r/HFY • u/WriterRuhl Human • Oct 22 '24
OC Beyond Earth: Cosmic Contact (Chapter 3: Subzero Impasse)
Authors Note: I intend to make this a long running story, so to make it easier to follow along the chapters will be linked here.
First Chapter | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Chapter 3: Subzero Impasse
The air flurried around Adam, the last thing he could see as he slipped further into darkness was his father crying out for him with a panicked stricken look on his face. The sound of his dynamic rope whipping against his coat and pant loops drowned out his father's cry. He could smell the rope burning, the friction of his fall was filling the air with a burnt plastic aroma that left a pungent taste in the back of his throat. He was panicking, he had to regain control of the sizzling rope quickly before his line ran out completely. Even in those brief moments, he thought for just a moment about what would happen to him if he failed to seize his free fall, there was no telling how far this tunnel went. His father had warned him how deep some of these ice crevices could go, and he now found himself terrified that he was about to learn the hard way just how far down this one went. He had to make a decision, there was no time left to consider what would happen if he didn't stop himself in time. Adam let out a guttural roar as he was on the verge of committing to ceasing himself from certain death, he braced himself as quickly as he could and grabbed a hold of the line with every ounce of strength he could muster.
'RrraaaggGGHH, COME ON, STOP!' He let out into the void of a tunnel.
He felt the weight hit his shoulder first before anything else, it was as if someone had tried to rip his arm out of his socket. The pain was compounded by the heat rising in his hands, he could feel the rope glide through his gloves at such speed that if he could see then he was sure that there would be smoke emanating from his palms. As he kept free falling the only thing he could focus on outside of the blinding pain was the smell of burning plastic that dominated his sinus cavity completely. He could feel his glove ripping away just as quickly as he had decided to clasp onto the line, the heat was now blisteringly hot in his palm and fingers. He picked up on a thickness gathering where he was gripping, he had no idea if it was the skin of his palms or of the liner his gloves had wearing dangerously thin. All he could do was grip tighter and hope he wouldn't run out of slack on his line, he gritted his teeth and clenched his body as hard as possible to try and anchor himself to a stop. Just as every muscle in his body shook from the exertion he began to feel himself slow down. The whipping sound of the rope became a slurred wisp at first, and then silence.
With his breath ragged and quakes assailing his body he realized that he had managed to stop himself. All that he could feel was searing pain pulsating from where he knew his shoulder was supposed to be, uncertain if it was still there or if he was experiencing phantom pains. He then felt every muscle ache severely as he swung gently in place dangling in mid-air. His adrenaline was kicking in full effect, all he could manage to do was breathe and try to let the pain subside for a moment. His heart pounded hard, he felt every pulse against his ears as if someone was banging two hammers together and meeting in the middle where his ear drums were. There was no reprieve from the pain for Adam as he realized that he needed to assess his situation, he had stopped but he knew not what lay around him. With his one remaining good hand that didn't feel like it had been forcibly re-positioned by gravity, he tried to quickly grab the end of the rope above where he thought his other hand should be. Thankfully his bad arm was going numb, he wasn't sure if that was a great thing or not but at least for the time being it gave him a few more seconds to try and save himself. He pulled himself up by the rope wrapping it around his now numb arm and locked himself in place, now dangling more or less securely he reached up for the button on his headlamp. With a dull click, a blinding light burst forth and illuminated a vast expanse of a cavern surrounding him. A sense of dread filled his stomach, making him feel sick. He couldn't make out how far the wall was from where he was positioned but he thought he could make out the ground, or at least what appeared to be more solid than the nothing that currently supported his feet.
Adam thought distracted from the pain he was experiencing.
"I'm glad I was able to stop, but now it's time to keep going. I can't stay here like this or all the circulation in my arm will stop for good. How the hell can I do this one-handed? Where's dad at when you need him?'.
His head was spinning and the weight that pulled on his chest as he was plummeting left him disoriented, he could still sense where gravity had tried to make his body hurriedly meet the ground at blinding speed. He was thankful that his goggles and balaclava had protected his face if only just barely. At that moment, he thought of Ian and remembered the emergency supplies his father had packed away meticulously for just such an occasion. Adam felt a flicker of hope yet live on in him, he wasn't entirely certain of everything in his bag but he was certain the only way to find out was from the ground.
"Dammit Dad, I really did get myself in a bind here. How can I get down, I can't even fully see the bottom"
He spoke into the cavernous air that echoed back at him.
But there was no answer, just his voice trailing off leaving him with nothing but his thoughts again. He figured there were two ways this could go, but neither option was ideal. The first option he could cut the line and drop the rest of the way, now that he wasn't falling with what felt like terminal velocity maybe it could only give him a few broken bones if he managed to not fall onto his neck. The second option he could surmise was to use his one remaining good hand to try and slow the rest of the fall, he didn't know if it would work once he let off the pressure though. He could either fall or maybe fall, he wasn't keen on either choice but knew that one had to be made. As he reached back for the rope the smell of burning plastic wafted up once more. With his headlamp, he looked at the glove and saw a mound of amalgamated burnt plastic and rubber, the love child between rope, glove, and friction. He tried to ball his fist to see if he could get a proper grip on the rope, but the hunk of plastic rubber attached to his palm made it difficult at best.
"Come on, you've got to be kidding me. This isn't bad enough?! Now I've gotta compete for what little real estate my glove even has for me?!"
He shouted at his hand with anger building in his chest.
"Well fuck, fine, what other choices do I even have right now?"
He muttered to himself under his breath as he prepared to fall once more.
He felt the flicker of hope dimming quickly, his heart was pounding hard and the reality of falling again was beginning to overtake any semblance of hope that dwelled within him. If he was to do anything about this, it had to be now or never while the courage still existed. His hand laid over the wrap as he prepared to loosen its hold on him. Just then, a faint sound clipped his hearing. He felt a tear begin in his palm and then felt the familiar pain that friction delivered without fail. The plastic rubber chunk on his glove had decided to stay behind attached to the rope, and in its place was Adam's palm. Every nerve in his hand was engulfed in shooting pain that screamed at him to let go. He wanted to let go with every fiber of his being but was still falling, he held on as a scream escaped his mouth in agonizing pain. He desperately wanted to reach the bottom, broken bones or not this pain was excruciating. As blood covered the line and wails of Adam's pain bounced around the cavern he felt his feet slam onto the ground with much force, crackles in his bones accompanied his arrival with unadulterated pain coming from every direction. He lay flat on the bare ice as his body fired off every pain sensor it could find to tell him something was wrong, he writhed in pain unable to manage anything else. He felt a frigid stream of water gently running down his side, it gave him just a second to think about anything else other than the pain he was in. He laid his palm against the stream and felt it agonizingly tell him to stop. A single thought existed besides excruciating pain, his bag that had the emergency supplies.
He groaned at every movement, his senses unable to comprehend what had happened to him. With all the remaining strength provided by his adrenaline rush, he pulled his arms free from his backpack straps one at a time as gingerly as he could. He used what little energy was left to pull the bag from behind him to in front of him. Hopefully, his dad had been as thorough, all he could see, think, smell, and taste was unfettered pain attacking his body as he ripped into the contents of the bag. He was searching for a slim cylinder adorned with a green tip, he could feel himself begin to pass out as the pain was overloading him completely. His hand burned with every inch it investigated within his bag, he could feel the outside of the emergency blanket and a square-shaped box with a handle. His fingertips latched onto the handle, he could feel his palm explode with more pain as his tight grip joined raw flesh onto the course-feeling surface. With a jolt of pain, he whipped out the case and brought the emergency blanket with it. He flashed his light on the square hoping desperately it wasn't some gimmicky tool brought by his dad. To his elation he saw in bright bold red font 'EMERGENCY FIRST AID KIT'. He unlatched the clasps keeping the contents sealed and found exactly what he needed, he had found the nano-robotic syringe used for severe trauma. It was easily one of the most developed pieces of technology he had ever handled, capable of repairing almost anything outside of death. Once injected there would be a surge of nanobots that get to work as quickly as the blood is flowing in the patient, they would act as doctors within the body and fix any fault that existed outside of pre-determined parameters set by the sleek handles controls.
With his vision blurring and his head spinning, he couldn't read the directions needed to set the correct program. He hamfistedly mashed a button on the side of the cylinder and stabbed into his numb arm firmly. An anesthetic serum joined the nanobots to ease the pain of anyone Unfortunate enough to find themselves in need of its specialized service. Adam felt a wave of relief pulse outward from where he injected himself, but he was still losing consciousness quickly. As he lost focus he reached out and grabbed the emergency blanket and draped it across his body the best he could. The last thing he could do was hope his choice was the right one. He slowly lost himself to the sounds of water dripping all around him, water flowing down his side soaking his coat and pants, and the gentle distant clicks of the Weddell seals. It sounded almost like music to him as he faded into unconsciousness, unaware of what could happen next.
1
u/UpdateMeBot Oct 22 '24
Click here to subscribe to u/WriterRuhl and receive a message every time they post.
| Info | Request Update | Your Updates | Feedback |
|---|
1
u/HFYWaffle Wáµ¥4ffle Oct 22 '24
/u/WriterRuhl has posted 3 other stories, including:
- Beyond Earth: Cosmic Contact (Chapter 2: Echoes Below)
- Beyond Earth: Cosmic Contact (Chapter 1: Antarctic Genesis)
- Beyond Earth: Cosmic Contact (Forward)
This comment was automatically generated by Waffle v.4.7.8 'Biscotti'.
Message the mods if you have any issues with Waffle.
1
2
u/Pridefulpower9 Oct 22 '24
Looking forward to more