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there,” he pointed to the other side of the bridge, “who knows what surprises they have for us?” A couple of our castmates nodded, while he waited for Mike’s response to that.
    “Well, we don’t have much water on Mars. Certainly no free-standing water. But it seems to me that we are on an island. Haven is an island. So if we go down on this side, how are we going to cross the river when the island ends?”
    I felt like an idiot for not realizing that myself. I looked at Hamlin to see how he would take it. He looked back at Mike for a moment, and then, to my surprise, burst out laughing and clapped Mike hard on the shoulder.
    “Well, color me a donderhead.” He laughed, quoting the tag line of Max on Max and the Belles, the long-running, but insanely mind-numbing (to me) holo. At least it was on the same network as Darwin’s Quest , so the producers wouldn’t get upset. “And that is why I suggested we choose a leader after our challenge!”
    Hamlin either was a great actor, or he really did think it was funny. He was still laughing as he carried one end of the rope across the bridge. He didn’t even look around to see if there was anything lying in wait on the other side. He merely tied off the end so it couldn’t fall, then motioned Yash to come over carrying the middle part of the rope with him. The rest of us followed one-by-one until we were all over on the other side. I looked nervously to where I had been killed, just a few meters off the end of the bridge. Maybe it was my imagination, but I thought I could see a faint dark red stain on the ground where the T-Rex had finished me off.
    I was unnerved enough to stay out of the ensuing discussion on how best to get down the cliff. Josh was all for just climbing down freehand. I think some of that was posturing for the cams. Josh probably could do it, and a few others, but not everyone could. He certainly had to have realized that, but with Hamlin slowly taking over, maybe he thought he needed to get our there and start to gain his own viewer following.
    When Mike pointed out that the rope might be useful after we got to the bottom, we compromised and decided that Josh, and Yash, who now also insisted on climbing, would assist the third-to-last of us to descend the cliff, then drop the rope before climbing down freehand.
    We tied one end of the rope off on the bridge support. I wasn’t sure how much good that would do if someone fell. With the standing end secure, if someone fell, they would crash on the rocks below before the running end could arrest their fall. Well, at least we wouldn’t lose the rope, I guessed. The cliff face dropped back under us for about 15 or 20 feet, so when someone started to descend, he or she would be hanging in the air until he or she could get a purchase on the rocks further below and start climbing.
    To my surprise, Gabriel, the kid who had frozen on the bridge, quickly volunteered to be the first one down. Without any way to put together a rappel rig, we decided to tie the running end around his chest and under his armpits, then we would lower him down with Hamlin, Josh, Yash, and me on the rope. After he could start climbing on his own, we would feed out slack as he got further down. That way, we could catch him if he fell. Hamlin, surprise, surprise, took off his shirt, folded it, and put it on the cliff edge, so the rope would be against it and not the rough rocks.
    Yes, Hamlin, we all know you’ve got a great body , I thought with exasperation, despite the fact that the move made sense.
    Gabriel looked terrified, but he dutifully let Bernie tie the rope under his arms. He sat on the edge of the cliff, and looking back at us, he started to slide over. He didn’t weigh much, so there was no problem between the four of us holding him.
    With Josh in the back calling out a cadence, we started to lower him in unison. He had gone down maybe five or ten feet when Lindadawn yelled out.
    “Stop, stop!” she screamed.