" she heard Aaron yell behind her. As she turned she heard a splash and saw he'd dropped to his knees in the water which was now up to mid chest. His eyes were wide in fear. "How long have you been there?"
"Just came down to wash," she said and scooped some more water, careful to avoid anything else that might be floating by. He looked at her naked body and she saw him reposition his hands under water. 'Is he touching himself again?' she wondered.
"Oh," he said, his face as red as hers despite the frigid water.
"You just gonna sit there and watch me bathe?" she asked.
"Oh, sorry." He turned half away and quickly walked out of the water. She got a glimpse and could see he was still as erect as before. The way he'd been looking at her made Minu feel conflicted. Did he want to do to her what Gregg had done to Cherise? She felt a little dizzy.
Once he was out of sight she looked around to be sure she was really alone this time. She'd always been a very fastidious girl and almost never touched herself. Some vague memories of her mother admonishing her against such things tugged at the back of her mind as she reached lower into the downy fuzz growing between her legs. It was hot and wet, and not from the river water. She gently prodded with a finger and felt thrills of pleasure race up her back. Deep desire for release overrode her sense of modesty and her fingers worked quickly and of their own accord. In only a few seconds a powerful orgasm crashed through her body making her moan out loud and her legs quiver.
A few moments later her cheeks blushed anew, bright with embarrassment at what she'd just done. 'Who am I?' she wondered aloud. The well behaved and proper daughter of the First was standing in a river and masturbating in broad daylight? Disgusted at herself she dove deeper into the center of the stream hoping to wash away the embarrassment. Lacking soap she rubbed her hair vigorously under water to get it as clean as possible. That was when she realized the stream was deeper than she thought. Really more of a small river.
Under the water were numerous different types of fish, all darting shapes and fast glints of silver. Earth native trout mixed freely with Bellatrix native rock fish, coexisting in the desert oasis. She wondered for a second at who took the time to introduce the trout to such a remote area. Her embarrassment forgotten, she swam deeper in pursuit of the fish. A breakfast of trout sounded tasty.
Underwater a rock raced by and she marveled at how fast she was swimming. Then another went by just as quickly and she stopped kicking her legs. The next rock grazed off her shoulder and spun her under water. I'm not swimming, I'm in the current!
Minu spun and kicked for the surface. Above she could see the water swirling and foaming past the rocks around her. Somehow she'd gotten swept into rapids. She swam up as hard as she could and finally broke the surface, just as she slammed head first into a rock.
"-g-elp!" she managed to yell as she saw stars. The current pulled her around the rock and she desperately grabbed for a handhold. She was stunned from the impact and the rough rock slowly slid through her fingers. The current tugged her from below and she started to go under.
Something grabbed her left arm and yanked so hard she was afraid her shoulder would separate. The joint held and she felt herself being drug from the water. In no time she was laying panting on the rocky shore and staring up into Aaron's beep brown eyes.
"What the hell were you thinking?" he panted hard, "didn't you see how swift the water was?"
"N-no," she coughed up water. Aaron lifted her head and placed it in his lap. Breathing was easier and the coughing fit passed. "I just was shocked and embarrassed."
Aaron's cheeks glowed bright red. "Did you see me..." he couldn't finish the sentence so she just nodded. The look on his face was one of total mortification. "I'm sorry," he whispered. "I was trying to go somewhere no one would notice. I was just so wound up after Gregg and Cherise the other day."
"You saw them having sex?"
"Didn't we all?" he laughed. She chuckled too, then realized the warmth against her right ear was his manhood. Her cheeks started getting hot again, as did her groin.
"You saved my life." she said, looking up into his solid face. He wasn't tall and thin like Gregg, he was the opposite. Only slightly taller than Minu but thick and solid with muscle and just a touch of leftover boyhood fat. By the feelings of his thighs under her neck, it was all muscle. She was having feelings for this boy that she'd never felt before.
"Don't be melodramatic," he whispered, looking down at her face with equal intensity.
"My big, brave savior deserves a reward." Before she could rethink her decision she lifted her head up and pressed her lips against his. As she laid her head back down she felt something warm and growing press against the side of her head. She was just considering tur
ning her head for a better look when she heard other voices.
"What's going on?" Minu silently cursed. Pip and his terrible timing.
"Our boss here took a swim and got a little too adventurous."
"I'm fine," Minu said, the disappointment in her voice hard to disguise as she climbed to her still somewhat shaky feet.
"More like almost drowned," Aaron said, strategically placing his hands in his laps to hide what stood there.
"Who almost drowned?" Cherise asked as she came over. Aaron had pulled her from the water only a few dozen meters from where she'd started her swim. Meanwhile Cherise showed up just in time to see that Minu was lying with her head in Aaron's lap. Cherise took a second to examine at the expressions on both their faces, his state of arousal, and came to the correct conclusion.
Minu's eyes got wide and she gave her friend an imploring look. Please, don't say anything, she sent her silent plea. Cherise gave her a mischievous smile and said nothing. The look on her face spoke volumes. It said "I know what you were doing, you bad girl!"
More voices made them all turn around and look up. The other rope bridge, the intact one, was only a few hundred meters down the canyon, and a group of candidates were making their way across it.
Minu counted six of them, all laughing and talking loudly, no doubt very pleased with themselves for finding the intact bridge. Halfway across their pleasure turned into horror as the ropes on the far side separated and sent them plunging toward the river.
"Oh God," Cherise sucked in her breath as they fell screaming, "You were right!"
Minu tried to look away. Just like Aaron in the river she found it impossible to take her eyes away. It took an eternity for them to fall. In fact, it took far too long.
"Something is not right," Gregg said and pointed at the slowing yet still spinning and screaming boys.
"Hoverfields," Pip said, pointing at the canyon wall. Minu followed his arm to a small point of glowing blue light in the canyon wall. The Concordia anti-gravity device, a relative of the gravitic impellers that drove flyers, intercepted the falling bodies and slowed the fall dramatically. Instead of a neck breaking one hundred kilometer per hour impact, they hit the water at closer to twenty. A nice easy dive from the five meter board. Not all of them turned to make a clean entry. Even more than a hundred meters away the sound of a body smacking the water face first made them cringe.
