Freefall

Freefall was the best part of the jump.

As she fell, Gina Wright looked down at the Earth, with dignity beneath her as it dawned on her whereabouts in Kansas, and she was thrilled to know that she was about to break the world record by more than 20,000 miles. This would be much better than his jump from space from the old International Space Station. He would have forty minutes to fall before he entered space.

Using gyros in his compression suit, he turned his back on Earth. The cable in the sky stretched out like a spider's web and passed him toward the rotating wheel of the harp and the speaker on which he jumped: terminal 1.

A bright flash after the terminal forced Gina to blink as her visor was black for compensation. After his visor was removed, he saw the space cable flow.

Is the cable broken? No - the LED headlights were still on, so power was still flowing from the terminal. With a father who was a senior engineer and a brother who drove one of the detectives, he knew more than he wanted in cash. "How high is it?" and "Can I jump from it?" were the only things that really mattered.

She told her suit phone to call her father.

"What?" he replied.

"What's going on? I saw the light again--"

"We're working on it. There's no time for curiosity to do nothing." He hung up the phone.

He thought. If I were Kyle, he would explain things to me, expecting me to help resolve them. But no, I am an idle child who spends his life jumping.

He should not let his father's attitude dampen his joy. Opening the gyros, Gina turned her back on the terminal.

Minutes later his suitcase rang. He answered it.

"Gina?" Her father's voice was strong.

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry earlier. We lost counterweight."

Gina sighed. The geostationary term had to be at the center of the weight of the elevator in space. Without an asteroid counterweight across the terminal, the weight of the cable could drag the terminal - and everyone on it - down to Earth. "How did it happen?"

"That's the latest. What matters is what we do about it."

If the terminal fell, that meant his father fell for it. "Dad do you have a way out?"

"No," he said. "But it will be fine once we have disconnected the cable. Without its weight, the terminal will settle in a stable direction."

"Aw." They certainly had emergency plans.

"Is there a way to get over the cable?" he asks.

"I have backup rocket thrusters that I guide in case the gyros come out," he said. "Why?"

"You have a Vibro knife that will cut nanofibers, right? By cutting your chute strings when they are tied? I remember you telling me that."

"Yes." Gina was stunned remembering anything she had told him about jumping. "Again, why?"

"Kyle brings the cargo crawler up. If we pull the cable up here, he'll fall."

Even though she was already in the freefall, Gina's stomach seemed to sink deep inside her.

"I'll let him die if he has to." Her father's voice cracked. "One life against thousands. But if you can get there and cut the cord under his searcher, then he can keep going up and we'll all be safe in orbit until the company sends a rescue ship."

With gyros, he guided himself to the cable. The sling of the station had thrown him somewhere in its course to put him on the path to Earth. He hoped he had enough fuel to cross the border in time.

"Usually it is loyal Kyle who will rescue me after a madman." He laughed a little, trying to regain the quick weight of responsibility. Risking his life was simple - having someone else's life depend on him was different. "Whose plan is this?"

"Kyle's. He said if anyone's crazy to work, it's you."

A few feet away, the cable lights flew over Gina with a continuous blur. But his fuel reading is 1% bright red. It had taken almost all of his fuel to change his way enough to get to the cable. But there was no longer enough to delay his downfall in terms of cable. He needed to wait until Kyle's detector passed by him anywhere - he had reached the cable above him. But soon his fuel would run out, and his desert route would take him.

Still thousands of miles from space, his chute was useless. There was no way he could hold himself back, and that meant he would not be able to cut the cable - the Vibro knife would be torn from his grip if he tried to cut at this speed. He would fail Kyle, fail his father, otherwise - his mind raced as he saw it possible - unless he could find Kyle the spacecraft.

"Father?" he said.

"I'm still here."

"Can you hire me from Kyle?"

"Hold on a minute."

Moments later, Kyle's voice came through her phone. "Oh my gosh. What is it like to look up there?"

He ignored her screams and began to untie her chut. He was quickly falling towards a crawling man, so time was limited. "You're the only one riding the detective, aren't you?"

"Yes." Kyle must have seen his urgency, for his voice was all the more.

"Do you have a spacesuit?"

"Yes, why?"

"I fall so fast I can't stand and cut the rope," he said. "But I remove my spare chute and attach it to the cable just before I pass it. It will hit the searcher with a very good clip, but it is nanofiber so it should be ready.

"I've never done a space jump," he said.

"I'm going to set up an auto shute, so it will release at the right height. You'll be fine. I hope so." He used a small amount of gasoline to get close enough to the cable so that he could attach the chute.

Break. "I trust you."

Gina smiled. "Good."

He set the chute for automatic use as soon as he saw the wind and then removed the end belts.

He could see the flashing lights coming quickly down below. Be careful not to touch the rope itself, he pulled the strings of string from the rope and tied them. He then used gasoline for his last suit to start off from the cable.

The chute hit the top of the search engine as we passed him.

"Your chute is ready," he said. "And Kyle ..."

"What?"

I love it, that’s what he was going to say, but their family was never the one to express maudlin’s feelings. Other than that, she would have known she loved him when she found out that nothing like a backup chute is being removed. "Safe housing."

"Thank you, sis. It's the same for you."