Chapter 17
The sun was high in the sky when Mark Sr arrived at the dig site as plumes of dust kicked up from every foot fall. He was checking on the progress of the excavation into the cavern where the machine was, after a month of digging they had only made it ten feet down and Mark was needed at his New York headquarters for a high level meeting on a property he had been working on acquiring for more than a decade. He had found an uninhabited island in the Pacific, far enough away from the mainlands of Central America for his company to safely develop and test new technology for the US military. The looming meeting was the final cog in the brand new HGH Defense division and despite his interest in the developments with Parallax, his presence was required.
“What’s taking so long?” Mark Sr demanded.
“Well sir,” Victor Reyes started, “we’ve been having mechanical troubles.”
Victor Reyes had been owner of Reyes of Sunshine Construction, an international mega firm handling projects ranging from skyscraper buildings to hydro-electric power plants when he met Mark Sr for the first time in his early twenties. His firm had contracted to build the HGH Global building that now served as Mark’s headquarters building, his company managed to finish the project ahead of schedule and under budget, impressing Mark Sr’s father so much that he bought the company, keeping Victor to run the new division of Halvorsen Global. It took a million and half dollars a year salary to make it happen, but his division had averaged more than quadruple that in added revenue’s in return.
“I thought you picked up new machines for this one?” Mark replied.
“That’s what’s puzzling sir,” Victor began, “the new ones don’t work! Pardon the phrase sir, but theres some weird shit going on down there.”
“What do you mean?” Mark was expecting some issues but his surprise was written on his face.
“Take that CAT over there,” Victor pointed across the site to a brand new excavator, “That was the first one that got delivered. Sales office said it was tested but had less than a hundred hours on it, brand new right?” he paused as he shrugged. “The minute the bucket broke the dirt everything went pear shaped on us.”
“Pear shaped?” Mark Sr laughed.
“The cab went haywire, panels and gages flashing like they were possessed or something.” Victor continued, “The bucket dug itself full depth and the thumb slammed down, locked itself into the ground and the damn thing started lifting its tracks!”
“What?”
“Like it was possessed I tell you!” Victor laughed, “Honestly I have never seen anything like it, as soon as the ground broke the hoe slammed back down and snapped a track. We got that fixed, ran the hoe around the yard, dug here and there…” he paused to make eye contact, “worked perfectly, so we went back into the hole.”
“Let me guess,” Mark Sr said grimly, “it happened again, right?”
“You got it boss!” Victor shrugged again, “We tried over and over with different machines, every time we break the surface the electronics go bonkers.”
“How are they working?” Mark Sr pointed to the two beat up bulldozers that were scraping the dirt far enough away for the excavators to move without issues.
“Those?” Victor wrinkled his forehead. “Those monsters aren’t electronic! I had to search to find anything old enough to be pre-ECU,” he paused as soon as he realized that Mark Sr didn’t understand the term, “Electronic Control Unit, it’s what runs the whole damn thing nowadays. Sensors on the bucket, the arm, the tracks, everything. No sir, those two machines were built in the sixties, totally analog and they still die out about every five passes.”
“What,” Mark asked, “how?
“Not sure, but the engine floods and vapor locks all at the same time.” Victor explained, “Fuel pump just goes nuts,” Victor explained. “It’s completely mechanical so we can’t figure out what to do, but it creates a high-pressure vacuum lock on the supply rail out of nowhere—like the tank is trying to pull the diesel backward while the plungers force it forward. Kills the flow completely. The engine stalls, the lines vapor-lock, and we have to drop everything.”
Victor spat into the dust and gestured to a mechanic leaning over one of the open engine bays. “So every twenty minutes, the boys are out there cracking line nuts with a wrench, manually bleeding air off the injectors, and cranking the hand primer to get fuel flowing again, it’s why we run em in pairs.”
“And you can’t fix it?” Mark asked, watching the heavy smoke trail from the working dozer.
“Fix it?” Victor scoffed. “There’s nothing broken to fix! We have to pull the side panels, break the line fittings, bleed the air out, and hand-prime the system just to clear the block. Takes fifteen minutes of wrenching for five minutes of scraping. So we stagger ’em. One’s making a pass while the mechanics are bleeding the other one out.”
“What can we do Victor, I need this done. Whatever you need, just let Dominic know and he’ll have it here.”
“You got it boss!” Victor smiled, “What’s the budget?”
“If this turns out the way I believe it will,” Mark Sr smiled, “we won’t have to worry about budgets ever again. You will have whatever it takes.”
“Thank you sir.” The two men shook hands as Mark Sr turned to go.
On his way to the airport Mark Sr called Sam to check on her teams progress. Sam, Sophia and Victor had been planning to join Gideon and his team in the back country hike to the headwaters of Muddy Creek where the mineral deposit was supposed to be located. They had booked an enormous Chinook twin rotor helicopter to ferry them and all of the supplies to the Hidden Splendor Airstrip where they would construct a base camp to run the explorations from.
“Mark’s got our supply orders set for delivery tomorrow,” Sam explained, “we’ll load it straight onto the helicopter, do final checks and head out hopefully before lunch time. I will keep you posted on progress once we get there.”
“Thank you Samantha.” Mark Sr’s disembodied voice rang from her phone speaker. “I wish I could have accompanied your team, sounds like it’ll be a fun trip despite the work.”
Sam laughed into her phone, “Nothing I love more than cowboy camping in the back country, but this won’t be a vacation trip for any of us. It’s gonna be rugged getting through those box canyons and up to the high country.”
As the helicopter made its first approach the view was spectacular even through the small windows in the passenger and cargo hold of the twin rotor Chinook aircraft. The peaks of the hogbacks looked like red fingers of stone stretching toward the sky as though trying to claw at the clouds themselves. The airstrip was nothing more than a ribbon of dirt and gravel etched into the top of the red rock plateau like a friendly face waiting to greet new friends. They flew low over the plateau as the pilot surveyed the landing zone debating how best to set the massive helicopter on the ground.
“Alright everyone,” the pilots voice crackled over the PA system, “We’re too heavy for a typical helicopter landing, so we’re coming in for a rolling landing to take advantage of the extra lift we will need. Please make sure your seatbelts are securely fastened, we’ll be on the ground momentarily.”
The helicopter slid over the edge of the plateau, clearing it by mere feet as the pilot lined up the wheels on the runway. The first touch was bumpy as the wheels slammed against the ground, a moment later the second touch down and the team felt the enormous machines brakes lock down on the wheel bringing the massive cargo to a stop.
As the rotors wound down the pilots voice rang out again and the cargo door started opening.
“All safe to unload” the pilot announced.
“Thanks for the ride.” Gideon shouted into the cockpit.
“If anything goes wrong I can have a medivac up here in a half hour,” the pilot began, “but if you guys need to exfil before the schedule I’ll need a day’s notice.”
“Affirmative, thanks again.” Gideon turned to join his team unloading, “fly safe!”
Garret had already climbed onto the skid lift and was dragging the pallets full of equipment and supplies out the back of the aircraft, Rachel gave directions and coordinated the rest of the team as they unpacked and began the sorting process.
“You six on tents,” Rachel said as she gave out assignments, “Bull, you and Reef get on ground prep. Everyone else can start unpacking, line everything out over here,” she walked over near the edge of the mesa as she pointed, “sleeping tents along the outside with the back facing the cliffs, this side will be the mess tent, infirmary and finally the field office here.”
She had instructed them to set up the camp about a hundred yards from the middle of the airstrip, far enough to avoid prop wash from landing aircraft, yet close enough to limit the haul with any equipment they might need in the future. The next five hours were spent sorting tent poles and stretching canvas, finishing the buildings just before sunset when the generators would be needed. Dinner was simple the first night, military issue MRE’s accompanied by lukewarm water, still a welcome comfort after the days labor, after which everyone gathered in the field office tent for a planning meeting.
“Coffee.” Sam handed Mark Jr the first cup from the pot as she reached for another empty cup to fill. “It’s tradition for my team,” she announced, “to toast any new field office before we start working. Kinda our way of offering thanks for the discoveries and research opportunities the new office will afford.”
“Didn’t take you for the religious type.” Garret laughed as he took his cup.
“Religious?” Sophia scoffed. “Absolutely not! We are mostly agnostic, most scientists are.”
“There’s a higher power,” Victors accent was thick with weariness, “we just all agreed that it’s not worth our time to figure it out ‘cause it wont change anything if we do, so we focus on the things we can change. The science of the world.”
“So we offer thanks,” Sam jumped in to finish the sentence, “to whatever or whomever that higher power is.”
“To the discovery of an undiscovered new element,” Mark Jr raised his cup, “and to whatever advancements those discoveries lead us to. We give thanks!”
“Hear, hear!” the chorus of cups clinking together echoed out the door and drifted across the mesa.
The cool night time air drifted in through the open door of the tent, bringing with it the sharp resinous tang of the juniper and sage that was crisp and bone dry from being baked in the high desert sun all afternoon. It almost felt like the open door was vacuuming the sound right out of the tent as night fell, leaving only the faint hum of the generator motor intruding on the serenity of the moment. Above the mesa the Milky Way stretched impossibly far into the blackness of space, swirling with purples, blues and reds as the galaxy twisted and spun its breathtaking display through the night. Below, just beyond the edge of the mesa… Nothing! The inky blackness soaked into the landscape, stealing light from anything that might have the audacity to make the desolate canyon country home.
The peaks blurred into the distance, skirted by the abyssal depth of the mountain range as it swallowed the darkness in a single bite. Inside the tent the team gathered, sipping fresh hot coffee and organizing sensor arrays, computers and various work stations as they talked about the coming mission. The days to come would be spent traversing impossible ridge lines, navigating endless slot canyons that filled with rushing water with every monsoon season and picking their way around the inconceivable number of potholes and keeper pools that threatened to trap anything unfortunate enough to get into one of them. The final destination, a small circle of land near the beginnings of Muddy Creek, far up on the plateau above the washed out canyon floors.
“Three days is all we should afford for recon.” Gideon decided. “After that we need to get moving or we will miss our deadline.”
“Agreed.” Sam announced. “We use the drones to find the best trail, but Thursday morning we head out, no matter what. Sound good?”
“Sounds like a solid plan.” Rachel smiled.
“The drone’s always been my favorite part anyway!” Jaxson laughed.
The team stayed up late discussing the mission, the gateway machine and the new technology with the enthusiasm of a school aged child. Morning however came early and entirely unbidden, indicated by the crowd of zombie-like faces that gathered around the coffee pot before the sun even began to streak the sky. By the time light finally did begin to grace the landscape the team had already finished breakfast and was gathered outside the field office tent for the morning planning meeting.
“Good morning everyone.” Gideon naught through his bleary eyes as he pointed everyone’s focus toward a stack of larch black plastic cases. “We have twelve of our drones, retrofitted with the optics upgrades and connectivity afforded by Sophia’s goggles.” He paused as he looked at the four scientists, “You four have never flown drones like these but I assume you have drone piloting experience?”
“We use drones frequently, both above ground and in caving expeditions.” Mark Jr pointed at Victor, “But he’s our only experienced pilot, the rest of us are typically just support and analysis.”
“Good!” Jaxson laughed, “Easier to teach it right than to unteach bad rabbits.”
“Jaxson is our drone specialist,” Gideon said as he stepped aside and invited Jaxson to the center, “I will let him take over from here.”
“You guys are gonna love these things!” Jaxson excitedly started snapping two foot long propeller arms onto the large octagon shaped control unit. “We call ‘em spiders,” he laughed, “eight arms. Normally they are equipped with a decently heavy weapons payload, but those are interchangeable with the upgraded surveillance package. The controls are pretty much just like a regular helicopter,” he turned the empty case on its side, opened it and turned a knob in the bottom. He folded out a platform and snapped into the other half before attaching a joystick and throttle slider to the new surface. “Everyone come around this side, the video screens are mounted inside the case.”
“You could set this up anywhere you go and all you’d have to do is backpack this thing in, huh?” Sophia nearly whispered it.
“That is exactly what it is designed for Soph,” Jaxson smiled, “and we have many times. The battery life is eight hours flight time or twenty hours stationary hover, but it varies depending on flight path, elevation and wind and such so keep a close eye on your gages. They have an automatic return home feature, when the drone detects that it has only enough power to return home it ceases controls and flies to wherever the case is located. The case is solar power,” he unclipped the outside panel and folded it up to reveal a set of high capacity solar panels, “specially designed by HGH themselves, these panels operate above ninety-five percent efficient so it still works on cloudy days. If you will all put on your goggles and enter the AR flight environment please, thanks to Sophia’s genius we all now have something new to learn.”
Jaxson pulled his goggles over his eyes and clicked the virtual file in his HUD as he clicked the power button on the drone, the cameras whirred to life as his HUD changed views.
“As yo can see,” He continued, “you can switch from augmented reality where you see everything around you as well as the drone camera view or to full virtual reality where you will see only what the drone sees with a dashboard showing all the technical information you need. Change to the VR mode for this first flight, you’re going to love it!”
Jaxson powered up the rotors on the drone and in a cloud of dust it slowly lifted off the ground. The view in everyone’s HUD’s cleared as the aircraft lifted itself higher into the sky, resolving to show the splendor that surrounded the San Rafael Reef’s jagged red rock fins as they clawed at the morning sky for that first taste of warmth from the rising sun. As the beauty stretched out beneath them the top half of the screen filled with the endless stretches of sky, dark and distant to the west and streaked with blindingly glorious hues of pink as the sun raced its chariot into position to begin the new day.
“As you can see,” Jaxson smiled, “full VR mode is preferable. I have control, but if you will change to AR mode so you can see me as well.” He paused to let everyone make the adjustment, “Watch the camera view as I turn my head.”
He turned his head from one side to the other then up and down and the camera view changed to show wherever he was looking without changing the direction of flight for the drone.
“It’s just like piloting an actual helicopter,” he continued, “not a video game. The aircraft goes whatever direction the stick tells it to, your view changes with the turn of your head as though you were sitting in the cockpit. If you are a gamer it takes adjustment, but it makes the aircraft more effective.” He paused as he looked at Sophia, “As the chief drone pilot, I can’t thank you enough for this upgrade.”
Sophia smiled shyly, “We share what we have for the benefit of the entire team.”
“Well,” Jaxson smiled, “I am glad I’m on your team love. Now,” he landed the drone and slide the next case out onto the table, “anyone pay enough attention when I assembled the first one to give it a try?”
Sam and Mark Jr both raised their hands waving off the offer, but Sophia perked up at the opportunity.
“May I?” she asked as she crossed to the table.
Sophia deftly unclipped the latches on the case, her eidetic memory already running through the steps Jaxson had taken with the first drone. She lifted the body out of the case and carefully attached the camera array to the bottom before snapping the arms into place and attaching the landing struts. Sophia carefully set the assembled drone on the ground and swiftly assembled the control center in the case.
“Perfect!” Jaxson exclaimed.
“Don’t let her fool you,” Sam laughed, “her eidetic memory and attention to detail has earned her more degrees than most people I know, including myself!”
“It does help.” Sophia smiled proudly. “But I’m afraid my advantage ends here, I have very little flight time even on our small drones.”
“Well let’s see what you can do,” Gideon assured her, “it’s easier than you think. These aircraft are extremely responsive, move the stick gently and make sure you don’t over correct out of reflex. Start by just lifting off hover at about fifty feet then land, you’re in training mode so the drone will keep you from crashing automatically.”
Sophia gently slid the throttle up and the drone responded as the rotors whined to life.
Straight up, perfect hover then a gentle perfect landing.
“See!” Gideon clutched her shoulder firmly, “Easy as eating cake. Now take it for a real spin! You’re still in training mode, so it will keep itself from crashing. Take control, drop off the edge of the mesa and move around the canyons. I want to see you maneuver a little.”
Sophia flew the drone over the edge, tipping it into a full power dive as the sheer face of the cliff raced passed in her HUD. As the drone reached the bottom she pulled back on the stick and aimed the drone down through a chute at breakneck speed. Herr HUD exploded with light as the iron shot from the chute and into an wide flat bottomed slot canyon, it’s red rock walls blurring with speed. The drone rocketed through the canyons beautifully skimming the floor where it had been washed smooth by the last monsoon to flood the area then she shot skyward, did a wide circle around the entire area and returned to a perfect landing.
“You child,” Gideon announced proudly, “are a natural!”