Gateways by Aer-ki Jyr (i like reading TXT) 📗

foot, passing the sock to her as he dealt with the more stubborn shoe, twisting and wringing it physically to get a few drops out, then he used a telekinetic trick he’d learned from his own misfortune and got a little rivulet to fall into the snow.

Neiva got a lot more out of the sock as her blue foot got yellower and yellower in the cold.

“Did your skin go back blue the second day too?” Darren asked as she put her less wet sock back on and he handed her the shoe.

“Yeah. The snow is just annoying now,” she said, standing on her reshoed foot again. “That does feel better.”

“Other one,” he said, with her giving him her left foot as they repeated the process.

“How long do you think we have to stay out here?”

“I got the impression we have to live out here. The question is if there’s a building where we’re going or just a camp site.”

“And do what?”

“No clue. But it’s going to be fun.”

“Fun?” she said, wringing the sock extra hard as she said the word. “You call this cold fun?”

“Not the cold. But have they ever given us something boring to do?”

“Yeah, it’s called training.”

“They’re not sending us out here to stagnate to death. They’ve got something planned. Something big.”

“That’s not the impression I got,” she said, putting her sock and shoe back on, then closing her eyes for a moment as she surged heat into both feet, but only as much as she felt was needed. “No point in guessing. We’ll find out when we get there.”

“Wherever that is,” Darren echoed.

“It’s on the other side of the far ridge.”

“What? How do you know that?”

“I saw a clearing from the top,” she said, pointing to the ridgeline further ahead than Darren had passed over. “That’s why I came down rather than staying up there.”

“Two ridges to go?” he clarified.

“Yeah. Sort of a plateau. Not in the valley bottom. Direction finder pointed right at it. Maybe it’s a way point, but it’s where we’re going. I’m sure of it.”

“Two ridges to cross in a day,” he said, cringing.

“Waiting will only burn more calories.”

“How about we get up this one and find a spot to take a break at the top. You’ve been sleeping up there, haven’t you?”

“You have to pick the right spot so you don’t get blown over, but yeah, why?”

“We put up one of our tents, squeeze in together, get out of these jackets, and share some body heat for a couple of hours.”

“Sounds good, but it’s still burning calories we don’t have to spare.”

“Killjoy,” he grunted. “Alright, on we go.”

Darren and Nieva alternated twice going up the ridge, which was her first time doing so, after which she changed her mind about stopping and taking a nap. An hour and a half later they packed up and headed down unable to see over the next ridge to where the clearing was supposed to be. They kept moving all night long, using their Pefbar to navigate in turns, and got to the top of the next ridgeline just as the sun started to rise.

And there, on the far side up about halfway, was an area with no trees, the ground was level, and they could see a few small tents set up around what looked like an obelisk made out of blue stone.

“Told you,” Neiva said, pulling out her last ration bar and gobbling it. “5 minute break?”

“Deal,” he said, sitting down on the rocky ground at the top and soaking in the first rays of sunlight on his face. “You gotta admit, the scenery is pretty good. Different than the holo environments.”

“Yeah. Makes the galaxy feel bigger when you’re out here. Maybe that’s why they sent us.”

“Hopefully someone will know something when we get there,” Darren said. “And I’m guessing that big blue rock has something to do with it.”

“Please not be any more training.”

Darren and Neiva sat a few more minutes recharging their legs, then began the descent as eagerly as they could manage. When they got to the bottom they managed to get across the much wider river there without breaking through the ice, but didn’t come across any other tracks until they were almost to the plateau and the buzz in their minds increased considerably.

“Hello there?” Neiva called out as they climbed the rather steep side that had some trees growing out of it.

“Come on up,” someone said before appearing over the edge and giving them a telekinetic tug to make it easier. “You out of food yet?” Leni asked.

“I am, he’s not,” Neiva said, getting her foot on the flat ground and making one final push to get the rest of her body up. “Ah…don’t want to do that again.”

“Same here,” Leni said, helping Darren up with a physical hand. “You two dropped together?”

“No, we met up yesterday,” Darren said, looking around. “How many are here?”

“14, now 16 counting you two.”

“Please tell me there’s food,” Neiva pleaded.

“Big crate over there,” Leni said, thumbing behind her.

“Thank you,” Neiva said, running across the smooth snow towards it.

“Any instructions?” Darren asked, staying with Leni.

“There’s a check-in at the obelisk. We all have to get here and log in to get our next directions.”

“Is that what we’ve been tracking?”

“Yep. It’s a holo terminal, we think. Extra supplies were at the base of it when Veer got here.”

“He was first?”

“Yeah. Says he was here a day before anyone else. We’ve been trying to plot our drop off points, and it looks like we weren’t all set down at the same distance. Some were further than others.”

“Well that’s not fair,” Darren grumbled. “No trainers though?”

“No. Just us, for once. It’s cold, but I like