There are many aspects of time, Kai thought grimly as he and Varian continued their stealthy, seemingly infinite journey. There is the objective time lost in cold sleep, which might have been centuries or only a few years. But the variety of time he was now experiencing was definitely hard to endure subjectively. His leg muscles began to twitch with the cramp of controlled motion. His hands were starting to sweat with a fear that an inadvertent tug would break the vine or that he wouldn’t be able to release the key log to provide the crucial diversion.
Abruptly Varian stopped, twisted her torso to put her mouth to his ear.
“Kai, we’ve got to find the vines we used this morning. They’ll be to our right. I can’t see but I feel we should move that way.”
Kai glanced nervously at the sleeping giffs, now slightly to the right and behind them. Varian plucked at his sleeve and he followed her light guidance, sliding his feet carefully over vines to the stone interstices. He almost fell over Varian when she crouched suddenly, and it took all his control not to jerk on the release line. He was also startled by the realization that only two more loops remained in his hand. As he turned to warn her, they bumped noses. “I’m almost out of vine.”
“I’ve found ours. I think.” Varian took his left hand and placed it on the thick stem. She moved beyond his reach, but he could see her nod that she’d found her vine and he should move on down.
Kai forced Discipline on himself, willing the tension out of his blood and tissue. Then there was only a short piece of vine left in his hand, the final edge tickling as it curled into his palm.
“Varian!”
The white blur of face turned to him. He knew she’d seen his upraised hand, she made a thumbs-up gesture and crouched to run, her hand along the vine that would take her over the cliff and into sanctuary.
17
Anne McCaffrey – Dinosaur Planet II – The Survivors He pulled as firm and hard as he could, felt something vibrate along the length of the line. Then he began to run, hands before him on the rough vine trunk, counting his steps. Wouldn’t do to hurtle over the cliff.
The rumble of the stones cascading into the ravine startled him so much that he nearly lost count of his strides. The giffs roused with a squawk. He looked back at them. To his relief, their heads were turned away and their motion was upward.
“I’m at the edge, Kai!” Varian’s voice was low but intense.
He found it, too, just as his leading foot slipped into a crevice.
Then he closed his hands about the fat vine and, in blind faith that it was the right one, began to scramble down it. He scraped his knuckles against the cliff wall and then swung into free air, as the vine curved inward, still secured to the shuttle docking brace.
“Krims! I grabbed the wrong one.” Varian suddenly exclaimed.
“Swing near me, Varian. I’ll catch you!”
“No!”
He heard that defiant negative above the screams of the giffs. Only the Discipline that had been instilled in them both, that one leader must survive, forced him to continue down his vine until he was inside the cave and knew it was safe to let go. He staggered to his feet, able to distinguish the cave mouth by the slightly brighter darkness.
“Varian!”
“I’m to your right. I got the wrong vine. It’s too short. Can you see me?”
He couldn’t. The curtain of vines hid her. “Can you grab the next vine? Shake it!”
Tracing the sound, he found the agitated vine and hauled it back into the cave, bracing it.
“Okay, switch and slide!”
When her feet touched him, he guided her legs to the ground. They clung together, trembling with a reaction neither bothered to Discipline.
Then, hand in hand, they moved to the curved bow of the shuttle, unslung their improvised packs, carefully removing the fruit and nuts. Then they curled up together in the blankets and were almost instantly asleep.