Transmission Lost by Stefan Mazzara

out.
    “I'll find the path,” Jack reminded her. “I'll try not to lead us on a bad one. We have to do this, remember?” Turning away from her he continued climbing, going up.
    Before long they reached the rock wall. At Aria's insistence, Jack spent some time seeing if he could pick a way around, but after trying several promising paths that ended up dead ends, he reported that they would have to climb.
    “Very well...” Aria shivered a little, and Jack could see the shadows of fear on her face. “If we must, we must...”
    Nodding, Jack took the first step. As much as Aria he wasn't looking forward to making the climb without ropes, or even chalk to dust his hands with, but there was nothing for it. He surveyed the rock in front of him, and a few feet above his head he saw a suitable handhold. Reaching for it, he grabbed it and pulled himself up. His foot found a hold as well, and he started climbing. Looking down, he saw Aria hesitate for a few moments and then follow him. She had an advantage over him: her tough claws served as makeshift crampons, giving her something she could fall back on should she not be able to find a good hand- or foothold right away.
    Jack was definitely starting to sweat, now. The sun was higher in the sky, and he was exerting himself far more than before. He had to frequently wipe his hands on his fatigue jacket to keep them from getting too slick. He reflected that as annoying as the sweat was, at least it helped to keep him cool. With a random thought, Jack wondered how Aria was feeling. She was covered in fur, and if the Ailian body worked anything like Earth felines, she probably didn't sweat. Casually, Jack glanced down, looking at Aria.
    Surprised, he saw that it looked like she did sweat, at least a little bit. Her orange fur was slightly matted where it showed. Jack stifled a childish giggle as he saw that she was also panting, kind of like how a dog would. She noticed him staring and growled, then looked down behind her and squeaked in terror, quickly looking back up with her eyes wide.
    “Come on, Aria,” Jack called. “I think I see a ledge a few meters above us. Just a few more minutes of climbing and then we can take a rest.”
    “A-Alright.”
    Jack continued his climb, his arms and legs aching from the effort. He was starting to see the benefit of Aria's pushiness. In just two weeks of almost nonstop traveling across the planet, he was already feeling as though he was in better shape. He was sure that if he'd had to do this from the beginning, he wouldn't have been able to climb this high.
    With one final reach, Jack's hand found the ledge he'd been aiming for. Hauling himself up, he rolled onto the relatively flat ground, breathing hard. A minute or so later Aria's hand appeared, scrabbling around for purchase on the ledge, and she climbed up beside him. As soon as she was up, she scrambled as far away from the edge as she could, pressing her back tight against the mountainside. Jack moved to sit next to her, and he took a long drink from his canteen.
    “See? That wasn't so bad, was it?” Jack lightly elbowed Aria in the side.
    The taller female looked down at him, gritting her teeth. “Shut...up...,” she gasped out between pants. “Is not funny. Not like climbing.”
    “You're doing okay. Besides...” Jack crawled to the edge, gazing over. “Look at how high we've climbed already. I bet we're halfway up this mountain already.” Indeed, Jack was surprised how high they'd gone. From where they'd begun ascending the rock wall it looked as though they'd covered slightly over a kilometer. The trees down below, as tall as they appeared from the ground, looked like little more than fuzzy toothpicks.
    At his suggestion that she look, Aria shook her head emphatically. “Not look. If I look, I be sick.” She rested her head back against the rock, laying a hand across her face. “Not want to climb anymore...”
    “Well, we can't go back down,” Jack pointed out.