It was like the airplane shot up and away from me at the same instant and I was falling toward blackness devoid of all light. There was no real sense of falling, but I plummeted like a stone, head down and my arms by my sides to streamline my body and cut down on wind resistance. From this altitude the surface could have been the fathomless depths of an ocean, but I was streaking toward a different kind of sea. The undulating blackness was the uppermost canopy of trees clinging to the slopes of the Cordillera mountain range, a spur of the Andes.

I’d made many HALO jumps in the past but all of them at least five years ago. The high-altitude, low-opening technique was second nature, though. Rink was right; it was a rush.

I bowed out, spreading my arms and legs, taking up the classic freefall position, checking instinctively the altimeter on my wrist. We’d jumped from just below ten thousand feet, without oxygen, but with obligatory helmet and goggles. Condensation spread across the lenses and I wiped at them with a sleeve. When next I looked at my altimeter it told me that the jungle was rushing up to meet me like an old friend. Off on my left, as if in a synchronized dance, I saw the opening of both my friends’ canopies. I made the double salute position with my arms, signaling deployment, then pulled at my ripcord. The chute unfurled and I felt the tugging of my harness as I caught air under the canopy. I checked that everything was in order with my rig, double-checked, then searched for the landing point.

A flare suddenly burned bright, casting dancing shadows on the trees surrounding a clearing cut out of the forest. I manipulated the guide lines, angling toward the clearing, noting Rink and Harvey already swooping that way. We went into land in an oblique stack, Harvey alighting first with an ease as though he’d simply stepped off a box. Rink needed a couple of running steps before he had full control of his landing, but it was still good for someone who hadn’t jumped in all those years. I also showed my experience, coming down sure-footed as I used the resistance and angle of my chute to bring me to a feather-soft contact with the ground.