Descent

Descent
by Chris Nance

He intended to be the first. Ray Ruiz stared down the impossibly long slope with snowboard in hand and almost couldn’t see the end of the run. It was bitterly cold but his suit did a good job at keeping the chill at bay. The sky was incredibly blue and clear, allowing him to see for miles, and the altitude was just high enough to make out the faintest traces of starlight.

This was the highlight of his lifetime and Ray knew that whether he had a flawless run or tumbled all the way down the hill, he’d go down in history for this feat. Of course, this wasn’t the reason he was originally picked for this particular mission but he meant to quench his thirst for adventure, all the same. The mountain called to him and, with his personal and remote cameras in place, they were going to document the entire descent.

He planted his butt in the snow and strapped into the bindings. They were solid and his boots were snug. Still, Ray double checked them anyways just to be sure. He wanted a clean run and to look like a pro when he added his little spot to the history books. Certain they were good to go, he pulled himself to his feet, the board shifting in the compacted snow. It never melted here and the base was likely ancient, a packed up foundation a hundred feet deep.

“Are you ready,” Sarah Jane asked from behind him, cameras at the ready. She was already recording. She too wanted every moment to be saved for posterity.

“Ready as I’m gonna get, I suppose,” he said. Ray shifted his board back and forth, balancing perfectly.

“Hey, this was your idea after all,” she replied. “The geological survey said to stick close to the main trough. There’s gonna be a drop about a few thousand yards down but the slope is perfect to catch you at the end. Remember, knee’s bent.”

“Knees bent,” he repeated nervously.

“Ride the edge of the gorge and you should hit the wide bowl on the far side. The path ends at a cliff-face and you know what to do at that point. Smooth sailing from there.”

“Right,” Ray said as he fidgeted in his boots. She could hear his breathing increase with his anxiety. No one had ever done this before. “Anything else I should remember?”

“Smile for the camera,” she joked then said, “Just let me know when you’re ready.”

He didn’t know if he’d ever be…at least not truly ready for what he was about to do. Still, he positioned himself with his right foot as the lead. “See you on the other side,” he said, just as he crested the ridge and dropped over the side.

Ray tore down the slope, the snow amazingly fresh and clean. He’d remembered to wax the bottom of his snowboard that morning to ensure a clean run. He roared past jagged outcroppings of rock and was faster than fast. Fortunately, he didn’t have to worry about obstacles like trees on this mountain slope. Still it reminded him of his home in Colorado and he blasted down the mountain.

“You’re coming up on the ridge,” Sarah Jane said over the communicator and, true enough, he could see the drop-off just ahead.
Ray didn’t hear the quad-copter as it soared past him, Sarah Jane controlling it at the summit. Even so, it shot over the rim ahead and was finely trained on his every move. Finally, he hit the drop off and drifted through the sky, realizing too late that he was airborne further than planned, but Ray was skilled enough to compensate for the miscalculation and used the gravity to his advantage. As surveyed, there was a slope just past the ridge and he thankfully hit the distant end of the slope in time to cushion his fall.

“Are you alright?” Sarah Jane asked. She could see him struggle with the landing.

“I’m good,” he replied. “Remind me to take the G’s into account next time.” Still, he charged ahead and almost wished he could feel the wind on his face but knew he’d be dead if he removed his helmet. It kept him both warm and amply supplied with oxygen.

“Coming up on the gorge,” he noted.

Ray Ruiz met the beginning of a great crevasse and dodged to one side, riding its edge up a banking slope that brought him nearly horizontal, speed and centrifugal force allowing him to hug the wall. “Whoo!” he declared as he charged ahead and Sarah Jane chuckled at the other end of the mic.

He reach the terminus of the ravine and hit a broad open bowl. The scene was majestic. Still at high altitude, he marveled at the sharpness of the peaks, the blueness of the sky and the whiteness of the snow. The sun, high above was crystal clear and the landscape sparked. Ray crouched to his ankles, decreasing wind resistance and picking up speed. He wanted to get the best start possible and knew, to do that, he had to really hit the edge in a fury.

The bowl sloped steadily downward and he picked up speed. Ray remembered aerial surveillance showed a smooth broad lip that would allow the greatest jump ever attempted. So, he tucked his arms in and kept his head low. His breathing was steady and he focused all of his mental energy on the end of his run. Ray hit the bowl’s rim in a frightening rush and pushed off just in time. He soared though the sky like and bullet, with the tip of his snowboard high and his arms tucked in.

At the zenith of his climb, Ray hit the rocket engines ready for a steep ascent to the waiting automated reconnaissance vehicle that circled higher in the atmosphere. Thrusters engaged and the rockets jumped to life, lurching him forward just as a terrifying beast with a gaping maw full of sharp teeth leaped from the depths of the low cloud cover to swallow him whole. His personal camera was still recording as the beast fell back into the mist. “Ray!” Sarah Jane exclaimed, the last voice on the recording as it paused.

“Make a note for future exploration,” the mission commander said, “No unauthorized adventuring.”

“Well, he did make history, sir,” his assistant noted. “He was the first human to snowboard the slopes of Skelaxis Prime.”

“Yes, and he was also the first human to be swallowed whole by an alien macro-organism,” the officer corrected. “Be sure to leave that out of the obituary.”


1108 words