John just froze at the sound of the moaning. He prayed that his family
would get him and his brother out in time.
"John, are you ok in there?" Jeff asked at the sudden silence by his son. John quietly replied, "sure dad. I just thought for a moment there that the pod was going to break loose. Have you thought on how to get us out of here?"
"John, don't worry about the pod falling, I have two Cat front end loaders supporting it. And I am going over with Brains the idea of continuing what we were doing, but gently lowering the pod with the two loaders. How does that sound with you?
"Dad, it is pretty unstable in here, I am not so sure that will work. You can't put us completely on the ground because of the auger. If anything touches that, Virgil's a goner."
Jeff continued, "John, is the Mole wedged tightly enough to handle a change in the floor angle? What else might be affected?"
"Dad, the Mole looks jammed in pretty tight, but the chassis is a little loose. I am more concerned about some of the toolboxes that were connected to the side of the pod but are now dangling freely overhead. There is also a mountain of debris next to Virgil, but I think that would probably fall away from us as you level off the pod."
"Brains, are you getting any of this?" asked Jeff.
"Y-y-yes, Mr. Tracy. C-c-could we send John a l-l-length of chain w-w-with hooks so that he can s-s-secure the chassis t-t-to the Mole?"
"Brains, dad, I am not sure how much securing I can do, my left arm is busted up pretty badly." John interrupted.
Jeff said, "Son, I didn't know this. In fact you haven't given me any information about yourself. What else is wrong?"
"Don't worry Dad, I'll live. The arm is the worst. I ache all over, so I am not sure if anything else is actually broken, or just bruised. I am having a little trouble breathing; I took a hit in the ribs. I am also a bit feverish, but that is to be expected with broken bones. I will be fine, but I am anxious to get Virgil out. He's really got me worried. His breathing is getting worse.
By the time John finished talking, Jeff was off the cherry picker and walking up to Scott, Gordon and Brains. Still talking into his watch com to John, Jeff finished by saying, "I know son. I want him out now too. Hang in there, I am right here with Scott, Brains and Gordon. We will find the fastest, safest way to get the two of you out of there."
To the rest standing there, he said, "OK boys, the way I see it, we are going to have some major work to do inside the pod to get the Mole off of Virgil. I do not want to do that with the pod suspended way up there. Too risky. John is not sure about bringing the pod down. But I think the only option we have right now is to do just that. We can take it very slowly. If we can get enough of the pod cleared away from TB2, we can cut a hole in the door on the side, instead of trying to cut through the reinforced bottom. Then we can send someone in there to help secure the chassis so that we can get the pod all the way down. Brains, how long would it take to cut through the part of the auger sticking out the bottom?"
Brains replied, "O-o-over several hours, Mr. T-t-tracy. The auger is m-m- made of the s-s-strongest material I c-c-could think of t-t-to be able to d- d-dig through the t-t-toughest barriers. H-h-how about s-s-setting the pod on an e-e-elevated platform of s-s-some sort?"
Jeff called Walt and Jerry over. Both Cats were locked in position and were stable for the moment. "Guys, can you think of anything that we could sit the pod on, securely, so that the auger doesn't hit the ground?"
The two guys looked at each other and Jerry said, 'We'll go ask around the others. We'll be right back."
Jeff watched the two men trot off. He turned back to his family and said, "ok, let's say we do find something."
Brains said, "If we c-c-could sit the pod on f-f-four blocks, then we c-c- could very quickly c-c-cut a hold in the s-s-side and get several men inside. I d-d-don't know what the inside l-l-looks like, but I think we have s-s-several options s-s-since we brought so m-m-much chain with us. We c-c-could hoist the Mole up if a-a-any of the roof r-r-rings are intact, or we c-c-could c-c-cut a large hole in the roof and have the b-b-backhoe lift the mole. Maybe s-s-simple leverage is all that is n-n-needed to get the chassis off V-V-Virgil."
Jeff turned around when he saw the other three looking past him. He saw Jerry running at full speed with a shit-eating grin on his face. "You won't.gasp,gasp, . believe our luck. gasp, gasp...we..", "catch your breath.", said Jeff. "Sit, take a couple of breaths, then tell us the good news." Inwardly, Jeff was screaming "out with it already!".
Jerry took a deep breath, "Bubba used to work in the now defunct construction company that had it's building out here in the middle of nowhere. They thought that everything would build up around them, I guess. Anyway, you know those huge cement blocks, the ones with holes in them? They stand about 15 feet high? They can hold a lot of weight.".
"Yeah, I know, I know, but what about them?" urged Jeff impatiently.
"Well," Jerry continued, "when the construction company folded, they left everything behind, including a whole slew of them things. It is only 10 minutes thata way." He said pointed to the southwest.
"My God," Jeff thought. "Could we be so lucky? What are the chances that something like this would be here out in the middle of nowhere?" To Brains he said, "Brains, you know what Jerry is talking about, can 4 of them hold the pod?"
"S-s-sure, Mr. Tracy. The o-o-only real weight in the p-p-pod is the Mole. The p-p-pod is hollow so it's r-r-relatively is light."
To Jerry, Jeff asked, "Ok, so how do we get them here?"
Jerry smugly replied, "Oh Jeff..." And he pointed to the backhoe and the flatbed. "You cut me to the quick with that question."
"Then be off you. Hurry up and get them back here." Ordered Jeff, with a smile.
Jerry ran into the group of men still standing around waiting for something to do. He grabbed several of them, grabbed a long length of chain, 2 hooks, loaded the backhoe onto the flatbed and roared on out of the area.
To Walt who just came walking back up, Jeff said, "Let's see what we can do to slowly lower that pod." Walt saluted and trotted back to the one Cat, while calling another fellow, named Bob over to take controls of the second one. Jeff turned to Gordon and Brains, "get back up on top of TB2 and continue cutting the clamps." Turning to Scott, "Scott, contact John and let him know what we are doing. Keep in constant contact. I want to know the second something goes wrong inside."
"Sure thing," said Scott.
Scott and Jeff walked over to Walt, who was manning one of the Cats. Scott was bringing John up to date on the plan of action as they were walking. Yelling up to Gordon and Brains, bypassing the watch com so that the channel would remain open for John, Jeff said, "Boys, continue cutting according to the original plans. We want to make sure this pod rests on the Cats evenly on both sides. If it tips one way or the other, we will have two dead Tracys boys. GOT IT!?"
Brains and Gordon, watching each other carefully nodded and went back to work cutting the clamps.
As more clamps broke their connection between pod and ship, the two men sitting in the Cats could feel the weight shift on the one side closest to the great ship. Since the pod was at such a great angle, only the corner of the large buckets was in contact with the pod. As they lower the buckets, the pod will slowly shift more and more eventually resting on the whole bucket and not just the corner. But this was still the stickiest part of the whole operation. If they were not centered right, the weight of the pod would just tip the Cats over, crushing the operators and killing those inside. Jeff couldn't remember a more dangerous mission. He had such sophisticated equipment and none of it was available to him right now. Maybe he should think of getting another cargo ship built like TB2. He put that in the back of his mind for later thought.
Inside John was listening to the play by play from Scott. He was looking around, watching everything carefully, ready to cover Virgil if anything were to fall. He was holding Virgil's hand. Virgil was moaning lightly, as he wasn't completely out of it and John was sure that if he tried, he could wake Virgil up. But he didn't want to at this point. He thought it best that Virgil be out during this. John was getting more and more anxious with every ping he heard. He knew the situation was more under control now but the sound was still nerve wracking. He could feel movement now. A little bit of swaying here, a change in angle there. And moaning. The great ship was moaning with every fraction of an inch she took.
There was a sudden lurch down, catching John off guard. He let go of Virgil's hand in order to stop himself from falling over and sliding down the floor incline. Several of the boxes broke from their moorings and came crashing down. Luckily they were mostly towards the back of the pod. But one box hit the mountain of debris sending it avalanching down towards the two of them. John quickly regained his balance and deliberately fell across Virgil's head to protect him. He felt a soft thud on his back, a little bit more crashing about then things quieted down. Something hit him, but it wasn't heavy. He slowly got off Virgil and looked around. "PHEW!" he thought, "that was close."
Scott was calling into the com, "Everything ok John? The last of the clamps broke away, you dropped a couple of feet."
John answered, "Other that you giving me a heart attack, we're fine. Some stuff did fall but nothing hit us."
"Ok, hang on, we are going to actually start lowering the pod. We aren't going too far, just enough to take the strain off the corner of the buckets. We have to wait to see what the fellas bring back for supports for you."
Gordon and Brains had scrambled off TB2 when the last of the clamps gave way. They were standing with Jeff and Scott. Scott thought Jeff looked pale, but he was still as commanding as ever. Funny, but he thought his dad wanted HIM to do the rescue, but Jeff being Jeff, just slid right into the command position. Scott didn't mind. He was actually grateful his dad took the reins.
"Ok, gentlemen," Jeff called, "the hardest thing right now is to have the both of you staying synchronized while lowering the pod."
"Gotcha Jeff." Called Walt. Then to his fellow Cat operator he called, "Bob, you follow my lead. Shift the engine power to level 2. Push the winch lever in ¾ of the way. Got it so far?" Bob shook his head yes. "Now let's slowly squeeze the lever and start lowering this sucker."
John felt the pod start to level out. It was changing very slowly, and he was watching everything. He kept his eye on Virgil, and the chocks supporting the chassis on top of him. He was watching the laser cutter box straight above him, very carefully as it swung back and forth. He looked around to make sure the debris mountain didn't shift at all sending anything on top of them. He had a tight hold of Virgil's hand while watching everything and listening to Scott, who was giving him the play-by- play and just generally making him feel better with his soothing voice.
Suddenly the pod bucked and shifted on the second cat, swaying towards the corner on one side, but not the other. The cat leaned a bit towards the ship, straining to right itself. Walt called, "Bob, don't be heroic, jump if you can't hold her!" Bob yelled back, "I can hold her, I can hold her!! Bring your end down a couple of feet. Hurry!"
Walt did as told, and the pod thunked into a more stable position and Cat number 2 was able to get centered again. Just as the pod plunked down into the new position, Scott heard screams from the watch com, "STOP, STOP!!, Don't move anym..."
"John, are you ok in there?" Jeff asked at the sudden silence by his son. John quietly replied, "sure dad. I just thought for a moment there that the pod was going to break loose. Have you thought on how to get us out of here?"
"John, don't worry about the pod falling, I have two Cat front end loaders supporting it. And I am going over with Brains the idea of continuing what we were doing, but gently lowering the pod with the two loaders. How does that sound with you?
"Dad, it is pretty unstable in here, I am not so sure that will work. You can't put us completely on the ground because of the auger. If anything touches that, Virgil's a goner."
Jeff continued, "John, is the Mole wedged tightly enough to handle a change in the floor angle? What else might be affected?"
"Dad, the Mole looks jammed in pretty tight, but the chassis is a little loose. I am more concerned about some of the toolboxes that were connected to the side of the pod but are now dangling freely overhead. There is also a mountain of debris next to Virgil, but I think that would probably fall away from us as you level off the pod."
"Brains, are you getting any of this?" asked Jeff.
"Y-y-yes, Mr. Tracy. C-c-could we send John a l-l-length of chain w-w-with hooks so that he can s-s-secure the chassis t-t-to the Mole?"
"Brains, dad, I am not sure how much securing I can do, my left arm is busted up pretty badly." John interrupted.
Jeff said, "Son, I didn't know this. In fact you haven't given me any information about yourself. What else is wrong?"
"Don't worry Dad, I'll live. The arm is the worst. I ache all over, so I am not sure if anything else is actually broken, or just bruised. I am having a little trouble breathing; I took a hit in the ribs. I am also a bit feverish, but that is to be expected with broken bones. I will be fine, but I am anxious to get Virgil out. He's really got me worried. His breathing is getting worse.
By the time John finished talking, Jeff was off the cherry picker and walking up to Scott, Gordon and Brains. Still talking into his watch com to John, Jeff finished by saying, "I know son. I want him out now too. Hang in there, I am right here with Scott, Brains and Gordon. We will find the fastest, safest way to get the two of you out of there."
To the rest standing there, he said, "OK boys, the way I see it, we are going to have some major work to do inside the pod to get the Mole off of Virgil. I do not want to do that with the pod suspended way up there. Too risky. John is not sure about bringing the pod down. But I think the only option we have right now is to do just that. We can take it very slowly. If we can get enough of the pod cleared away from TB2, we can cut a hole in the door on the side, instead of trying to cut through the reinforced bottom. Then we can send someone in there to help secure the chassis so that we can get the pod all the way down. Brains, how long would it take to cut through the part of the auger sticking out the bottom?"
Brains replied, "O-o-over several hours, Mr. T-t-tracy. The auger is m-m- made of the s-s-strongest material I c-c-could think of t-t-to be able to d- d-dig through the t-t-toughest barriers. H-h-how about s-s-setting the pod on an e-e-elevated platform of s-s-some sort?"
Jeff called Walt and Jerry over. Both Cats were locked in position and were stable for the moment. "Guys, can you think of anything that we could sit the pod on, securely, so that the auger doesn't hit the ground?"
The two guys looked at each other and Jerry said, 'We'll go ask around the others. We'll be right back."
Jeff watched the two men trot off. He turned back to his family and said, "ok, let's say we do find something."
Brains said, "If we c-c-could sit the pod on f-f-four blocks, then we c-c- could very quickly c-c-cut a hold in the s-s-side and get several men inside. I d-d-don't know what the inside l-l-looks like, but I think we have s-s-several options s-s-since we brought so m-m-much chain with us. We c-c-could hoist the Mole up if a-a-any of the roof r-r-rings are intact, or we c-c-could c-c-cut a large hole in the roof and have the b-b-backhoe lift the mole. Maybe s-s-simple leverage is all that is n-n-needed to get the chassis off V-V-Virgil."
Jeff turned around when he saw the other three looking past him. He saw Jerry running at full speed with a shit-eating grin on his face. "You won't.gasp,gasp, . believe our luck. gasp, gasp...we..", "catch your breath.", said Jeff. "Sit, take a couple of breaths, then tell us the good news." Inwardly, Jeff was screaming "out with it already!".
Jerry took a deep breath, "Bubba used to work in the now defunct construction company that had it's building out here in the middle of nowhere. They thought that everything would build up around them, I guess. Anyway, you know those huge cement blocks, the ones with holes in them? They stand about 15 feet high? They can hold a lot of weight.".
"Yeah, I know, I know, but what about them?" urged Jeff impatiently.
"Well," Jerry continued, "when the construction company folded, they left everything behind, including a whole slew of them things. It is only 10 minutes thata way." He said pointed to the southwest.
"My God," Jeff thought. "Could we be so lucky? What are the chances that something like this would be here out in the middle of nowhere?" To Brains he said, "Brains, you know what Jerry is talking about, can 4 of them hold the pod?"
"S-s-sure, Mr. Tracy. The o-o-only real weight in the p-p-pod is the Mole. The p-p-pod is hollow so it's r-r-relatively is light."
To Jerry, Jeff asked, "Ok, so how do we get them here?"
Jerry smugly replied, "Oh Jeff..." And he pointed to the backhoe and the flatbed. "You cut me to the quick with that question."
"Then be off you. Hurry up and get them back here." Ordered Jeff, with a smile.
Jerry ran into the group of men still standing around waiting for something to do. He grabbed several of them, grabbed a long length of chain, 2 hooks, loaded the backhoe onto the flatbed and roared on out of the area.
To Walt who just came walking back up, Jeff said, "Let's see what we can do to slowly lower that pod." Walt saluted and trotted back to the one Cat, while calling another fellow, named Bob over to take controls of the second one. Jeff turned to Gordon and Brains, "get back up on top of TB2 and continue cutting the clamps." Turning to Scott, "Scott, contact John and let him know what we are doing. Keep in constant contact. I want to know the second something goes wrong inside."
"Sure thing," said Scott.
Scott and Jeff walked over to Walt, who was manning one of the Cats. Scott was bringing John up to date on the plan of action as they were walking. Yelling up to Gordon and Brains, bypassing the watch com so that the channel would remain open for John, Jeff said, "Boys, continue cutting according to the original plans. We want to make sure this pod rests on the Cats evenly on both sides. If it tips one way or the other, we will have two dead Tracys boys. GOT IT!?"
Brains and Gordon, watching each other carefully nodded and went back to work cutting the clamps.
As more clamps broke their connection between pod and ship, the two men sitting in the Cats could feel the weight shift on the one side closest to the great ship. Since the pod was at such a great angle, only the corner of the large buckets was in contact with the pod. As they lower the buckets, the pod will slowly shift more and more eventually resting on the whole bucket and not just the corner. But this was still the stickiest part of the whole operation. If they were not centered right, the weight of the pod would just tip the Cats over, crushing the operators and killing those inside. Jeff couldn't remember a more dangerous mission. He had such sophisticated equipment and none of it was available to him right now. Maybe he should think of getting another cargo ship built like TB2. He put that in the back of his mind for later thought.
Inside John was listening to the play by play from Scott. He was looking around, watching everything carefully, ready to cover Virgil if anything were to fall. He was holding Virgil's hand. Virgil was moaning lightly, as he wasn't completely out of it and John was sure that if he tried, he could wake Virgil up. But he didn't want to at this point. He thought it best that Virgil be out during this. John was getting more and more anxious with every ping he heard. He knew the situation was more under control now but the sound was still nerve wracking. He could feel movement now. A little bit of swaying here, a change in angle there. And moaning. The great ship was moaning with every fraction of an inch she took.
There was a sudden lurch down, catching John off guard. He let go of Virgil's hand in order to stop himself from falling over and sliding down the floor incline. Several of the boxes broke from their moorings and came crashing down. Luckily they were mostly towards the back of the pod. But one box hit the mountain of debris sending it avalanching down towards the two of them. John quickly regained his balance and deliberately fell across Virgil's head to protect him. He felt a soft thud on his back, a little bit more crashing about then things quieted down. Something hit him, but it wasn't heavy. He slowly got off Virgil and looked around. "PHEW!" he thought, "that was close."
Scott was calling into the com, "Everything ok John? The last of the clamps broke away, you dropped a couple of feet."
John answered, "Other that you giving me a heart attack, we're fine. Some stuff did fall but nothing hit us."
"Ok, hang on, we are going to actually start lowering the pod. We aren't going too far, just enough to take the strain off the corner of the buckets. We have to wait to see what the fellas bring back for supports for you."
Gordon and Brains had scrambled off TB2 when the last of the clamps gave way. They were standing with Jeff and Scott. Scott thought Jeff looked pale, but he was still as commanding as ever. Funny, but he thought his dad wanted HIM to do the rescue, but Jeff being Jeff, just slid right into the command position. Scott didn't mind. He was actually grateful his dad took the reins.
"Ok, gentlemen," Jeff called, "the hardest thing right now is to have the both of you staying synchronized while lowering the pod."
"Gotcha Jeff." Called Walt. Then to his fellow Cat operator he called, "Bob, you follow my lead. Shift the engine power to level 2. Push the winch lever in ¾ of the way. Got it so far?" Bob shook his head yes. "Now let's slowly squeeze the lever and start lowering this sucker."
John felt the pod start to level out. It was changing very slowly, and he was watching everything. He kept his eye on Virgil, and the chocks supporting the chassis on top of him. He was watching the laser cutter box straight above him, very carefully as it swung back and forth. He looked around to make sure the debris mountain didn't shift at all sending anything on top of them. He had a tight hold of Virgil's hand while watching everything and listening to Scott, who was giving him the play-by- play and just generally making him feel better with his soothing voice.
Suddenly the pod bucked and shifted on the second cat, swaying towards the corner on one side, but not the other. The cat leaned a bit towards the ship, straining to right itself. Walt called, "Bob, don't be heroic, jump if you can't hold her!" Bob yelled back, "I can hold her, I can hold her!! Bring your end down a couple of feet. Hurry!"
Walt did as told, and the pod thunked into a more stable position and Cat number 2 was able to get centered again. Just as the pod plunked down into the new position, Scott heard screams from the watch com, "STOP, STOP!!, Don't move anym..."