When he hopped out of the plane onto the gravel apron, he could see low trees near the airfield and the Wasatch Mountains to his east. Lake Timpanogos was visible to his west. He figured he was standing near where Salt Lake City was situated on Earth. Looking down the runway, he could see a small control tower, and near the base operations were several other small buildings and a hangar. Mindy and Doug were already performing their post-flight check while Kim kept watch, so he joined Kim in serving as the crew’s backup. Soon the two were finished with their inspection and Mindy indicated that they should head to the base operations building.
Bill made sure to stay with the others, all the while spinning his head like a top taking it all in, while simultaneously watching for any threats. He kept the buddy concept firmly entrenched in the fore of his brain, sticking close to Kim.
A couple of men in their late twenties were coming toward the plane from the hangar and met the crew of Z21, rifles slung over their shoulders. Bill took that to mean it was a safe sign. The two were apparently mechanics and had a brief chat with Mindy to ensure all was well with their bird. Mindy let them know everything was running smooth, but the fuel and other onboard items were for the base on Carib, so not to touch anything. She also requested that they top off the tanks for the next leg. They agreed and left to get a fuel truck.
Base Operations was a small but fairly open building, about the size of a small rambler. Inside were the operations center with a large map on the wall, communications, and a combination mess/recreation hall. A basic kitchen was in the back. It was apparent that the base didn’t have a large contingent, based on the amenities.
Two women, one black and one white, were sitting at one of the communications desks. One stood up and came to greet them. She greeted Mindy warmly: “Hey Mind, how’s the wind?” in a strong New York accent.
“Fair as always,” Mindy replied with a smile. She introduced the crew quickly. The woman’s name was Roseanne Williams, and she was the area commander, in charge of all the ground survey crews in the area, along with all personnel involved in supporting the crews from her base.
Mindy asked Doug to open the mail sack, then reached in and pulled out several stacks rubber-banded together. Going through them she found the stack she was interested in and handed them to Williams. “Mail call!” she announced with a grin.
Williams thanked her and set the packet down on a small table. “So, how long you here for?”
“Not long. Just long enough to fuel up, stretch our legs, and then hit the air again,” Mindy replied. “Got anything you want me to carry? I’m heading to Carib.”
Williams shook her head. “If you were heading back to the gate…”
Mindy shrugged.
Out the window, Bill could see the two mechanics fueling the aircraft. After they finished, the crew boarded and got settled in. They were soon back in the air, heading for the next stop along the journey to the Caribbean. Don’t think there’ll be any boat drinks when we arrive, Bill thought as they reached cruising altitude.
18
The next leg of the flight brought them onto the Edwards Plateau of Texas. As they came in for a landing Bill could see the flat land stretch out seemingly forever. The base they landed at was rather spartan, similar to the previous base: a base operations building, a small control tower, a small aircraft hangar, and some limited living and storage buildings.
The sun was low on the horizon when they finally disembarked and made their way to the operations building. Nobody needed to remind anyone else about keeping rifles handy; it was becoming natural to grab one on the way out of the plane.
Once again, Mindy knew the area commander, and handed him the mail stack and requested refueling. She was offered sleeping quarters, but declined them, stating she’d rather keep the crew together on her bird. However, she did ask about showers and supper. Showers were available behind the operations building and supper would be served shortly, with plenty of food for all. The crew gathered their toiletries and towels and went into the showers, which consisted of a simple walled structure with wooden floors and solar-heated water in long black tubes attached to shower heads. As the water supply wasn’t too voluminous, showers were kept short, with a simple rinse, lather, and rinse operation. Bill was beginning to gain a better, more personal understanding of what field conditions were like.
Supper was a hearty stew of imported vegetables, local herbs, and local elk venison, along with freshly baked rolls. “If we were flying up north we’d probably be having bison stew,” Doug told them.
After supper, the crew returned to their craft and spent the night. The next morning they took off early for the leg to the Mississippi River, where they stopped at the base for lunch, to drop off mail, and to get refueled for the next-to-last leg.
By late afternoon they were approaching the base on the west coast of the Florida peninsula, just inside Tampa Bay. By the time they landed and opened the door, the cool air had fled the plane and was replaced with the muggy heat of a south Florida fall day. The heat and humidity reminded Bill of the sweltering week spent in survival training at Yucatan Base. Better get used to it, he thought. Looks like we’ll be in these climes for a while.
A C-123 was parked next to them, with Explorers unloading material. A fuel bladder was on the ground with a hose running from the fuselage of the plane to it. Bill guessed that the bladder was being replenished by spare fuel in the hold of the plane.
After the post-flight inspection and request for refueling, Mindy again led the crew to the base operations building to see about a shower and food. This time, instead of stew, they had grilled fish and tropical fruits to go with the imported vegetables. The grouper was quite tasty, and Bill enjoyed every morsel. There was another white meat he was given, which he at first thought it was chicken. He learned shortly after tasting it that the meat was actually alligator.
The crew from Z21 was seated with the ground crew. The talk around the table that evening centered on a ground crew’s incident with the alligator that was now part of their supper. The Survey Commander, Marcos, a young man of Filipino heritage, explained to them how the alligator had struck out of the bushes and grabbed the Explorer by one leg. Due to the closeness of the crew, and the overwhelming firepower, they were able to unload on the reptile, killing it before it managed to drag the Explorer all the way into the nearby swamp. The wounded man was currently in the base medical clinic stitched up and drugged out, awaiting a flight back to Hayek in the morning. “Looks like we’ll be on a mini-vacation until his replacement arrives.”
Bill had noticed that the majority of the Explorers in the base were of Southeast Asian, central African, or Central American heritage, and he asked about that.
“That’s because we’re actually more adapted to these tropical climates than you white,” the Survey Commander said, laughing. “Think of it, thousands of years of evolution and acclimatization have left us more suitable for warm climates, while you’d do better in a cold climate. Just a factor of evolution.”
Bill wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not but decided to not pursue that line of questioning anymore.
Seeing the expression on Bill’s face, Marcos broke out in laughter. “Sorry, man, but you had it coming.” He explained how it was true that most of them were more suited to the tropics, but that was more a matter of upbringing than evolution. “Heck, we’ve got white guys that grew up in Florida and Louisiana on our teams. They’re just as used to the heat and humidity as me.”
After supper, the crew of Z21 made their way back to the plane. Bill was glad there would be some ventilation there, but he was starting to worry about some of the local fauna. The thought of being an hors d’oeuvre for an alligator wasn’t his idea of a good time. He was wondering how to bring this up to the crew when Kim did. She had apparently been thinking along the same line.
“Only two things we really need to worry about buttoned up but with windows open here,” Mindy said, “skeeters and snakes
. And we’ve got screens, so neither will really be an issue.” Coming from an experienced survey veteran like Mindy, Bill was happy to hear that.
Once in their bunks, the two pilots were out first; their job of flying the plane had been the most taxing, definitely more so than sightseeing or reading. Bill eventually turned off his tablet and went to sleep. Kim’s light was still on, shining through the cracks of her bunk curtain when Bill finally closed his eyes.
As dawn broke, the crew arose, made coffee, and used the lavatory at the base operations building. Breakfast was in the mess hall again, but without the alligator.
While they were eating, they could hear a plane taking off, the C-123. Shortly after that, the ground crew from supper the night before came in, grabbed trays of food, and joined the crew of Z21. Marcos explained that the 123 was taking their wounded compatriot back to Primary Base to be evacuated to Hayek, where he’d wind up in the trauma center on Sacajawea Base. “We think he’ll be able to keep his leg, but we’ll know more when they finish with him,” Marcos said before starting into his own breakfast.
After breakfast, Mindy thanked the area commander for the hospitality, performed the pre-flight inspection with the entire crew, and then loaded them up for the final leg to Carib.
Once they got to altitude, the temperature dropped enough to feel comfortable. While the C-415 could be pressurized, it generally wasn’t for the flights that it was engaged in after crossing the Rocky Mountains. The landscape below them was scattered shrubs and everglades, extending as far as the eye could see. Soon they were approaching the southeast tip of the Florida peninsula and began another over-water flight. This meant putting on inflatable life preservers, which the crew did. As with most things in the Corps, better safe than sorry.
Three hours after taking off Mindy came over the intercom. “Land ho,” she announced. “Mountains on the starboard side.” Bill and Kim went to that side of the plane and looked out the portals to see the Escambray Mountains of Carib poking up from the sea. The island slid by parallel to their flight, and then they approached it on an angle. Bill could see how verdant it was. As they flew over the coastline, he saw coral in the clear waters, and white, unpolluted sandy beaches.
“We should arrive at Carib Base in the next half hour or so,” Mindy announced. “We’ll be crossing the Sierra Maestras shortly. They’re pretty high, so we’ll be going up a bit. And I’m sure we’ll encounter some turbulence, so grab a seat and buckle up.”
Sure enough, as they crossed the mountains the plane bucked and dipped, but nothing too violently. Soon they were over the mountains and approaching a bay that faced south into the Caribbean Sea.
Mindy got on the radio and informed Carib Base they were on approach and requested landing instructions. As usual, they were first in line to land. As a matter of fact (as had happened the entire time they had been flying since Primary Base) they were the only flight in line. Soon they were on the ground and taxiing to the lone hangar. “Welcome home, boys and girls,” Mindy announced. “This’ll be our home for the next couple of months, so let’s make a good impression when we get in there. Don’t want to piss off the locals.”
As soon as the engines were shut down and they were exiting the craft, several Explorers came over to greet them. One was the area commander, a short man of obvious Asian heritage. “Mindy, you old goat. What they doing letting you off the reservation?” he yelled in greeting. The voice was booming and his grin was infectious. He gave Mindy a vigorous hug, pounding her on the back with his hands while she did the same to him.
“Cheng, you crusty old bastard,” she replied. “Ain’t you been killed yet?”
Releasing each other, Mindy introduced Cheng to her crew. Bill learned that Dave Cheng was a former US Marine (”once a Marine, always a Marine, except when you’re an Explorer, and even then…”), of Hmong heritage from Sacramento, California.
“What’d you bring me?” he asked Mindy.
“All sorts of goodies,” she said. “Your wi-fi up and running?” she asked.
“Yep.”
She grabbed her tablet from her cargo pocket, activated it, and asked Cheng where to send the manifest.
Once he got it, Cheng looked at it on his own tablet. Mindy took advantage of the time to do the post-flight inspection. As she was wrapping it up, Cheng said, “Looks good. Let’s unload after lunch.”
Cheng pointed out the various building. Along with the ubiquitous base operations building which housed planning, communications, recreation, and the mess hall, there were several residential cabins, one per crew, along with the shower facilities, latrines containing composting toilets, the hangar, and a supply depot. One small building was designated as the medical clinic, with a red cross painted on it. Bill could even see a small garden that was started, so the Explorers could have something other than frozen, canned, or dehydrated vegetables.
“We’re too far out to rate a real doctor, but we’ve got a crackerjack Physician’s Assistant,” Cheng told the group, nodding to a light-skinned black woman in her early thirties. “Betsy’s been a PA since Christ was a corporal and cut her teeth in Iraq.” Betsy had been in a real shooting war. Bill realized; she must know her stuff and be able to operate under pressure. Betsy introduced herself as Betsy Finley.
As the group approached the operations building, Bill gave up any hope of escaping the heat and humidity of Carib when he saw that the building didn’t have full walls. Rather, the bottom half of the walls were planked wood while the top half was screened. Obviously, there’d be no air conditioning. Fortunately, there were solar panels erected on roofs and tracking platforms, so Bill was hopeful he’d be able to use a fan to sleep.
“Welcome to the Ops Shack,” Cheng said as he opened the door and stepped into the building.
Fan’s had in fact been installed in the ceiling, keeping air flowing so it was tolerable. “Kitchen’s out back, to keep the heat down in here,” Cheng told them.
Looking around, Bill saw several maps, one of the island of Carib, another of several other islands, and an overall map of the Caribbean. Cheng saw Bill looking at them and said, “That’s why you’re here. Those maps are from the initial survey, so they leave a lot to be desired.
“Rack your rifles and gather ‘round, and I’ll explain the current situation and what we hope to accomplish over the next couple of months,” Cheng announced, stepping toward the small-scale map showing all of the Caribbean after putting his rifle in the rack by the door. The others followed suit and were soon gathered around Cheng. Other than the one indicating the base, there were no other pins on the map.
“Right now, we’re it on the island. Matter of fact, we’re it in the entire area south or east of Florida.” Looking toward Mindy he said, “The first thing I want your crew doing is mapping the shoreline around this island, then I want some DTMs of the island so we can make some topo maps for the ground crews who’ll be arriving shortly.” On the word DTMs, which he pronounced Dee Tee Ems, he looked at Bill and Kim. Both nodded, understanding that he wanted them to develop digital terrain models.
“We want both digital and paper formats. We’ve got the plotter here,” he gestured to the large-format printer near a computer workstation, “so that shouldn’t be a problem.
“The plan right now is to investigate the larger islands first, and then the smaller ones. If there’s anyone there, we should be able to find them, but I’m pretty sure this is a sanitary planet. As you know, Parallel wants to open the planet to settlement as soon as possible, so we need to get crackin’.
“First you do the coastal surveys, then the inland ones. While you’re doing those the first couple of ground crews are gonna be arriving and getting acclimated. We’re also bringing in a couple of boats to help out, particularly on transport issues between islands.”
Cheng pointed out the building toward the bay, only a hundred meters from the airfield, and said, “Now that the field’s in, and all support structures, the engineering crew is dow
n there putting in the dock. I expect they’ll be done in a couple of days. Man, those guys are like freakin’ beavers when it comes to building,” he said, shaking his head.
“That’s pretty much it. Get settled in today and I’ll want you up mapping tomorrow. Any questions?”
Kim asked the same thing that Bill was wondering. “How are they going to get boats down here? Aren’t they too big for the planes?”
Cheng smiled. “Yeah, if they came in as boats. All of our equipment is pretty modular, so they’ll fly them down in a couple of Providers, and the crews will assemble them here. Lots easier to handle that way, too. Expect things to start getting lively in the next week or so, once you’ve got the island mapped.”
Cheng went on to explain to Bill and Kim exactly how a base developed out of the wilderness. The first step was to airdrop a construction crew some basic runway-building equipment, such as bulldozers, steamrollers, graders, and steel planking. Once a rough field was built, Caribous could fly in with more equipment and material to construct a field big enough for the Providers and CL-415s. At that point, it was a base and pretty much everything else was flown in, including the smaller boats that could be used for survey and logistics work. Larger vessels, such as tankers, could also be brought in, piece by piece, but it took many more flights. The two new Explorers remembered some of this from orientation day, but Cheng’s fleshing it out cleared up many questions.
“Follow me,” Cheng said, plucking his rifle from the rack and heading out the door. The rest followed like little ducklings, grabbing rifles as they went.
Cheng showed them to their quarters, which was another small half-screened building similar to the operations building. Cheng pointed out some of the features as they approached. These included solar panels and a rainwater collection system. Inside, it was set up with four hammocks, a small table with four folding chairs, and four canvas ‘easy’ chairs. The easy chairs were simply folding camp chairs with armrests and a high back. Two of them had rockers. Shelving ran around the perimeter of the building, obviously for use as ‘dressers’ and ‘drawers’. The only electrical items were small fans above each hammock, adjustable LED lights on the support poles at one end of each hammock, and the fan and lights over the table and chairs. There was one outlet per hammock. Other than that, there was nothing. Pretty spartan, looking around. It was slightly cooler than the outdoors since the sun wasn’t beating down on them.
The Corps of Discovery Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3: A multiverse series of alternate history Page 22
