Even above the vast plains, where the wind had free play and the senses were stimulated by the smell of both fear and excitement, the group of bungee jumpers, equipped with their nervous straps, stood at the edge of the jumping plateau, the end of reality and the gateway to the unknown. Their eyes were pinned like needles to the elastium, the powerful but deceptively flexible rope that within moments would embrace them in a dizzying dance with gravity.