Ascent
© 2019 by Walter Reimer


Thumbnail art by  steamfox


Minister Tsien stepped out from under the lander’s stubby wing as Matvei came trotting up to him. “So!” he said. “All ready to go, I see?”

Matvei nodded nervously. The young buck was wearing a clean loincloth, a knife at his hip, and the three stripes of his rank had been freshly daubed on the fur of his upper arms with a blue shellfish-based dye. The older feline was also wearing a loincloth, but was carrying three wax-filled wooden tablets and a stylus to jot down notes. “Splendid, splendid,” Tsien said, turning away to look at the lander again as Akiko came down the hatch ramp.

The canine grinned. “If you’re ready, sir, please come aboard.”

“Hm? Oh, yes, yes. Come along, Matvei.” He started up the ramp, the buck swallowing nervously before following him.

The buck paused, ears swiveling, as his hooves touched the unfamiliar surface before he took a deep breath and followed the older fur into the ship.

For a long moment, he stood transfixed, head swiveling around as far as it could on his neck as he tried to take everything in at once. The area was mainly in white and cream, with seats in neat rows. There was a door at one end, and the ship’s controls at the other. Tsien and Akiko were already seated and talking animatedly, the feline scribing notes on one of his tablets.

“Ahem.” The buck practically pronked out of his hide and he looked behind him to see one of Akiko’s survey team members eyeing him with some amusement. “You need help,” the goat said.

“Well, um . . . yes,” Matve said, his shoulders slumping. “I-I guess I’m nervous.”

The goat nodded. “I can imagine. Here, let me get you into a seat. Want to sit by a window? You’ll probably want to see.”

“Can I sit there?” the buck asked, pointing at the control section.

The goat chuckled. “No, there’s no room up there for you, but you can sit close to them, by a window. That way you can see everything. C’mon.” He waved the younger mel forward and gestured for him to sit. Matvei gingerly complied, wriggling about a bit and clearly intrigued by the padded seat. “Now,” and he looked up at the goat, “we probably won’t have any trouble, but in case we do, there’s restraints on either side of you.” He sat down beside Matvei and demonstrated, then made sure that the buck was securely belted in. “Comfortable?”

“Um, yes, thank you. I’m Matvei.”

“Pima,” the goat said, and the two shook paws. “I need to go aft for a moment. Uh, you need to piss or anything?”

“No.”

“Uh huh. Unbuckle yourself and follow me, I’ll show you.” Matvei complied and followed Pima aft to a small room, where a bowl-shaped object sat. “You need to shit, piss or puke,” Pima said, “you do it in there. Hit that to wipe yourself, and that to dump whatever’s in the bowl,” and he pointed at two controls. “Got that?”

“Er, yes?”

The goat smiled. “You’ll do okay. Head back forward and get ready; we’ll be lifting soon and you won’t want to miss it.”

Matvei headed back to his seat, pausing to look at his charge. Tsien was still jotting notes, so he sat down and buckled his restraint belt. He could feel his flag trying to rub a hole in the seat and his ears swiveled as he concentrated on the flight crew.

They were two canines, running their paws over a series of panels arrayed in front of them and only occasionally glancing out at the wide sweep of window that curved from one side of the control room to the other. “Understood, Expedient,” the one on the left said and half-turned to his companion. “They’re up above, synchronous. Adson told us not to make a fuss.”

“Heh, okay.” He placed his paw on a cover, flipped it up and pressed what was under it. There was a soft hum and vibration under Matvei’s hooves. “Hatches closing,” and he felt a pressure on his ears.

A pronounced shiver ran through the lander. “Engine start,” the canine on the right said. “Artigrav at your discretion.”

“Got it.” The left-paw canine slid his paws into two openings on the console. “Weight negation ten percent . . . thirty . . . seventy-five . . . one hundred. Translation z-axis positive, mark.”

The craft rocked slightly, causing Matvei to stifle a shout. He looked to his side, out the window to his right, and his ears went straight up as he saw the ground receding from him. A hasty glance up and he saw the Tau Beta sinking away. He could see the roof, where the solar panels were, the few furs watching the lander take off getting smaller and smaller.

He felt his jaw drop, his eyes widening as the island the starliner had crashed on grew smaller; a brief mist obscured the scene below, and he realized that he was above the clouds.

No one, apart from the oldest furs on the planet, had ever been higher than the top of The Mountain.

“Hey, Matvei, you need to use the toilet?” He gave a start and turned around to see Pima sitting beside him. Some Security guard he was; he hadn’t heard the goat return to his seat.

It took a moment for the question to register, and he gulped.

“Too late,” he mumbled.