Lifeline

Ramis had another two hours before the lightaxis came on for the morning period. Two hours to traverse about five kilometers of the Aguinaldo’s interior circumference … in the dark. Others twice his age could not claim having Jumped all the way around not even in the light.

He kept his eyes open wide as he flew across the weightless space, hoping they had sufficiently adapted to the dark; but without the danger, it wouldn’t be worth doing.

He remembered one night in the Philippine Islands, when his older brother Salita had driven him home down a winding mountain road.

“Watch this,” Salita had said, and punched the button that shut off the car lights.

Instantly plunged into the night, Ramis had watched the emptiness around them, the treacherous curves now invisible as the car continued without slowing.

“See how the road glistens?” Fascinated, Salita had accelerated the car. Ramis had gripped the door, but felt some of his brother’s feverish excitement. Salita had clicked the lights back on just in time to round a sharp curve. He had shown no sign of uneasiness, but kept smiling in silence as he drove on….

The trampoline surface of the Aguinaldo’s bouncer should be coming up now. Straining to see, Ramis caught a glint of light reflected off the circumpond’s surface, demarcating his path. Although one hundred meters square, the bouncer seemed no more than a speck in the Sibuyan Sea. And if he missed it, he’d get a dunking, which at the speed he traveled might not be better than slamming into the colony’s wall. His entire body felt like a coiled weapon, tense, every cell alive with energy. His lips were curled back in a startling grin.

As he roared toward the bouncer, Ramis bent his knees and shot a blast of air to adjust his momentum. The bouncer grew larger below him. Three, two, one …. now! He hit the elastic surface and pushed off as hard as he could. He felt his leg muscles cramp from the sudden effort. The bouncer hurled him back into the air. Ramis spun his arms, furiously trying to keep from tumbling.

Finally stable, Ramis exhausted his compressed-air can. He let the empty can float out, fastened to his side by a short cord, as he rummaged through his pouch for another container. The cool, damp wind of his motion rippled his shirtsleeves.

The lightaxis waited out there in the dark, somewhere across his path. The meter-thick array of fiberoptics and titanium structure would smash him like a bug if he hit it.

He had contemplated bringing a small flashlight, but that would have encumbered his hands—and it would also have made the Jump too easy. This wasn’t supposed to be safe. Now Ramis felt fear building up; the adrenaline roared through his veins. He drew a deep breath. It seemed so much like flying, floating free, drifting … and he didn’t need to be terrified of looking down because he couldn’t see anything in the dark.

Ramis squinted, trying to discern a shadow of the light axis, anything that might warn him. He counted to himself, still searching, as the wind whistled in his ears. He thought he could gauge his speed and direction by the force with which he had pushed off from the bouncer.

When several heartbeats had passed, Ramis relaxed, then turned his concentration on anticipating the next bouncer on the opposite side. He tried to figure in his head the optimum angle at which he’d need to hit it.

Ramis twisted in the air, orienting his feet toward the onrushing wall—

He spotted the lightaxis directly in his path, a gigantic rod stretched out and ready to snap him in two.

The sail-creature nymphs had all been corralled for the night period, where they could feed at their leisure. He couldn’t count on Sarat helping him this time.

Ramis shot a blast of air toward the lightaxis, then curled his body into a ball to present the smallest possible target. His course altered, but not by much. The thick mass of optical fibers skimmed by within touching distance. He kicked out, pushing his bare feet against the axis and thrusting himself into safer airspace. In the silent blackness he could hear the low thrum of the vibration he had sent into the lightaxis. He emptied the second air canister to slow himself further.

He floated toward the Aguinaldo’s wall at a much safer speed this time. In the darkness, he could barely make out his own location in the air. He checked to make sure he had enough canisters to stop himself from drifting into the rotating deck. He had learned that lesson three years before.

It seemed pointless to finish his circumnavigation now. He was too jittery, and he had lost most of his momentum. The encounter had frightened him more than he had realized at first. He debated if he should tell dato Magsaysay about it.

No, then he would have to admit what he had been trying to do. Against the rules, Jumping in the dark—rules designed out of safety considerations, the dato had always said.