{"sf1_id":725462,"sf2_id":null,"title":"Footsteps. 6","author":"MagnumGit","words":2736,"posted_at":"2014-07-03T03:49:00.000Z","tags":["Fantasy","Future","Sci-Fi","Supernatural","Utopia","Whimsy","dystopia","space"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/725462-footsteps-6","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/view/725462","image_url":"https://www.sofurryfiles.com/std/thumb?page=725462\u0026ext=.jpg","description":"","content":"The year is 1078 and the world is young to us.Life so long ago now grants us with possibilities; it gives us thought\nand reason. Her tarnish it with beliefs, unwilling to come to terms with\nthe figure of dumb luck, and ideal circumstance. For this we wage war,\nwe conquer and oppress, we kill and slaughter, main and burn, rape and\npillage, all against what could have been our brothers and sisters.But for all of our faults we have hope, we build if it is torn down, we\nmend if it is broken, we stitch if it is wounded, we think when no voice\nis spoken. We are scientists, explorers, conquers, and warriors. And we\nare violent.We defend what is ours to the last, and fight for what we have not, we\nsquabble and bicker, but we survive. We linger when we are broken and\nbeaten, yet we still survive, whether it be from shadows or in light. We\nlinger.But most importantly of all, we learn. We learn many things, we learn of\nbooks and the universe, of our world around us, of each other and\nourselves. Of species and of race, of creed and power, of men and\nmachines. . We progress. '.We are humans, and we are a tenacious bunch, and have yet to learn our own potential.But something has arrived that well help us see, and maybe another thing or two along the way....So many... So many years.Was it years? Or was it days? A hundred millennia? Or none at all?No... It was long, it's been so very long.She had lost track of time, or reason, of place or purpose. Why was she\nhere? Where was she exactly? Who was she really? Were these memories\nhers alone? Was she alive? Was she dead? What did alive even mean to\nher?She didn't know anymore, or was it that she didn't care anymore?So many questions... why bother with any of them.Pulling...It was something she hadn't felt in some time; the feeling of\nweightlessness and cold space was ever-present to her. The only time she\nfelt warmth was when she drifted past a sun once.This wasn't warmth; this was like swimming out of a liquid resin into the open air.Falling...She felt it now, weight, gravity, mass. Foreign words almost. Sounded different, even in her ageless mind.She had been asleep for too long...How long...?Falling...Faster...She let her eyes open partway, she felt tired, even after seemingly\nendless sleep she felt fatigued. Her mind was slow, her reactions\nslower. She felt something brush against her.Wind...Her eyes open fully now, she feels wind rush past her face, and tear at her hair and ears.Hot...Burning...She is awake, flames lick at her body, wounds score her, but they heal\njust as fast as they appear. She stares past the flames at the dark\nstarless mass below her. Faint light trickles down like a veil, white\nmasses float lazily past her, almost aglow in the ethereal light. She\ncrashes through one, expecting impact but only becoming drenched in\nliquid.She splutters in surprise.Still Falling...She cannot focus, her mind reels as she is continuously burned, she is\nweak still, she had slept for eons upon eons upon eons, and she was old\nwhen this universe was young. She can't count accurately how much time\nhas passed.She sees lights below her, spread out and far, she tries to focus on\nthem but she is going too fast, and is too tired to slow herself. She\nlets her momentum and gravity take her as her body burns.The air around her grows frigid as she falls ever faster and ever lower\nyet her body still burns, she is a golden fireball streaking through the\nnighttime sky, millions of eyes stare upwards as what some think of as a\nholy sign from their nonexistent gods and messiahs, others see it as a\nsign of the end times, and flee or repent. Others with more sense trace\nthe glowing ark of its trail, wondering bemusedly of what was the object\nand it's nature, before they continue with their life.She lands, in an explosion of light and fire that caresses the sky,\nturning night into dawn for the briefest of instants; the thundering\nsound of the vacuum her impact created can be heard for miles around.Stunned and broken beyond recognition, she lays there, a mass of flesh,\nbone, skin, blood, and hair. The living corpse struggles to heal itself\nwhile it still burns, ice and snow melt beneath it as it sinks slowly\ninto the frozen ground.Within hours of impact, she still lays broken at the bottom of a deep\npull of melted ice water, twenty feet deep and sixty feet wide, the\nsurface of the newly formed pond quickly begins to freeze over. She is\nstill too weak to move and almost powerless to stop the deep-freeze from\nenveloping her as well. Her body is trapped in an icy prison, her mind\nslows to a crawl once more as she feels the grasp of sleep tug at her\neyes once again as she dreams of infinity....\n[2281]\n\"C'mon Denise, we don't have all day, get your ass in gear!\" The\nearpiece spat violently into her ear, causing her to momentarily loose\nher balance. She stilled herself, trying to find her center of gravity.\nFalling would mean death up at this altitude.\"I'm coming, I'm coming.\" She hastily replied, she clipped herself to\nthe guide rope before digging her poles into the fine snow, leading one\nbooted foot with the other, she began the slow ascent.\"Hey, Travis, how much farther up we got?\" Another voice echoed over her headset.\n\"Just another couple hundred feet, before the next base camp, we better\nhurry, storms rolling in.\" Rivers, their leader promptly replied.\"You mean this isn't the storm?\" Travis came over her headset yet again,\nobviously incredulous at the news of even more severe weather\ndescending upon them. He was of course referring to the storm of ice and\nsnow that pulled at their bright orange parkas and struggled to find\ncracks in their Thermoplastic mask/respirators.It was a perilous journey to the summit, constantly shifting ice-flows,\ndead falls, and winds nearly reaching 107MPH in some places. The\nconstantly shrouded sky of dark clouds made it almost constantly night,\nwhile the night itself became pitch black, and unyielding.Most of the time they struggled to see five steps to their front, and\nthat was in the best of situations, at the worst, they could barley see\ntheir hands even if they were in the best of conditions. The pre-laid\nguide wire was quite literally there only life line.\"Welcome to Mt. Fuck-your-face, please take a number and be seated,\nwe'll be with you shortly.\" Nelson grumbled into the headset. Travis\nsnickered in reply.\n\"Bottle it up Nel', whining won't get us there any faster.\" Snapped their lead, who's name was Johnson.Denise sighed as the bickering only increased, her legs began to ache in\nprotest at the constant strain. She felt as if she were carrying bricks\ninstead of sensitive coring equipment. She mentally kicked herself for\nallowing her to be puled into this expedition, but she soon realized\nthat it would have been wrong not to sign up what really is a once in a\nlifetime chance to see the Himalayas before their snow capped peaks were\nravaged by the storms and eroded away.The rest of the journey was made in silence, broken only by the\nmalevolent howls of the wind. Separated only by scant clothing that\nseemed all to thin and masks that felt heavy and fogged their vision.They had sub-par gear in all respects, but it wouldn't have made all\nthat much of a difference if they had the best gear. The mountains were\nbrutal, they raged at the intruders ascending it's slope, an did\nwhatever in it's power to stop them.Yet, it failed every time. For they were humans. They were tenacious idiots, who knew not when to give up.\"Guys! I think I see the base camp!\" Travis called out from in front.\n\"We're almost there!\" Johnson confirmed from his position a few steps\nahead of all of them. The rest of the team couldn't help but feel\ninadequate when compared to the modern-day Hercules of a man that was\nJohnson. Ex-US Ranger Commando and all around mountaineering bad-ass AND\na staunch geologist, he was hard to compare with. The orange staked\narctic whether tents were a god-send, structurally reinforced with\ncarbon pylons and Kevlar shells they were held in place with two foot\nlong ground spikes, there were seven of them in total, each capable of\nholding three people comfortably, but they only needed three, one for\nthe boys, one for Denise, and one for their equipment. .\"Ok! Guys we made it, now we're gonna be set up in tents two and three,\ngear goes in tent four, set your stuff down and meet in tent two, we\ngotta plan for tomorrow.\" Johnson called out over the com-link, his\nvoice still distorted by the howling wend that pushed at them, sometimes\nthreatening to knock them over if they were not careful.And what sucked the most, was that it only got worse the farther they\nwent up. \"All this, for some stupid Ice-things...\" Nelson complained.\nHunched over as he undid his guiding-clip to the guide-wire. Travis\nrepeated the steps as Denise had long since unclipped herself, the\nmoment she caught wind of the next base-camp. .The task of setting things down was grueling, surprisingly enough. They\nwere all cold. And their limbs numb and stiff. They ached from the\nendless movement upwards and in the snow that pain was only doubled. It\nwas no surprise when it took them a good ten minutes to simply remove\ntheir packs in a cramped tent that seemed to be rather small.Jonson on the other hand. Of course, had no problems whatsoever. He\nawaited the rest of the group in tent number 4 which was bigger then all\nthe others and could seat up to six people.The shuddering four crowded into the confines of the thermally insulated\ntent, eager to be free of the storms grip. It was not much inside, a\nsingle dim light hung from the top of the tent powered by a portable\narctic generator, as well as a small space heater.To them the small heater was a blessing that they huddled around like\nmodern day cavemen would huddle around a sheltering fire. They sat\nsilently, no words, for they were too tired to speak. The hike had\ndrained them. Food rations were passed about, stale tasting biscuits\nwith the texture of dried shit, and flavorless paste with the\nconsistency of soup. Warmth began to return to their limbs, a meal and\nshelter-no matter how poor- always worked wonders.\"Bon' apatite'.\" Travis grinned, raising his tube to the rest of the group, who laughed in return.The clinking of plastic dishware and utensils was absent. They didn't\nneed them for this meal, hands would suffice, and the paste you ate from\nthe tube it came in. Nutrino paste: 'Yumariffic!'™ as the jingle went.LIES.Dirty, dirty lies.Couldn't argue with the results though, a single teaspoon had enough of the things you needed to last a week of grueling hiking.Still didn't change the fact that it was some of the nastiest stuff Denise had ever tasted.It was strange, hiking that is. They weren't lying about how they said\neverything would be different. When she signed on the survival course\ninstructor told her that there was no room for mistake. That even the\nsimplest of routines became deadly, even eating.They couldn't afford to have their masks off for long; the carbon in the\nair at this altitude was tremendous. Even in the tent there was a\nhigher ratio of carbon to breathable oxygen. They had to eat though, so\ndinner consisted of quickly stuffing your mouth with a biscuit then a\nglob of grey shit-like paste before pulling your mask back down and\nchewing.Going to the bathroom... is equally confined.The re-breather's they wore we're the only things keeping them from\nsuffocating, and because of that, they were scrupulously taken care of,\nthey had a repair kit- each of them did and this kit contained\neverything essential to maintaining and up keeping their own machines,\neven some spare parts in case others lost theirs.Denise itched to take off the damned mask, but she knew that doing so\nwould mean asphyxiation. She sighed and stuffed to chew the disgusting\ncombination of tasteless crumbs and viscous paste. She swallowed, and\ntook a swig of warm water for her troubles.\"Yeah, I'm gonna miss this shit when we get off this mountain.\" Nelson spoke, leaning in closer to the fire.\"Really?\" Travis replied, looking up at the researcher across from him. \"The hiking or the food?\" he inquired.\"The food, dip-shit what else? No! Of course the hiking- the thrill of\nit. Death at every turn, challenging the wild, surviving, the list goes\non.\" He explained, unbuttoning and unzipping his heavy orange arctic\ncoat as he did so.\"Not many people hike anymore though, all the toxins and bad air. Also\nnot many things left to look at. Acid rain did away with most of the\nforests and most of the wildlife. Eroded any monuments too.\"\"I heard that back in the old day that there were forests that were over\na hundred miles long.\" Travis interjected, \"That people would go and\nlive in them for an extended period of time, kinda' like bio-parks today\nbut you didn't need heavy survival gear, hell, they did it for 'fun'.\"\"Yeah, people had it easier back then,\" Nelson nodded, rubbing his\ngloved hands together, trying to get rid of the numbness that enveloped\nhis body. \"You also didn't have to drink your own filtered piss. Fuck;\nthe things I would do for some fucking water instead of some sponge\npiss!\" He hissed, referring to the household Gaiagreen™.A miracle of science that can break down almost any liquids into\ndrinkable pseudo-water, it came in the form of an advanced genetically\nengineered algae-like sea sponge that only needed a cool, dark\nenvironment and any sort of liquid. It was also portable and edible,\nable to sustain a person with the needed hydration for over a week.\"Hey, it's better than nothing.\" Johnson decided to speak for the first\ntime since entering the tent, preferring to mull over his meal in\nsilence. \" 'Ask not for more, as you already have your answer.' Book of\nreawakening.\" He somberly quoted, picking through his personal bag to\nremove a small pocket bible. It was from one of those late 21'st century\nreligions that sprang up around the end of the third world war, Denise\nwas surprised at first, she hadn't met a religious person before, and\nshe found it hard to believe that the leader of this particular\nexpedition was religious.She didn't appear to be alone in this train of thought, as Travis\nshifted around to face Johnson. \"Hold on their for a second, what the\nhell did you just say?\"\"A quote from the Book of Awakening, more specifically a quote from Rin,\nthe Herald.\" Johnson answered, the aging veteran was composed in the\nface of the quirky geologist. \"Yeah, yeah, I got that much- what I'm\ngetting at is why the hell did you bring it up? Fuck, why the hell are\nyou a even here if your one of those creepy cult apocalypse worshiping\nbastards.\"Understandably Johnson took offense to this, glaring back at the\nScientist from behind his mask. \"Not every person who happens to believe\nin something is automatically supporter of the End-of-Days Rebellion.\nAnd I happen to be a staunch supporter of science, so get off my back, I\njust brought up that quote because it seemed relevant.\" He curtly\nresponded before shutting himself off from the others, emerging himself\nin his book.Travis shrugged off the rebuttal, instead focusing himself in catching\nwhat rest he could, hunching over like a bridge troll. Nelson and Denise\ninstead continued on with conversing, covering a wide variety of topics\nspanning from the journey so far, to what was yet to come.Soon the outside was immersed in complete darkness, and the four\nstumbled out of the meeting tent, finding their ways to tents they had\nbeen assigned. It was short work to roll out their sleeping bags and\ndoze off into a slumber about endless white expanses of snow and\ncrappy-yet-effective paste-based nutrition tubes.Such was the Future of Man. "}