He now approached the cliff. Up ahead, the slope rose sharply and the trees became more sparse. His view of it quickly became clear. Near the top of the cliff, as the slope became vertical, there were only a handful of trees, that had somehow managed to grow from ledges that stuck out. The snow gave way to ice, and even that became patchy, so he would have to select his path carefully.
These strange cliffs had appeared in the earlier missions, and were one of the game’s new features. Zak was sure that they were not a barrier, but a challenge. They had all tried several times to make it over, but without success. The cliffs jutted out a little at the top, which meant that even if they had enough speed to reach the top, they were propelled away from the cliff. It seemed that no amount of acrobatics could prevent them from crashing back into the forest below. The others had concluded it was impossible to make it over. But Zak had realised that as they tried to twist around to get over the cliff, the jets were pushing them further away. His solution was to control the jets.
Zak quickly selected the route he was going to take up the icy slope. He slotted his rifle back into its holder, and crouched down. The slope became steeper, but he raced up it without losing any speed. It continued to rise, and soon became vertical. He kept to the ice, and his velocity propelled him up the cliff-face.
As he neared the top he could feel his speed dropping, as gravity began to overpower both the force of the jets and his momentum. He was now facing up into the sky, and travelling a path that disappeared ahead of him. From his perspective, the lip of the cliff looked like a tiny ramp. He tried to maintain a mental image of what he was going to do.
He reached the top faster than he remembered. He flew into the air above the cliff, but guided away from it by the lip.
‘Off!’ he shouted. The jets extinguished on his command. All he could see was sky, but he carried out his plan. He pulled himself round in a backward somersault. First the forest came into upside-down view. Then, as he became upright again, the cliff emerged. It seemed miles away, but critically, much closer than ever before. He was still rising, and quite high above the edge.
