Sabre Dancing with the Dead Ch 48

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Tokonosu, North Eastern quadrant. May 12 20xx

Day 28.

018:30

Major Sagawa was on board after Wolf had shown him the sketches for the cable system. Looking at the set up in more detail, they had determined that the Medical center end could be anchored in a 3rd floor window, with the personnel transfer being done into and out of the second floor window. The cable would be permanently attached to a solid cross bar that would span the inside of a window frame, which would be strong enough to handle a fair load. The other end, at the Library would be much the same, with this end adjustable to maintain tension.

Wolf put together the materials list, with dimensions for the cross bars, and the system of pulleys and messenger lines, to allow the cargo or people to be hauled from one end to the other. It would be a slow process with one person per trip but it might be possible to make that two or three, if the people were harnessed to the transport block. All the troops on site had been trained in rappelling and fast roping, so hanging in a harness wouldn't cause them any problems. Weight for three people wouldn't be a problem and cargo could be handled in a net. Just to make sure, he'd have the engineers here confirm his estimates of loads and capability, and then checked again by the engineers at the ship yard that would make up the various bits needed. Any one of them might come up with better ideas, and make the system more efficient.

The fun part would be getting the materials on site at the library, and dragging the cable across to the Med Center. The design called for a 75 to 100mm diameter pipe, about 3 meters long, with attachment points for the cable. The library end would be humped up to the third floor, and put across a pair of windows. The cable would be pulled from the library end, along with the messenger lines, and then hauled up to the third floor and secured to the cross beam. That was it for the Med Center end.

The library end was a bit trickier, requiring a spool of cable, somewhere between 15mm and 20mm, with messenger lines of rope the same size. The spools would have to be supported in a cradle to make paying it out easier. Once stretched across, the next trick would be to make it able to be tensioned. This he wasn't sure how to do, but the engineers would come up with something.

Anchoring the library end was turning out to be a headache. Using the same arrangement of a pipe across the window would be fine except that tensioning it would be a right pain. The 2nd floor patio ran round 3 sides, so finding a window facing the med center was not an issue. But how to apply tension. He supposed that the cable could be snaked across the 3rd floor and out an opposite window, then down to the ground. Tying it to one of the ARVs would give them the ability to tension, by using the ARV's winch. It'd just be annoying to have to jump over the cable if you wanted anything else on the 3rd floor.

That would be the simplest way. They'd have to make up a couple of bumpers that fit across the window frames, so the cable wouldn't start cutting through the wall. Heading up to the 3rd floor, he measured the window frames, and noted the width of the window as well as the sill width. Next he paced off the distance across the floor, and added another 20 meters for the window-window-ground length.

Reasonably sure about the design, he went back to the 2nd floor and found the lead engineer. The two of them put their heads together and decided it was a good plan. They then headed down to the lead APC and got the General on the radio.

General Uchimoto agreed to the plan, and put the Engineering colonel at the ship yard on the radio to work out details. After considering the plan, this engineer added a couple of refinements, and promised to have the gear ready for transport to the university as soon as possible. He figured 24 hours, with the materials sent by chopper the following day. He also checked if there were any other things he could do to be of service, and then signed off. The General spoke with Wolf and the Major for a few minutes, and appeared to be quite pleased with the progress so far.

Wolf took the local engineer up to the 3rd floor, and they pulled the windows out on both sides, preparing for the installation of the cable bumpers. Using a couple of tarps taken from the trucks, they rigged up a weather cover for each hole, and made plans to manufacture a plywood panel to cover the opening once the cable had been put in place. Since the men and cargo would be using the system from the 2nd floor patio, all they needed was a platform to make attaching things to the cable as simple as possible. That would be the next job for the ship yard guys, and the panels and platform could come over on the next resupply flight.

The evening was quiet, there was nothing to do of any great importance, and everyone wandered about the library, perusing the books, occasionally selecting one and settling down for a good read. Wolf headed over to the map section, and started rummaging about looking for any and all details on the area all around Kobe. As he pulled out various charts and maps, he had a good look at the southern island of Kyushu too. Roughly 400 miles as the crow flies, and somewhere on that Island, Major Sagawa's wife and daughter might still be alive. Something to ponder. The Cessna didn't have the legs to go that far and back, let alone stick around long enough to reconnoiter. This would require some serious planning. As would actually going to Kobe and entering the University.

As he looked at the maps, he wondered if Captain Nishizawa would be able to take over a small coastal ship, and sail her down to Kobe. He laid out the rough courses, and came up with something like 680 nautical miles. Just over two days if the coaster could hold 13 knots. That would land them on the docks just about due south of the university, with good roads leading there.

A recon flight would take them 150 miles, and give them a goodly amount of loiter time. Quite doable with their little bird. They'd need to do a good survey of the roads, the direct line was pretty good, not many deviations. But it was in the city, so things could be pretty crappy. Bring a helo? If they grabbed a Ro-Ro, getting vehicles ashore would be a piece of cake. Put a couple of helicopters on the upper deck, they'd come in handy for planting nixies.

He sighed, and put away the maps. He'd collected some interesting numbers and jotted down some ideas. It would be a while before they could even think about doing something like this, even though the agriculture knowledge base was coming up short. He headed downstairs, and hunted up the Pinkette and her ever present shadow, Khota. He found them off in a corner, talking quietly. Just from looking at them, he knew that things were headed in the right direction in that relationship. Go Khota!

"Hey you two, I need a hand with some different research, how about it?"

Saya looked at him, and asked what he was going to be looking for.

"You guys know that the info on agriculture and other farming practices is coming up short. I had a look and found that Kobe University is A#1 for agriculture. I think a mission might be useful. So lets go see what we can dig up on the place, it's layout, ease of access, etc."

They looked at each other, then back at him and nodded.

Saya jumped up, and told him she'd meet them up on the 3rd floor. She wanted to get some tea and munchies before getting lost in digging. Wolf and Khota both nodded yes, and headed up the stairs again. Saya made a beeline out to the patio where the food prep station had been reestablished. There she found Kat, helping with getting the noon meal ready for everyone. She told Kat what she needed and why, and was shortly back on her way to the 3rd floor.

Half an hour later, the three of them were having a close look at a large scale map of Kobe, and the road network from the docks to the university. They'd found a Kobe University handbook among the higher education information, and had a good idea where the Agricultural school was. Judging from the map included, it seemed that there were several buildings, along with a set of small open fields for crops, what looked like animal pens and green houses. Looking due south from the university, it looked pretty good for roads, almost a straight line from the docks to the university.

The more Wolf looked at the map, with both Saya and Khota pointing out various aspects of the run up to it, the more he began to think that this would require some serious planning. Was the goal worth it? He thought so. From the conversations between him and the two kids, they also grasped the importance of getting the knowledge they lacked.

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Author's notes: I don't own HOTD, or any of its characters. I just get to play in their universe. All characters in this story other than those listed below are (So far) my own.

Komuro Tadashi

Miyamoto Rei

Miyamoto Tadashi

Miyamoto Kiriko

Busujima Saeko

Takagi Saya

Hirano Kouta

Marikawa Shizuka

Marasato Alice

Minami Rika

Reviews gratefully accepted, as long as they are constructive and non-abusive.

Tokonosu map, URL as follows.

https/sabrekai/art/New-Tokonosu-20km-x-40km-956877662