Chapter 22: Running the gauntlet
The 'day' came soon enough. Dim orange light gave way to warm yellow from the hallway, and then the lights in our room flickered on, and soon we were on our feet, with much grumbling and groaning.
The showers were done with quickly, getting dressed even quicker. There was a lot of adjusting of shirts and pants as we made sure we were as close to Alexei's standards as we could be. We were all dressed and awaiting his arrival with a few minutes to spare.
Sure enough, at 08:00 hours, sergeant Alexei arrived, inspected us, told us we could do better, and then ordered us on to the mess hall. Our chatter was kept to a minimum, most of us were tired and bruised from the last two days. I made some small talk with Prassus and Clauda, but otherwise we kept silent.
Breakfast was meat, rice, and a side bowl of vegetable soup, a thin, brown concoction stuffed with carrots, corn, broccoli and things I did not recognise. Despite looking like someone threw up in a bowl, it was perhaps the best thing I had eaten since we got here. Everyone else certainly seemed to think so, based on how quickly they ate it. Even the sergeant tore through it.
The only thing missing was some bread.
"This is some quality food," Burtrus said, in between slobbering mouthfuls of soup. Temond nodded, practically drinking his soup. Evet rolled her eyes and berated them for their lack of manners.
"I missed carrots," Oleev said, picking them out one by one and eating them and savouring them with slow, exaggerated bites.
"This meat isn't all to bad either," Prassus said, smiling as he cut up his slab. We were all so thankful to be eating food that was actually good that we barely noticed the deformed servitors trundling around. It was quite disturbing how quickly you get used to them, I reflected. The smell probably wouldn't stop bothering me anytime soon, however.
"So, what can we expect today, sir?" Egeers asked, looking over at the sergeant, who was busy pouring over a data-slate. It was strange how similar they looked to an iPad, but I guess certain designs, like LED lights or Styrofoam cups, don't really change if they work so well. There's a lot of technology that doesn't get changed much beyond its initial conception. No need to remake the wheel and all that.
Sergeant Alexei looked up from his data-slate, hawk like eyes never showing any emotion.
"You will be put through the same tests you have had already gone through. The stocktaking is not complete, not yet."
"Sir, yes, sir," Egeers said, smiling. Alexei stared at him until Egeers went back to his meal with an awkward look on his face.
When we were done, we were off. The halls of the ship were, as always, dark and grimy and filled with all sorts of mechanical apparatus lining the walls. Servo skulls passed by, and I was even graced by the sight of a Tech-priest tending to a circuit board with oil and incense. Low, digitised chants were audible from under his red hood, a grating sound, like rough static passed through a heavy filter. The machine-cant of the Adeptus Mechanicus. We tried not to stare as we walked by, but it seemed he…or she, it was impossible to tell underneath all those layers of red robes and mechanical enhancements, did not show any sign they registered our presence.
In the training hall, we went through the usual rigmarole of signing in at Staff Sergeant Harrisons desk, where he and Alexei went through their awkward stand-off once again. You'd think Cadian's would get along better than this, but evidently not. The fact I still had no idea who or what their regiment was famous for bugged me. I didn't know what to expect. I still didn't even know what the date was.
A thought struck me then. Was this pre or post the 13th Black Crusade? Was the Great Rift splitting the galaxy in two? Did Guilliman stride the stars? Or where we hundreds, or even thousands of years before all that?
I shrugged aside those thoughts. There was no way I'd get that answer any time soon. I'd have to wait and see if someone says something that gives me a clue. Bide my time, play it safe.
Sergeant Alexei always seemed to start the day off in a bad mood. Perhaps he was not an early riser? Either way, he pushed us into the track tests with his usual stoic fervour.
"You may begin in 3, 2, 1, GO!" He barked.
The race was uneventful. I did not change my position, I did not beat Prassus, and I did not embarrass myself. Similarly, the individual track event yielded only a small improvement in my performance, which was not enough to satisfy Alexei.
"You must do better, private Sent," he said, as Clauda took her place behind me.
"Yes sir," I replied, and Alexei shot me a withering look.
"Sir, yes, sir," I corrected, before he could say anything. He did not nod, only turn back to record Clauda. Prassus grimaced behind Alexei's back, making an exaggerated show of pulling on his collar. I stifled a chuckle.
Similarly, the individual runs didn't change much either. Oleev slipped and gave her worst performance to date, and Temond managed to improve by a noticeable margin, yet everyone else stayed much the same.
"Hmph. Frustrating lack of improvement. All of you must do better," Alexei said. "You will be better."
Then we were off, and on to the next challenges.
We had a water course, which involved a rope climb over water. That was particularly agonising for my bruised arms, but I pushed through. Burtrus and Egeers both fell off, and Ratfinch was uncharacteristically slow, but otherwise we got through it without trouble. Alexei just recorded notes in his journal and ordered us onwards.
Then we had a climbing and jumping course which was meant for two people to complete at once. Alexei, however, had us split up into randomised groups, which meant I was separated from Prassus. Damn. Him and I would've aced that course together.
As it was, I ended up with Egeers, who grinned and nudged me in the ribs.
"You up for this?" I asked him. He smiled and nodded.
"Of course I am. You?"
"No doubts," I replied confidently. He laughed, and we braced for our turn. Prassus was paired with Ratfinch, which was comical for the difference in height. Prassus had to lift Ratfinch behind him for most obstacles, but the little guy could seriously climb, and when it came to the jumps, he could leap a lot further then someone who was barely pushing five feet ought to be able to. It was quite interesting to watch.
However, we couldn't see the whole course, as it had some twists and corners and high walls that obstructed our view, and Alexei ordered us to begin two minutes after the first group.
The first challenge was a wall, about eight tall, with only a few handholds. I jumped to grab onto the higher handholds, planted my feet on the wall, and pushed up to reach the ledge, pushing myself up and over in an inelegant heap. Egeers got there soon after, waving away my offer to help with a good-natured grin. Next up we had to pass single file through two high concrete walls, turning on our sides to push through, squeezing through a corner, where we were confronted by a tightrope, about three metres long, over a pit. I saw Prassus shimmy across this while Ratfinch just walked over it earlier, so I knew it was doable. Egeers blanched at the height, which was a mere eight feet, with a drop cushioned by sand below, and I decided to take the initiative and cross it ahead of him, to prove it could be done.
It was a lot harder than I thought, even though I'd done rope climbs before, because it wobbled alarmingly every time I reached out to pull myself further. It was very uncomfortable whenever I slipped, and between the bruises and the amount of time I must've hit my balls was probably not worth mentioning. I could hear some groans of sympathy when I visibly slipped on the rope near the end, mostly from the guys.
But I made it across, not quite as fast I would've liked, but I made it. I turned to wave Egeers on.
"C'mon, its just another rope climb. We've done them before. Just don't hurt your balls," I said, smiling.
Egeers, to his credit, nodded soundlessly, and grabbed onto the rope, wrapping his arms and legs around it and creeped over towards me. He went slower, and the rope did not wobble so much, but he made it within forty-five seconds, me counting every second under my breath. I heard Alexei order Clauda and Temond up after us. Great, we were really behind Prassus and Ratfinch. We still had four more climbs to do.
The next wall was right after the rope crawl. Another eight feet, less grips, but I could jump up, grab on, after two attempts at least, and then climb over. This time, Egeers accepted my help. Then we had a bunch of four-foot high barricades to make our way up, like climbing comically oversized stairs, before another rope climb, this time dangling from a ten-foot concrete wall.
I was halfway up when I looked down and saw Clauda and Temond beginning the rope crawl, at least thirty feet below us now. I saw Clauda shoot me a smirk as she began the rope crawl, wriggling over it far quicker than Egeers or I.
"C'mon, man, let's hurry it up," Egeers said below me.
"Oh, I was actually going to slow down, you know?" I shot back, choosing against pointing out the reason we were so slow was because of him.
"Really?" Egeers said incredulously, and I rolled my eyes.
"No, you idiot," I shot back. "Now let's go, we can do this together. Together, yeah?" I said. Egeers nodded, and I rolled over the ledge, lifted him up behind me, and then looked at the next obstacle. Another narrow walk. This is where we lost sight of Prassus and Ratfinch.
"Let's do it," I grunted. Egeers grabbed my hand and shook it, a tad unnecessary, but whatever worked for him, I guess.
"Let's do it," he agreed.
The narrow walk between the concrete walls took us left then right then left again. It must've gone on for at least twelve metres or so, and when we were out, we saw the next challenge.
"Ah, fuck," I grunted.
Another rope challenge. Except this time there were multiple ropes criss-crossing a concrete canyon, with soft, padded floors some eight feet below us, and ropes dangling all along the walls and the columns supporting the horizontal ropes.
"We can go across, which is shorter, or around, which is longer," I surmised. Egeers took one look at the amount of ropes he'd have to crawl over and made his choice.
"Around," he said, and took the lead. I decided to go across, there was no need to follow him here. The rope crawls were even worse, as the rope swayed with every inch I moved. I realised there was nothing stopping me from dropping off this rope and simply walking to the other side of the canyon and climbing the wall there but thought that was probably not in the spirit of things.
Still, the option was there, and I couldn't see how they were monitoring us, so I decided against it. It just felt like cheating to me.
I was halfway across the canyon when Egeers was almost done, and soon enough, he was cheering me on. I made it to the end a few moments later, short of breath. Gasping for air, I rolled onto solid ground, relieved not to be hanging from some swaying rope, to catch my breath, but Egeers seemed to be pumped up now.
"They won't be too far behind us! Let's go!" He said, pulling me to my feet. I brushed him off, nodding.
"Maybe Prassus and Ratfinch are still doing it. I have no idea how long this course is. This is way more elaborate then anything else we've done."
Egeers nodded.
"I think this goes over half the other courses we've done or something. You've seen how the hangar is laid out, right? There's heaps of high concrete walls that block off the obstacle courses and firing ranges. It might all be one huge course."
"Well, I'll be damned," I muttered. "This is a big-ass challenge."
"You like big-asses?" Egeers said, with a straight face, as we pushed through another narrow wall walk. I blinked at the question.
"Uh…it's just a figure of speech, dude."
"I know. I was just asking a question," Egeers said, completely seriously.
"Um…I guess? I don't know, I don't really think about it," I replied truthfully. Egeers smirked and said nothing.
"Do you?" I said, after too long a pause. He only smiled wider and said nothing more.
When we were free of the oppressive walls, we came to a box like opening, a rectangular column that went about ten feet up. The walls were wider, but still close. Close enough that you couldn't extend your arms fully. I looked around for a handhold, until I realised the challenge.
"We have to climb this with just our arms and legs," I realised. I couldn't do that. No way I could do that. How could Ratfinch do this? It would be impossible for him, he couldn't reach the walls! And Prassus certainly couldn't lift him up this!
"No, no, no, there's handles in the wall…tiny gaps, hidden in the concrete," Egeers said, grabbing a near invisible handhold and lifting himself up.
"Oh, right, that makes way more sense," I said, embarrassed. Looking closer, I did see them, the tiny, almost invisible ridges. Grabbing on with tired and bruised fingers, I began the climb. It was not as hard as it looked, since you could wedge yourself with your arms and legs from time to time. Egeers and I managed to make our way up this little obstacle faster then we did the rope canyon, which was good, because I could distinctly hear Clauda and Temond's voice echoing from the walls behind us.
But when we got to the top, we saw the greatest obstacle yet.