THE END - Book I - Of THE EVENT SERIES

by Marshall Huffman

  “I’m glad you’re jealous,” she said.

  “Am not.”

  “Are too.”

  “Maybe just a little,” he finally admitted.

  The air was warm as they lay on the blanket. Sunlight filtered through the tall pine trees and the sun danced on the lake like a thousand tiny stars. Rachel lay across one side of the blanket and Randy sat cross legged, facing her.

  “Now this is what the doctor ordered,” Rachel said, holding up her glass for Randy to refill.

  “Don’t start in again with that ‘Doctor’ stuff.”

  She giggled. The first bottle of wine was almost gone and she was feeling the effects.

  “Tell me about your project. Everyone says it is really important,” she said.

  “Everyone? Who knows about it?”

  “Just about everyone I talk to. It could really change things if you can make contact with the satellites.”

  “No one should get too excited yet. We have a long way to go and even then, no guarantee that they are even active or exist any longer.”

  “If it can be done, you will be the one to do it. I know you, once you get involved with something there is no stopping you.”

  “Like I said, we have a long way to go.”

  “Do you like the scientist you are working with?”

  “Doctor Sullivan? She is terrific. Intelligent, sophisticated, and very good looking. Sure, I like working with her,” he said, with a straight face.

  “Really? And you are going out to New Mexico to see how she is doing.”

  “Just for a few days. It is very cramped out there. We’re practically on top of each other half the time.”

  “No kidding. And that doesn’t bother you?”

  “No. Why should it?”

  “No reason really. Except I happened to meet Doctor Sullivan once. She has a pretty good beard for a woman,” she said, trying not to laugh at his obvious attempt to make her jealous.

  They laughed together until they almost cried. Finally, when they stopped and she had drained her wine glass, Randy leaned forward and kissed her for the first time. Gently at first, their lips just brushing. Rachel put her hand behind his head and pulled him harder to her.

  As they broke apart she whispered, “I don’t have a perfect body. I still have stretch marks from losing weight.”

  “I never needed a perfect body. I have my own lumps and bumps,” he said as he cupped her breast.

  Later they laid together, exhausted, legs entwined.

  “Wow,” Rachel muttered.

  “Wow is right,” Randy panted.

  “I had no idea.”

  “Yeah, I guess it has been even longer than I thought.”

  “You know I’m going to be sore tomorrow,” she said.

  “Good.”

  She just smiled. They held hands most of the way back to Colorado Springs.

  ****

  Rachel was waiting at the airport the next morning when Randy arrived.

  “Hi, didn’t really expect to see you here,” he said, taking out a small bag from his car.

  “I have to go in fairly early so I thought I would stop by and say goodbye first.”

  “I’m glad you did.”

  “So, I won’t see you for a few days I guess.”

  “They are sending the plane back to pick me up on Saturday.”

  “Geez, that’s five days from now,” she said, disappointed.

  “I know but Webber said that was the best they could do.”

  “I sure don’t like it much.”

  “Neither do I but it has its upside,” he said.

  “Upside? What would that be?”

  “You should be able to walk by then,” he said laughing.

  She smiled and poked him on the shoulder, “You are a bad man.”

  “Yep. Want me to change?”

  “Not on your life.”

  Randy kissed her and climbed aboard the plane. An airman pulled the door closed and Rachel waved as the plane taxied to the runway. She didn’t leave until it was well out of sight.

  ****

  Randy was a bit discouraged after his initial meeting with Dr. Sullivan. Progress was moving at a snail’s pace and Sullivan was demanding more manpower and equipment.

  “Look, Doctor, I’ve passed along the concerns. As soon as the personnel are available they will get some people out here to increase the power. It just takes time. They have their hands full as it is.”

  “I don’t care about their problems, just mine. Without more power we will be months, maybe years before we can make any real progress. Did you know we have actually tried to move one by pushing it with a truck? Of course it didn’t work but we were getting desperate,” he said.

  “I understand your frustration. Really, I do, but complaining will not make it happen any faster. This is all about manpower and we simply do not have enough qualified people that can do the type of work you want done.”

  “Then very little will get done.”

  “We all understand that. No one is pushing you for immediate results. Everyone is aware of the problems so don’t get so uptight about it.”

  “I am not uptight, as you say.”

  “Sure looks that way to me,” Randy replied.

  Once that was over with, Doctor Sullivan showed him what progress they had made and how they were going about the process of aligning the various satellite dishes.

  Randy realized what an arduous job it was trying to get them in the configuration the Doctor thought would work best.

  His main concern seemed to be centered on aperture synthesis interferometry and trying to move the 230 ton individual antennas into a tight configuration. That was the main holdup for now according to Sullivan.

  “I’ll take it up again just as soon as I get back,” Randy assured him.

  “It would speed the process immensely.”

  “I understand.”

  Randy spent the next two days following the team as they worked on one of the antennas. While he didn’t follow all the jargon, he was getting a much better understanding of what they were trying to accomplish and the intricate work involved.

  Even when the dishes were in the proper configuration, it was going to take a considerable amount of time and effort to get the system up and running. At least he had a much better understanding of the process they were going through. Not having computers was a severe detriment.

  When he got back to Colorado he knew he was going to have to make sure no one got too excited and started pushing to get it done faster. Slow and steady was the only way it was going to work.

  Randy was just starting to nod off, thinking about Rachel when he felt the airplane shudder. At first it just seemed like an air pocket had caused some buffeting but then he began to smell something electrical burning. The plane dropped fifty feet, leaving his stomach behind. He could see the pilots working feverishly in the cockpit. He struggled to get up but the plane banked sharply to the right.

  “What’s going on?” he yelled.

  “Left engine is on fire and the right one is losing oil pressure,” the copilot shouted back.

  “Are we going down?”

  “Probably.”

  “Shit. Now what?”

  “Grab a chute from the rack.”

  “Christ, I don’t know how to do this stuff.”

  “You’re going to learn real fast,” he said coming back to help strap it on him.

  “Okay, so now what?”

  “I need to go back to the cockpit. When I yell, you open the door and jump out. Keep your legs together and pull the cord. Count to ten before you pull it to make sure you clear the plane.”

  “I can’t do this,” Randy yelled above the roar of the engine.

  Smoke was filling the plane and Randy knew they probably didn’t have much time left. Jumping out of planes was never a desire of his. He often wondered why someone would jump out of a perfectly good plane. Now he was going to be forced to do it whether he wanted to
or not. The plane shuddered violently once again and the right engine sputtered before stopping.

  “Open the door. Get ready to jump,” the copilot said coming back and grabbing two other chutes.

  He quickly put one on and headed back up front.

  “Get ready.”

  “Aren’t you coming?”

  “In just a few seconds. We need to get the plane level and then we will follow you.”

  “I’ll wait.”

  “No. Just go. We are losing altitude too fast. You need to get out now.”

  “But what about you guys?”

  “We know what we are doing. Get out or I’ll come back there and throw you out,” he said.

  Randy looked out as the wind whipped his face. The ground was moving alarmingly fast and the smoke was becoming thicker in the cabin. He coughed, took a deep breath and placed both hands on the door. He closed his eyes for a second, trying to get up the courage to jump.

  “Get your ass out of here. Now Goddamn it,” the copilot yelled.

  Randy took another breath and pulled himself through the door. The wind tore at his clothes as he tumbled through the air, gaining speed with each foot he fell. He finally remembered to count to ten and pull the rip cord. The jolt was a shock to his system as the parachute trailed out above him and finally billowed open. For the second time it felt like his stomach was in his throat.

  He looked down and saw the ground rushing up faster than he had expected. He realized he had waited longer than he should have. He braced himself and tried to remember to bend his knees and roll when he hit the ground but it happened far too fast and he crashed hard to the ground and pitched face first into the earth.

  Pain shot through his leg and he could taste blood in his mouth as he lay sprawled out. He lifted his head and spit out blood. Rolling on his side, he reached down and unclasped the harness and tried to sit up but pain raced through his body so he just lay there for a second.

  Finally, he rolled over on his back and looked toward where the plane had been headed. He could see the trail of smoke across the sky. He followed it and suddenly saw a large orange ball of fire erupt. His first thought was to look for other chutes in the sky but he didn’t see any. All he could do was pray that they got out before the plane exploded.

  Please, please, he pleaded, let them have gotten out safely but deep in his heart, he knew there was little chance of that.

  Randy wasn’t sure how long he had been lying there. He kept hoping to hear someone yell his name but he heard nothing. He sat up and the pain tore through his bruised body. His left ankle was throbbing.

  He reached down and realized it was either broken or severely sprained. He spit the blood out of his mouth and felt his face. There was a large gash over his left eye and his lip was split open. Nothing serious he decided.

  Now what, he thought? He reached into his pocket and found his knife. He cut several strips of the webbing from the chute and pulled them tight around his ankle. He almost passed out when he pulled on the first one.

  Randy reeled in the rest of the parachute and pulled it into a ball as best he could. He knew it would come in handy for a signal, for keeping the sun off him during the day and helping to keep him warm at night. He tried to think how long they have been flying when the plane developed trouble. He finally decided they were someplace south of Albuquerque but he wasn’t one hundred percent certain.

  How far was he from civilization was the real question? Even if he did know, what good was it really going to do him? He still had to get there somehow and walking wasn’t going to be easy. The sun was starting to set and no one came or called. With the cold and pain, he was sure it was going to be a long night.

  ****

  Colonel Webber knew something was wrong by three o’clock. Even if they got off a little late they should have been back by now. He drove out to the airfield and found Captain Abrams and several crew members playing basketball. He watched for a minute before one of the men saw him standing there and suddenly the game came to a halt.

  “Sir,” the Captain said, jogging over to the Colonel, wiping the sweat off his face.

  “At ease Captain. Nothing wrong with a little PT. I was watching that man over there. He is damn good.”

  “Yes sir. Corporal Willis. He has some wicked moves. He played on his state championship team back in Indiana when he was in High School.”

  “Got game, huh?” the Colonel said.

  The Captain’s jaw dropped, “Uh, yes sir.”

  “I hate to break this up but I need you to round up any available pilots and crews and get them into town. Bring them to headquarters. I think we have a missing plane.”

  “Oh shit. I mean...”

  “Oh shit is right,” the Colonel said.

  “I’ll get right on it. Captain Linquest and his crew are due back in just a few minutes, I’ll bring them along.”

  “Good. Meet me back there as soon as you round everyone up,” he said.

  “What was that all about,” one of the crewmen asked when he walked back to the court.

  “Missing plane.”

  “It was bound to happen with one of the patched up planes eventually,” the airman said.

  “Did he say which one?”

  “No but I suspect it was the 7-2-2.”

  “The plane that went to New Mexico to pick up that Randy guy?”

  “That’s the one.”

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Arizona Desert

  Randy had never spent a more miserable night in his life. At least not one that he remembered. The silk chute had helped but the constant throbbing and hard ground had made it a wretched, long night. The only thing that had helped to pass the time was lying on his back and looking up at the stars. He tried to pick out the various constellations but even that was hard because the sheer number of stars made it difficult.

  Twice during the night he thought he heard someone call his name and he had yelled back but no one came. He wondered if it had just been him drifting off and then yelling out in pain when he moved his leg. One thing was for sure. He was going to have to do something more than just lay there and feel sorry for himself.

  He sat up stiffly and pushed the silk parachute off of his body. Rolling over on his stomach he finally was able to push himself up enough to get his good leg under him and stand up. It hurt like hell but it was bearable.

  He loosened the straps around his ankle and looked at it. It was starting to turn purple. He wasn’t sure if that meant it was broken or just sprained. It didn’t really matter much; it was going to be a hell of a long walk.

  He looked up the sun and tried to determine which way seemed northeast. He knew that they usually flew over Albuquerque during the flight. He slowly started walking, carrying the chute rolled up in his arms. He wasn’t about to abandon that just yet. It was very tedious, hobbling along and he was not even sure if he was really headed in the right direction.

  He wondered what had happened to the two pilots but he decided it was best to not dwell on it. He was getting thirsty as he trudged along. He had to stop more than he would have liked but the pain in his leg seemed to be increasing with every step.

  Twice he stopped to listen, thinking he had heard planes. He knew they would be searching for them when they didn’t arrive back last night but he didn’t catch a glimpse of them either time.

  He forced himself to keep moving. He tried to think about the afternoon he had spent with Rachel but the agony of each step would cut through the mental image he was trying to conjure up.

  It was getting near time for the sun to set when he came across a wide road. It had to be an interstate but which one? He knew if he followed it, he would eventually come across a city. Then what? Find a car and try to drive to Colorado Springs? No matter what, it would be better than trying to limp along.

  He followed the road north and finally found an older Chevrolet. It had historical license plates on it. He climbed in and tried to start it but the batter
y was dead. It was still his best shot so he removed the battery out of the next car by cutting the cables and then attaching them to the battery in the Chevy. It ground over slowly but finally started. Once running he hoped the generator would keep enough juice going to the battery to charge it again. After closing the hood he climbed in and put it in gear.

  Pain raced through his swollen foot as he depressed the clutch but had to be done if he was going to get out of there.

  He chugged along in first gear for several miles before he worked up the courage to shift into second. He didn’t need to go any faster because of all of the cars he had to maneuver around.

  “Sometimes I forget how big this country is,” the pilot said.

  “Especially when you’re looking for a needle in a haystack.”

  “Or a plane on the ground.”

  “Yeah. I hope we find a whole plane.”

  “Don’t even talk like that.”

  They flew on looking for any signs of the downed aircraft. Every once in a while they would spot one of the other search planes flying a box pattern and they would wiggle their wings.

  “Gonna have to set her down and refuel soon. Valencia is just back to the north a ways. They have an airport so we can get fuel there.”

  “No use us taking a chance either. We still have a couple of hours of daylight. We can refuel and then search for another hour before landing for the night,” the pilot said.

  They landed at the Alexander Airport, just south of Valencia, New Mexico. It took almost an hour to get the plane in position so they could refuel it. Fate, when not being cruel, can be very strange at times. Randy had just passed through the north side of Valencia only moments before the plane landed.

  Riding along he had not heard the engine of the plane as it came in for a landing. Of course the pilots did not see the car moving along either; they were busy landing the plane. Half an hour would have made all the difference in the world. Just thirty short minutes and Randy would have seen them or at least heard them as they came in low over the field for a landing. It just wasn’t meant to be.

  At least Randy had a good idea where he was now. Albuquerque was only fifty miles away. He would make that distance easily by nightfall. He would find a place to sleep and start fresh in the morning. With luck he could locate a drugstore and find something to ease the pain.