It was a one-way trip to death, and Navuh must have decided to leave the option open for those who desired to end it all. It was surprisingly merciful of him, and Yamanu wondered if it had been Areana who'd convinced him that even slaves deserved that last-resort option. It was still surprising, though, that he hadn't even bothered with cameras in this area. Perhaps it had been Areana’s wish as well, and Navuh had chosen to honor it.
"Okidu's halfway up," Anandur's voice crackled through the earpiece. "He's making good time."
Yamanu looked up, squinting against the faint moonlight. He could barely make out Okidu's dark form against the cliff face,moving with the speed and surety of a machine. The Odu was free climbing, carrying nothing but a thin nylon cord coiled around his torso.
The cord looked flimsy, but it was strong enough to support a lot of weight. More importantly, the coil was small, compact, and easily managed. It wouldn't throw off Okidu's balance during the perilous climb.
The climbing rope waiting at the bottom of the cliff was a different story. Six hundred feet of dynamic rope, doubled back on itself to create a retrievable hauling system, and weighing over eighty pounds. It was bundled into a mass the size of a large backpack, but trying to climb with that unwieldy load would have been difficult even for Okidu.
The messenger cord was light enough to carry up and strong enough to haul the actual climbing rope into position.
Yamanu had watched Okidu make the same climb during Carol's extraction, and the anchors he'd drilled deep into the basalt back then were still there, hidden in crevices and under overhangs where they wouldn't be spotted. The extension bolts were stainless steel and resistant to corrosion, so they should still be good.
Okidu threaded the thin cord through the anchors, creating a path for the climbing rope to follow. Once the rope was in place, they could pull it back down after the extraction, leaving no evidence except the hidden bolts.
Yamanu checked his watch. Fourteen minutes had passed, and the Odu was making steady progress, going much faster than a human or even an immortal could have done, but not recklessly.He'd slipped during Carol's rescue, and he was more careful now.
The minutes crawled by.
Yamanu stayed pressed against his ledge, conserving energy, listening to the ocean and Okidu's periodic position reports.
"Two-fifty."
"Two-seventy-five."
"Top anchor reached. Threading the cord through the belay station."
The first goal had been achieved, Okidu was at the top, and Yamanu could breathe a sigh of relief.
"Cord is coming down," Okidu announced in the com.
The pale nylon line snaked down the cliff face, nearly invisible against the dark stone. Anandur grabbed it and attached the climbing rope to the cord's end using a figure-eight follow-through knot.
"Ready to haul," Anandur said in the comms.
"Pulling now," Okidu replied.
The rope began rising, the doubled line threading through each anchor point. The system was simple but effective. The rope went up through the anchors and back down, creating a loop. After the extraction, they'd pull one end, and the entire rope would slide back through the anchors and fall into the water.
There would be no evidence left behind.
"Rope secured," Okidu reported. "Running through the top belay station." There was a short pause.
"Rappelling now," Okidu announced, and Yamanu could hear excitement in the Odu's voice, almost giddiness.
Had he imagined it? Or had Okidu discovered that he enjoyed controlled falls?
He could make out the Odu's form descending the cliff face in smooth, powerful bounds, pushing off the rock and dropping twenty feet at a time before the rope caught him, then immediately pushing off again. It was rappelling stripped of caution, pure efficiency transformed into something that looked playful because it was executed perfectly. The ascent that had taken fifteen minutes to climb took Okidu less than three minutes going down.
"Show-off," Anandur said in the comms when the Odu splashed into the water next to him.
Yamanu was already holding his ascender, a nifty mechanical device that gripped the rope and slid upward but locked when weighted downward. He clipped it onto the fixed line, then attached it to his harness with a locking carabiner, double-checking that the gate was properly closed and the sleeve was screwed tight. His rappel device was already clipped to his gear loops—he'd need it for the descent.
Then he started climbing.
Using ascenders to climb a fixed rope, or jumarring as it was called in climbing jargon, wasn't elegant, but it was efficient. Yamanu planted his feet against the rock face, pushed up with his legs, and slid the ascender higher. The device bit into therope, holding his weight as he moved his feet up and repeated the process.
Climb. Slide. Lock. Repeat.
