While all four planes were twin engines, the Monarch was unlike anything Bill had flown before. Unlike the other three, it was an extremely light bird with a wing surface that was practically designed for a glider. Takeoffs and landings were more like floating than flying. It took a while to get to altitude, but once up, it seemed like it would stay aloft forever with little input by anyone or anything. The entire top, wings, and fuselage, were covered with lightweight solar cells that powered the electric motors when they were at altitude.
Another thing that separated the Monarch from the cargo planes was the inclusion of living quarters. It wasn’t much, just a small galley, some hanging lockers, a really small lavatory, and four bunks with curtains across them.
The main cabin also included two workstations and two crash seats for the aerial survey specialists.
Bill thought that flying the 415 and the two cargo planes was relatively straightforward, but then he discovered that they were like driving a bus compared to the Monarch, a more nimble craft.
The thing Bill enjoyed the most was being able to see more of Hayek, albeit from several thousand feet in the air. The juxtaposition of what he saw with what he remembered from Earth still threw him for a loop sometimes. Particularly disconcerting was when the flights took them over Cascadia and around the Salish Sea. There were only a couple of small cities, instead of the sprawling megalopolis that had engulfed the Puget Sound region. There was no Tacoma Narrows Bridge, no floating bridges across what he knew as Lake Washington, no large naval bases or airfields. Mostly what he saw was forest. Lots of forest. Despite the growing population, which was approaching a million in Cascadia alone, it was still mostly untamed. Of course, the lack of a dairy industry also meant that land that was in agriculture on Earth was still unsettled and virgin on Hayek at best, or lightly settled at worst.
As with all good things, flight training came to an end, and Bill was checked off as a co-pilot for all four planes. Of course, his favorite was the Monarch, just because of its lightness, its nimbleness in flight, and the fact that it could climb high enough that he felt he could see halfway across the continent.
When he landed the Monarch on his last flight, his instructor shook his hand and said, “Too bad you didn’t try for pilot. You’re a natural.”
Hearing that made Bill a bit homesick, as it was something his father had always said. He could just hear “the Colonel” as he would say, “Y’know, Bill. You’re a natural at this. You oughta try for an Air Force commission.” Bill thanked the instructor then thought, Hell, dad, this is way better than anything the US Air Force could have ever provided, and the feeling of homesickness disappeared.
14
Survival training turned out to be the hardest training yet. Once again, Bill was with his GIS cohort, so he and Kim Smith paired off.
It turned out that Janice Goodland was the lead instructor. She had the Probies pull out the CoD Survival Guide they had been issued on the first day of training. After ensuring everybody had one, she told them to put them away in a pants cargo pocket. “You never know when your tablet will die or break.”
Sweeping her graying hair out of her eyes, she told the assembled Probies, “It doesn’t matter what all you’ve learned from your other training, this is the only training you’ll get that may keep your asses alive.
“Look at me.” She gestured to herself with her one remaining hand. “This didn’t happen sitting at a desk, in a cockpit, or driving a Willy’s. This happened because there are hungry animals out there with no fear of man. Or the more dangerous of the species, woman,” she finished with a chuckle. “Our goal is to ensure that this doesn’t happen to you. I can’t say that you won’t be eaten or attacked by some nasty critter, but we hope that we train you sufficiently to prevent this from happening.
“The training you’re about to go through will be difficult, but not impossible. As with everything in the Corps, it’s designed to ensure you’re the best trained possible. We invest a lot of time and money into you, and we want to recoup that investment.
“As with your other training, we’ll be doing a combination of classroom and fieldwork. You will note that all of your instructors have the Trekker medal. We’ve all been there, done that. So, don’t think you know better than us. Unless you’ve got a Trekker medal, you don’t. Do not forget that!
“Now, you’re all properly trained in firearms, so let’s get you up to speed on the rest of it.”
Goodland outlined the course schedule. The first two weeks were to be spent at Sacajawea Base going over basic survival skills—threat analysis, water and food procurement, shelter building, fire starting, hygiene, and the myriad skills necessary to maintain life without civilization. During this time the Probies would also get training in emergency medicine, hopefully enough to help them live in the event anything bad happened to them. The third week would be spent learning survival skills in an arid environment. The fourth and fifth involved learning how to build boats and survive at sea, and the final week would focus on jungle survival.
Each phase would take place at a different location. It was the first time that he heard that there was more than one Corps of Discovery base. Apparently, there was another in Yakama Canton, small and dedicated to arid lands survival training. Most of the Salish Peninsula, which Bill knew as the Olympic Peninsula, was a training base and nature reserve managed by the Corps. This base served for sea, mountain, and arctic survival training. There was also a training base in the Yucatan Peninsula. Bill was excited to hear about that, as he had never been that far south. With his father in the military, most international travel for dependents was frowned upon due to the threat of kidnapping and terrorism. Of course, on Hayek, it wasn’t really international travel, but it would still be quite a journey for Bill.
Goodland led the entire first session, going over the most important things about emergency situations (”Keep your cool”) and explaining the rule of threes. “You can survive without air for three minutes. Without shelter for three hours. Without water for three days. Without food for three weeks. Of course, that depends on having all your prior needs met. So, you need to ensure you’ve got access to all four within those time frames.
“I think we’ve all got an understanding of the breathing thing. If you’re underwater, get above it. If you’re at too high an altitude, get down as soon as possible. Believe it or not, some people die of hypoxia—not having enough air at altitude. You’ll know when that’s happening by your body’s reaction.” She then went on to explain the symptoms of altitude sickness, such as headaches, blurred vision, vomiting.
“Most of you will probably never be at that altitude, but for those of you running initial aerial surveys, it’s always a distinct possibility.”
The first morning the Probies spent time learning how to locate water and build shelters from available materials. They were also taught the importance of fire
“One thing we’ve learned in forty years of exploration is that wild animals hate fire. They instinctively understand how dangerous it is, and will do anything to avoid getting caught in a wildfire. They smell smoke, they run in the opposite direction. For that reason, the one thing you always want to do when setting up camp is to get a fire going as soon as possible.”
She then launched into the concept of threat awareness and analysis with respect to survival situations.
“I’m sure most of you were taught to stop, think, stay calm, and wait for help to arrive. Well, that’s not what we teach. You do that, you die. It’s that simple. We want you thinking, but we also want you moving. And when you’re moving, or even staying still, we want you cognizant of the dangers facing you. It’s not just animals, although some of them are pretty nasty; it’s also the terrain, the environment, and just about everything under the sun, including the sun.
“Our goal is to get you thinking about what’s around you at all times. First, let’s start with predators because those are usually the scariest, but not the worst thre
at you’ll face.”
She showed pictures of the types of animal threats the Probies could be expected to encounter. While the usual suspects were displayed, such as the big cats, bears, and canines, there were also some fine feathered friends included. One such was the terror bird, mostly found in the isthmus area between Ti’ichum and Suyu and throughout most of northern Suyu. Bill still had to translate local geography to the Earth geography he grew up with. Okay, that’s North and South America, so the isthmus must be the Panamanian Isthmus.
“When you’re walking or stopped, always look around near you first, then expand your search outward, looking for movement. And, don’t forget to look up. You’d be surprised how many times people are jumped by cats or snakes hanging out in trees.”
Other animal threats included alligators, crocodiles, snakes, spiders, and the various sharks of the seas. But, most interesting to Bill was the threat posed by hoofed herbivores.
“Do not get near these if you can avoid them,” Janice warned, “other than to kill one for food. While they won’t hunt you, they will protect their young, and heaven help you if you’re in their way when they decide to stampede. Moose, rhinos, hippos, elk, bison, mammoths, mastodons. They’re all dangerous, so don’t think they’re just dumb grass-eating herd animals. They’ll kill you just as dead as a smilodon.”
A discussion on water-borne threats, such as viruses, bacteria, parasites, and worms, followed, and then a discussion on the dangers of terrain.
The two main physical geography features Goodland lectured on were cliffs and water. These two killed more people than animals. The Probies were told how to safely ascend and descend cliff faces, and more importantly, how to avoid having to do so. “Avoid the threat,” was Goodland’s mantra.
Water threats were numerous, having to cross oceans, rivers, lakes, swamps, and frozen bodies of water, including glaciers.
“You won’t get field training on glaciers until you get to Salish Base, so I won’t tell you much beyond the basics.” She also spoke about how to identify avalanche zones, and when conditions were ripe for an avalanche.
The threat analysis class lasted all morning. By lunchtime, Bill was seriously reconsidering his career choice. While he knew, both from his reading up on the Corps before applying, and more recently from his walk through the Corps museum, that life in the Corps could be dangerous, he wasn’t quite expecting it to be this dangerous.
That afternoon the class had the students stringing up their hammocks, most for the first time, and building shelters from materials they found in the surrounding forest. Bill came to appreciate the hatchet and ax they were required to carry.
He was also surprised at how the hammock worked. Rather than enter from the side, as with most hammocks, one entered from the bottom in this one. Goodland explained to the class that the design was a refinement of the Hennessy Hammock developed on Earth in the mid-1980s. While the bottom entry at first felt strange, and most thought they would fall through the entry, Bill discovered that once inside, the bottom sealed up quite nicely from his weight pressing on it. The mesh above the sleeping portion protected the user from bugs, and the detachable rain fly protected him (or her) from rain or snow. There was even a lightweight reflective material that served as insulation by fitting into the double bottom on the underside of the hammock. The double bottom also provided an additional barrier to hungry mosquitoes and other bloodsucking insects. As a final thought, there were even four rain collectors that attached to the rain fly. Each collector was designed to work with the issued canteens and collapsible water bottles. In total, the entire system weighed slightly more than a kilogram. There were several different sizes of hammocks. To Bill, that made sense. No sense having small people carry more than they need.
The following day was dedicated to finding and treating water, along with field hygiene.
“Trust me,” Janice said, “the one thing you’ll want to do, other than avoid getting eaten by a nasty critter, is to stay clean.” Looking around the assembled Probies, she asked, “Any of you men ever have crotch rot?”
A few tentatively raised their hands. Janice selected one and asked him to tell the class the particulars, including the circumstances.
“Well, I was on an extended backpacking trip and didn’t have a chance to shower or wash my clothes. After a few days, it showed up. Definitely not fun,” he finished while the class chuckled at his discomfort.
“That’s exactly it. Not fun!” Janice exclaimed. “Let me be clear, if you don’t take care of yourself, your clothing, and your equipment, bad things can happen. And crotch rot is one of those bad things. There’s a reason we include hygiene equipment in your survival gear. You’re gonna be traveling for quite some time if you go down in the boonies, and since we’re spending so much money on you, we want you back, healthy!”
The Probies were then taught how to use the small showerhead that fit on a bottle. Bill had used one in the Boy Scouts, so he thought he knew the right way. It turned out he was wrong. Goodland showed them a technique that was guaranteed to get them wet with the minimal amount of water. Stripping down unabashedly in front of the group, she grabbed the shower, which was attached to a water-filled canteen. Holding her hand palm up, she grasped the funnel shape of the shower between her thumb and index finger, and then lifted it straight up, inverted. The water flowed down her arm, armpit, side, and leg. She then moved her arm so the other side of her body got wet, telling the class, “If I had two arms, I’d switch the bottle from one hand to the other, which is what you should do.” She then circled the bottle around her head, front and back.
“There, completely rinsed,” she said as the water finished draining out of the bottle. The Probies could see that there wasn’t a dry spot on her. “For basic hygiene, that’s all you need. Of course, soap comes in handy, but that requires two or three liters of water.”
The Probies were then surprised when they discovered Goodland expected them all to perform the same act. It was obvious that some of the students came from cultures where stripping down in front of others, particularly those of the opposite sex, was either forbidden or not encouraged. Bill was one of those and felt somewhat embarrassed stripping down, but he did so. If everyone’s doing it, then nobody will be looking at anyone he thought, and then changed his mind as he realized he was admiring the women in the class and noticed that some of them were eying him. He couldn’t help notice that pretty much everyone appeared fit, with not so much body fat that you couldn’t see the muscle definition. It was also obvious that most of them had “Explorer Tan,” with dark faces, necks, arms, and legs, but pale elsewhere. Even the black and Asian Probies had some semblance of the tan.
Soon, all the Probies were soaked, and Goodland had them dry off with the small towels that they had been issued. Once dry, the Probies rapidly dressed.
“You might as well get used to being naked in front of each other,” Janice said. “After all, most of you’ll be spending a lot of time in close proximity to each other out in the boonies when you’re on a mission, and there ain’t no shower curtains to hide what you’ve been blessed with.
“Now, who knows what this is?” she asked the group, holding up a toothbrush.
Everyone chuckled and held up their hands.
“Great. It’s also another one of those important things. You forget to brush, you might get cavities. And let me tell you, there ain’t nothing worse than an infected tooth when you’re thousands of miles from a dentist. Be sure to use it and the dental floss you’re issued.”
Goodland instructed them on the proper care of feet, toenails, hair, and just about every body part that needed taking care of.
By the time she got done Bill was wondering if he even knew how to properly care for his body, despite having lived with it for twenty-two years.
The training was intense, but by the end of the first week, Bill felt comfortable in his knowledge of basic survival skills, the most important of which was using his brain.
Despite the intensity, Bill was enjoying himself. Days were spent in training, with evenings spent mainly with Meri. As both had passed their primary and secondary skills training, they weren’t spending time cracking the books at night. More often than not they would be joined by Matt and Nicole.
They also attended several of the weekend gatherings hosted by Goodland, usually at the Cave Bear Cave. It gave the Probies a chance to talk to her and other Explorers in a more casual environment, a setting she fostered.
Emergency medicine was an eye-opener for everyone. It wasn’t just a matter of taking two aspirin and slapping a band-aid on. They learned how to properly clean and dress a wound, how to deal with problems induced by heat and cold, and how to suture a wound. They even learned how to amputate and cauterize a wound using a campfire and a knife. Goodland was emphatic about learning that one. “If I hadn’t known to do that, I’d be dead a long time ago,” she told the crowd.
For the third week of survival training, the class went into the Channeled Scablands of Yakama. There they were taught how to find water, protect themselves from the heat, get food, and all the other survival skills needed to live in a desert. Bill and the others were quite surprised at just how cold it could get in the desert at night.
The training area was a smaller base than Sacajawea, and the Probies had to remain there the entire week. This meant they got to use their equipment, including the hammocks, which served mainly as tents in the practically treeless environment. It also meant they got to eat emergency rations, which was definitely not the highlight of the week.
A weekend back at Sacajawea Base, where Bill discovered Meri had just started survival training, and then he was off to the Salish Peninsula for two weeks of training. The first week was mainly survival at sea training, with the second week encompassing mountain and arctic environments training. Salish Base was the largest base operated by the Corps of Discovery, covering most of the Salish Peninsula, an area that encompassed beaches, mountains, alpine glaciers, rivers, coniferous forest, rainforests, and plains.
The Corps of Discovery Trilogy Box Set: Books 1-3: A multiverse series of alternate history Page 18