Life intrudes. No excuse, merely informing you, my loyal readers. Other things too. Like the fact I discovered the insidiously addictive nature of DOS shells and SuperNES emulators for running seriously old games like 'StarControl', 'SimCity2000' and 'The Secret of Evermore'.
Also, in my spare time, in preparation for a new chapter release, I have been rereading an opus called Sic Semper Morituri by Daniel Gibson. When you include the side story, it's more than 1 million 600 thousand plus words. Even as fast as I read, it took me a while to catch up. You can find it over at mediaminer dot org/fanfic/view_/166465. Highly recommended!
There has also been the six novel arc of the 6th Century Roman General Belisarius by David Drake and Eric Flint.
These are now behind me, allowing me to finish this chapter. I would also like to thank all the reviewers, old and new, regular and intermittent. Your praises, points and criticisms make writing not only easier, but more enjoyable as well.
Knucklebumps to my betas Sentinel and CajunBear. Thanks Dudes.
Now for the next installment of 'This Animal I Have Become'.
Chapter 36 Overzealous
Kim went looking for Ron to ask about dinner for the evening and found him in the garage with Wade and Sagara. They were standing near the battered Duck. The bow section was intact, but crumpled in places. It was only through Wade's modifications and the robustness built into the craft by the designers 70 years ago that she was even here.
The boys were poring over a set of blueprints on the workbench next to the amphibian. As she approached she heard Wade talking, pointing to various places on the prints and the Duck itself.
"So if we remove all the mechanical drive train for the wheels and replace it with high torque electrical motors, pull the engine and replace it with a turbine powered hybrid system, it would leave more than enough room for adapting a tunnel type drive for propulsion in the water."
Sagara looked at the prints and said, "This would be acceptable for riverine operations, Load-sensei. But what about operations in a seawater environment? Salt water is much more corrosive than fresh water. I would be concerned about corrosion of the electrical components in such a situation."
"Not a problem. The reason they didn't try this idea in the 40's was the lack of materials that could take the abuse salt water has on electrical components and they were generations away from being able to build a turbine engine small enough and durable enough to power the thing. But modern seals will work. About the only thing you would need to do after going in the ocean is drive through a river for a while to wash the salt water off.
"And something else to consider. You can buy an off-the-shelf turbine now that fits in your hand. We can easily get one that can work that'll be about half the size of the diesel that's there now, even adding the generator. And the best part is? You won't to sacrifice power to do it. You'll still have about the same road speed. Torque won't be problem either."
"And with the way it's set up, it'll be a lot easier to drive on and off road. No shifting of gears. Just press the D button and push the 'gas'. Sensors will scan the terrain and adjust traction, wheel torque and the tire inflation automatically, too. Before you had to do it manually."
"The really cool part is the tunnel drive. It will just about double the speed in the water."
Sousuke was looking intently at the blueprints. "The proposed water drive has fascinating possibilities. Why is it not more prevalent?"
"It is. You just don't realize it. They've been using a similar idea on personal watercraft for decades. And a lot of boats use water jets, too. Especially for shallow water boats. They have lower maintenance cost than prop drives. The reason people still use propellers is they're faster for the power. That's why the military hasn't switched. But on most Navy ships, they do use turbines. The Aegis and Arleigh Burke class cruisers are prime examples. About the only government to build nuclear powered cruisers were the Russians.
"Finding fuel will be a lot easier too. With the set up we're considering it will automatically adjust to just about any liquid fuel you put in the tank; diesel, gasoline, kerosene, JP8, bio-diesel." Wade's grin grew bigger. "There was even a guy who ran a turbine on moonshine. If it'll burn, the turbine can use it.
"And by switching to a hybrid drive we'll reduce the maintenance on the Duck to about half what it is now, computer sensors will make up the rest. You'll still have to get a creeper and grease gun underneath, but it won't be nearly as bad as it was. And with the modifications to the batteries we have planned, you won't have a repeat of what happened when that flood wave hit you."
Sagara frowned for a moment, "That was unpleasant." Kim watching from behind them shuddered at the memory. Waking up to only the meager illumination of Sagara's mini tac-light thirty feet under water wasn't something she wanted to repeat if she could avoid it.
Moving his head hurt. There was a reason you wore a helmet inside an A.S. It could get smacked around on the walls of the cockpit! He tried opening his eyes. Darkness? It was dark. Why? Even if the A.S. lost power, some of the equipment, emergency equipment like the eject handles, glowed in the dark. He reached for his watch. It had a very bright micro light. Pushing the button he dimly saw a steering wheel.
'Chotto matte, watashi wa ARX 7 de wa nai. Watashi wa Duck ni shite i masu.' ('What a minute. I'm not in the ARX7. I'm in the Duck.')
Shaking his head to clear the fuzziness, he remembered the tac-light on his belt. Pulling it out he pushed the button and started looking around. He remembered the wall of water smashing down on them. The first blast tumbled them around until it was past. Then physics took over and they settled back to the bottom. Since almost all the weight of the Duck was near the deck/floor they had settled back on their wheels. He flashed the light around looking for breaks in the hull. The hull seemed tight with no more water in the bilges then they had before. The air seemed slightly hard to breathe and tasted stale. He unfastened his belts and shined the light towards his teammate.
He checked her pulse and breathing. Both were steady and regular. No bleeding, but she had a good sized goose egg on the back right side of her head. He could sympathize; he had one on the other side. He checked for pupillary reaction while calling, "Possible-san?"
She groaned and muttered, "Next time we do something like this, crash helmets."
"I agree. Injuries should be kept to a minimum."
She tried to look at her watch, but it kept blurring. "How long have I been out?"
"I estimate less than an hour."
"Definitely need helmets next time." She unfastened her belts and pulled her tac-light to add it to Sagara's. "How are we?"
He shined his light around again and said, "So far, no power. Hull seems intact. Air seems stale, but breathable for now. That was as far as I got before checking on your condition."
"OK, let's see how badly off we are."
Over the next few minutes they checked the rest of the vehicle as best they could. The first thing Sagara checked was the circuit breakers. A few, including the main, had been tripped. Tripping the rest to make sure they didn't blow anything else, they started checking the rest of the vehicle as best they could.
Kim commented on the slight shaking they felt. "You feel that?"
"Yes. Water flowing strongly past the hull. I would say we're no more then 20 to 30 feet deep, but the current is immense. Even if we could get out, it would drown even the strongest swimmer." He lifted a floor panel and shined his light down. "I found why we have no power. Several of the batteries have been damaged. A glitch we will need to repair before attempting this again. Neither I nor Load-sensei expected to go inverted.
"There should be a toolbox under your seat. We were lucky that Load-sensei used dry type batteries otherwise the vapors would have killed us in this enclosed area." She just looked at him and shook her head. After the last few months, she had come to the conclusion that nothing fazed this guy except Kaname.
He had her double check that the breakers were tripped and he unhooked the terminals from the batteries. The two of them lifted the damaged ones out of the compartment and shuffled them to the side. Once the damaged batteries were out of the way, they moved the rest around so they could be hooked back in parallel.
One thing Sagara had requested of Wade was that every system onboard ran off of a 24 volt system. That made emergency repairs like this easier. Hooked in parallel, the loss of half the batteries wouldn't cripple the vehicle, merely shorten the time they could remain submerged.
When they had them set in place, Sagara started hooking them back together. He finished and stepped back, then had her start resetting the breakers one at a time, beginning with the main. All across the front dash, instruments and lights started working. The fans started up, running the air through the scrubbers.
She grinned and said, "Looks like we're back in business."
He replaced the floor panel and sat back in the driver's seat and checked the heads-up. "We're 28 feet deep at the keel. We got lucky. Sonar is picking up the riverbed port abeam. Another hundred meters and we could have wound up in the riverbed itself. Depth there currently 59 feet. Load-sensei has us structurally restricted to three atmospheres. Speed of the current is 12 knots. Engaging azipods. Testing, they seem functional. Ready to ascend."
Kim flipped a switch and said, "Blowing ballast. Here we go."
The pilot of the Bell helicopter had enough speed to stay ahead of the advancing water, but he had to stay in ground effect to keep the bird in the air, his aircraft was so severely overloaded. He called ahead and let the Rescue team know his situation and that he had refugees on board.
Within minutes he had a Blackhawk at both his '4' and '8' o'clock positions flying slightly higher than his own 15-20 FEET AGL.(Above Ground Level) Another was flying 20 to 30 seconds in front of him, scouting the terrain ahead.
Upon landing several of National Guardsman loaded the still unconscious Wade on a stretcher and escorted the refugees to processing as he shut the 206 down, breathing a sigh of relief. That had been some of the wildest flying he had done since he had been assigned to the 160th SOAR back at Fort Campbell. Having to stay in ground effect and keep his airspeed way above the safe limits of his altitude meant he had been flying between buildings, under high-tension power lines and, as the green-streaked bottom of the fuselage could attest, through the branches of the occasional tree at close to a hundred knots (115 MPH). Seat of the pants and on the edge flying the whole time.
He exited the bird and walked far enough away to sit on the ground against the tire of a National Guard Humvee. He was looking at his now trembling hands when a man in an olive-drab flight suit walked up and looked down at him with an amused smirk, saying, "Fort Rucker, with a couple a stints at Campbell, I bet."
Looking up, he said "Yeah, but it's been a few years, Chief."
The man, with patches on his breast and upper arm and the rank insignia of a Chief Warrant Officer Three on the tops of his shoulders, squatted and pulled something out of his lower cargo pocket. He flipped the lid to the pack of cigarettes and offered the pilot one "Shame you're out, 'cause you still got it. That was some of the best NOE (Nap-Of-the-Earth) flying I seen in I don't know how long."
With still shaking hands he took one of the offered smokes. His wife would have to forgive him. As he lit the cigarette, he watched the reporter hook up with his groundside cameraman and make a bee-line to the landing Sloth. Exhaling his first drag, he pointed with the filter and said, "That man is definitely dedicated to his trade. He's got guts though, when I dropped the collective all he did was hang on."
"Yeah, well the best of them seem to have more guts than sense. Least he wasn't screaming like a pansy. I just hope his has the sense not to push those people too far. Something tells me that Possible's sidekick is not gonna be in the mood for an interview." He looked at the veteran pilot and could tell by his melancholy expression what he was thinking. "Hey, you got most of them out. You did the best you could and a damn sight better than most."
"I know. When that guy in the amphib knocked out that kid and tossed him in the back, him and Possible both knew they weren't going. All she did was give me a thumb's up and send me on my way."
"Ya know, I get the feeling she's gonna be pretty hard to pin down. I got a Jackson says she turns up later."
"No bet. I got a good look at that amphib of theirs and it ain't what rolled out of the factory in the forties."
They heard an irate voice coming from the direction of the Sloth shouting "LISTEN HERE YA, GHOUL!"
"Awww man, what has he done now?"
When Gilleye made contact with his cameraman he wanted to get a 'First Reaction' shot of Team Possible members as the exited their car. He was linked to the producer back at the news room who told him, "The guy you're getting ready to talk to is named ROOOOOON STOP-PA-BLE. He's been identified as the guy who was in the videos beating the crap out of Dementor and his goons about six months ago and single-handedly destroying a WWEE strike force AND their equipment about three. Reports also suggest he's Kim Possible's boyfriend. I would STRONGLY suggest you get this guy's name right!"
"I'm on it, Boss." The producer pulled his headset off and tossed it on the console in frustration. Ed was a good, a really good reporter. But like all humans, he had his flaws. Like, sometimes, not knowing when to keep his foot out of his mouth, for one. And diving in without checking how deep the water was for another. Sometimes the water was too shallow and you could break your neck. Others, the water was a lot deeper than you expected it to be and you didn't have a way out. Somehow the producer knew this was going to be one of those times he was going to get foot-in-mouth disease AND the water was going to be real deep.
Ron and Kaname had gathered up Wade out of the medical tent shortly after a nurse passed smelling salts under his nose. When they asked him how he wound up unconscious, all he did was say he didn't want to talk about it yet and headed to the Sloth grumbling about right crosses, working his jaw around. Kaname and Ron looked at each other, one wondering what he was talking about, the other suspected she knew all too well.
Back at the Sloth, Wade got on the console, trying to arrange for a refueling. He wanted to get back in the air so they could start the search for their missing team members. Ron and Kaname approached the Sloth and a news team appeared in front of them like they teleported there.
As the camera rolled, the reporter stuck a mic in Ron's face saying, "We are here live with Ron Stoppable, Team Possible's second-in-command. Mr. Stoppable, with the apparent demise of Kim Possible, will you now be taking over operations for the Team Possible missions?"
"LISTEN HERE YA, GHOUL! She ain't dead, ya hear! Not till I see a body!"
"But Mr. Stoppable, we have footage of her vehicle being swamped by the flood."
"Wade had the Duck fixed up, so they'll be all right! KP's beaten every supervillain the world's thrown her way and a couple a ET's too! She ain't about to be taken out by a piddly little flood! Now we gotta go!" Ron passed the reporter and stormed toward the Sloth.
As they left the bottom, instantly the Duck shifted side to side, bow to stern, being tossed like a piece of flotsam. Within seconds they breached the surface, bouncing along on a current they could not possibly go against.
The first thing Sagara did was open the valves to the intake and exhaust for the engine. Running all the systems on the batteries would normally not be a problem, but until he and Wade were able to replace the damaged ones and give the whole vehicle a thorough check, he wasn't willing to trust them if he didn't have to.
Once the engine was running he asked her for a course to the closest dry ground. Kim raised the communications antennas and tried to access the GPS, but the satellite uplink was broken off. Using the compass he headed in the last known direction of dry land downstream of their position.
Then she tried her Kimmunicator linking it to the Sloth. "Ron, Wade, Kaname, You guys there?"
A second later she got her reply in the form of Kaname's face on the view screen, "KIM! Kami ni kansha! Are you two OK?" (Thank the Gods!)
"Got our heads knocked around a bit, but past that we're fine. Is Wade OK? We put him on that news chopper just as the dam went."
"You might want to stay away from Wade for a while. He's mad enough to eat an Arastol and spit a Bonta-kun. What'd you guys do to him?"
"Yeah, about that…"
Kaname knew the other girl was hiding something, "Kim…."
"Well, Sagara did knock him out first."
"SOUSUKE!"
"Don't blame him, he just beat me to it, I wanted him on the chopper too. We didn't have time to argue and he would have argued. Is Ron there?"
"Yea, he'll be back in a minute. He spent the last hour pacing and downing sodas. Is Sousuke OK?"
"What do you think? He's got a harder head than me. He's driving right now. We're underway heading for the north side of the river. We're going to wind up miles downstream. We just don't have the speed in the water to do anything else. We have to get to a roadway and drive around. GPS and satellite links are down, the compass is working, but we're not sure where we are or where to go."
"Hold on I'll get Wade. He's been talking to the Rescue squads and FEMA. This has roads blocked every direction. Here's Ron."
Ron's face took the place of Kaname's on the Kimmunicators small view screen "KP, you OK?"
"Yeah, got a headache like you wouldn't believe, but you know me, one of the hardest heads known to medical science. Gonna recommend helmets for this thing though."
"Thank Yahweh! We saw the footage of the Duck going under. I talked to you're 'rents. That was not fun KP. I think your dad was about to break out the 'Black Hole' threats agaaaaiiiiin." He was suddenly pulled to the side and the screen was filled by the face of an irate Wade.
"Are you two out of your minds? Ya almost killed us! The chopper could barely get above twenty feet 'cause I was onboard!"
"We're sorry about that Wade. We were just trying to watch your back."
"Watching each others backs is one thing, but we're gonna talk about this when we get home! Kaname said that some of your electronics are out. There's a port on the upper right of the console, plug the Kimmunicator in and I'll send you your course."
A moment later a satellite overlay of the area appeared on Sousuke's HUD, showing what the flooded region looked like and a course to get out. As they expected, the course flowed miles downstream of where they were located. The whole region was flooded so bad that they had no choice but to follow the water's flow until the ground rose enough to take to the roads.
"I'm contacting Rescue Command and pulling you guys off the MIA list. We'll take the Sloth and scout your route. There should be a fuel station near you exit point. You can top off there and drive to the rally point. I'll have Mr. Burton meet you there and we can load up and head home."
When she remembered the colorful 'Jack Burton', she grinned. They had been binding the damaged Duck to the lowboy behind the 'Pork Chop Express'. Ron had a cheater on the binder when it slipped, flying off right towards Mr. Burton's head. Somehow he managed to catch it and while everyone looked on stunned as Ron tried to apologize, the only thing he said was, "It's all in the reflexes."
She heard Wade pause as he talked about the replacement batteries. He turned pensive as he said, "Sagara, I think I owe you an apology. I ran the numbers and while it's not a definite, there's a good chance that three people would have used up all the oxygen before you guys woke up. I still don't like the fact you didn't ask me about getting on that chopper, but I know why ya did it."
All during the ride home, Wade had been in a real snit. When they had gotten back to the garage he lit into Sagara hollering about talking to him and asking for his input. Sagara merely commented he had made a spur-of-moment 'Command Decision'. He had apologized for knocking the teen out, but not for why he did it.
"Load-sensei, in all honesty, those factors never entered into consideration. My main concern was your safety. My primary mission here in America is protecting you. Nothing has changed that."
After a few weeks of training, the Team stood in the Dojo watching as Fukushima ran through blindingly fast defensive katas with Ron. Fukushima pivoted as he twirled the Katana around to engage multiple enemies. He worked his way across the Dojo until he reached one of the padded pillars in the middle of the room.
Spinning his body to place the pillar guarding his back, the razor sharp sword flashing as he planted his feet and began a frenzy of blurring blade that left no attack openings for a for a full 270 degree arc. When he stopped he was breathing heavily holding the Katana in a high guard, poised to go from defense to attack. Lowering the blade and without looking, he brought the back edge to his left hand holding the Saya and slid the sword home with a click. Looking at his student, he nodded and Ron launched into the same Kata.
Kim watched apprehensively as her man twisted and twirled, swinging a live steel blade with an edge so fine he could shave with it. He flowed like water around and through his imaginary foes. Again, as she had suspected, Ron's greatest problem was his own self-doubts and over-thinking. But when he relaxed and let the training that was being instilled into him flow, he could accomplish amazing feats.
That's not to say the 'Ron Factor' never came into play. When Ron reached the pillar and planted his feet for the blurring, flashing finish, just like Yamanouchi with the Bo and a week earlier with the Bokken, his clothes disappeared. This time in a cloud of silk confetti, leaving him standing with his boxers flapping.
It had happened so many times to him that by now the only thing Ron could do was sigh. Having never seen it before, Kaname and Sagara are stunned by the event. Kim and to a lesser extent, Wade had seen it happen before, at least the pants. The whole Gi was a new twist, but Kim was glad to see that after everything, Ron was still Ron.
The trouble nearly started with Fukushima laughing. Kim was about to lay into the Japanese Swordsman, but she never got the chance. Tired of Fukushima's past weeks of mocking, Sagara cuts off Kim's remarks to Fukushima by putting on a surprised face and saying, "Stoppable-san, that was an amazing display of skill."
Ron's eyes nearly popped out of his head as everyone, except Kaname, looked at Sousuke like he lost his mind. A stunned Fukushima declared, "But he looked stupid. His clothes are gone."
Still looking at Ron, he says, "Yes, he was moving the blade just as fast, probably faster, than you. He was wearing a tight fitting Gi, yet he brought the blade close enough to his body to shred his clothes and there's not a scratch on him. The degree of control is amazing. Neither I nor anyone else I know could duplicate the feat." Looking at Fukushima hard, he continues, "Can you?" Sousuke starts to exit the Dojo.
Fukushima tries to argue by saying, "But, it was an accident, just like last two times!"
Looking back, Sagara wanting no misunderstandings, says in Japanese, "Sore o ka? Ga teki to sesshoku shite sentō-hei no ma de kotoba o da. 'Ichido jiko, nikai gūzen desu. San dekigoto wa, teki no kōdō desu!' Kono jiko, matawa gakusei Sensei no sukiru ni uwamawaru no sukiruāru o ka?" He left the Dojo, a beaming Kaname on his heels.
Kim asks, "Ron, what did he say?"
"I'm not sure. It was too fast."
Surprisingly, it was Fukushima, reflectively looking at the exit to the Dojo, who translated, "He said, 'Was it? There's a saying among Combat Soldiers in contact with the enemy. 'Once is an accident, twice is coincidence. Three times is Enemy action!' Was this an accident,' " He looked at Ron and continued questioningly, "'or are the skills of the Student surpassing the skills of the Sensei?'."
Authors Note: I could have continued from here, however I haven't worked out the next few scenes. I figured that you would appreciate having this now to feed the need rather than wait another 6-9 days.