Missing in the Himalayas

Himalaya view (Photo: M. Griffiths)

Missing in the Himalayas

 

Silence.

Complete, utter, deafening silence.

Even the rasping of his rapid, laboured breathing was swept away in the enveloping wind that coursed over the ridges and valleys, glaciers and peaks of the Tibetan plateau.

Where are you?

He breathed deeply and held one gloved hand to his mouth. “Bill! Bill!” Steve turned around on the barren ridge top and shouted again. “Professor!” The wind swept the words out of his mouth and away. Looking for a climber in the mountains was like looking for a needle in haystack. Except that the Prof had just gone for his normal morning walk hadn’t he? He never went far. Just a bracing stroll up a slope somewhere to enjoy the view and get his blood moving before the day’s work assembling and calibrating the measuring equipment .

Steve Murphy looked around him. To the East and West were the Himalayas stretching in folds and crests hundreds of kilometres in each direction. The sun shone on the snow that cascaded down rock faces and glaciers from the myriad summits that peeked from the thick white cloud that raced across the sky. Only by the spring haze dulled its brilliant blue as it waited for the summer monsoon rains to cleanse the air and green the slopes and valleys again. To the north was the vast expanse of the Tibetan plateau, an average elevation exceeding 4,500 metres (14,800 ft) above sea level. Rows and rows of peaks, valleys, and glaciers, with rivers snaking in between as they slowly made their across the plateau and then down into China, India, Bangladesh, Laos and Vietnam. Somewhere, about 80 kilometres south amongst a jumble of peaks, was the mountainous border with India. South west was Nepal, it’s border with Tibet formed by several of the highest peaks in the world including the mighty Mount Everest, the holy mountain the Tibetans revered as Chomolongma.

The scientists’ camp, a distant collection of dark green and white dots down below, was at 5000m. When he chose the site the Prof had joked it was almost like a base camp for one of the big peaks.

The ridge they stood on was at 6200 metres. He and Bill had camped nearby the previous weekend at the Prof’s insistence.. Just like an advanced base camp he had said. The Prof liked to spend his weekends playing mountain climber and Steve had become his climbing partner when most of the others sensibly decided 5000 metres was more than enough to get the lungs burning and the pulse racing. Not to mention the pounding headaches, dehydration and the simple to struggle to do ordinary tasks at this altitude. Steve had agreed with them after the first weekend out above 6000m but after this last one, their third, had felt himself acclimatising to the thin air. Keeping up with the ‘mountain goat’, as they referred the Prof to behind his back, was getting easier.

Twenty metres down the slope Valerie Garcia Alonzo stood bent over with her hands on her knees, gasping for breath.  “¡Santo dios!” she whispered to herself. Holy God. She looked up at Steve. Wisps of her thick shoulder length black hair peeped from under the woollen hat she wore. Her eyes were covered by an outsize pair of sunglasses, the brown frames matching her tanned olive skin. The glasses were more suited to downtown Boulder, Colorado than Tibet MM had told her. ‘What do you know about fashion?’ she had retorted. Nothing much, he had to admit. He swung his small back pack off his shoulders and pulled out a bottle of water. He took a swig and walked down toward her, heavy hiking boots crunching on the stones and dust of the exposed ground of the ridge top.

“How’s the altitude?” he said grinning. He extended the water bottle toward her.

She grabbed the bottle from his hand without straightening up and gulped. Drips spilled onto the dry ground. After several more swallows she finally found her voice. “Terrible.” she said. She took another swig from the bottle and gingerly stood up. The burning in her lungs had receded but the throbbing pain in her head persisted. “I’m going to kick your gringo butt when I get enough oxygen in my body to actually do it.” She paused and breathed deeply. “I don’t how you and the Prof can possibly enjoy this.”

Steve’s grin widened and his blue-grey eyes flashed behind his sunglasses. “Practice mate. And you can’t argue with the view.” Steve pulled off a glove with his teeth and dipped his hand into his bag again and pulled out a pair of binoculars. He slung them around his neck. He shouldered the bag once more and grasped Valerie by the elbow. “Come on let’s see what we can see from up there.” She slowly walked with him, leaning on his arm to help her reach the top.

Steve panned the binoculars slowly around the slopes of the mountains around them. Nothing. A few straggly blades of grass in the valleys where there was running water. No animals, no herders and their tents. And no Prof.

Where are you?

Silence.

He pulled binoculars over his head and handed them to Valerie. “You have a look. Maybe I’m missing something.” He pulled off his woollen hat and ran his hand through his brown hair. He stepped a few paces away from Valerie and sat down on the ground, drank some water and stared back down the trail towards the camp. They’d checked all of the Prof’s normal walking tracks, including this, the highest one. And he never went this high on short walks. But there was no sign of him anywhere.

Valerie finished her scan of the surrounding terrain. “Nothing.” She dropped the binoculars from her eyes and retrieved her sunglasses from her pocket and put them on. She handed the binoculars back to Steve. “I think we are looking in the wrong place.”

Steve glanced at her and frowned as he stuffed the binoculars in this bag. “What do you mean?”

“He’s obviously not out here. You said he never comes this far normally. And even if he stopped to rest or twisted his ankle or something we would have seen him, yes?” Steve nodded slowly, a line formed between his brows as he tried to guess where her words were heading. “So I think we need to look down there.” His eyes followed her pointing arm. “Back at the camp. He was there last night. We all saw him go to his tent. Then this morning he was gone. It’s weird that he left his phone behind. There must be something else there to tell us what happened.”

Steve tilted his head to the side for a moment. “I felt sure he’d be out here somewhere just walking.”

Valerie shrugged. “We’ve searched and there’s no sign of him.”

He nodded “All right. We’ll go back and look around the camp.”

She grinned, her full lips turning up at the ends. “And no more climbing, ok?”

He returned her smile and nodded. He put his arms through the straps of the bag and waved her ahead of him down the slope. “After you. I hope you’re right.” He looked around at the slopes on either side of them one more time and shook his head. Where the heck are you?

In answer, there was only the wind, the mountains, and silence.

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To be continued…

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ANNOUNCEMENT:  Founders House Publishing have released the anthology:

After Oil 2: The Years of Crisis

The anthology includes my story Promised Land. Part of my North Queensland Trilogy.

"Founders House is happy to announce that the latest collection of science fiction stories in the ongoing After Oil series is available.

After Oil 2: The Years of Crisis - Edited by John Michael Greer

John Michael Greer, author and host of the popular weekly peak-oil blog, The Archdruid Report, returns with another collection of twelve tales of the post-oil future. As Industrial civilization staggers beneath its myriad disfunctions, ordinary people  endure the long, slow decline that shapes the years of crisis. The old world passes away an a new age takes shape."

The anthology is available now in various formats from Founders House Publishing.

The first anthology: After Oil: SF Visions of a Post-Petroleum World, is available from the publishers, Amazon (Amazon) or, in Australia, from Fishpond (Fishpond).

MORE STORIES....

Borderline - A border guard in the Himalayas dreams of following in his grandfathers footsteps...
The Chief Inspector - An awkward tension builds between a stressed police inspector and his new assistant...

Under Development - A young idealist hunts for international development work in China. (6 parts)

The Nature of Love - A couple in love enjoy a day out in nature but something is amiss...
 

My Crazy China Trip - (Humour) A novice traveller gets more than he bargains for during 15 days in China. (10 Parts)
 

Love at First Flight - A foreign teacher arrives in China and falls in love with a local, but the path of true love is anything but smooth. (5 parts)

Trial by Fire - When a woman in Tibet self-immolates two witnesses face a dangerous dilemma.  (4 parts)

Arrested Development - A development consultant in China finds life getting out of control. [Rated R]  SHORTLISTED for the Lord Grimdark Award. See the list here.

Beijing Private Eyes - Drama, Romance, Karaoke, Kidnap!   A foreign teacher in Beijing meets an attractive stranger and offers to help, then things get complicated. (A long story in 8 parts)

Tell him he's dreaming - An engineer has an environmental epiphany but things don't work out as planned.  GAINED 5th PLACE in the New Zealand Writers College Short Story competition. See the list of finalists here. 

 

Entries in the post-industrial / peak oil short story competition:
My story 'Promised Land' has been selected for the forthcoming anthology "After Oil 2: The Years of Crisis".  You can read the other entries here.

A previous set of stories was published in 2012 in a book entitled After Oil: SF Visions of a Post-Petroleum World, available from Amazon (Amazon) or in Australia from Fishpond (Fishpond).

Stories set in China:

Winds of Change –  In 2022 a migrant worker struggles to realise his dreams and fulfil his family obligations.

Outside In – It's 2050, the country and economy have changed. A recycler studies for an exam to improve his prospects, and an indentured servant plans her escape.

Seeds of Time – (Sequel to Outside In). In 2055 rural China prospers again after a period of dramatic changes, then things are complicated by a strange visitor and a hidden object.

Stories set in Australia: A North Queensland Trilogy

Robots on Mars – 2025. A space-mad city boy adjusts to life in the country and tries to solve a mystery.    (Note: no actual robots or Martians involved)

Promised Land – (Sequel to Robots on Mars). It’s 2050 and development threatens the rural district. Is it what they really need and if not, how can they stop it?

Heart of Glass - (Sequel to Promised Land). The year is 2099, high school graduates prepare to step into adulthood and the community prepares to celebrate the turn of a new century. 

Tell me what you think.  Constructive comments welcome.