In very little time the Retros team had reached the small creek, wadded through the waist high water, and shortly stood upon the opposite shore.
Geric looked back in the direction of the distant Checkpoint and spotted another team heading in their direction. "It Looks like Derinshal Academy has left the Checkpoint. We'd best get up this slope before they get here." Geric said as he focused again on the near vertical wall of dirt and rock before him.
"Let's use our ropes." The deep base voice of Ronnu rang out clearly, causing the entire team to turn and look in surprise at the tallest member of the Retros team.
Ronnu was the same age as Abey. He excelled both academically and physically in various sports and the Keepers. Most people believed that the tall powerfully built Talist boy was overly shy or had some problem interacting with crowds. But Abey knew differently. She and Ronnu played on the Academy's Capital Stand team together. They had spent houras in practice and traveling around planet Nearous and to the Federations other two star systems for Academy competitions. She had learned that he wasn't shy.
Abey had come to know that Ronnu's thinking was more advanced than all of their peers. He found conversations with his fellow students to be tedious. After she had began to understand how far advanced he was, she was surprised to discover how happy it made her to know that Ronnu seemed to enjoy talking with her, and over time she had learned a great deal from him.
"What do you mean, Ronnu?" Abey asked him while immediately removing her backpack and unslinging her survival rope because she knew if he had an idea, she had best be ready to act upon it.
Ronnu stood tall, not taking his eyes from the face of the slope as he spoke to the team. "The surface of this slope is nearly the consistency of sand after so many teams have climbed its face. I suggest that we take our strongest members and in descending order of strength, we bind ourselves together in two groups. We can use the combined strength of the team to quickly scale the slope and be on our way."
Carlo gave the slope a calculated appraisal before turning his attention back to Ronnu. Without saying a word he followed Abey's example and removed the survival rope from his backpack as well.
Ronnu and Carlo, being the strongest team members were the lead climbers for both teams. The students quickly determined the remaining order for each group and bound themselves together, leaving enough slack between one another for safety.
Ronnu and Carlo seemed to attack the slope, the ground underneath their feet and hands shifted and in a few places they would sink to the tops of their ankles in the loose dirt. Nothing deterred them in their climb.
The value of Ronnu's accurate assessment was quickly realized as the entire Retros team stood atop the slope looking down into a fog shrouded and sparsely vegetated jungle like valley on the opposite side of the slope. In the distance the students could make out a vast lake that stretched to the horizon.
Little time was wasted looking at the view as the team knew the Academy's behind them were fast approaching, and those teams ahead of them were increasing their lead with each moment.
