We made it to the mountain, and not an hour too soon. Some unexpected obstacles presented themselves as we made our way. I think this will require monitoring and pre-planning, maybe some scouting done before the trip to ensure it is a smooth and quick one.
The normal path that my friends took to the mountain was blocked. A huge sinkhole appears to have opened up. It is the size of a very large lake, more than fifty kilometers on a side, and as it is full of water, I suppose it is in fact a lake. It took several hours for the drones to find a path around that was passable by us and the carts, and wasn't going to take is so long that we would be drowned before we got to the mountain. Even then, it burned all the extra time the carts, the winch back at the cove, and all the help I provided in getting things ready, bought.
We have started the climb, and you can see the storm that precedes the tide in the distance. It is a lightning storm the likes of which you would expect in the atmosphere of a gas giant world. Hundreds of strikes per minute across hundreds of kilometers. It is beautiful and terrifying. I feel like I'm saying that a lot, because it is true. The path up the mountain wraps around one side, snakes back across the face we approached, and then around the other side, before looping back again. They say that the far side of the mountain is mostly cliffs, and given what you can see of the terrain beyond the mountain, I believe it.
There is what can be best described as river valley's surrounding the mountain, and I think that is the key to what happened with their path. The entire area is cut through with multiple kilometer deep valley's. The run off, over time simply eroded under their usual path and it collapsed some time after the last tide. It isn't as if it doesn't rain, it rains regularly. That extra water would be more than enough over the course of a century.
We now have a new problem, however. The path is more than capable of handling the carts, but they are heavy, and it is pretty steep in places. Getting them to the top of the mountain in time is requiring Frydai and I to coordinate. Frydai is using the rover to tow one of the carts up the mountain, while I drag one. I'm strong enough, with my implants, and the much higher gravity I lived under for years, to pull one up the path without too much struggle. Even the steeper parts. It is still going to be close, but I think we're going to pull it off. Even if not, we made the decision, with the elders agreement, to re-distribute the supplies. The most critical went up first, and we're on our third of seven trips.
My friends are pulling the eighth and ninth cart up the mountain, themselves. It has the young, elders, and some other items on it. There are several wide spots where we can pass those coming up, or they can pass us on the way back down. Frydai and I are currently in the highest one of those, waiting for the others to get here so we can finish the trek back down for the next pair of carts.
What of my trailer? It went up, loaded with as much critical stuff as we could load on it, on the first trip up, a cart pulled behind it. As part of the redistributing of things, the content of my trailer of equipment underwent the same evaluation. While Frydai drove the trailer and cart up to the encampment at the top, the rest of us distributed everything else across the remaining carts, including my things, to be pulled up in order of importance.
Readings back at the module say it is fully submerged now, with four worlds now up, hidden behind the clouds of the storm. A storm that is described in the chronicle as well. The readings say that the water depth is about three hundred meters above the module, so it hasn't crested over the cliff walls of the cove. It will, once the fifth world rises in another day. The cameras on the module show sea life. Fish and other things, though nothing yet of the massive scale described in my friends chronicle. Perhaps it needs to be deeper. Still, readings say that the module remains dry inside, no leaks have yet been detected.
I have thought of giving this world a name, but I'm the new kid here. I think, once we are situated at the summit of the mountain, that I'll ask the elders if they have a name for this world. It seems fitting that, as they've been here longer, that they should get to name it. I'd call it something like Desperation, or Sanctuary. I'm not really sure.
The tribe is approaching this last open area before the summit that Frydai and I have been resting in. The path is too narrow for us to try and squeeze by them on the way down. I expect they'll want to rest in this area. Frydai and I cannot rest until everything is at the top. We got our break while we waited for the tribe to get to this open area. Back to work if we want to make sure everything we brought with us makes it all the way to the top with us.
They actual way we're moving things up is to use these open areas as staging areas. We moved all of the carts to the first open area. Frydai used the rover to tow one to the third while I moved one to the second. I returned for another and pulled it up to the second while Frydai pulled the one I dropped off at the second up to the third. Repeat, waiting when needed for the tribe to pass us. It'll be close, but I'm confident that we'll get it all done in time. Then Frydai and I can really rest.
Comments