“What the hell could have caused all our electronics to fail?” Bill wondered aloud.
Ben said, “Well, it doesn’t matter what caused this, we’re gonna have to put this bad boy down safely, so secure the craft and get strapped in. We’ll be deadsticking it the entire way.”
Ben and Meri remained at the controls while Bill and Karen scurried around the craft’s cabin, securing all loose items. They were soon finished and moved to the crash couches directly behind the cockpit. The crash couches were designed to be suitable for rough landings, or if that weren’t possible, to be deployed from the aircraft. Each contained explosive charges for ejection, parachutes, and a simple survival kit, all one needed to trek thousands of kilometers of uncharted territory.
“We’re secure,” Karen told Ben, letting both pilots know that the cabin was clear of potential flying debris, including the two crew members who were strapped into their crash couches.
Ben and Meri spoke among themselves, plotting how best to land the large plane. Fortunate for them, it was designed more as a powered glider than a typical powered aircraft, and they had had extensive simulator training on landing it without power.
Ben looked over his shoulder and ask Bill, “What’s the closest body of water you think we’re near?”
Bill thought about the latest bit of data he had just processed and asked “Other than the Med? One of the lakes to the west or south of the Alps. Freshwater, smaller waves, and you could probably get us pretty close to shore. I’d opt for one east of the Alps, toward the south. That way we could make our way down toward the Med. Otherwise, we’d be forced to go north, maybe up the Rhine or some other river, and that means we’d have to cross the Channel or the North Sea. We’re probably about 50 klicks from the nearest big lake.”
“Okay. Well, we’re descending into the Alps, so I’ll try for one of the southern lakes.”
“If you can, get the southernmost lake. I’m not sure if the others have outlets or if they’re all hydrographically enclosed,” Bill responded, unable to restrain himself from using geographic terminology learned in school. “Lake Geneva’s pretty big, and it’s got an outlet.”
Bill saw Ben nod his head, and then sat back as Ben and Meri worked together to get the dead plane on the ground.
After what seemed forever, but was probably about 20 minutes, Ben announced that he had a string of north-south running lakes in sight and was heading for the largest, which appeared to have shallow water on its eastern side. By now, Bill could make out large Eurasian mountains on both sides of the craft. He continued to watch as their peaks gradually rose above them.
“Prepare for impact,” Ben said loudly. “Remember, that means relax!”
Bill thought to himself, How the hell am I supposed to relax when I’m about to crash into a lake at a high rate of speed? but he tried, closing his eyes and humming tunelessly to himself and practicing some of the meditation methods he learned in a yoga class he took several years ago.
Within seconds, the craft slammed into the lake, bounced, and slammed into it again. Bill was thrown against his restraints, slammed back into the crash couch, thrown against his restraints again, and then slammed back into the couch a second time. The violence soon ended, and Bill could feel the plane rocking on waves.
“YEAH!” Ben yelled. “Damn, we’re good!” he said, letting go of the yoke and turning to Meri for a high-five. Cheering broke out among the crew. They were alive, for now. But the fun was just beginning. Here they were, stranded on a continent 10,000 kilometers from the nearest help. All they needed to do to survive was cross two continents and an ocean, using only their brains, feet, and a few tools from their survival kits.
Bill unstrapped and looked out the starboard portal and saw that Ben had managed to land them within a hundred meters of land, near shallow water and a beach. “Nice job,” he said, reaching over to pat Ben on the back. Meri looked back and he gave her a grin and a thumbs up.
“Listen up,” Karen said. “We’ve got to get this plane to shore and salvage all the stuff we can. Bill, did you back up the data to the protected drive?”
Bill nodded his head in the affirmative. The protected drive was an external storage device that was protected in a combination crash case and Faraday cage. The crash case was very similar to the black box on Earth airplanes, while the Faraday cage was a metal screen that surrounded the case, designed to keep electromagnetic pulses from damaging it. It was plugged into the onboard computer daily for the short time it took to transfer the digital data derived from the remote sensing devices on the plane, along with whatever spatial analysis had taken place between transfer times. It was also designed to be able to transfer the data to the two field tablets stored with it in the event a plane went down and the survivors needed the spatial data to get home. Exactly like what just happened.
“Okay. While the rest of us are getting the bird to shore I want you transferring the data to the field tablets. You carry one, I’ll carry the other. Any questions?” she asked, looking around at the three crew members. Everyone shook their heads in the negative, and Bill began the process of retrieving the protected servers and the field tablets, hoping that they had survived whatever electronic storm had killed the plane and all their other devices. While he was doing that the others opened the access hatch of the plane, which, fortuitously, was on the same side of the plane as the shoreline.
While Bill had his head buried in the rear of the craft retrieving the equipment, which was shoved into a small nook designed to protect it, he heard a splash, followed shortly by Ben yelling, “Christ, that’s cold!”
Within seconds, Bill had the case out of the nook and extracted the server and one of the tablets. He turned on the tablet and was relieved to see the screen light up.
“We got power,” he yelled, letting the other know that the tablet was working. He powered up the battery-operated drive, turned on the wireless access, and connected the tablet to the drive through the automated wireless connection. Rather than transfer all the data he had, which encompassed most of the northern hemisphere between 23 and 70 degrees north, and from the western edge of Ti’icham to practically their current location (less the data lost since the last transfer) on the western edge of Eurasia, he focused on transferring useful data. In other words, data that would help them get home.
The transfer took several minutes. While the transfer was taking place, Bill started the second field tablet and was, again, relieved to see it work. He set it up to receive the same data as the first tablet. As the transfers were taking place Bill took the laminated photo from his workstation and put it in a shirt pocket. Soon, the data he wanted was transferred and Bill put the server back in the case. Carrying the equipment with him he walked to the front of the plane where he could see Meri and Karen operating a manual winch that was attached to an attachment point just inside the hatch to a line that stretched to a tree on the shoreline. Bill looked out the door and saw an almost nude Ben sitting on the bank, wearing only a pair of wet briefs. He was curled up with his knees to his chest and his arms wrapped around his knees, it was obvious he was cold and trying to preserve body heat.
“How goes it?” Bill asked the two women.
“Slow,” Meri said, looking back over her shoulder. “I think the water’s a wee bit chilly,” she continued.
Bill thought, Glad I’m not the one that had to swim. Who knows what kind of critters are out there. That thought prompted Bill to ask, “Anyone keeping watch?”
“Crap! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that,” Karen said. Turning to Bill she ordered him to get his rifle and stand watch.
Bill returned to the main cabin of the aircraft and retrieved his rifle from his locker, along with a loaded magazine. He inserted the magazine into the rifle as he returned back to the hatch.
Upon arriving at the hatch, he charged his rifle, pulling the bolt back and then forcing it forward, seating a round in the chamber. Ensuring the safety was on, and keeping the
rifle pointed away from anyone else, Bill took up a position behind the two women, looking over their shoulders to the shore. His main goal was to keep an eye out and ensure Ben didn’t get eaten by any nasty critters.
Within minutes the plane was within feet of the shore. Karen stripped off her boots, socks, and flight suit, grabbed Ben’s flight suit and survival vest, and then jumped out of the plane into knee deep water. When she got to shore, she tossed Ben his clothing and vest, which he gratefully accepted and put on. Returning to the plane she said, “Okay. We gotta get this thing unloaded. Let’s form a chain and start handing out gear. Personal rifles and survival gear first, then crash couch emergency kits, all the available food, and last the group gear. Bill, you keep watch until Ben’s got his rifle, then help carry stuff to shore while Meri passes stuff out. Got it?”
Bill kept watch while Meri retrieved Ben’s rifle. She handed Karen the rifle, already loaded with a magazine, and waited while Karen carried it over to Ben and returned. Ben loaded his rifle while Karen returned to the craft.
Bill set his rifle by the door, stripped off his boots, socks, and flight suit, and jumped into the lake. He was immediately shocked at how cold it was. How the hell did Ben manage to swim that far in this water? Grabbing his rifle and discarded clothing, he carried them to shore and set them on the ground, close to hand, making sure his rifle was on top of the clothing pile with the barrel pointed away from the group.
For the next fifteen minutes, he and Karen carried survival equipment between the plane and shore, taking turns standing on shore and carrying the equipment slightly further inland to make room for more equipment. This gave each of them a break from the frigid waters. The first things Meri handed out were Karen’s rifle and emergency pack. Then came Bill’s pack, followed by Ben’s and Meri’s. It took a while for Meri to disengage the crash couch emergency kits from the crash couches, but eventually, she got them detached and passed them through to Karen and Bill. The food was the standard field rations used while conducting surveys. The group survival equipment, retrieved last, was mainly the emergency raft and its supplies, their parachutes, and the limited boat building equipment.
“That’s it,” Meri called. Bill turned to the pile of equipment and thought, I wonder how much of that we’ll be taking?
Bill got dressed while Meri made the cold crossing, holding her rifle, boots, and dry clothing. Bill admired the view of the partially clad Meri. “Yikes, that’s cold!” she exclaimed upon exiting the plane. The others couldn’t help but smile at this, knowing that all of them had spent considerably more time in the water than she.
When Meri got to land she handed a burnt item to Karen, saying “Somehow, I don’t think our power outage was natural.”
Karen looked at the object. “What it is?”
“If I’m correct, it’s an EMP bomb. See the timer?”
“What’s an EMP bomb?” Ben asked.
“Electromagnetic pulse bomb,” Meri answered. “It’s a large electrical discharge in a small area. It basically fries all electronics within a short range, like the inside of a Monarch.”
“Who the hell would put one of these on a Monarch?” Karen wondered.
“GLF,” Meri said. “Gaia Liberation Front. In other words, Gaia Firsters.”
“Gaia Firsters? Aren’t they just some fringe group on Earth?” Ben asked.
“Looks like they just got a lot more local,” Karen said.
“Unfortunately, no. Some Explorers might be involved,” Bill said. The others looked at him in shock. He then went on to explain about his conversations with Commandant Lewis and Janet Babbitt, and what really happened to the Caribou.
“And you didn’t tell me?” Meri said.
“I couldn’t,” Bill replied. It was obvious he wasn’t too happy about not having done so.
After a few moments of silence, Meri said, “I bet this is because of me.”
“Huh? What makes you think that?” Karen asked.
“Simple. My dad’s the Corps’ Commandant. If the GLF decided to act against the Corps, wouldn’t it be smart to take out the head, and in this case, the entire family? It’s what the revolutionaries did to the Romanov’s in Russia back in 1917.”
“Well, nothing we can do about it from here,” Karen said, tossing the burnt object onto the ground. “So, first things first. Let’s get a fire going then set up camp. No sense worrying about something out of our control, and it makes no sense going anywhere until we figure out where to go and how to get there. Besides, it’ll be night soon, and I don’t know about you guys, but I don’t plan on being dinner for a smilodon or other big, hungry critter. Meri, you stand guard while we set up camp. Bill, you set up Meri’s hammock. Ben, get a fire going then set up your hammock. I’ll get a trip wire line out.”
Soon a fire was blazing and hammocks were set up around it. Close enough to benefit from the heat and smoke, but far enough away so they wouldn’t catch fire, even from stray sparks. Experience had taught them that wild animals generally didn’t come near fires, so it should prove relatively safe. Even so, the trip wire that surrounded the encampment was designed to create an alarm if anyone or thing ran into it.
Bill had retrieved his PDW, or personal defense weapon, from his crash couch emergency kit, and set it in his hammock. He figured he could sling his rifle under the hammock in the hammock sling designed to hold it while he slept, but still have a means of protecting himself. Like the others, though, he kept his rifle with him at all times.
Meri maintained watch, not looking at the fire, but rather at the surrounding terrain, her head practically on a swivel, while the others ate and discussed the plans for the evening the future. Meri could hear and respond, but her main focus was on keeping watch.
Dinner consisted of flight rations. Usually microwaved while in flight, the rations were designed to be eaten cold or heated in boiling water over a fire or on stoves. In this case, they used their individual wood burning stoves to heat their respective meals, reserving the fire for safety and warmth.
Karen led the discussion, mainly on the first night’s watch schedule, and then a more general planning session on how to get back to Ti’icham. “Just to be clear,” Karen said, summarizing their condition, “any hope of rescue is out. We’ve got no radios, we’re too small to register as something worth investigating on any of the sensing platforms the Corp uses, and there’s always the possibility they’ll find something and shut this planet down. That means we walk, swim, row, whatever it takes to get back to the IP. So, let that sink in. We’re on our own.”
One thing that became obvious during the discussion was that a boat would be needed. Luckily, they had the supplies necessary to make one. It was now just a matter of figuring out exactly where they were and which route to take.
Ben relieved Meri so she could eat and then gave her back the first watch after she finished eating. Karen would take the second watch, Ben the third, and Bill the final watch. Since it was early June, and they were at a relatively high latitude, there was plenty of daylight, meaning less night, so each person had a relatively short watch, less than two hours each.
Shortly after eating, Karen, Ben, and Bill climbed into their hammocks. Bill’s hammock contained not only his PDW but also his summer sleeping bag with a silk liner. Enough to stay warm without overheating, even at the altitude they were at. Despite the stress and excitement of the crash landing and subsequent preparations, Bill was tired enough that he was soon sound asleep.
All too early, Ben was tapping on his hammock side, whispering “Bill, get up. Your turn to stand watch.” Awaking rather abruptly, he slid out of his hammock, his PDW in hand. He had slept with it just in case. As he had been asleep for several hours his eyes were already adjusted to the lack of light. Looking around, he could see the fire burning low, mostly embers but with some smoke, due to the benefit of some green wood thrown on it.
Ben muttered, “G’nite” and crawled into his hammock. Ben placed his PDW in his hammoc
k and picked up his rifle from the sling under the hammock. Soon, Bill could hear Ben’s snores merge with those of the others.
Looking around, he could make out the outlines of trees. The moonlight shone on the water, making things even brighter, despite the fact that the moon was in a quarter-moon phase. He could make out the outlines of mountains across the lake. Looking up, Bill saw the sky filled with stars, the Milky Way making a wide streak across the heavens. A meteor streaked across the sky.
It’s been one heckuva ride just to get this far, he thought, bringing his attention back to ground level, where most threats would materialize. I wonder if we’ll make it back?
Bill remembered a conversation he had had with “the Colonel” one time about adventure being somebody else far away in great danger. Looks like this might be an adventure, he thought, scanning the area around him, ‘cause we’re sure in danger, and we’re sure far away from home.
27
The first dawn after the crash landing found Bill watching his surroundings, seeing things magically appear with the lightening sky. The morning twilight faded into daylight, and Bill was able to see more and further. During the night he had stoked the fire with wood that they had gathered the evening before, so when the others began awakening, they could warm themselves between packing their equipment. Across the lake, he could see a mountain range with snow still at the top.
Meri was the first awake, having been the first to stand watch. Giving Bill a quick ‘good morning’ kiss she suggested they take turns changing out of flight suits and into field uniforms. “They’ll be a lot more useful,” she said, stripping off her flight suit.
“Hey, you’re supposed to be looking out for me, not looking at me,” she complained when she noticed Bill ogling her. Reluctantly, Bill turned his attention away from her and back to the surrounding forest until she announced she was dressed.
The Corps of Discovery Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3: A multiverse series of alternate history Page 29
