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From: mandil_k@hotmail.com (mandil)
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Subject: {ASSM} Masters of the Arches   chapter 20
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2002 00:10:16 -0400
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.                       Masters of the Arches
                             by Mandil

                                                

                             Chapter 20            

  

  

The first thing that Vincent did once he had informed his women about
his intention to construct a hot air balloon was to do a few
preparatory calculations.

 What should the size of the balloon be so as to lift the weight of
the gondola and its three occupants? There was also the weight of
other things to consider, they would need to carry with them an
abundant supply of water, food and of course theirs few precious
possessions, even if there were little of those.

It was important that he should have an idea of the approximate total
weight to be lifted so as to figure how big the volume of the balloon
had to be. But first, he had to find out the extent of the buoyancy of
hot air.

Of course its lifting capacity was going to depend on the differential
temperature between the air inside the sphere and that outside of it,
but only up to a certain extent. For this reason he did needed to have
a general idea as to how much weight could be lifted by a unit volume
of hot air.

On that first day of his balloon project, as he liked to think of it,
they cut strips of material to construct a much smaller trial balloon.
The strips were cut in such a way that the middle of each section
would be wider than their ends so that once these were stitched
together it would result with a volume that would have the general
shape of a sphere.

They also had to discover, using the method of trials and errors, what
would be the best shape of each strip so that once they were assembled
together the resulting test-sphere would be able to hold about a
thousand cubic feet of hot air. A thousand feet of air being his unit
of measurement.

Vincent had to searched in his memory so as to recall from his school
days the exact formula to calculate the volume of a sphere (4/3 x pi x
cube of radius) and thus using an approximate radius of a little over
6 feet, he arrived at the conclusion that a test-sphere of that radius
would hold just about that volume of air.

They then encounter the problem of sewing the strips together.

None of the tarps covering the numerous pieces of machinery had any
stitches in them, it therefore met that there had to be some kind of a
device that could fuse the material together. Furthermore the chances
were that this gadget would be somewhere in the room where the rolls
of material were stored and where the cutting tables were. It was
logical to assume that the tarps were cut and also fitted there.

After long minutes of looking around, they did find the fusing
apparatus that would allow them to stitch or weld the many strips of
material together. It all appearance, when he tried to test it on two
small trips, it seemed to send an electric current through the two
adjacent strips that were placed in-between the two plates of the
machine.  When the two strips came out at one end, there was a single
and wider strip and it was impossible to tell that once there had been
two of them.

It took them two and a half days to construct the eleven-foot diameter
test-balloon. But it was time well spent since after performing a
couple of tests on the balloon using increasing weights as a load and
different air temperature, he was able to calculate how large the big
balloon should be. It turn out that the diameter of the larger balloon
should not be less than forty feet.

 Vincent was very satisfied with the performance of the small balloon;
he did his many tests on it   in one of the large rooms with a high
ceiling.  He didn't dare test it outside in case he should loose it
and thus risk having it being detected by Kwola's friends or even by
Valdo himself. As soon as all the tests he wanted to perform were
done, they next proceeded with the construction of the larger balloon
that would carry them all.


Fifty-foot long sections, of the green and beige synthetic material
were cut to construct the sphere.  These wide strips had to be longer
than the diameter of the sphere since their length had to be as long
as half of the circumference of the sphere. Each strip tapered off
gradually at both ends thus being smaller there than at the centre so
as to create the shape of a sphere. Then the strips were fused
together alternately, a green one then a beige one and so on. In all,
there were twenty strips, ten of each colour.

 From Vincent's computations, the circumference of the balloon was to
be 126 feet since the diameter was forty feet. Dividing that number by
twenty he got 6.28 feet per trip at the centre. They were then
alternately welded or fused together from top to bottom and once the
assembly process was over, a circular opening of three feet in
diameter was cut at the bottom of the sphere so as to allow the hot
air from the blower to enter. Next, they welded a tube-like flexible
connection - made also of the same tarp-material - to the bottom hole,
this tube was later going to be connected to one of the blower in the
gondola.

Finally to give the sphere-shape more strength, two circular patches
of ten feet diameter each were fused to the top and to the bottom of
the sphere.

Once the balloon was completed, it was neatly folded then they got to
work on the many ropes that would fix the gondola to the inflated
sphere itself.

They looked everywhere in the complex but they couldn't find a single
ropes.

Vincent solved that problem by folding many times over and then fusing
them together, long strips of the resistant material, thus obtaining
the long ropes he needed.

Once this task was done, they dragged the deflated balloon into one of
the larger room and in there it was partially inflated using one of
the hot air blower. It thus make it much more easy to install the
crisscrossing of the many ropes over the structure. Each rope was then
spot-fused in a dozen places so that it would stay in place when the
balloon would be inflated.

Now all that needed to be done, was the construction of the gondola
and to attached it to the loose ends of the many ropes. It had taken
them two long weeks so far but Vincent knew that the time spent was
well worth it since they were going to travel much faster than walking
if his air ship idea did work.

They took a day off from work so as to go hunting since their food
supply was almost exhausted by then. But the smaller game that so far
had been plentiful everywhere on the planet, was now very few and as
for the big game there was none to be seen. Vincent figured that they
were still too close to the radioactive zones and this must have been
keeping the animal life away.

All that they managed to catch were half a dozen rabbits and other
small animals that he had never seen before. They cooked half of their
catch and they smoked the rest so that the meat would keep for a
while.

To construct the gondola, they made use of the light rectangular
plastic sheets that had been used to pack the smaller machines that
had once been assembled in the complex.

Since there was a large assortment of these sheets, - practically all
sizes were available - they choose those that could fit their purpose
and they constructed the rectangular box-like gondola using these
light and strong plastic looking sheets.

Contrary to the material of the tarps, it was relatively easy to drill
holes in them and by mean of brackets, bolts and nuts - all made of
synthetic hard plastic - he made the whole structure very strong. A
series of holes were also drilled all along the side so that later
they could tie the ropes of the balloon to the gondola itself.

Once this was done, Vincent added a last touch by installing a roof
over half of the gondola area thus creating a small cabin-like room.
It was a certainty that they would encounter rain while in the air and
the sloping roof would then be very precious and be helpful in keeping
them warm and dry.

By then they were almost out of food and Vincent knew that it was
important that they should leave the complex soon since by now he
could tell that his two women were restless and impatient to leave.
Little did they know, he told himself, how scary they were going to
find this first experience in being lifted high into the sky and then
be carried off at the whim of the wind.

It took them a whole day to drag everything outside. Even though the
skin of the balloon was quite light, they had to pull it up the stair
a little at a time and into the cave and finally out in the open.

Once that task was done,  it was the turn of the gondola to go the
same way and when they finally had it into the cave, it became evident
that it wouldn't fit through the fissure in the rock that was the
entrance to the cave. Therefore, they had to take it apart and then
put it back together again once it was outside.

After that they proceeded to carry into the gondola all of their
belonging and two new hot air blowers. A small plastic tank that they
got from the complex was filled with water and also loaded into the
gondola.

Vincent next got busy connecting one of the blowers to the fireproof
material of the flexible tube-like channel that entered at the bottom
of the air balloon. Then two ropes for the anchors were attached to
the bottom of the gondola through holes that had been made for this
purpose. These two ropes were later tied to two medium size stones
placed about fifty feet apart.

Later when Vincent looked at the deflated balloon and gondola he was
please with what they had accomplished.

"Well ladies, I am proud of you. As a matter of fact I am also proud
of myself. We have done a fine job here, and let me tell you that even
back home on Earth, with all the experts they have there, they
wouldn't have come close to achieve what we have built here. Of course
we did have the perfect material at hand to built our balloon."

Both Nika and Verla remained quiet and it was evident that they didn't
seem to share his enthusiasm. Vincent figured that they were both
beginning to realize that this contraption they had help him built
might well be able to lift them high in the sky and neither of them
was finding this reassuring.

Since it was late in the afternoon, and they were all very tired, it
seemed to him like a good idea to wait until early the following
morning to leave. This would also allow both girls to have a good
night sleep and maybe it was going to calm their fear a little.

"We will spent the night in the cave and have a good night rest, then
early tomorrow morning we will leave this place. We still can make use
of the blower in the cave if it gets too cold in there."

The news that they were not leaving immediately, plus the fact that
they were going to spent the night in the cave instead of down in the
complex, did help to cheered the girls a little.

While Nika and Verla were preparing the inside of the cave for the
night, Vincent went to look for food. But he wasn't able to find
anything they could eat. Even the small game that he hoped to catch
were nowhere to be seen and he came back empty handed.

The following morning, as soon as the sun made its first appearance
over the nearby hills, the three of them got up and made their final
preparation to leave. Snow had fallen again during the night and the
temperature of the air was now much colder than it had even been
before.

After a very light breakfast - there was very little food left - they
finished packing and loading their belongings into the gondola. Both
girls were now extremely nervous and this did worry Vincent.

"I think we should choose a name for our balloon," said Vincent.
"Since you were both so helpful in its construction, I will let you
decide on a name. So what will it be?"

Nika looked at him and it was evident that she didn't understand what
he was meaning, finally she said to him.

"But it's not alive, so how can we give it a name?"

"Of course we can, and soon it will have a life of its own as you will
discover. Beside, we can't always refer to it as the balloon, we need
a real name that will give it character."

"I know," said Verla, "let us call it Rumar."

Vincent already knew that Rumar was the name given to very tall wild
flowers that grew in abundance near her village, the balloon with its
alternating beige and green stripes did resemble an immense Rumar
flower indeed.

"Very well then, The Rumar it will be. Let us give life to it now that
it has a name."

While Vincent checked one last time the two ropes that were anchoring
the gondola to the two well-separated stones, the two women looked at
one another and finally Nika climbed aboard followed by Verla. It was
then Vincent’s turn to get into the gondola and as soon as he
was standing near the girls, he placed his arms around each woman and
he kissed them one after the other.

He then went into the small cabin and he turned the blower-heater on
at half capacity. As soon as the hot air entered the balloon it began
to swell a little. He next got out of the gondola again to make sure
that there would be no large folds in the material that could prevent
the air from going in every corner of the folded sphere material.

After a minute, the layer of snow that had been covering the balloon
began slip off and melt, to Vincent it seemed as if a great giant was
awakening as the tremendous shape of the sphere began to unfold and
rise. After about ten minutes of the constant hot stream of air
entering the sphere, it looked full and it began to lift its own
weight off the ground. Soon after that it was exerting an upward pull
on the ropes of the gondola and Vincent decided that it was time for
him to get back into the gondola.

As soon as he was in, Verla gave a loud shout inside the cabin as the
cables began to jerk and shake everything inside. The steady stream of
intense hot air from the blower had now filled the sphere completely
while the light wind was trying to pull it in a southeasterly
direction. Then all twelve cables joining it to the gondola were taut.

For a few minutes more the blower kept sending hot air without any
visible reaction from the Rumar. Then there was a sudden upward pull
and the gondola began to move horizontally a few feet above the
ground. After a while all movement stop and it looked like the two
anchor stones were finally doing what they were suppose to do.


But by now Verla was on the verge of panicking and she began to shout
inside the closed cabin of the gondola. She wanted to get over board
and onto the ground. Nika wasn't doing much better as she sat on the
floor outside the cabin with both of her knees under her chin as she
shook like a leaf in the wind.

Less than a minute later, the gondola began to tilt and shake again.
This was too much for Verla and she came rushing out of the cabin. She
was hysterical with fright as she tried to climb over the side.
Vincent tried to stop her and to reason with her, but she pushed him
aside and he tripped over Nika who was still in a foetal position with
her back against the side of the gondola.

As he felt down, he was able to grab Verla by one ankle and he held on
to her leg. By now she had half of her body over the side while both
of her hands held on to one of the cables that tied the gondola to the
balloon.

All at once he felt her stop struggling. He looked at her, from where
he was still half lying on the floor of the gondola, she still had one
leg over the side and her face was extremely pale while both of her
hands were holding on to the cable as if her very life depended on it,
but she was no longer trying to get overboard. When he got back on his
feet he reached for her waist before letting go of her ankle.

As soon as he looked over the side of the gondola he knew why she had
suddenly stop trying to struggle herself free. The floor of the
gondola was about thirty feet off the ground and it was still slowly
rising. One of the stones that had been anchoring the Rumar had been
dragged near the other and thus allowing the Rumar to rise to its
present height. Even as he watched, he felt the slight tug of the two
cables tied to their anchors as they became taut, and thus preventing
further ascension of the air ship.

He didn't bother to say a word to her. Instead, he placed his arm
around her shoulders and by pulling her gently, he made her sit next
to Nika on the floor of the gondola. He knew that as long as the
gondola was that high off the ground, she would no longer try to get
over the side. He now had more pressing things to do and he let both
of them still trembling in fright sitting on the floor.

He quickly went inside the small cabin and he turned off the blower
completely. He then returned back outside and he bent over the side to
look at the two anchors. The buoyancy of the Rumar was dragging the
stones over the surface of ground and there was the real danger that
they should get stuck in a bush or in a crevasse in the ground. Even
then he could always release the rope, but he didn't want to do this
because it would mean the lost of both cable.

Now that the gondola was off the ground, he still had the difficult
talk of setting it free from both anchors. But the urgency was not as
great as he had first  imagined it to be. The blower had been shut
down and the air of the sphere was slowly cooling off, the only
possible motion of the Rumar now was downward since the horizontal
movement had completely stop for the moment.

He knelt next to the girls to see how they were doing. Nika was still
shaken, but she was in a much better condition than Verla who was
clinging very tightly to her arm while her eyes were shut tight.

"Nika, how are you doing? I will need your help to get the Rumar
going, we have to free ourselves from the restraint of the anchor."

"I can't help you. Please take us down; we are so high in the sky.
Look through the holes in the floor, you can see far away, please do
take us down before we all die."

When Vincent looked down at the floor where she was pointing, he could
indeed see through the many small holes that had been drilled to fit
the bracket which join the floor with the side of the gondola. Some of
these brackets had been changed places thus leaving the holes. She
could see enough through them to understand that they were very high
now; at least higher than it would have been possible for her even if
she had went up the highest tree.

"Help me at least to bring Verla into the cabin so that we can make
her stretch on the mattress there."

Slowly she got on her hands and knees and they both began to half drag
Verla's half unconscious body inside the cabin. Once this was done
Vincent insisted that she come outside and help him to release the
anchors. She was very reluctant but still she managed to crawl out of
the cabin.

"I will try to make one of the ropes vibrate until the stone at the
other end comes free. When this happen you must undo the knot of the
other rope, this will untie the rope and set us free."

Of course this met that they were going to loose one of the ropes that
way, but under the circumstances there was no other way since both
anchors had to be release at the same time or risk tilting the gondola
at a dangerous angle for the passengers. Both stones had been tied in
such a way that shaking the rope could release them, but since Vincent
would now have to do this by himself, he really had no other option.

He could always have waited until the air inside the sphere had cooled
a little, then the Rumar would have descended enough for him to get
the ropes free of the stones. But he figured that the two women would
then jump off the instant they were close to the ground and it was
going to be very difficult to get them back in the gondola after that.

He explained to Nika what she was to do and when to do it, and then he
began to shake the other rope that was tied to the corner of the
gondola. It took him long minutes before he saw the stone roll on its
side and at last free itself from the rope. But at the same time, the
only restraint on the gondola now was the other anchor and it slowly
began to tilt to one side.

"Now, now, do it." He shouted to Nika.

As soon as she pulled on the short end of the knot, the rope
immediately began to slip free and the Rumar jerked upward as it began
to accelerate for a couple of hundred feet. Nika threw herself flat on
her belly and she began to cry softly, but the craft was free.

The side of the gondola came up to his underarms as Vincent stood up
to watch the receding snow covered ground below him. In the distance
far away, he could see one of the circular radiation patches with its
lack of vegetation.

Right underneath the gondola which was about two hundreds feet high
now and still climbing, the snow covered land was like a white carpet
which hid all the small details of the landscape. Even though the
Rumar was still gaining altitude, the whole air mass including  the
air ship of course,  was slowly moving in a general southeast
direction and thus carrying the Rumar with it. Their horizontal speed,
judging by the unfolding of the landmarks bellow them, was around
fifteen to twenty miles per hour.

Even as he watched below him, the Rumar passed over a series of
cliffs, and then he saw the reflection of the sunlight on the water of
a small creek toward the north. It was a most impressive sight and the
fact that everything was so quiet, - he did not feel or hear any wind
since they were all moving with the air mass - did add to the beauty
and majesty of the scene below.

After a while he realized that there were sounds, it was the crying of
Nika sitting at his feet. She was still under shock and she kept on
moaning in fright. He knelt beside her and he began to explain to her
that everything would go well now that they were airborne.

To get back safely to the ground was an easy matter he explained to
her, all they had to do was to let the air cool off in the balloon and
the Rumar would slowly descend until it would gently touch the ground.
He had seen it done many times in his world and it was perfectly safe
he added.  In the back of his mind he did know that there would be
risks involved when the time to get down would arrive, but if would
certainly not calm her if he was to tell her this.

After a few minutes he was able to convince her go get on her feet
while he held her in his arms and she finally did look over the side
of the gondola. It was evident now that they were no longer gaining in
altitude and Vincent knew that soon he would have to go in the small
cabin and start the blower again.

As he held Nika in his arms while they both looked at landscape slowly
unfolding underneath them, he felt her relax in his arm and he knew
that she was in aw at the beauty of the scenery. He explained to her
that the Rumar would slowly start getting closer to the ground and
this would be the way it would happen when they next landed. When he
realized that she was much calmer now and that she was going to be
fine, he told her to sit on the floor again while he would go start
the blower.

For the next half hour he switched the blower on and off
intermittently thus climbing then slowly descending - each time going
a little higher than the preceding time - until Nika's fear began to
fade away. He even taught her how to start and shut the blower and
thus changing their altitude in the process.

As for Verla, she was still lying on the mattress in the cabin and she
still seemed in a state of shock. Vincent didn't want to disturb her
for now since it was imperative that he did get Nika to understand the
basis principles of the functioning of the air ship.

Half an hour after the Rumar had been set free; they finally went to
investigate how Verla was doing. After a few minutes of trying, they
were able to make her come back to her sensed, and before she could
say anything, Nika reached for her and she cuddled her head in her
arms. Vincent went out of the cabin and he left them together, he
thought it would be better if Nika were to talk to her and try to make
her understand that there was nothing to be afraid now that they were
on their way.

The Rumar was truly an airborne ship as it drifted with the air
currents. It was now slowly moving over a forest of evergreens, and
from above it appeared to be a very dense forest at that. This cheered
Vincent to the point of expressing his joy with a broad smile, it met
that whoever would try to follow them was going have a very hard time
of it because of the almost impossible task of getting through the
dense forest below.

While experimenting with the buoyancy of the craft, Vincent discovered
that he could pretty well guide it by changing its altitude. By
choosing the appropriate air current - there were many different
currents at different altitudes and some going in almost opposite
directions - he could get them moving in a general southerly
direction. Above a thousands feet, the Rumar was being carried toward
the east, but between four and seven hundred feet it mostly went
directly south.

By noon of their first day in the air, they were still moving over the
evergreens forest and there were no signs of its end in sight. This
began to worry Vincent since there was no question of trying to land
the Rumar in the forest below since it would mean almost certain
catastrophe. On the other hand he didn't want to spend the night
drifting aboard the Rumar since it would be very difficult to judge
its altitude without a clear look at the ground bellow.

It then occurred to him that he still had the map that he had taken
form Kowla. Beside with his weapons, it was still neatly folded in a
large bag he had taken from the complex. With it he would be able to
tell exactly where they were and more important still he could change
the display of the map and get a look at what was ahead of them. Just
pressing the proper squares in one of its corners could change the
map.

When he got inside the cabin, Verla was still in Nika's arms. She did
smile a little at him when she saw him enter. He could tell now that
she was going to be fine since she already had colours returning to
her face. So as to give her something to do, he asked her to get the
map out of his bag and to spread it on the mattress.

The minute it was unfolded between them, the blinking spot of light
began to flash thus showing their present position. It was easy to see
the forest on the map, its screen-like flexible surface was pale green
where the forest was and had lots of parallel lines that represented
the many trees of the forest.

 From the map's information, the forest was huge. It was about a
hundred miles wide and at least two hundred miles long, its length
being from north to south and judging from the position of the
blinking light, they had covered about half of it which met they were
right over the middle of the forest. On the southern tip of the
forest, - in the direction they were now moving - the map indicated a
series of plains with more trees to follow after that.

It had taken the Rumar more than four hours to get where they were so
it met that they had at least another four hours to wait before the
forest would end. Only then could they begin to look for a safe place
to descend. This met that if everything went well, they would land in
late afternoon at the earliest.

 It wouldn't leave them much time after that to hunt but even so they
had to try to get food somehow. They hadn't had a good meal for at
least a week now and so far that day they had not eaten at all.

Nika and Vincent took turn in observing the ground outside the cabin
whereas Verla kept well inside the cabin. In the middle of the
afternoon, while Nika was on the lookout and in control of the
altitude, she saw far ahead of them, the edge of the forest. It was
well over ten miles away but she could clearly see the line where the
trees ended.

She called Vincent immediately and as soon as he saw what she was
indicating with her outstretched arm with her pointing finger, he
rushed inside the cabin and he shut off the heater completely so that
the Rumar would loose altitude.

By the time they were near the edge of the forest half an hour later,
the bottom of the gondola was about fifty feet from the top of the
last trees and the Rumar continued to drift over a grassy, snow
covered plain. The Rumar kept loosing altitude and getting closer to
the ground until if was five or six feet above the snow covered grass.
Then, as gently as could be the gondola touched the snow topped grass
and it simply skidded for a while until it stopped completely.

They all remained inside the gondola for another five minutes so that
their body weight would prevent the gondola from moving and thus
allowing the air inside the balloon to cool, in so doing of course in
would decreasing the buoyancy of the craft.

When the majestic balloon began loose its spherical shape because of
the lack of hot air inside it, both Nika and Verla got out of the
gondola on Vincent's recommendation. They each carried a rope and the
Rumar was anchored to small bushes that grew everywhere around them.

Without its renewal of hot air, the great sphere soon began to
collapse completely and this was further accelerated when the material
of the sphere made contact with the thin layer of snow covering the
grass.

Food was now their most important priority. They took their weapons -
Vincent carried one of the handguns while each woman had a bow and
arrows - and they began to walk toward the edge of the forest only
half a mile away.

While they had been drifting over the forest earlier, whenever the
trees were not as closely packed or when there was a small clearing,
they had noticed the abundance of animal life running in-between the
trees.

Therefore it didn't take them long once they were hidden in the cover
of the trees, to spot a deer. Before Vincent could aim, two arrows hit
the long legged animal at the same time - one went in straight through
its heart - and it felt dead on its tracks.

An hour later the animal was completely butchered and they had a fire
going. Never before had Vincent enjoyed a meal so much, even if it had
been one of meat only.

During the evening and through the night, they took turn in keeping
watch while the fire was fed with damp wood so that they could smoke
the remainder of the venison.

Later Vincent studied his map again by the light of the fire and by
his estimate they had covered about one hundred and eighty miles from
the underground complex. This was far more than they could have done
walking on land for five days. Of course this was assuming that they
could have cross through the dense evergreens forest that they had
just went over.

  

                            (end of chapter 20)
mandil_@hotmail.com                              
<http://www.asstr-mirror.org/files/Authors/mandil/www>

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