by M. Alan Marr
“Lake property. There’s a good LZ. Let’s go.”
Chaz quickly climbs in the front left seat of the helicopter and gets into the four-point harness expertly. The pilot can see he knows what he’s doing, and had also noticed he used the term LZ for landing zone.
“Are you a helicopter pilot?”
“Navy. H46s,” Chaz says while pulling up the coordinates on his phone. “And I flew Jet Rangers in primary training.”
“Right on. I was Army,” the pilot says, flipping switches, starting the helicopter’s turbine engine. “You say it’s got a good LZ?”
“Yeah, if you approach from over the lake, there’s a decent-sized clearing. You won’t have any problem.” Chaz pulls up the coordinates on his phone. “I’ll navigate. You fly, Army.”
“Roger that, Navy.”
The helicopter is cleared for departure, and the pilot heads west southwest. Chaz compares his Ti-Phone map to the pilot’s paper aviation chart and points out the location of the lake.
“Right here,” Chaz says. “I’ve got my GPS up. Heading two-three-five. That should keep us clear of everything.”
The pilot glances at Chaz’s gold phone and sees the display is very detailed, has a compass azimuth near the top, and staggering daylight resolution. Chaz looks at him and proffers, “It’s a prototype model.”
Eighty-five minutes later, the helicopter approaches the lake property.
The pilot motions with his head. “Looks like someone’s down there.”
“Where?”
“I see a floatplane.”
“That’s mine.”
“Looks like I can set down up on that flat area above the lake.”
“That’s the spot.”
“Any power lines I need to worry about?”
“No, nothing. Just watch out for bears.”
The pilot lands the Jet Ranger on the very spot where a bear once attacked Chaz.
Chaz releases his harness. “Do I need to sign anything?”
“No, you’re all set, Navy.”
“Thanks, Army.” Chaz gets out of the helicopter and walks several paces away. He turns and gives the pilot a thumbs-up for liftoff. The helicopter takes off and heads back to the east. Chaz runs down to the floatplane; it’s empty, although the keys are still in it. Chaz looks at the ground and sees two sets of footprints leading away from the plane toward the rocky edge along the lake. Of course, it had to be Steve, because who else would Dev call?
It’s late in the day, but there’s enough light for Chaz to follow the footprints to the area where they seem to congregate in one spot and go no farther. He also sees his running jacket caught on a bush. Using his Ti-Phone, Chaz powers up a detection grid and directs the device toward the lake. He sees the Recon ship on the screen, but not the fighter. Before he bites the bullet and attempts to raise the Recon ship, he decides to try to locate Dev one last time. The communications grid initiates, this time with success! The hash marks on Dev’s icon disappear and the tag reads, Signal Acquisition. Relieved, Chaz presses the Dev icon. A tone chirps twice, and Dev’s voice comes through.
“Chaz?”
“Oh, thank God. Are you okay?”
“Fine, Chaz, everything’s fine.”
Chaz yells, “I HAVE BEEN GOING CRAZY!”
“How’s London?”
“I’m at the lake—Is Steve with you?”
“Hey, Chaz,” Steve says casually.
“Jesus, what happened?”
“Uninvited guests.”
“Holy shit, did you get ’em?”
“We got them.”
“Where are you now? Are you coming back?”
“Look up.”
Chaz looks up in the twilight sky and sees what can only be described as the briefest of shooting stars. The pinpoint of brightness disappears. He squints and sees something moving in the sky high above him. The almost invisible speck is coming down fast. Out of his periphery, Chaz sees motion in the water and turns toward the lake. A depression is forming in the water. The fighter drops in suddenly like a shot, causing Chaz to duck instinctively. “Whoa!” The fighter comes to a rapid halt right over the lake, sending a deep indentation of force into the water, creating a wave radiating outward from the center of the gravity displacement. The engines settle to idle, and the stealth system powers down as the fighter gently bobs a few feet above the waterline. The gravity well dissipates, and the surface of the lake returns to normal.
Chaz straightens up and pockets his Ti-Phone. “So, that’s what it’s supposed to look like.”
Dev eases the ship to the shoreline. The main engines shut down, and the canopies open before the ship comes to a halt. Steve and Dev both unbuckle their harnesses and stand up.
Chaz is standing there with his arms folded. “I see you’ve corrupted Steve.”
“How was I supposed to get here?” Dev says innocently, and then motions toward the floatplane. “I can’t fly that monstrosity of yours.”
Chaz nods his head. “I figured that out.”
Steve jumps down off the ship, full of enthusiasm. “You guys have an amazing life!”
Chaz shakes hands with Steve and speaks casually, “Did you get the Yeti?”
“Two of them!” Steve beams. “Amazing!”
“I’m sorry I worried you.” Dev closes the canopies and jumps down off of the fuselage.
“I’m just glad you’re all right,” Chaz says. “Both of you.” He adds, “Didn’t you worry about being seen at this hour?”
“I scanned the area, and we were in full stealth.”
“I saw you.”
“You know what to look for.”
“Hey, what do you call that thing you did over the lake?” Steve says.
“That was a Grav-Lock drop with rapid reversal.”
“Worked a little better this time.” Chaz laughs, thinking about the less-than-perfect landing Dev made at the Admiralty complex. Steve wonders what the joke is.
“It works great over water,” Dev says. “Over land . . . not so much.”
“Why?” Steve says. “What happens over land?”
“Hard ground can’t withstand the shift. The surface tension of the water is perfect, though.”
“Too cool.” Steve sees Chaz and Dev need a moment. “I’ll . . . go preflight.”
After Steve jogs off toward the floatplane, Chaz hands Dev the running jacket.
“What made you come to the lake?”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Chaz says. “I chartered the fastest corporate jet out of Heathrow and had a helicopter fly me out here. I was trying to figure out where you went.”
“Did you?”
“Well, if I read my Ti-Phone correctly, you were somewhere near Triangulum.”
“Yeah.”
Chaz gets a little choked up. “And when I called you and lost the signal . . . ”
“One of the Brigands detonated a high-energy pulse. It knocked out comms for a couple of parsecs. I guess he didn’t want us calling for help. We got him, though. I had to chase the second one practically back to Triangulum before we got him. From there, it took a while to get ahead of the wave.”
Chaz smiles. “That old excuse.”
Dev laughs. “I didn’t send you a message because I didn’t want to distract you.”
“I know how to cope with distractions, Dev. Please don’t keep me in the dark again.”
“I promise.”
Before too much more time goes by, Dev re-sinks the fighter in the lake and sets the engine systems to regenerate its fuel supply. Fighter secure, he and Chaz start walking toward the clearing. Dev yawns.
“So what happened?” Chaz says.
“I was at home and there was an alert. You were over the Atlantic, so I called Steve.”
“How’d he take it?”
“It was a multifaceted thing. I told him I needed a favor. I picked him up and drove like a maniac to the airport.” Dev laughs. “He didn’t know what was going on. I pulled up to the Beaver an
d said ‘I hope you can fly this thing.’ ”
“I didn’t know Steve was rated for floats.”
“He isn’t,” Dev says. “I kind of forced the issue.”
“Wait, what time was this?”
“Just after midnight.”
Chaz stops. “Midnight!”
“Yeah.”
Chaz gets angry. “He took an aircraft he’s not rated to fly and landed on water in the middle of the night!”
“He tried talking me out of it, but I activated the lights on the Recon ship and directed them up at the surface.” Dev laughs. “He thinks we have a lighting system in the water.”
Despite the danger, Chaz is impressed by Steve’s skill. “Midnight. That’s pretty ballsy.”
They continue walking. “Anyway, I tried sending him home, but he refused.”
“He refused?”
“Steve thought I was going crazy or something when I took off across the shoreline.”
“How did he handle the whole space thing?”
Dev smiles. “We were on the dark side of the moon before he realized what was going on.”
“That’s like ten seconds in flight.”
“Yeah. I didn’t really have a choice, though. He wouldn’t leave, and I didn’t have time to debate the point. So I took him with me.”
“At least now we have an ally.”
Chaz and Dev arrive at the floatplane. Steve has the battery power and the lights on.
“Do you want to fly back?” Steve says to Chaz.
“Can’t, I had a drink on the plane.”
“I’m your man, then.”
“I’ll talk you through the takeoff,” Chaz says.
“Climb aboard,” Dev says, while yawning. “I’ll shove us off.”
Dev heaves the plane out into the water with minimal effort, and then jumps onto the pontoon and climbs into the backseat. Steve starts the engine and gently powers up and water taxis toward the center of the lake. While Chaz briefs Steve on the takeoff, Dev takes a moment to think about everything that transpired. He lets out a sigh of relief, and then settles comfortably in the backseat and closes his eyes.
Steve reaches the end of the long portion of the lake and turns the Beaver around. He advances power slowly, and starts his takeoff run, Chaz talking him through the procedure. The Beaver picks up speed. The pontoons begin to lift slightly out of the water as they hydrofoil up on plane, slightly changing the general pitch of the aircraft. Faster and faster the Beaver accelerates, and then becomes fully airborne. Airspeed increases and Steve climbs upward and banks to the left and assumes course toward Atlanta.
The flight back is stress free. Chaz and Steve both have headsets on. Steve’s unfamiliarity of the Beaver paled in comparison to the recent events he just experienced. Dev is already asleep in the back. Combat is tiring. Steve, however, is way too exhilarated to be tired.
Chaz looks back at sleeping Dev, then turns to Steve. “I’m impressed you did a water landing. At night. That’s crazy, you realize.”
“Yeah, I know,” Steve replies. “Dev didn’t give me a choice.”
“Tell you what, when we get some time, we’ll find a floatplane instructor and get you certified for real.”
“Sounds good.” Steve adds, “Anything I need to know for a land-landing?”
“Don’t forget to lower the wheels.” Some low-level turbulence shakes the Beaver. Chaz looks back at Dev, still asleep. Chaz turns to Steve. “Listen, Steve . . . thanks.”
“Sir?”
“Thanks for being there.”
Steve smiles. “There’s not much I wouldn’t do for you guys. Even before this bit of new information.”
“You’re a good man, Steve.” Chaz nods. “Tell me, how did you like that fighter?”
“Oh, man, that is one razor-sharp ride.”
“Yes, it is. Did Dev tell you what was going on?”
“Not really. I mean, he explained where he’s from, and the observation mission. He was pretty focused on the job at hand. And then we got busy with those Brigands. He’s a shit-hot pilot.”
“I know, I’ve seen him in action.”
“After it was all over he was just in a big hurry to get back here.”
“There’s a lot more to the story I need to tell you . . . Dev and I are heading up a project to base a squadron of Crown fighters here on Earth. The flights we’re doing on the 767 are to search out a location for the base.”
“Wow.”
“There’s more, Steve. We didn’t just hire you to fly the 767. We hired you to fly those fighters.”
“Are you shitting me?”
“Dead serious. Earth is in dire straits.”
“Why? What happened?”
“The Yeti launched several attacks against the Crown. Dev’s military was hit pretty hard. They lost several warships and a critical base up on Triangulum. That base protected the approach to Oasis.”
“Oasis?” Steve replies. “I’m guessing there’s more to that name than just your airplane?”
“You bet your ass there is,” Chaz says. “Oasis is the name of the constellation where Earth is located; four stars in the middle of nowhere, and ours is the only habitable world. See, up until a few weeks ago, Dev’s military protected Earth. They can’t do it alone anymore. You’ve seen the Brigands; our military is no match for them.”
“So, the three of us are going to do this?”
Chaz smiles. “You’re forgetting about Harrison and Jen.”
“Oh my God—you hired all of us for this.”
“That’s right. And we still need one more.”
Steve thinks about the whole thing. “Ho-ly shit.”
“It’s going to be up to us. We were pretty confident in you, Steve. The others, well, we did the best we could do, but obviously, this is new territory. For everyone.”
“How the hell did Dev come up with this?”
“Actually, it was my idea.”
“Whoa, really? How?”
Chaz lets out a slight laugh. “I’d like to say it was my keen sense of military strategy, but really, we were sitting in a bar getting plastered up on Trieste.”
“Wait, you’ve actually been there?”
“Yeah. Just before we bought the 7-6.”
“How cool is that! What’s it like?”
Chaz thinks about it. “It’s amazing. The planet is huge—four times the size of Earth. The gravity’s a little heavy, but you get used to it. The coolest part is Trieste is just one of like twenty populated worlds. I’ve been to two of them. Three, including Trieste.”
“Dude, you’ve been to three other planets!” Steve is like a kid he’s so excited and rocks the wings back and forth.
Chaz laughs, looks back at Dev sleeping in the back, then continues. “I’ve also seen Saturn and Pluto up close. And spent a couple of days on one of their warships.”
“What was the warship like?”
“Eh, pretty similar to a Navy ship at night.”
“I’ve never been on any ship.”
“Now you know what’s going on. Listen, the only way we’re going to be able to pull this off is if we can maintain a certain sense of—for lack of a better word—normalcy. Are you going to be able to compartmentalize this information?”
“Absolutely.”
“Because I still need you to be our chief pilot and run the flight operation.”
“Don’t you worry, Chaz,” Steve says. “Your airplanes will be ready to go anywhere, any time.”
“Good.” Chaz adds, “We need to find a good location for a base. The next couple of months are going to be very busy. During that time we also need to figure out if Jen, Harrison, and whoever else we hire, can handle the other stuff. Then, at some point, we have to get everyone up to Trieste for flight training.”
“Oh my God, we get to go there?”
“Yep. There’s a lot more to those fighters than just stick and rudder.”
“Far out!”
“Meanwhile, it’
s business as usual until we figure out how to get the others on board.”
“Then, if I can suggest, we should concentrate on finding the next pilot.”
“Yep.”
Steve thinks of a question. “Hey, did you guys really hire Jen because she was losing her job?”
“Yeah.”
“How’d you know about her aircraft being sold?”
Chaz laughs. “Dev’s computers can tell us what the girl you took to prom had for breakfast the next day.”
“Ugh, Tracey Milbahn? Stale coffee and cigarettes. She was gross.” Steve laughs. “Is that how you did the background checks on all of us, with Dev’s computers?”
“It is.”
“What’d it say about me?”
Chaz looks at Steve. “It said you’re a good man.”
Steve is curious. “Did you run a check on Dave, my FO from the BBJ?”
“Yes, we did.”
“What’d it say?”
“Turns out Dave Bush is a conspiracy nut and doomsday prepper.”
“Oh my God, I knew it!” Steve laughs. “I mean I didn’t know, but as much as I liked working with the guy, he always had these little quirks.”
“He watches a lot of Fox News.”
“Well, that figures.” Steve looks at Chaz. “Wait, you know what everybody watches on TV?”
“Yes, we do. And I know you watch Project Runway.”
“Well, that wasn’t what I thought it was going to be about . . . but, yeah, I got hooked.”
Chaz laughs and quotes the show’s host. “Make it work, Designer.”
“I love Tim Gunn.”
“You can learn a lot about someone by looking at their viewing habits. Sort of gives some perspective along with the résumé. We can’t afford to trust just anyone with Dev’s information.”
***
The Beaver lands at Atlanta Hartsfield and taxis to its parking spot next to the 767. Chaz wakes Dev up, while Steve chocks the wheels.
Dev is a bit groggy. “Are we there yet?”
“We’re here,” Chaz says. “Listen, I think we should have Steve over. Did you guys use the compression drive?”
Dev rubs his face and forces himself to wake up. “Yeah, on the way back.”
The fighter’s compression drive is a high-speed flight mode that creates extreme forces inside the cockpit. The side effect is a severe form of jet lag that hits without mercy.
