"Richard Paul Russo - The Second Descent" - читать интересную книгу автора (Russo Richard Paul)

The Second Descent
by Richard Paul Russo

Richard Paul Russo has published half a dozen stories in our pages over
the past twenty years, including тАЬWatching Lear DreamтАЭ (July 1999) and
тАЬTropical Nights at the NatatoriumтАЭ (Sept. 2003). His novels include
Subterranean Gallery, Ship of Fools, and three hardboiled SF novels,
Destroying Angel, CarlucciтАЩs Edge, and CarlucciтАЩs Heart. HeтАЩs currently
working on a sequel to Ship of Fools, but he found time to write this dark
and phantasmagoric new story.

****

A cold dense fog lay heavy on the mountain that morning. Rafael stood in
the snow outside his tent and searched for the summit, which was only
three or four hundred meters above them, but he could see nothing through
the diffuse gray fog that hissed and crystallized into particles of ice, a kind
of snowy mistfall.

Morning rituals would soon be underway: lighting the stove, melting
snow for water, eating nutrition bars, taking down and packing the tents and
sleeping bags and other equipment. For now, though, Rafael relished the
few moments of quiet before the others awakened.

They had numbered seven, but were now only fourтАФthree were lost
the day the summit had been reached. Fortunately, the priest was one of
the four survivors, for it was quite possible he would again be needed.

Rafael turned toward the mist-shrouded east and regarded the two
barely visible, roughly heaped mounds of snow, the three makeshift
crosses. Mina had never been found, but they couldnтАЩt search any longer.
Too much altitude, and no more oxygen. They needed to start down the
mountain today.

Within the hour, the second descent would begin.

****

Rafael remembers almost nothing of the first descent. Hazy images
and vague feelings. Several deaths. Iliana says she remembers every
detail ... and wishes she could forget every single one. She refuses to talk
about it. Rafael thinks she may be lying, that she doesnтАЩt remember any
more than he does.
 ****

He doesnтАЩt understand why theyтАЩre engaged in a second descent, or
how itтАЩs even possible. As far as he knows, they only climbed the mountain
once. He thinks that if he could remember the first descent, he would
understand everything.