Higher Ground by Becky Black (notion reading list txt) 📗

“I know. You’re in charge, you have to supervise, you have to be last off. It’s okay, I’ll see you on board.”

They carried him from the shelter and lowered the stretcher into the cradle.

Inescapable logic told Adam Glyn should go in the cradle with Zach, much as he hated the idea. He watched it all the way up until it vanished inside, and then a couple of minutes later, the empty cradle began to return.

“Right,” Adam said, turning to the others, “let’s form an orderly line, please.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

People almost fought to be the last off, amusing Adam. Most of the women went first, the men gallantly insisting on it, too macho to go before the ladies. It took almost an hour, people going up in twos, sometimes with one of the dogs. Adam grew more nervous all the time, fearing a disastrous quake at the last moment would rip the ground from under their feet. He kept looking at the gaps in the ring of mountains that had once circled the island and imagined Shusara vanishing next.

At last there were only four of them left. Adam, Simon, Torres, and Jones. Adam thought of the link he had to everyone who’d set out with them. They’d made it. Through fear and pain, they’d kept on climbing. Passing through this danger together had bonded him to all of them, not only to Zach. Soon they’d all go their separate ways, and he’d never see most of them again, but they’d all be part of each other from now on.

“Simon, Mr. Jones,” Adam said as the cradle touched the ground again. “You next.”

“Barbara should go before me,” Jones said.

“No, she shouldn’t,” Torres said. “Get aboard, Jonesy.” He didn’t argue any further. Simon didn’t either. He slapped Adam on the shoulder.

“See you upstairs.” He and Jones climbed into the cradle and hunkered down. It began to ascend.

It had only gone a few meters off the ground when they heard the familiar rumble. The ground began to tremble.

“Stop! Stop!” Simon yelled up at the hatch.

“No! Keep going.” Adam dropped to sit on the ground, fearing being thrown off his feet and hurt. He grabbed Torres by the arm and pulled her down beside him.

“Lower us back down!” Simon shouted up to the hatch above. The cradle stopped.

“No, dammit,” Adam groaned. The cradle might get damaged if it came back down. The quake would pass; they’d be fine. Though the water was so close now…

The cradle lowered but not all the way to the ground. It stopped about a meter short, and Simon and Jones reached over the sides. Adam and Torres scrambled up, and before Torres could protest, Adam grabbed her around the waist and lifted her. Simon and Jones grabbed her and hauled her into the cradle. He dropped back down to the ground until she was safely aboard.

“Now you,” Simon called down, and the three of them reached for Adam. The cradle rocked alarmingly, and Adam was terrified it would break and strand the four of them down here. But the quake wasn’t stopping—he had to go. He reached up, and Simon and Jones grabbed his arms. His feet left the ground, and he tipped up into the cradle. Torres hauled on his clothes and then his belt to pull him all the way in.

An instinct told Adam to scramble for one end of the cradle once he was securely inside it. “Spread out,” he called to the others. They were overloaded, and they had to distribute their weight more evenly. The cradle rose, but its cables creaked, and it moved more slowly than usual.

Adam stood when he reached the end of the cradle, hanging on to the cable. Probably against safety rules, but he wanted to leave on the feet which had carried him up the mountain.

The shaking ground fell away as they moved up slowly, chilled by the dark, cold shadow of the ship looming overhead, until the cradle passed through the hatch into a burst of warmth and noise and activity. It swung away from the hatch, and crew members helped everyone out. When his feet touched the metal deck, Adam felt the vibration of the engines and the hovering motion of the ship, yet it seemed more solid than the ground had for the past week.

“Stand clear. Hatch closing,” a crew member called. Adam dropped to his hands and knees on the deck to look out of the hatch, wanting one last glimpse of the ground he’d climbed so high to reach. He’d come so far, in more than just kilometers, to gain that ground. It had cost so much. A strange stillness held them all for a second when the hatch closed, cutting off the wind and the noise of the ship’s engines. The crew member spoke to one of his colleagues.

“Report hatch secured to the bridge.” He helped Adam to his feet, giving him a weak smile and appearing almost as shaken as Adam felt. “Thought we were going to lose you four at the end there. Welcome aboard. We’ll be on our way home in a second.”

Home? Perhaps for him. Where was Adam’s home? Zahara was gone. Earth was three months away. He knew where his home would always be from now on.

“Can you take me to see Zach Benesh?”

THEY TOOK HIM to a tiny medical bay, where Zach lay unconscious on a bed, with a nurse methodically cutting his clothes off. A doctor stood by the bed, writing notes and checking scanners. There was no sign of Glyn, which suited Adam fine.

“Doctor, how is he?” Adam asked.

“Mr.…?” she said.

“Gray. Adam Gray, his partner.” The word came easily, entirely naturally. “Why is he unconscious? He wasn’t before.”

“I gave him a light sedative. He needs the rest.”

“Oh yes. Of course. Thanks, Doctor.”

“He’ll need surgery on his leg to reset it and repair some muscle damage. I’ve already started replacing the blood he lost, so he can go straight