The Pass (Wattys 2019)

Chapter Two

The group got a hero's welcome in Sverdlovsk. People filled the train station as they pulled in, cheering for the heroes who had just scaled K2. What's more, they didn't lose a single life on that mountain, no thanks to Metveyev. They were officially the second group of mountaineers to reach the summit of K2, and Nika was the first woman to reach the summit.

Naturally, she was the one that people were focused on: the rest of the people who summited the mountain were just the second group: it didn't matter as much that they were the first Soviets to reach the summit as it did that they were the second group in general to get up there. Nika was different: she was more than just the first Soviet. She was living proof that women could get up those mountains just as well as men. According to Popov and a few others, she was the model Soviet woman: she could pull her weight with the best of them, but was still feminine.

"Looks like your adoring public showed up," Peter joked. "Better make sure you keep those bandages covered: wouldn't want them to see that you're an actual human being."

Nika rolled her eyes, though she knew he was right. According to the brass, they were to refrain from doing anything that was not in line with Soviet ideals: no excessive drinking in public, no crassness in public, and certainly no injuries in public. And that included injuries that had been sustained out in the field, like both of Nika's shoulders.

"Frankly, I'm still annoyed that Kirilov is making me wear these stupid things," Nika said, itching at the scratchy bandages through her shirt. "I'm fine: just a little sore."

Peter raised an eyebrow. "Didn't he say that you pulled muscles trying to save Metveyev? Maybe even tore something?"

"Not a big deal," Nika said. "That doesn't need bandages: all it needs is some bedrest."

Peter shook his head, smirking as he looked out the window. "Only you would say that tearing muscles is a trivial thing. Besides: you and I both know that you're incapable of bedrest."

Kirilov had said something very similar when he'd bandaged her up. "I know you aren't going to listen to me, but when we get back to Sverdlovsk, you have to get some rest. Otherwise, you aren't going to heal, and you're going to have a real hard time going on the next expedition."

"Where do you think we're going next?" Nika asked.

"I think you mean, where are you going next," Peter said. "You and I both know that Popov is going to head to Everest, next: I've heard that the Americans are already planning the trip, in fact."

Nika snorted. "You and I both know that isn't happening: they couldn't get up K2, and they lost four people on top of that. And why do you think Popov isn't going to take you?"

"Because he hates my guts," Peter said as the train stopped. They all got up and grabbed their packs. "He'd be an idiot to not bring you, though. He likes you a hell of a lot more than he likes me, anyway. You're going to be one of the first people on top of Everest, and you'll be the first woman on top of that."

Nika couldn't lie: that all sounded nice. She didn't much care about the recognition and the fame that would come with that feat. What she did care about was what she could do with that recognition. Her family had been impoverished for as long as anybody could remember. When she was growing up and her parents were still living together, her father would go through awful cycles of alcoholism that involved him beating up her mom, and sometimes her and her siblings. They would get sent to live with her mom's parents, out in Nizhnyaya Sinyachikha. Now, her parents were split up, and her mom was poorer than before. She would likely get money and accolades for being the first woman to climb Everest, and she planned to help her mom out with the money, just as she'd promised her before she left for Sverdlovsk to attend the Ural Polytechnic Institute. She and Ilya and Boris, her siblings, had always planned on taking care of their mom, but with all of them in college, it was hard. It wouldn't be a far-off dream, anymore, but only if she could get that fame and glory.