An hour later they had collected twenty-three jackets. They had happened across many more, but some were too horribly pinned beneath rocks (along with their owners), others were ripped beyond usefulness, some were just too gory to be touched. Jonah and Thera set about tying the coats, sleeve to sleeve, and after linking only fifteen jackets they had a sizable length of material they felt certain would reach the hallway with coat to spare.
Jonah stood, helped Thera to do so, then looked at the climb again. "Okay, now one of us has to get up there."
"I'll go," Carlin offered.
Jonah had been about to volunteer himself but he stopped and considered Carlin's proposal. The man was younger, more limber (with damnably compliant knees) and his sheer upper-body strength surpassed Jonah's. He was the best choice.
"All right. After Carlin makes it to the top you go next, Kaegan, then I'll set something up for you both to pull Thera up. After that you can lower the rope again for me."
With three nods they climbed up over the remains of Brenna's office until they were as high as they could climb as a group. Jonah dropped the rope of coats and the spare jackets on the craggy floor and handed one end of the jacket chain to Carlin.
Carlin took the sleeve, seemed to consider his options for securing it to him for the climb, then he knelt down and tied it around his left ankle.
"Good luck," Kaegan said quickly before stepping back to better watch his ascent.
Carlin took a drink from his water bag then lowered food and water bags to the ground. He then took a deep breath, stepped to the wall, found a few handholds, and started to climb.
Jonah, Kaegan, and Thera could only stand below and watch as Carlin slowly crept his way up the wall toward the hallway. Small pebbles and dust rained down on them and as Carlin got higher and a longer and longer link of jackets spanned between Carlin and his friends, the three on the ground had to step back to better watch him.
With a sigh of relief from everyone Carlin finally reached the hallway and heaved himself inside. He disappeared from view and there was nothing. No sound from him, no sight of Carlin at all.
"Carlin?" Thera called.
No response.
"Carlin!" Jonah barked.
"What! Geez, you'd think a guy could catch his breath after that!" Carlin bitched back.
Jonah and Thera smiled at each other and even Kaegan looked relieved.
"Just checking for life-signs, Carlin. You take your breather. Actually, hold on a sec," Jonah moved to the hanging rope of jackets and secured Carlin's water bag to it. "Yo, Carlin!"
"What!" Carlin snapped, from his voice only beginning to regain its wind.
Jonah smiled. "Just reel in."
Carlin grumbled, too far to be heard intelligibly, but the jacket chain began to crawl upward and once the water bag cleared the edge there was a pleasantly surprised, "Hey! Thanks."
A minute or so later Carlin poked his head over the edge and looked down at them. "Oh... umm..." he uttered and started to look uneasy.
"What, what is it?" Thera asked, worried.
"Oh," Carlin answered, "I just, um... I think I'm finding out I don't like heights so much."
Jonah rolled his eyes. "Feed that rope back down here and we'll get Kaegan up there to hold your hand."
Carlin scowled down at Jonah but dutifully lowered the linked jackets. Kaegan went to it, gave it a couple of tugs, then called up. "I'm coming up!"
"I've got it, go ahead," Carlin, out of visual range, called again.
Kaegan worked her way up the rope, climbing with her feet and pulling with her arms. Much faster than Carlin she reached the hallway's entrance and Kaegan clambered over the edge then there was another silence.
Jonah opened his mouth to call out to them.
"Before you start bitching again," Carlin said testily, "we're just catching our breaths."
Jonah snapped his jaw closed and glowered upward. Thera tried, and mostly failed, to hide a giggle.
Jonah looked at her when he heard her snickering. "No giggling," he said, and his voice was stern but his eyes were anything but. Thera took her cue from his eyes.
"Whenever you guys are ready send the rope back down and get ready to pull up Thera!" Jonah called up to them.
A few minutes later the rope came back to the ground and Jonah picked up the end.
Thera was shaking her head. "I don't know how you expect me to do this, Jonah."
Jonah looked at her. "Well, what's the alternative, you and I stay down here the rest of our lives? Raise our kid here?"
Thera blanched at the mere thought of the bodies everywhere. She gave a weak shake of her head.
Jonah picked up another jacket, the largest in the remaining pile. "Besides," he said, "I have a plan."
Thera watched and in a few seconds understood what he was doing. She eagerly pressed closer to help. They tied the bottom corners of the jacket where it would usually close down someone's front to the free sleeve at the end of the jacket chain. They then folded the sleeves up and secured it to the tangled knot already formed. "Brace it!" Jonah yelled then started to tug and pull for all he was worth to tighten the knots and make sure it would hold.
He gave a particularly strong yank and Carlin yelped. "Look, if you want us to pull Thera up we're going to have trouble doing it from down there!"
Jonah gave another tug and motioned Thera forward. He slid the jerry-rigged sling over her head and settled it underneath her butt. She settled back partially into a half-way decent hammock-type seat.
Jonah stood back and asked, "Well?"
Thera bounced lightly in it, not fully weighting it, and said, "If it doesn't fall apart half-way to the top this might actually be fun." She flashed him a surprisingly cocky smile and Jonah smirked.
"Hold it tight, you guys," he said loudly, then he nodded at her. "Weight it a few times."
Thera gave Carlin and Kaegan a second to grip the rope of jackets then settled down heavily in the seat. Finally her feet were dangling over the rock floor and it still held. Jonah was satisfied with their creation.
"Take her up!" Jonah said with a small shake of the rope over Thera's head and with a jerking start Thera started to rise into the air.
Jonah stood back and watched, his heart rising higher in his throat the higher Thera went, until finally Carlin's hand reached out and pulled her in and out of sight.
Jonah at last sighed.
"I'm secure," she called back, the only one considerate enough to keep him apprised when out of view.
"Send it back down," Jonah said, burden lightened considerably to know Thera had made it safely.
Before scaling the wall himself he started to send up their food bags and water bags, the staffs, and then, just in case, the other spare jackets they'd recovered. Finally he was out of supplies to feed up to them and he grasped the rope as it descended once more. "Heads up, it'll be me this time," he called overhead.
"Right, lots of dead-weight," Carlin commented back sarcastically.
"Very funny," Jonah retorted and, with a wicked grin, he slipped into the seat he'd built for Thera and ordered them to bring him up.
He was hauled up the wall, legs idly swinging like a bored child, and then his head cleared the floor of the hallway. He could see Carlin bearing the brunt of the task of pulling Jonah up, behind him Kaegan and beyond her Thera both pulling back on the rope to help. The recovered supplies were, for the moment, heaped in a pile to one side.
Jonah climbed up into the hallway and Carlin sagged back when the rope went slack. He looked down at Jonah and the 'seat' he'd used and gaped indignantly. "You just sat there! You might have put forth some effort!"
Jonah smirked. "If I remember correctly, I was dead-weight."
Carlin scowled and Thera and Kaegan snorted.
Jonah moved over to the supplies and the others followed him. Jonah glanced surreptitiously over at Carlin and decided the younger man could use a break. He'd scaled the wall solo then pulled all three of them up. He needed a rest.
"Take five," Jonah declared, and Thera and Carlin moved to relax while Kaegan frowned at him. She soon noted the behavior of her companions, however, and guessed the meaning of Jonah's bizarre statement.
Thera used the wall for support and lowered herself laboriously to the ground across from their stash of supplies. Once there she let out a breath and placed one hand atop her protruding stomach. Jonah fetched a water bag and was soon taking his usual place at her right side as he held the canteen out to her.
"Hungry?" he asked.
Thera shook her head but accepted the water and took a drink. There was a very chilly draft coming from the hallway and Jonah's eyes cast toward the bend in the passage that kept them from seeing farther down the corridor. He tried to speculate what they might find.
Thera shifted uncomfortably and Jonah settled down next to her, shoulder to shoulder as they always sat. Thera leaned against him, head on his shoulder, and Jonah felt like they were back in their spot, before the attack, before the ship, before...
"Funny," Thera said under her breath and Jonah was shaken from his ruminations and glanced down at her.
"What's funny?"
Thera nodded and it translated as friction on his shoulder through his layers of clothing. She was indicating the two across the hall from them. "Carlin and Kaegan."
Jonah looked and had to say he didn't see anything particularly interesting about the two. They were sitting side by side (though not nearly as close as Thera and Jonah) talking about something while Carlin slumped lazily against the wall and occasionally took pulls from his water bag.
Thera nestled her head further against Jonah's shoulder and he decided he didn't really care what was so 'funny' about Carlin and Kaegan.
Jonah had decided he would let Carlin decide when they were ready to push on (within reason, of course... if Carlin wanted to pitch camp Jonah would have a few choice words to say). The younger man had done all the work of the last hour and he deserved the right to regain his strength. It wasn't like they were in a hurry; it seemed that all they were slated to find was the bodies of the dead and the evidence of genocidal-caliber destruction.
There had to be something they could use to keep themselves alive. On the surface there would be something. Jonah intended to will it to be true so strongly that it had no alternative but to be so. It seemed reasonable enough to him.
"How are you doing?" Jonah asked Thera softly.
Thera shrugged. "Bloated, cranky, useless... the usual."
Jonah reached out and used his hand on her chin to tip her head back until she was looking up at him. He smiled faintly, ever so faintly so Carlin and Kaegan wouldn't know it for a smile from where they sat, and his eyes moved once from her eyes to her lips then back to her eyes to meet her gaze with meaningful intensity. It was the extent of his communication with her but Thera knew Jonah and she knew his body language. She smiled, just as faintly, and he knew she understood what he refused to say in the company of others (and might not manage to say in private). He lowered his hand, looked down at Thera's swollen abdomen and the hand she had stationed there, then tilted his head back to rest it against the wall. It was better than the rough, craggy walls of the caves; this was smooth and by comparison almost soft. If Jonah wasn't careful he'd be tempted to fall asleep.
Ten minutes later Jonah looked across the hall and Carlin caught his eye. The exchange was short, wordless, but clear all the same. Jonah nodded and Carlin began to put away his water.
Jonah glanced over at Thera and smiled to find she'd dozed off on his shoulder. Her eyes were closed and she looked downright angelic. Jonah almost hated to wake her.
"Thera," he shook her gently and she opened her eyes.
"Time to go?" she asked sleepily.
Jonah nodded.
Thera frowned strangely. "No, time to go," she stated and shifted restlessly where she sat.
Jonah tried not to smile too much. "You just went."
"A couple of hours ago," she retorted plaintively then frowned sourly at him. "Baby, remember?"
Jonah held up his hands to ward off the beast of pregnancy, "All right, all right, we'll find you a head. Come on." Jonah got to his feet then pulled Thera to hers.
They all recollected their supplies, they divided up the jackets for each person to carry, and they rolled up the coat-rope and Jonah tied it to Carlin's back (as the non-weapon wielding individual in their party he was deemed the rope-barer... Thera's unborn passenger counted as her extra baggage). Then, lastly, Jonah and Kaegan took up their staffs.
Thera was staring quite pointedly at Jonah.
Jonah cleared his throat. "Kaegan, you and Carlin scout ahead, we'll bring up the rear."
Kaegan and Carlin nodded and started off down the hallway together.
Jonah turned to Thera, partly triumphant, and Thera's eyes widened. "Here!"
Jonah shrugged. "How badly do you have to go?"
Thera grumbled and scowled but she checked the direction Kaegan and Carlin had disappeared once then her hands moved to unbind her pants. Jonah stepped forward to help and he could see the seething fire in Thera's eyes. She would certainly not miss this aspect of pregnancy when the baby came... although Jonah thought it was entertaining if only for the faces Thera made (not that he'd ever tell her; he might still want more children someday in the future).
