Impact (Fuzed Trilogy Book 1)

by David E Stevens

  Petrov finally looked up and pulled his gloves off. Slowly disentangling himself from the bear hug, he began to climb, using Josh’s body as a ladder. Like a boa constrictor, Josh’s harness squeezed him tighter. His vision faded. Petrov finally grabbed the rope, taking some pressure off and allowing Josh a shallow, painful breath. Then Petrov lost his grip, falling back on Josh and kicking him in the side. With broken ribs pushed against his lungs, he would have screamed if he could. With no air, Josh’s consciousness slipped away bringing relief from the searing pain.

  Musk and Bobinski had reached the bridge and gotten their weight on it just as the rope went taut.

  Musk took control. He yelled to Olenev to connect two more ropes to the snowcat and throw them over the side. Then he motioned to Katori to switch places with him. As Katori added his weight to the bridge, Musk ran to the snowcat. He clipped the new rope to his harness and slid across the ice to the cliff edge. Leaning over, he was surprised to see Fuze and Petrov hanging 100 feet below. It was impossible. He couldn’t believe anyone could hold onto a 200-pound man at the end of a 100-foot fall. He yelled down, “Are you all right?”

  Petrov yelled back, “Dah, but not sure about Commander Fuze!”

  Musk took the end of the new rope and clipped its carabiner around the rope holding Fuze and Petrov. Sliding it down toward them, he yelled, “Unclip the rope I’m sending down and attach it to your harness! We’ll pull you up!” He knew Petrov didn’t have the ability to tie it to Fuze. He needed to get Petrov’s weight off the original rope before the bridge gave out.

  He could see Petrov using Fuze’s body as a shelf while he fumbled with the carabiner with freezing hands. Finally, Petrov clipped the new rope to his harness. Musk motioned Olenev to back the snowcat slowly away from the cliff. “Petrov, use your arms and legs to keep yourself off the cliff face as we pull you up!” He could see Fuze hanging limply in his harness.

  They heard the metallic groan of the bridge, as the rope started bending the strut. Still perched at the edge of the cliff, Musk yanked his gloves off. He grabbed the second rope attached to the snowcat and used a Prusik knot to tie it around the rope holding Fuze. Tied correctly, it wouldn’t allow the bridge rope to slide through it.

  Before he could finish, the strut snapped, ripping the unfinished knot from his hand and over the edge. He held his breath until he saw his incomplete knot had grabbed and held.

  Petrov’s head appeared and Musk told Olenev to stop the snowcat. Petrov scrambled up over the ice slope to a level area.

  Musk once again motioned Olenev to back the snowcat. He yelled down, “If you can hear me, we’re pulling you up! Try to fend yourself off the cliff!”

  Josh woke as his head banged sharply against rock. He opened his eyes and found himself hanging upside-down looking directly at the base of the mountain 1,000 feet below. He wasn’t sure he really wanted to be conscious. As he scraped against the cliff, he was pleased to see he was moving in the right direction for a change. He slowly and painfully righted himself so that he was looking up instead of down. With broken ribs and freezing hands, he used his legs to reduce “cliff rash.”

  After what seemed like hours but was actually minutes, he reached the top.

  Musk yelled to Olenev to slow the snowcat to a crawl and then stop. Grabbing Josh’s arms, Musk and Bobinski carefully pulled him over the edge and slid him up beyond the ice sheet.

  As soon as he was on relatively level ground, he rolled over on his side in a fetal position with his arms wrapped around his chest. Musk and Bobinski leaned over him. He felt Bobinski gently disconnect the rope from his harness and put his own gloves on Josh’s frozen hands. Then he felt them wrap something around his head. Musk, trying to ascertain Josh’s condition, held up three fingers and asked, “How many fingers do you see?”

  “Three.”

  “Do you know where you are?”

  “Disney World?”

  Musk smiled and shook his head. “I can give you something for the pain. Are you allergic to anything?”

  “Yes.”

  Musk leaned closer.

  Josh whispered, “Gravity.”

  Musk and Bobinski both started laughing.

  In a conspiratorial tone, Bobinski said, “Once we get you off mountain, I have special drink that will help with pain.”

  Musk put a pill in Josh’s mouth and gave him some water, “We have to get you down. Can you walk to the snowcat?”

  Josh nodded, grimacing. Slowly, he rolled onto his stomach trying to get his knees under him. Bobinski and Musk, taking his arms, helped him stand.

  Josh grunted in pain.

  Musk warned. “He may have internal injuries, so be careful lifting him.”

  Josh shuffled like a little old man with Musk and Bobinski supporting him on each side.

  They gently helped him up into the snowcat. Bobinski drove. Musk and Petrov sat on each side of Josh in the back. Bobinski radioed ahead to have the medic standing by and the C-17 prepared to leave.

  Josh grunted, “We don’t need to leave. Mission is priority. I’ll be fine.”

  Bobinski said, “Nyet, I make decisions here, remember?”

  29

  MEDIC

  There was no privacy in the Quonset hut. Everyone gathered around. Josh watched their faces as the Air Force medic cut off his shirt. Their flinches and grimaces didn’t instill a lot of confidence. Looking down at himself, he saw huge red and purple bruises wrapping around his torso. He also had a deeper “head shaped” bruise over his ribcage and knew his head was bleeding. The medic began a thorough examination. He palpated Josh’s chest, listened to his lungs with a stethoscope and checked him for concussion.

  After asking him a few questions, the medic finally told Josh and the rest of the team gathered around, “I have good news and bad news. The good news is you’re going to live and don’t need immediate hospitalization. The bad news is that you don’t need hospitalization because there’s no real treatment for broken ribs. Oh, and your back looks worse than your front.”

  Josh, seeing the guilt on Petrov’s face, winked at him and said, “I was really just trying to get out of carrying those damn bridge parts.”

  Petrov smiled.

  Bobinski said, “I prescribe old Russian cure.” He reached into his pack and pulled out a bottle of ... Jack Daniels?

  Josh looked at Bobinski with surprise, and Musk said, “You’re kidding!”

  Smiling, Bobinski opened the bottle. “Only real American cultural contribution to world.”

  In a lot of pain, Josh wasn’t about to turn down a shot of Jack. He started to stand but the medic said, “Not so fast. I still need to stitch up the holes in your head.”

  Musk couldn’t resist. “He jumped off a cliff. You don’t have enough silk to stitch up the holes in his head.”

  They laughed as Bobinski toasted, “To holes in head!” They “clinked” plastic cups and drank in one swallow.

  The medic, pointing at the bottle, said, “Go easy on that.”

  Bobinski said, “Of course,” as he poured them another shot.

  Despite the pain, Josh couldn’t help but smile. Take some engineers, a Navy pilot, a Russian industrialist and a brilliant billionaire, throw them together in a death-defying adventure, and background, education, and culture evaporate. You end up with a bunch of boys, laughing and scratching. New comrades in arms, they stayed up, sipping Jack and sharing increasingly exaggerated tales.

  Josh, wanting to maintain a low profile, made them promise to play down his role in the rescue. He was relieved when they all agreed.

  Mission complete, they flew back the next day. Josh, tired and in pain, slept most of the trip.

  Back in St. Louis, Josh walked very slowly down the aircraft staircase, trying not to wince. Meadows, waiting for him at the bottom, said, “I’d give you a big hug and kiss if you hadn’t busted your ribs.”

  Josh frowned. “Who else knows?”

  Meadows, obviously enjoying himself
said, “Oh, just me ... and everyone on the team.”

  Josh continued to frown as Meadows smiled. “Relax, Josh, news like this travels faster than social media, and it’s great for team esprit de corps.” He laughed. “You’d be on YouTube by now if Petrov hadn’t dropped his camera over the cliff.”

  Josh said, “It wasn’t that big a deal.”

  Meadows looked serious. “Yes, it was. I’m very proud of you, and it’s exactly the type of action that helps pull a team together against overwhelming odds. I’d put you in for the Navy Cross, if I knew who the heck you worked for.”

  Josh shook his head.

  Meadows said, “Look, Josh, you put this program in my lap. As the Program Manager, I am recognizing your act on behalf of the entire team.” He smiled again and added, “And, as a Navy Captain, I’m ordering you, Commander, to sit quietly while we sing your praises. Is that understood?”

  Josh finally gave a half-smile. “Yes sir.”

  Josh didn’t look forward to attending the team meeting the next day. He waited until just before it started and tried to slip in quietly, but as soon as they spotted him, they gave him a standing ovation. He was good at many things, but this wasn’t one of them. He just shook his head and slipped into his seat. So much for keeping a low profile.

  Smiling, Meadows said, “Commander Fuze is more comfortable hanging upside down from a cliff than being recognized.”

  The group laughed, and Josh, trying to be a good sport, nodded.

  Meadows continued, “Seriously, the entire survey team did an outstanding job. Commander Fuze’s act of courage may never be recognized outside of this group, but we will know and appreciate having served with men and women like him.” Again, there was a strong round of applause.

  Meadows finally said, “Now we have to get back to saving the other eight billion. Mr. Bobinski, can you give us your evaluation of the site please?”

  Bobinski leaned forward and cleared his throat. “Site is suitable, but there are challenges. We can put in 20,000-foot runway that will allow us to land,” he smiled, “delicate American cargo jets.”

  There were good-natured groans from the Boeing engineers.

  Bobinski continued, “But cutting road to top of mountain will be difficult. Requires building bridges over crevasse.” Bobinski paused. “Even with best equipment and men, road will take too much time.”

  Shepherd jumped in with satisfaction. “As I originally stated, it cannot be done in less than a year.”

  Josh and Meadows had agreed that Shepherd was a bureaucrat who always found reasons things couldn’t be done, but it was good to have a devil’s advocate asking the tough questions. It kept them honest.

  Meadows gave Bobinski a small wink that Shepherd couldn’t see.

  Bobinski continued in a calm voice. “To make sure we stay on timeline, we build road at same time we are lifting observatory components to top.”

  Shepherd looked at Bobinski suspiciously. “What do you mean by lifting?”

  Josh thought Bobinski couldn’t have paid someone to be a better straight man.

  Bobinski continued, “We use H-60 helicopters to lift components to mountaintop, where we put them together.”

  Smiling, Meadows added, “Some assembly required.”

  Bobinski continued, “Prefer good Russian-built helicopter, but H-60 is already designed to fit inside C-17, and Sikorski was, of course, Russian.”

  Shepherd whined, “You can’t be serious. There’s no way helicopters can lift heavy equipment to the top of that mountain.”

  Without missing a beat, Bobinski continued, “S model H-60 can lift 4,000 kilos and has 12,000-foot service ceiling. Payload is reduced by altitude, but cold, dry air increases turbine power output.”

  “What about the reactors? There’s no way you’re going to lift those things up the mountain with their lead shielding,” Shepherd said with a smirk.

  “Don’t have to. Reactors stay at base of mountain. Will run power lines to top.”

  Meadows, without even looking at Shepherd, asked, “When do you need the helicopters?”

  Bobinski said, “Antarctic summer starts in one week. We have six months to complete. Need helicopters yesterday.”

  They all looked at Shepherd to see if he had a rebuttal.

  Shepherd just frowned, shaking his head.

  Meadows said, “OK, who has contacts at Sikorski?”

  Major Wendy Crow raised her hand.

  “Great, Major Crow, your mission is to beg, borrow or steal two H-60s. If you run into problems, let me know. We’ll shake some trees.”

  Crow smiled and nodded.

  Meadows continued, “Chris, is there anything else you need now?”

  Bobinski smiled. “Nyet. If I need it, I buy it.”

  As they were breaking up, Chandra came by.

  Not wanting to talk about the rescue, Josh said, “We saw an incredible aurora down there. Most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.”

  She nodded. “There was a powerful solar flare a couple days ago. When you blast that much energy through the atmosphere, you blow up a lot of air molecules. Wish I could have seen it.” She paused and with a slight shake of her head, said, “That cliff rescue was amazing but a bit insane.” With a wry smile, she added, “Anytime you’d like, I’d be happy to explain how that whole gravity thing works.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Thanks, but turns out I’ve already heard you lecture on gravity. When I was an undergrad, you came to our campus and gave a talk on ‘Gravity Assisted Trajectories for the Saturn Cassini Mission.’”

  She put her hand to her mouth. “Oh my God! I can’t believe you remember that. I must have been thirty.”

  Josh shrugged. “You were. I was a sophomore and had a bit of a crush on you.”

  She grinned. “Glad to hear I had a positive influence on the minds of young college students.” She patted him on the back. Seeing him wince, she said, “Sorry.” She shook her head. “God bless you, Josh, you really took a beating, didn’t you?”

  “I’m OK.” Frowning slightly, he added, “This is totally off the subject, but you said, ‘Oh my God’ and ‘God bless.’ If you don’t mind my asking, what does one of the world’s leading astrophysicists think about spiritual stuff?”

  She laughed. “Why? Did you see your life flash before you while hanging from the rope?”

  He shrugged with a half-smile.

  She cocked her head slightly and said, “Not entirely sure what I believe. I think most of us have a little battle going on between our emotional and intellectual selves.”

  Josh nodded. “Yeah, our emotional side looks for meaning in life, but our intellect says a supreme being isn’t plausible.”

  She shook her head. “Actually, it’s quite the reverse for many of us.”

  He looked surprised.

  “Emotionally, I don’t want to believe in a supreme being because I want to call the shots.” Laughing, she added, “And it’s uncomfortable thinking something a lot smarter than me might be observing what an idiot I am.”

  “OK ... ?”

  “Josh, before the 1960s, scientists believed the universe had been around forever. Then some crazy astrophysicists suggested it started 13.8 billion years ago. The idea that the universe had a beginning and started from nothing was so bizarre and mystical sounding, most physicists made fun of it. In fact, the name, The Big Bang, was intended as a joke to show how absurd the idea was.” She smiled. “Of course, the theory turned out to be correct, and for those who believed a supreme being wasn’t required, it was suddenly a bit awkward since something had to start the universe.”

  Josh said, “But quantum mechanics says particles can pop into existence out of nothing.”

  She gave him a challenging smile. “Yes, but The Big Bang didn’t just create the stuff inside the universe ... it created the Universe itself, which includes,” she paused, “space and time.” Still smiling, she shook her head. “Particles have to have something to pop into.”

&nb
sp; Josh nodded thoughtfully. “OK, but whatever started the universe doesn’t have to be conscious. It could have been some kind of natural cause.”

  She nodded. “True, but whatever it was ... it had to exist outside of space and time.” With raised eyebrows, she asked, “Want to take a crack at describing what that might look like?” She paused. “On top of that, the universe appears to be perfectly fine-tuned to support life. If any of the dozens of physics constants were different by the tiniest amount, life couldn’t exist.”

  Josh frowned. “What if there were multiple universes?”

  “Actually, it requires infinite universes to get around the perfect fine-tuning issue. Problem is, by the definition of a universe, there’s no way to see outside ours and prove others exist ... ever. And you still have to explain what initiated everything.”

  Her phone vibrated. Looking at it, she said, “Sorry, Josh, got another project meeting in a few minutes.” She looked up with a smile. “To help prevent us from finding out if there’s a God sooner than necessary.”

  Josh smiled.

  As they were both leaving, he noticed Smith had stayed behind to talk to Meadows.

  After Chandra and Fuze left, Smith frowned and said quietly to Meadows, “I’m not happy with Bobinski or Musk, and Fuze’s dangerous actions put the program at risk.”

  Meadows looked surprised.

  Smith exhaled and said, “It’s my fault. I should have been down there with the survey team.”

  Meadows shook his head. “Tim, you can’t be everywhere. It all worked out and helped pull the team together.” He paused. “I think Fuze’s ‘dangerous actions’ demonstrate his dedication to the project and team. Are you still worried about his background?”

  “Yes, and you should be too.”

  III

  PENETRATION

  “Mr. President, the checks and balances have been working against us. They’re designed to keep information from being extracted ... not inserted.”