The Rim
The Rim by Geoffrey Zimmerman from JointVentureLightning on Vimeo.
By
Geoffrey Zimmerman
Never again would they dare to call me insane. For they are the ones who dare to call themselves cautious, careful, “realistic.”
Leaving home has never been easy for me. Diane sat cross-legged on the couch with her head in her hands and just stared at the coffee table.
“How long do you think this will take?” she asked, and then looked at me through tear-shined eyes. I fidgeted around the living room, ran a hand across the broad teleview screen, looked for a tabak stic, but found none, then decided to sit and steel myself for what I knew would be an onslaught of more guild-ridden accusation-laden “questions”.
It felt good to feel my legs next to hers, and I placed a hand atop her thigh. She placed her hand on mine, and our fingers entwined.
“I don’t know,” I said. She looked up from the floor and met my eyes.
“As long as it takes, right?” All I could do was nod.
—-
My bags had already been packed, and the base held all my assignment gear. Diane let me say good-bye at our house’s front door, so I took a hover-taxi to the strip.
—-
The old gang lingered around the pre-flight bay, boisterous and energetic. Allejandro emanated out of the noisy group and from absolutely nowhere, he materialized a chromed quart of the best Jamaican amber I have tasted ever, and since. I tried to put my fears of this mission and thoughts of Diane behind me, and with Allejandro’s amber coursing through my veins, the flight to the island became nothing more than a blur.
—-
That night began as every other night would during my “extended sabbatical”. Those two weeks became one long amber-filled night melding into one agonizing migraine-filled day.
In our base camp, there were just two males, the remaining four were women. My tent mate, Allejandro convinced me in hushed tones as we shared the deep liquid amber by the fire that he had “been to the top – had stood on the rim, and could show me, (and the others) the safest way in – and out.
I never disclosed or let him see my fear, but instead let the juice do its work on me, so I alternatively nodded or held up a hand in feigned recognition of the horrific terrain and conditions he described, as if I had actually been there. Deep inside, I prayed that someone from higher up would intervene and we could call this whole thing off.
Day ten will always come to me as the telling day in this infamous trek. I awoke and bolted upright as if snared by a hook baited with my own flesh. Without realizing how I’d gotten there, I found myself standing, surrounded by the others, their active images caught within the murky glass of a fish bowl.
I violently shook my head and landed on my knees, the black loamy earth below my nose throwing its rank in my face.
And then-
And then-
As a clock slowly drawing to a stop, the earth crept into my tensed fingers, the deep green-glowing ferns about my head shocked my eyes, the warbly voices of laughter and nearby discussion wove like a snake into my ears –
And within my heart, my gut, my veins – a sense of still – of soft – of clear – of crystal razor-sharp light grew to a glare.
Without reflection. Without choice, I knew that I had crossed beyond the now, the here, the this. It was true.
I rose and moved to Allejandro, stood before him and slightly nodded. He turned from his preparation and looked at me, rapt. “Tell the others. We make the rim today by noon,” I said.
“By noon?” he said. I bowed and then turned to preparing my own gear. Although some nearby gasps and snickers entered my ears I just smiled and jammed my laser, thermal helmet and UV goggles into my pack.
When I finally stood at the dark gaping entrance to the serpentine path I knew that this was precisely what I had been sent here to do.
Turning and seeing them all assembled behind me, their packs secure, their shields ready, their eyes lit with glory, I slowly raised my hand, clenched my fingers and let my arm drop.
“To the rim,” I whispered, as to a lover. And turned.
We made it through the worst of it that day and when at last we stood on the rim, looked down and across her roiling, deadly heart, her shimmering crystalline mantle, I smiled and allowed myself to share the joy, the conquest, the oneness of our quest.
