A Weekend in 2461 (Novella) Zhang Baotong 2018.9.11

He Jia didn't sleep well because Li Mingxiu was by his side last night, and he didn't sleep long in the car during the day, and after coming to Kathmandu, he was busy with the physical examination and review procedures, and he didn't have time to sleep, so he lay down on the bed and fell asleep quickly. He slept from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. before waking up, and he never dozed off again. But he lay still in bed, waiting for Geeta to wake him up at eight o'clock.

However, it is very painful and difficult for a person to lie in bed when he is not sleeping. He watched as the sky outside his window slowly turned from white to black. It wasn't until it was completely dark that he waited until Geeta came and woke him up. Geeta took him to the restaurant on the first floor to eat. The restaurant is brightly lit and has four or five dining tables that can accommodate about 30 people at a time. But at this time, only Lee Myung-so and four or five other foreigners were eating in the restaurant. Because it is the off-season for mountaineering, April and May are the golden season for mountaineering.

For dinner, beef porridge, chestnut steak and stewed soft-shelled turtle are served, and the dishes are also very large. He Jia ate the meal hard. Li Mingxiu couldn't finish eating at all, and there was still some leftover. After eating, Geeta called them to a training room and began to hand them out a hiking guide, explaining them one by one. These are the technical and physical rules that must be followed during the climb. This includes the use of animal batteries in winter clothing, how to save energy, and when to consume beef jerky and coca leaves. As biologists, both He Jia and Li Mingxiu know that coca leaf has been regarded as a "holy grass" by the PaleoIndians for thousands of years, and chewing coca leaf can refresh the mind, eliminate fatigue, and increase physical strength, and is also used to keep out the cold, cure diseases, and reduce stomach cramps, rheumatism, headaches and other discomforts. Especially when mountaineering, mountain sickness can also be mitigated and eliminated.

At nine o'clock, Tenzin came and took the two of them to a large preparation room. The preparation room is huge, like a big warehouse. There are dozens of large tables in the warehouse, and on each table is a complete set of climbing equipment. Tenzin, under the supervision of Gitta, followed a checklist and prepared for them. He first put on a cold-proof suit for He Jia, which had an oxygen mask and protective goggles, as well as a warm animal battery. There are two of them, one on the winter jacket and the other as a backup. An animal battery weighs about half a kilogram, but it can provide ten hours of heat for a winter suit. In addition, there is half a kilogram of beef jerky, half a kilogram of chocolate, a small packet of coca leaves, a bottle of powerful nutrient solution and a two-kilogram oxygen cylinder, and finally a garbage collection bag. All of them add up to more than five kilograms.

Prepare He Jia and Lee Myung-so, and Tenzin also prepared for himself. When everything was ready, Geeta led the three of them to a small room at the back of the building. The small room resembles a small temple with a small Buddha statue in it. Geeta asked the three of them to bow down to the small Buddha statue and pray to the Buddha god to bless the three of them with safety and success. Out of the small temple, I came to a tarmac at the back of the building. A helicopter with a capacity of seven or eight people was roaring, and the propellers were spinning rapidly.

The three of them got into the helicopter, and the helicopter pilot closed the hatch. The plane began to take off, heading into the depths of the night. Soon you will see the peaks hidden in the night, and they are very tall. The planes flew between the peaks, constantly rising. In just ten minutes, the plane flew to the bottom of a big mountain, from which you can see the tall and mysterious Mount Everest in front of you, as if it was only a stone's throw away. Gradually, the plane slowed down and began to land. After a while, the plane landed on a flat ground the size of half a basketball court.

On the side of the flat ground there is a large house made of reinforced concrete, and you can see through a small window that the lights are on. When everyone got off the plane, they heard the sound of the wind blowing in their ears, the wind was not very loud, but it was very cold. Li Mingxiu hugged his arms around his chest and shouted, "My mother, why is it so cold!" He Jia couldn't help but shudder, feeling that his whole body was trembling. Tenzin told them on the plane that the temperature in the camp was minus 30 degrees Celsius, and the temperature on the summit of Mount Everest could be minus 40 degrees.

Tenzin got off the plane and stood on the tarmac observing the sky. He Jia followed Tenzin's side, looking into the distance of the boundless night sky. The night sky was full of stars, and the moon was hiding somewhere. His eyes were obscured by two mountains, one was Mount Everest, which they were going to conquer, and the other was another mountain that he didn't know about. The huge mountain blocked his view in a narrow space. But the weather at this time was still very good, the wind and snow stopped, and the night was peaceful, which gave him a premonition that he could successfully reach the top, so his heart was a little surging, surging with a kind of excited passion.

He knew that this was the assault camp where they had reached the top, about 8,000 meters above sea level. There is only a drop of more than 800 meters from here to the summit of Mount Everest at 8848.43, but it takes about 8 to 9 hours to walk. He was still a little apprehensive at the thought of having to walk for eight or nine hours to reach the top of the mountain, and another six or seven hours to get back to the camp, for he had to walk for fifteen or six hours in a row, because he had never walked such a long journey. The longest seven-hour trip he can remember was his ascent of Mont Blanc in the Western Alps on the border between France and Italy more than a decade ago, the highest peak in all of Europe, at 4,807 meters above sea level. But it is a tourist destination, and the difficulty of climbing the mountain is not great. Compared with the huge and awe-inspiring Mount Everest in front of you, Mont Blanc is really many times inferior.

Tenzin looked around the night for a while and said to He Jia, "The weather is good today, and our ascent to the summit will be relatively smooth." With that, he took He Jia into the big house.

The large house was the command post and base of the assault camp. There is a desk and a few fold-out beds, as well as some amenities for the climb. Two Sherpas at work. One is talking into an electronic screen. Another is giving an infusion to a patient lying on a cot. The patient was apparently also a climber, and it was not known what trouble he was in. There was a large stove in the middle of the room, and the flames were swaying in the stove, which suddenly gave people a sense of warmth and intimacy. Lee Myung-so sat by the fire and roasted the fire. He Jia also sat next to the stove and put her cold hands by the fire. Lee Myung-so said to him, "This place is too cold, much colder than I imagined. ”

He Jia said, "The cold is not the main thing, and when the heater on the cold jacket is turned on, it will warm up." However, it takes eight hours to go up to the top of the mountain, and six hours to go down, do you think you can hold on? If not, you just stay here and wait for us. We'll be back tomorrow at two o'clock in the afternoon. ”

Li Mingxiu hurriedly shook his head and said, "No, I want to be with you." As long as I follow you, I am willing to go wherever I go. ”

He Jia said movingly, "Okay, let's climb to the top together." At the top of the mountain, we got married. ”

Li Mingxiu smiled brightly, "That's what I dreamed of." As he spoke, he put He Jia's hand on his lips and kissed it.