Jeff, Scott, Walt, Doc and several other men from the town, ones that
worked specifically in construction, brainstormed together to figure out a
way to get Virgil safely out from under the chassis. After having the
discussion for about 15 minutes, Jeff said, "Ok, so let's sum up what we
have so far. We can't use just leverage under the chassis because there
isn't enough of the chassis to support the weight of it and the rest of the
Mole, which is still stuck in the floor of Thunderbird 2. That in itself
makes the Mole not very mobile. It will take too long to cut the auger, so
freeing up the Mole that way is also out. The rings and clamps up there on
the ceiling of the pod are not strong enough to support the weight of the
Mole. Besides just lifting the Mole isn't going to lift the chassis too."
Jeff continued, "So, the consensus is, that the first thing we need to do is start cutting the top off the pod so that we can use the backhoe to pull up the Mole. While some of you are working on that, we will be securing the chassis to the Mole with chains, so that when we are able to move the Mole, whatever few valuable inches it may be, the chassis goes with it. Once the chassis moves even the slightest amount, we shore it up. Doc and Scott will be standing by to slide Virgil out from underneath and get him into the compression suit immediately. Does that sound right?"
Jeff looked at the crowd with nods of yes and verbal agreements. He looked at Walt and said, "Can you divvy the work up to the people who best fit the task?"
Walt nodded "yes" and started barking orders. After a minute speaking with Tom, a welder, he turned to Jeff and said, "None of us have used a laser cutter, but we saw how fast it works. If this one isn't broken," pointing to the one that fell on John, "there are two that are available to use. Can someone show two of my men how to use them?"
"I'll do it, Fa, . uh, Jeff", spoke Scott and he grabbed the cutter from the box that fell on John, and trotted outside to get the one Brains had used earlier. Walt grabbed Tom and another man and followed after Scott. While Scott was outside instructing the two men on the use of the laser cutters, several men were cutting lengths of heavy-duty chain from the spool that Gordon brought along from the hardware store. Several men had already gone to the top of the pod, via cherry picker, and started with the acetylene torches. The backhoe was all set and ready to go with chains and hooks from its cement block duty earlier. Jeff, who was kneeling next to Virgil speaking softly to him, thought he had better give Gordon a call and see how John is and to update him at this end.
Gordon's watch com started beeping just after he told Brains that he was going to wait to call his dad. He switched on his com to see his dad's face. With no one else around, he felt safe to call his father 'Dad'. "Hi Dad, I was just thinking of calling you."
"Hi, Gordon. What's the word on John?" his father said, getting straight to the point.
Gordon replied, "They just took him in for some tests, I believe they said a CT scan. Then from there he goes straight into surgery to fix his collapsed lung, pin his arm and do something with his broken ribs. I don't know, can they pin ribs? This hospital looks to be a pretty good one. It's no backwards clinic, that's for sure. The equipment here is the latest technology from what I could see. I think John is in good hands. What's happening on your end?"
"Thanks, son" said Jeff. "I am right next to Virgil now. We have concluded that we need to lift the Mole using the backhoe. We have men cutting a large hole in the top of the pod right now. There are several other people who are securing the chassis to the Mole, so that when we do lift the Mole, the chassis will move with it. As soon as it is lifted, we will slide Virgil out and get him to the hospital."
"Father" added Gordon, "If I am not mistaken, in locker number 10 or 12 of that pod, we have several heavy duty blocks just for this sort of thing. Maybe you can use them to place under the chassis when you lift it. Securing it so that you have a safety margin to get Virgil out."
Jeff replied, "Good thinking Gordon, I will send Scott over there, right away. By the way, how are you and Brains holding up?"
"I'm doing ok. I will be better once I know about Virgil. Brains is over on the other sofa pretending to read a magazine." Answered Gordon.
"How do you know he is pretending?" inquired Jeff.
A smirk slowly covered Gordon's face, "It's upside down."
Jeff smiled at that, "I will call you when we have more to report. Jeff out"
"Scott", called Jeff, when he got off the com with Gordon. "Gordon said that he thinks this pod has several support blocks in either locker 10 or 12, go take a look. If so, they would be perfect for supporting the chassis while we get Virgil out."
"FAB" replied Scott and he vanished towards the back of the pod.
While several of the men from town were busy chaining the chassis to the Mole, and several others were working on the top of the pod, Jeff took the opportunity to talk to his son. He remembered hearing that the worst nightmare a parent could go through in life was to have a child of theirs die. He never really gave it that much thought until now. He had always worried when his sons were out on a rescue, but it never really sank in that he could actually lose one. His heart was just aching at the sight of his son. He was chatting to him, but wasn't saying anything of importance, just words of encouragement and hope.
Virgil turned his head to look up at his father.
Jeff's heart skipped a beat. Virgil focused his one bloodshot eye; the other being swollen shut, on his father. A barely audible word croaked from his lips, "Father". Jeff was beyond worrying about secrecy anymore. He held his son's hand tightly. "Virgil, I'm here." Jeff said supportively.
"My face hurts."
Jeff trying to keep focus away from his situation said, "You're going to end up with quite the shiner. But don't worry, Grandma has foundation cover-up that will hide it but good."
Virgil turned his head away looking around at his surroundings. Fear was slowly sinking in. "Where am I? What happened?"
Jeff could hear the panic rising in Virgil's voice and he looked up and over at Doc who had never been very far from his patient. Doc Amos already had a syringe inserted inside a bottle, drawing out a clear liquid. Before Virgil could panic and start to move around, Doc was upon him giving him the tranquilizer intravenously. Jeff could feels Virgil's grip in his hand slacken. Virgil once again looked at his father, but the focus was no longer there. Then he closed his eye.
"I'm sorry, Jeff," said Doc, "but if that young man moved enough to realize just how tightly pinned he was, he would have panicked big time. He would have killed himself trying to escape the clutches of this contraption. I really didn't want to tranq him because of his injuries, but I heard the fear in his voice. I had to do it."
"I know, Doc. Thanks for being so quick about it" replied Jeff.
Scott came back with several different size solid metal blocks on an handtruck. "There's more in the lockers, what do you think, should I bring them over here?" Jeff eyed what Scott already had with him. "I think so. It would be better to have too many over here than to have to run back there at a critical moment."
"Ok" And Scott was off again. Jeff looked up at the men securing the chassis to the Mole. They were making sure the chains were tight, using a ratchet to squeeze every inch from those chains. They also hooked up a long length of chain on either side of the chassis. Jeff asked, "What are those for?"
Someone who Jeff didn't know the name of, answered, "We will have just so much control of the movement when we start to lift this thing up. There will be several of us manning these chains to keep the chassis going straight up and not swaying from side to side. Once it is high enough, we will hold it steady so that it can be properly chocked. Jeff nodded to him. "These guys are good, he thought to himself."
Jeff looked up when he heard a creak. In one of the corners of the main hole that the men were cutting up there, they had cut two much smaller holes and threaded a chain through it. From the looks of it down below, the cutting was almost complete. They were using the backhoe to peel the cut section by the corner up and away from the pod. Slowly daylight started to pour in. It was very late in the day. They have been at this for hours now as the crash occurred early in the morning.
Walking over with the handtruck loaded with more blocks, Scott looked up at the daylight now piercing the inside of the pod. That was good, they could see better when they started to lift the Mole. He placed these blocks on the other side of the chassis from the first set he had brought over. When he finished, he walked over to where Doc was and squatted down next to him. He stayed in that position for several minutes, gathering his thoughts. Then he came out and asked, "Since you have worked with these kinds of injuries you whole life, what do you think Virgil's chances are?"
Doc, who was sitting on the broken laser box, sat and meditated over his answer. After a few minutes of thought he said, "On a scale of 1-10, 10 being he walks out of here on his own power without any assistance....," he paused again, "he's a 3. I'm sorry."
Scott just sat there absorbing what he just heard. He looked up when he heard one final pop and the square of pod skin was removed leaving a huge opening. "This is it, he thought to himself"
He saw the bucket part of the backhoe move over the hole and when it was directly overhead he saw several faces appearing around the hole looking down. One of those men was holding the chain that was going to be lowered down to those waiting by the Mole. He yelled, "Look out below!" and started to lower the huge thick chain. When it was low enough one agile young man, who had actually climbed up onto the mole, grabbed for it. He threaded it through a convenient welded handhold on top of the Mole, then guided it down to one of his coworkers. He in turn threaded it through what he thought might have been exhaust or air vents. He handed it off to another man below him who threaded it under the Mole to another person on the other side who had an identical set of vents that he threaded the chain through. He then passed the hooked end back up to the guy on top. He threaded it through the handhold then hooked it back into the chain itself making a giant loop.
Walt, who had been supervising all of the men from town, came in from outside. He was one of the faces that was on the top of the pod looking down, watching them chain the Mole. He had then caught a ride down on the cherry picker.
Turning to Jeff he said, "We're ready."
Jeff nodded. He gave Virgil's hand a final pat and backed out of the way. Scott and Doc were probably in the most dangerous position right next to Virgil's shoulders, as that is what they were going to grab to pull him out. Two men each were standing next to the blocks ready to place them under the chassis and a total of six men, three on each side, were manning the chains that were to keep the chassis still. Walt stood at the entrance so that he could yell to the backhoe operator and watch what was happening at the same time. He asked, "Everybody ready in here?"
The answer was a unisoned, "yes".
He looked outside and yelled, "You ready, Bob?" Bob stuck his hand out, thumbs up.
Walt was just about to give the go ahead when a young man hopped up into the pod, said "wait a minute" as he walked past Walt and headed straight to Doc Amos.
"Doc, you get over there by your bag and the suit. I will help pull this guy out." And he gently shoved the Doc out of his way. He looked over to Walt and said, "Now were ready."
Jeff continued, "So, the consensus is, that the first thing we need to do is start cutting the top off the pod so that we can use the backhoe to pull up the Mole. While some of you are working on that, we will be securing the chassis to the Mole with chains, so that when we are able to move the Mole, whatever few valuable inches it may be, the chassis goes with it. Once the chassis moves even the slightest amount, we shore it up. Doc and Scott will be standing by to slide Virgil out from underneath and get him into the compression suit immediately. Does that sound right?"
Jeff looked at the crowd with nods of yes and verbal agreements. He looked at Walt and said, "Can you divvy the work up to the people who best fit the task?"
Walt nodded "yes" and started barking orders. After a minute speaking with Tom, a welder, he turned to Jeff and said, "None of us have used a laser cutter, but we saw how fast it works. If this one isn't broken," pointing to the one that fell on John, "there are two that are available to use. Can someone show two of my men how to use them?"
"I'll do it, Fa, . uh, Jeff", spoke Scott and he grabbed the cutter from the box that fell on John, and trotted outside to get the one Brains had used earlier. Walt grabbed Tom and another man and followed after Scott. While Scott was outside instructing the two men on the use of the laser cutters, several men were cutting lengths of heavy-duty chain from the spool that Gordon brought along from the hardware store. Several men had already gone to the top of the pod, via cherry picker, and started with the acetylene torches. The backhoe was all set and ready to go with chains and hooks from its cement block duty earlier. Jeff, who was kneeling next to Virgil speaking softly to him, thought he had better give Gordon a call and see how John is and to update him at this end.
Gordon's watch com started beeping just after he told Brains that he was going to wait to call his dad. He switched on his com to see his dad's face. With no one else around, he felt safe to call his father 'Dad'. "Hi Dad, I was just thinking of calling you."
"Hi, Gordon. What's the word on John?" his father said, getting straight to the point.
Gordon replied, "They just took him in for some tests, I believe they said a CT scan. Then from there he goes straight into surgery to fix his collapsed lung, pin his arm and do something with his broken ribs. I don't know, can they pin ribs? This hospital looks to be a pretty good one. It's no backwards clinic, that's for sure. The equipment here is the latest technology from what I could see. I think John is in good hands. What's happening on your end?"
"Thanks, son" said Jeff. "I am right next to Virgil now. We have concluded that we need to lift the Mole using the backhoe. We have men cutting a large hole in the top of the pod right now. There are several other people who are securing the chassis to the Mole, so that when we do lift the Mole, the chassis will move with it. As soon as it is lifted, we will slide Virgil out and get him to the hospital."
"Father" added Gordon, "If I am not mistaken, in locker number 10 or 12 of that pod, we have several heavy duty blocks just for this sort of thing. Maybe you can use them to place under the chassis when you lift it. Securing it so that you have a safety margin to get Virgil out."
Jeff replied, "Good thinking Gordon, I will send Scott over there, right away. By the way, how are you and Brains holding up?"
"I'm doing ok. I will be better once I know about Virgil. Brains is over on the other sofa pretending to read a magazine." Answered Gordon.
"How do you know he is pretending?" inquired Jeff.
A smirk slowly covered Gordon's face, "It's upside down."
Jeff smiled at that, "I will call you when we have more to report. Jeff out"
"Scott", called Jeff, when he got off the com with Gordon. "Gordon said that he thinks this pod has several support blocks in either locker 10 or 12, go take a look. If so, they would be perfect for supporting the chassis while we get Virgil out."
"FAB" replied Scott and he vanished towards the back of the pod.
While several of the men from town were busy chaining the chassis to the Mole, and several others were working on the top of the pod, Jeff took the opportunity to talk to his son. He remembered hearing that the worst nightmare a parent could go through in life was to have a child of theirs die. He never really gave it that much thought until now. He had always worried when his sons were out on a rescue, but it never really sank in that he could actually lose one. His heart was just aching at the sight of his son. He was chatting to him, but wasn't saying anything of importance, just words of encouragement and hope.
Virgil turned his head to look up at his father.
Jeff's heart skipped a beat. Virgil focused his one bloodshot eye; the other being swollen shut, on his father. A barely audible word croaked from his lips, "Father". Jeff was beyond worrying about secrecy anymore. He held his son's hand tightly. "Virgil, I'm here." Jeff said supportively.
"My face hurts."
Jeff trying to keep focus away from his situation said, "You're going to end up with quite the shiner. But don't worry, Grandma has foundation cover-up that will hide it but good."
Virgil turned his head away looking around at his surroundings. Fear was slowly sinking in. "Where am I? What happened?"
Jeff could hear the panic rising in Virgil's voice and he looked up and over at Doc who had never been very far from his patient. Doc Amos already had a syringe inserted inside a bottle, drawing out a clear liquid. Before Virgil could panic and start to move around, Doc was upon him giving him the tranquilizer intravenously. Jeff could feels Virgil's grip in his hand slacken. Virgil once again looked at his father, but the focus was no longer there. Then he closed his eye.
"I'm sorry, Jeff," said Doc, "but if that young man moved enough to realize just how tightly pinned he was, he would have panicked big time. He would have killed himself trying to escape the clutches of this contraption. I really didn't want to tranq him because of his injuries, but I heard the fear in his voice. I had to do it."
"I know, Doc. Thanks for being so quick about it" replied Jeff.
Scott came back with several different size solid metal blocks on an handtruck. "There's more in the lockers, what do you think, should I bring them over here?" Jeff eyed what Scott already had with him. "I think so. It would be better to have too many over here than to have to run back there at a critical moment."
"Ok" And Scott was off again. Jeff looked up at the men securing the chassis to the Mole. They were making sure the chains were tight, using a ratchet to squeeze every inch from those chains. They also hooked up a long length of chain on either side of the chassis. Jeff asked, "What are those for?"
Someone who Jeff didn't know the name of, answered, "We will have just so much control of the movement when we start to lift this thing up. There will be several of us manning these chains to keep the chassis going straight up and not swaying from side to side. Once it is high enough, we will hold it steady so that it can be properly chocked. Jeff nodded to him. "These guys are good, he thought to himself."
Jeff looked up when he heard a creak. In one of the corners of the main hole that the men were cutting up there, they had cut two much smaller holes and threaded a chain through it. From the looks of it down below, the cutting was almost complete. They were using the backhoe to peel the cut section by the corner up and away from the pod. Slowly daylight started to pour in. It was very late in the day. They have been at this for hours now as the crash occurred early in the morning.
Walking over with the handtruck loaded with more blocks, Scott looked up at the daylight now piercing the inside of the pod. That was good, they could see better when they started to lift the Mole. He placed these blocks on the other side of the chassis from the first set he had brought over. When he finished, he walked over to where Doc was and squatted down next to him. He stayed in that position for several minutes, gathering his thoughts. Then he came out and asked, "Since you have worked with these kinds of injuries you whole life, what do you think Virgil's chances are?"
Doc, who was sitting on the broken laser box, sat and meditated over his answer. After a few minutes of thought he said, "On a scale of 1-10, 10 being he walks out of here on his own power without any assistance....," he paused again, "he's a 3. I'm sorry."
Scott just sat there absorbing what he just heard. He looked up when he heard one final pop and the square of pod skin was removed leaving a huge opening. "This is it, he thought to himself"
He saw the bucket part of the backhoe move over the hole and when it was directly overhead he saw several faces appearing around the hole looking down. One of those men was holding the chain that was going to be lowered down to those waiting by the Mole. He yelled, "Look out below!" and started to lower the huge thick chain. When it was low enough one agile young man, who had actually climbed up onto the mole, grabbed for it. He threaded it through a convenient welded handhold on top of the Mole, then guided it down to one of his coworkers. He in turn threaded it through what he thought might have been exhaust or air vents. He handed it off to another man below him who threaded it under the Mole to another person on the other side who had an identical set of vents that he threaded the chain through. He then passed the hooked end back up to the guy on top. He threaded it through the handhold then hooked it back into the chain itself making a giant loop.
Walt, who had been supervising all of the men from town, came in from outside. He was one of the faces that was on the top of the pod looking down, watching them chain the Mole. He had then caught a ride down on the cherry picker.
Turning to Jeff he said, "We're ready."
Jeff nodded. He gave Virgil's hand a final pat and backed out of the way. Scott and Doc were probably in the most dangerous position right next to Virgil's shoulders, as that is what they were going to grab to pull him out. Two men each were standing next to the blocks ready to place them under the chassis and a total of six men, three on each side, were manning the chains that were to keep the chassis still. Walt stood at the entrance so that he could yell to the backhoe operator and watch what was happening at the same time. He asked, "Everybody ready in here?"
The answer was a unisoned, "yes".
He looked outside and yelled, "You ready, Bob?" Bob stuck his hand out, thumbs up.
Walt was just about to give the go ahead when a young man hopped up into the pod, said "wait a minute" as he walked past Walt and headed straight to Doc Amos.
"Doc, you get over there by your bag and the suit. I will help pull this guy out." And he gently shoved the Doc out of his way. He looked over to Walt and said, "Now were ready."