The Departure Protocol

Chapter 1

Tarun Ra'Han collapsed onto his hands and knees a few feet from the edge of the cliff. Panting, he rolled onto his back, closed his eyes and waited for his pounding heart to settle down and his breathing to calm. A smile spread across his face. I made it. He took a couple of deep breaths, then sat up and leaned back against the boulder behind him. Thankful for a place to rest, he reached for his water bottle, gulped a few mouthfuls of water, then poured a little over his head. The water ran down his face and neck, the cool of the water providing temporary relief as it trickled down his chest and back.

He opened his eyes, rested his arms on his knees and drew a deep breath of the still cool morning air. The smell of morning dew still lingered in the air. In the distance, the glow of the twin suns appearing on opposite sides of the horizon had chased away the darkness and painted the morning sky a bright pink and purple. As they rose above the horizon, their rays dispersed the remaining fog and revealed the rocky slopes that led down to the valley floor. The faint outline of a river snaking across the valley floor provided a blue splash of color in the otherwise desert landscape.

Tarun took in the view for what seemed like an eternity. He didn't want to move. It had been a long hike, and in its aftermath he found his mind unwilling to even make his body move. Just a little longer, he told himself as his eyes found the brass plaque mounted on the cliff wall less than a yard away. With a gentle motion, he wiped off the dust that had collected on its surface, revealing the inscription he had memorized a long time ago.

A tear escaped the corner of his eye, mixing with the salty sweat and dirt as it left a clear path on his cheek as it fell. He let his fingers follow the outline of each letter etched into the metal, retracing the names of those the plaque immortalized.

Another tear rolled down his cheek, followed by another. As his body embraced the emotions, he let out a scream that echoed through the valley below. He slammed the ground with his fist repeatedly until pain pulsated throughout this arm.

As the sobs shook his body, , replaced by sadness and the loneliness of absence. He had not been at fault, the official investigator had told him. It had been an accident. That was little consolation when he knew the hike had been his idea, even though all parties had eagerly agreed. Time will heal your wounds, his friends had said. Tarun had ignored them. They couldn't possibly understand. They hadn't lost everything.

He sighed and wiped the tears from his face as he glanced at the watch on his wrist. It's almost time.

"Well," he said as his fingers lingered on the plaque, "I guess it's goodbye for real this time. My time has come. I have to go, my loves."

He leaned down and pressed his lips against the inscription. With a last sigh, he stood and stepped up to the edge, briefly entertaining a random impulse to step over the edge and join them. They could be together, all three of them, wherever they were. Instead, he clenched his fists, closed his eyes and backed away. It wasn't the answer. He knew it. That debate he had settled with himself the year after the accident. Yet it resurfaced with each visit as the simple way out of the pain. It wasn't what she would have wanted; he knew it.

A rolling rumble somewhere behind him pulled him out of his thoughts. He glanced over his shoulder and grimaced when he saw the dark clouds that now hid the mountain range behind him. A flash of lightning lit up a distant peak for a fraction of a second, its thunder reaching Tarun's ears a few seconds later. The curtains of rain were readily visible.

"Not good, not good," he said to himself as he reached for the water bottled and secured it to his belt. With a final glance at the brass plaque and the rising suns, he returned to the well-established trail that snaked through the terrain ahead, into the mist of the approaching rain.

Tarun navigated through a field littered with boulders, leaping from one to another as he kept a wary eye on the approaching clouds. He knew the rocks would become slick and dangerous if the rain reached him before he reached the opposite side.

Twenty minutes later, just as he reached the end of the boulder field, he felt the first raindrops. He paused for a moment to catch his breath and have a drink of water. Then he continued down the incline ahead. Step by step, he descended as quickly as the terrain would allow him, taking care that each step was on solid ground. The last thing he needed was one of his feet to slip and cause him to roll down the hillside.

Ten minutes later, he reached the bottom of the rocky slope. His shirt was soaked in sweat and rain, and he already felt the chill from the rain throughout his body. I have to keep moving.

He took off across a narrow ridge without hesitation, balancing on a narrow trail where one misstep in either direction could send him tumbling down the hillside to a painful death at the bottom of the slope. Sweat poured from his face as he concentrated on putting each step on the trail and not next to it. By the time he was half-way across, the light drizzle had turned into a steady rain, occasionally accompanied by cool gusts.

He redoubled his effort, panting heavily as he jumped across the crevices he encountered and navigated around large boulder outcroppings. After another harrowing descent across a shale field, he reached a plateau that gave him a chance to relax a little. He jogged across the grassy fields that stretched out between a couple of small ponds nestled up against the cliff. On a clear day, the water in the ponds were clear as glass and a breathtaking and pure bright blue color. Today, the unmistakable pattern of falling rain covered the surface of the ponds, hiding their natural beauty.

On the far side of the plateau, a small stream carried water from the ponds down to a larger lake that served a collection point for water from the various peaks surrounding it. He paused and tried to locate the lake he knew was there, but the rain obscured it.

With the intensity of the rain increasing by the minute, Tarun wasted no further time admiring the non-existent view. Instead, he continued down the trail that now snaked across a steep grassy slope in a switchback pattern. Moving as quickly as the slippery trail would allow him, he resisted the temptation to just slide down the slope and hope for the best. He knew it was unlikely he would survive. The large boulders and other obstacles that littered the slope made it impossible for him to navigate around if he gathered too much speed. Instead, he continued down the trail, careful to avoid the dangerous spots.

As his feet pounded the now muddy trail, he felt his mind drift to the next few days. As miserable as he was at that moment, cold and wet from the rain, it was his last hike. He was about to trade his normal life for the ceremony he had been waiting so long for. There would be a feast, a time to meet and greet those what wished him well. It would be his moment to shine. It would of course be bitter-sweet knowing those he treasured the most wouldn't be there. Yet, it was his duty, and he would do what they expected of him no matter what.

He glanced towards the parking lot as he turned another corner. It was almost visible through the haze. A smile spread across his face as he thought ahead to getting out of the rain and cranking up the heat. Only a few more turns in the trail and I'll be there.

As he approached the next turn in the trail, he failed to notice how slick the rocks underneath his feet. His foot came out from under him. A sharp pain shot up his other leg as he tried to compensate on the uneven ground beneath him. He groaned as his body hit the rocks that covered the trail. The fall knocked the air out of his lungs and disoriented him for long enough that he could not prevent himself from sliding down the hill head first. His hands scrambled for grip, but as his body tumbled down the hill, he realized somewhere deep inside that there was no stopping it. He was falling. Moments later, everything went black as his head grazed a boulder and the rolling world around him faded from view. In the last moments of consciousness, the images of those he loved flashed before him as he wondered if it was finally time to join them.

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