THE ARK

Day 302

RJ stepped from the classroom and into the hot desert sun. The time was 1330 hours and already she was exhausted. She had awoken at 0500 with the others who were spending the next four weeks at Training Site Alpha. By 0530 she and two hundred and fifty others were one mile into the five-mile run. At 0700 they were having breakfast and by 0800 they were in the classrooms. Every sleeper had their skill set personally evaluated by RJ and her team. Primary skills were built upon and new skills were learned. Specifically what skills were added to the sleepers’ resumes were determined by a combination of the specific interests of the individual, and the needs of the team.

All sleepers would learn basic medical skills, as well as basic engineering and construction and combat skills. However, this would all be over and above a primary skill such as teaching or farming or some other skill that would be needed in the new world that they would awaken into.

The previous night RJ had eaten dinner with a thirty-two-year-old Hispanic female named Mia.

Mia held a degree in molecular biology and would be the responsible for the fabrication of medications and immunizations. Today she was in class learning about plastic explosives and other demolitions.

Prior to her coming to Alpha, she had spent three months training as a surgical assistant in a military hospital in Europe, a skill that she could add to her post-awakening resume.

Mia had joked with RJ about how much her life had changed since the two of them had met.

RJ smiled at the memory of the conversation; she wondered if Mia would enjoy rappelling out of the helicopter this evening. RJ got into the Humvee and headed for her office. Actually, the office was a small portable trailer. She had similar offices at all four of the training sites and as she moved between them she would simply transplant her computers and documents and in a very short amount of time would be back in business.

As she entered the trailer, she was immediately hit with the cool air. This was one of the only air-conditioned buildings at the compound. She glanced at her watch; she was scheduled to meet up with another group at the rifle range in twenty minutes. Unfortunately, she had to deal with another issue first.

She sat down in front of her computer and adjusted the small camera on top. In moments, a window popped up on the screen stating that there was an incoming call. She received the call and was instantly staring at the face of her deputy commander, Brad Warren.

Brad Warren was, like her, former military. He had spent most of his career in the Army Corps of Engineers. He was involved in many international projects, building and rebuilding were topics he could easily relate to. He had retired with the rank of Major three years ago, and now at the age of forty-four he owned a small engineering firm.

In truth, since being recruited into this project his brother was running the business.

Brad Warren was one of the unusual people in the project. His wife Jill was also a future sleeper. Jill was an experienced helicopter pilot and instructor. She was at Alpha this week too. She was conducting training for the students who were practicing rappelling from the helicopters. She had spent the previous four weeks as a student at Alpha working on her combat training. She had crossed trained several months before at training site Delta in communications. Most of her time, however, was spent working with other sleepers who wanted to make flying helicopters their second or third skill.

Next week she would be at site Bravo to begin attending the ten week class on basic medical procedures.

RJ smiled at Brad, “How are things at Bravo?”

“I’m glad my medical training is almost over. I can’t take much more of this. I’ve been in class for ten weeks, and the six weeks prior to that I was teaching an engineering class. I need a break. I’d pay for a few days on the obstacle course or the firing range,” Brad stated.

“I know what you mean; I feel the same way at times. I’ll be flying to The Mountain for a few days, to see how things are going. Before I left I wanted to discuss the situation you emailed me about.”

“This guy, Dale Carter, is a real pain in the you know what, RJ. I know why you selected him, but he’s infuriating the other two Nukes. He struts around blabbing on and on about how much he knows and how little everyone else knows. The other nuclear engineers are ready to kill him. They each are ten years older and have twenty times the experience. This kid may have been top of his class, but he’s a pup with an attitude. We need these three to work together to keep that reactor working and to eventually train their replacements.

“I think one of the others punched him out the other night. He showed up in medical class with a split bloody lip, he won’t say what happened and I quit asking. He was quiet for a day, but that didn’t last. I think we would be better to kick him out.”

“I’m not ready to kick him out yet. Even if we did, what then? He certainly can’t be allowed to just leave, not with all he knows.

“I’ll make sure he and I cross paths soon and have a little chat. In the meantime, I’ll have him dragged in for a repeat psychological exam. That isn’t something that we normally repeat, but I’ll set it up to make it clear to him that we think he’s has a problem. The results of the exam will just happen to show he needs to spend some time with a counselor. I’ll see that he spends time getting the opportunity to get his act together. If he thinks we might cut him loose, he understands that means he dies in less than a year from radiation sickness,” RJ explained.

“I’m willing to give it a try, but this kid is so arrogant I don’t think he’d believe we would even consider getting rid of him.”

“Let’s see what happens, and I’ll make sure to talk to him too. Do you’ve any questions for me to answer while at The Mountain?”

“I’m just curious about a timetable for moving in.”

“I’m supposed to work on that with General Fitch while there,” RJ explained

“Good. One other thing, one of the sleep experts will need to be going with us in case there are any issues during the long sleep. Has that been worked out and when will they be training? We’ll need to get them started soon.”

“That will be covered this trip too. I’ll let you know what we decide.”

RJ got up from her chair and took a small bottle of cold water from the refrigerator. She hesitated in the cool air conditioning as long as possible, then pushed the door open and stepped into the desert sand. As she climbed into the Humvee, she could already feel the sweat starting. She shifted into gear and started for the firing range. She wanted to meet with one of the teams and complete the last of her shooting drills for the week before having to leave for the mountain.

Three hours later, she had completed her training, packed her gear and gotten her files and laptop together. She had showered and was now waiting for the helicopter that would take her for the two-hour trip to The Mountain.

She sat in the cool office and looked out over the helipad. After a few minutes, RJ thought she could hear the approaching aircraft. Three minutes later the UH-60 Black Hawk was sitting on the pad. RJ waited until the rotors had stopped turning then headed out to the pad. Ten minutes later, they were airborne and heading North.

As the Black Hawk landed, the first thing RJ noticed was that they had landed on the opposite end of the mountain. The permanent helipads were in place and they were now able to land on the concrete surface instead of in the sand.

RJ stepped from the helicopter and began the one hundred yard walk to the tunnel entrance. Behind her were the three completed buildings that the workers considered their homes. As she neared the entrance, she was met by the armed sentry. She placed her hand on the scanner at his station and was immediately let in. There she boarded a waiting Humvee and rode the half-mile long journey into the mountain.

As she rode through the tunnel with her duffel bag, she was aware of two things. First, the noises of the heavy machinery used for digging and tunneling were gone. On the last visit here, six months ago, they were still digging and cutting rock out, and no matter where in the facility you went, there was the constant sound of heavy earth moving equipment.

The second thing RJ noticed was an odd burnt smell in the air. It was similar to the smell of burned rubber or plastic. She was sure that the smell was not present the last time she was at the mountain.

She proceeded down the brightly lit corridor and past the mammoth elevator that led to the pit. She placed her hand on the scanner on the wall by the recessed door. “Good afternoon Miss Anderson.” She was greeted again as she called the elevator. It descended to the main floor of the complex. As the doors opened, she was aware that the burnt smell was much stronger and she could hear the sound of the ventilation fans that were running on full power. She entered the control room and went to the office that she shared with General Matt Fitch. The office was abandoned. There were several technicians in the control room going about various tasks.

She sat down at the desk in the office and accessed the computer. She requested that the computer locate General Fitch. The computer rapidly came back with the response that the General was in the engineering area.

RJ briefly considered heading to engineering but decided not to, instead, she had the computer bring up all the status reports that had been submitted since she was last here.

As RJ read the reports, she was pleased with the progress. The enlarging of all areas was complete. The hospital was complete, the mess hall was almost complete and the second level freezers and food storage areas had been completed. In fact, the freezers had been online for a week and all backup systems were checking out just fine.

The sleep chambers for the command staff on this level were mostly complete, as were the livestock chambers. The main sleep chambers had been completed a month ago and there were currently five test subjects in each of the five thousand bed chambers sleeping. They had been placed in the deep sleep two weeks ago and were scheduled to remain asleep for another two weeks. So far, there had been no problems.

The living quarters for many of the two hundred member initial wake up team were due to be completed in the next few weeks.

RJ made a mental note to get up to that level and look around. Her quarters were going to be on that level and she was anxious to see the progress.

It seemed that with everything progressing as it was there would be no problem being ready in time.

Deciding that she was hungry, she had the computer again locate General Fitch. He was still in the engineering area. She sent a signal to the intercom that was closest to him. After the wall unit beeped a voice answered. “This is Cowan.”

“James, this is RJ. Could you please let the General know that I’ve arrived and will be in the mess hall when he has time?”

“Sure RJ. He’s here and says he’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

“Great thanks.”

RJ logged out of the computer and headed for the mess hall.

When she arrived, she got herself a cheeseburger, fries and a large salad. Then she found a large booth along the wall and sat down to eat. She was almost done when she saw Fitch and Cowan enter the room. They each got a drink before sitting down.

“Amy will be meeting with us too; she’ll be along in a couple minutes,” Fitch explained

“Good, I was reading over the status reports. It seems as if everything is moving along right on schedule,” RJ commented.

“We are quite pleased with the progress. Things have been going fairly smooth,” added Fitch

“At least until early this morning,” Cowan added with a smile.

RJ asked. “What happened this morning?”

“There was a fire in the laundry area. They had just finished installing the last of the equipment in there and it was being tested. No one was in the laundry room and all of a sudden, the computers were signaling a fire alarm. It took a few minutes to get people down there and get it out. One of the large dryers had some kind of a short. There isn’t much left of it. There is a team down there working on the mess. It looks like the units right next to the defective one are ruined too, but the rest are fine,” Fitch explained

“Good, glad this happened now, instead of after the sleep,” stated RJ

“Agreed,” Travers said, as she approached.

“We have some timetable issues to discuss. We need to decide which one of you two is going to be joining us for the big sleep, so we can get the required training started,” RJ said looking at Cowan and Travers.

“I think Amy should go with you, she’s almost as knowledgeable as I’m about the sleep process and I can finish up here when she starts the training,” stated Cowan.

Travers looked at Cowan and the surprise was clear on her face.

“Amy, if there are issues during the sleep, can you deal with them?” RJ asked.

“I suspect that I could handle most any problem, I’ve been working quite closely with James for some time now.”

General Fitch spoke up. “James is clearly the most experienced person when it comes to the sleep process, and while I’m very pleased with Captain Travers abilities, it only makes sense for the most qualified person to go. This whole project revolves around the long sleep and anything we can do to guarantee its success is paramount.”

“I’m afraid I must agree,” Travers said reluctantly

Three sets of eyes looked at Cowan. After a few seconds, he slowly shook his head.

He thought of his wife Kathy and the idea of leaving her to die while he went to safety was not something he could even consider. When they had married twenty-four years earlier, he had promised her that he would be with her to death. He had never lied to her and she had never let him down. No, he would not let her die alone.

“No, I can’t. I won’t go. I won’t leave my wife to die while I hide out here.”

“James, this project needs your expertise. We need you to be there in case there are any problems,” RJ responded.

“Sorry RJ, I won’t leave my wife.” the tone in Cowan’s voice was clear. This was not something he would budge on.

“Hey James, isn’t your wife a teacher?” asked General Fitch

“Yeah, she teaches high school history. Why?”

“RJ, do we have a need for another teacher on the project.”

“Well, we originally wanted to sleep twelve teachers but cut back to ten to make room for another nurse and a molecular biologist. But I can fit her in if that’s what it’ll take,” RJ reluctantly said.

RJ liked Cowan and understood his concern, but she was uncomfortable with manipulating the team list like this.

“What do you think James?” asked the General

“I’ll have to discuss that with her, I don’t know if she’ll be willing to leave our son behind.”

RJ looked at him and asked. “How old is he?”

“DJ is twenty-two, he’s a senior in college.”

“I can’t do that one for you. Sorry.”

“I know.”

“James, I could guarantee that he gets a spot in an underground shelter if she agrees. Tell her that,” Fitch added.

“I’ll head home tonight and discuss it with her. I think she might agree.”

“Good. The next thing we need to cover is the move in date,” RJ said, “Is there a plan in place for the move in?”

“Yes, next month we start bringing in all the supplies. The vehicles, food, tools, construction equipment, building supplies and everything else will begin arriving then. Most of the delivery schedules are in place.

“In six months all the livestock arrives. We will have a three to one ratio of females to males in all species. All the females will be impregnated prior to their arrival. This will almost double the number of each species we can take with us.

“One month before the comet’s arrival the primary sleepers will arrive and immediately be put to sleep.

“Two weeks later the two hundred man advance team of sleepers will start to arrive and be put to sleep, except for your immediate command staff. They’ll enter the mountain one week later and immediately be sealed in. Then you and any others of your choice will remain awake and in communication with the rest of us. You’ll witness the comet’s arrival and we’ll maintain communication as long as possible. You’ll enter the sleep capsules as you decide. This was all decided a while ago, but can be modified as needed,” explained the General

RJ thought about it and was inwardly horrified at the realization that she would soon be sitting in the command center watching the world die all around her.

However, the plan sounded good and the timeline was close to what she had envisioned.

“That sounds good me. Do we have suppliers available to deliver all of the stuff we’ll need?”

“Some of the logistics are still being worked out,” Fitch admitted. “But it looks good.”

“Excellent.”

RJ noticed that the others had all finished their drinks. “I’m curious to see some of the living quarters and the completed sleep chambers.”

Cowan spoke up. “I’d be willing to show you around, but I need to make arrangements to head home for a couple days. While I’m there, Kathy and I’ll have a long discussion about what we’re going to do.”

“In that case, I’ll show you what we’ve accomplished while you’ve been gone,” offered Travers

“Sounds good to me,” RJ commented, as the two of them got up to leave.

As soon as the doors closed behind the two women, Matt looked at his friend and said. “Do you think Kathy will really sign on?”

“If she realizes that it’s the one chance to guarantee the boy gets in a shelter she’ll do anything.”

“Good, let me know how things go.”

Cowan got up to leave, and as he left Fitch made a mental note to contact General Draper. Cowan’s son would have a place in a shelter, whether James and Kathy slept or not.

Cowan climbed aboard the UH-60 Black Hawk and was quickly airborne. As he looked at his watch, he realized that it would be about seven PM when he arrived home. He sat back and enjoyed the fast flight across the desert, as he traveled he mentally rehearsed the amazing story he would tell Kathy. She had been curious about his work and he had been rather vague. Tonight the unbelievable story would come out, and in truth, he had no idea how she would take the news.