by Donal Myrick
Bufford said, “Wow, that sounds like the perfect solution. How long have I known you? I didn’t know you knew that kind of stuff.”
Spider quipped, “That’s because you are an unobservant oaf. Have you not noticed all of the hanging pots all around my porch? They don’t just happen to come that way from the nursery. I made all of the macramé hangers myself.”
“Well, I guess I do recall them, I just didn’t pay that much attention to them. They were kind of a girly thing, you know.”
“Oaf !!,” was Spider’s repeated response. Everyone had a good chuckle over their quibbling.
Scott found the roll of para-cord, and Spider set about plying her art. The result was indeed a work of art, but also a very robust work of art, one that would serve a very rugged purpose. The only problem with Spider’s net was that it would block the view of the probe’s downward-facing camera. It was agreed this was a small price to pay for such an elegant solution. This project consumed the remainder of the day, so the group dined once again on some of Miguel’s fine Caracas Style cuisine and a couple of six-packs of local beer before preparing for the next day’s attempt.
By nine o’clock the next morning, they were again atop the pit ready to affix Spider’s work of art to the wire. Once that was done, the sounding of the pit began anew. This time, the vicious winds and buffeting streams of falling water had only a minimal effect on the probe, so the sounding of the pit continued unabated. By five hundred feet down, most of the water had been blasted into large raindrops falling at raindrop terminal speed. As such, they no longer posed a grave danger, but they did severely obscure the view. The probe finally bottomed out at twenty-four hundred and ninety-five feet. The probe was retracted about twenty feet, and the wire pulled to one side of the pit. When lowered again, the pit depth was measured to be twenty-five hundred and two feet. When the process was repeated from the opposite side, the measurement was twenty-four hundred and eighty-nine feet. So, it was concluded that this was very likely the bottom or at least very near the bottom. The probe was then reeled back up, a process that required a little over two hours.
Three hours later (it should be noted that it typically took the group about three hours each way to traverse between the camp and the top of the pit), back again at camp, everyone was anxious to see the downloads from the probe’s cameras. The ten terabyte solid-state memory devices (SSD’s) were plugged into a laptop computer, and video from the four cameras was displayed simultaneously. Initially, there was nothing to see but water streaming rapidly past the camera lenses, so Ted fast-forwarded the video to about the three hundred-foot level. Here the torrent began to break up a bit, and soon glimpses of the cavern wall could be seen. A hundred feet lower, it appeared that the cavern walls were suddenly becoming further and further away. The glimpses were so tenuous that it was not certain that this was indeed the case. However, another three hundred feet down, the walls appeared to be back close again and remained roughly the same for the remainder of the descent. This portion of the video was reviewed several times, and the first impressions were reinforced. This apparent geometry of the pit was certainly unanticipated and equally inexplicable.
Ted said, “Guys, we have got to explore this in much greater detail. This is just plain weird. I know of no geologic reason why this should or even could exist. Something big time not natural has occurred here. Understanding this could be the most important finding of this whole expedition.”
Little did he know just how true this would turn out to be. Ted went on to say, “Somehow, we need to get a more accurate profile measurement of the pit. It won’t be possible to use a standard laser mapper because first of all, we don’t have one, and secondly, if we did, it wouldn’t begin to survive the trouncing it would get while being lowered. Also, we need to do it now while we are here. We might not get another chance.”
Scott said, “So what you are really saying is that ‘now is the time for some good old fashioned Alabama MacGyver engineering,’ right?”
Ted said, “Absolutely. It’s time for some serious brainstorming.”
Scott figured that it was about time he put his fancy Alabama University engineering degree to use. He said, “The first thing we are going to need is some kind of a durable container for our ‘device’.”
Fortunately, there were piles of garbage, trash, abandoned equipment, and miscellaneous junk left from the earlier visitors at the site that provided lots of potential resources. Miguel, the de-facto camp cook, came up with an idea. He used propane to fuel the camp stove. He suggested that an empty propane tank might fill the bill for what Scott described as to what was needed.
Within the next twenty minutes, five suitable empty tanks were scavenged. Scott busily sketched out a design for a makeshift laser mapper. With the list of supplies and tools he needed for the task complete, he raised Carlos on the radio and gave him his list and implored him to expedite its delivery to the camp as soon as possible. Carlos assured him that his list was fairly easy, and everything could be procured from one of the building supply stores in Caracas. He would have the supplies to the camp by late the next afternoon. Miguel sensed an opportunity, now being the de facto camp cook, he also submitted to Carlos a list of consumable supplies.
Scott’s design was simple. He would fill the bottom of one of the propane tanks with fast-setting cement. This would give the device the requisite weight to remain reasonably stable during descent. On top of the cement platform, he would mount eight small laser levels, each projecting out through small ports around the circumference of the tank. The plumb bob probe would be suspended below the tank. The probe’s cameras would video the laser beams, which, although they would be considerably attenuated, should be reasonably visible through the torrential rain. The laser beam lengths could be measured to get rough cross-section estimates of the pit’s profile. One problem that would complicate the data interpretation was that the probe would likely twist back and forth, so no good directional reference could be established. The resulting pit profile most likely would appear to be twisting back and forth. However, despite this, useful information could certainly still be gleaned.
Once again, Spider plied her macramé skills, and soon the laser mapper was ready for deployment.
The time frame that the group had allocated for this expedition was soon coming to an end, so everyone felt a great deal of pressure to get some resolution regarding the extent and characterization of the pit, and the magnitude of the effort that was going to be required to continue the exploration of the cave. So early the next day, Max, Ted, Scott, and Bufford made their way back to the pit. Spider, Peggy, Jim, and Miguel remained behind at the camp to monitor their progress via real-time video courtesy of one of Peggy’s drones. By mid-morning, Scott’s laser mapper was activated and ready for lowering. Slowly the device was lowered, and all appeared to go quite well. One thing was noticed that was very interesting. The rounded dome of the propane tank acted like an umbrella and formed a tunnel in the falling water. This was an excellent happening because it allowed the laser beams to pierce through the water much more effectively than had been anticipated. This gave hope that the resulting map of the pit would yield some additional detail and a greater level of useful information.
CHAPTER 4
Unwelcome Competition
Just as the mapper was about to touch down at the bottom of the pit, Jim informed the folks in the cave that a group of people had shown up and announced that they were also going to begin an independent exploration of the cave.
This was totally unexpected. Miguel confronted them and in his most official voice stated in Spanish, “No puedes simplemente aparecer aquí e interferir con nuestros esfuerzos en curso.”
Noting that the leader’s English was excellent but that he apparently did not understand Spanish, Miguel repeated in English, “You can’t just show up here and interfere with our ongoing efforts. You need to have permission from the government, and you must coordinate any proposed activities w
ith the Director of the Canaima National Park. I am the liaison between the Director and this expedition, and I have heard nothing about another authorized group.”
The leader of the group introduced himself as Sergei Vassilov, and although he was totally fluent in Spanish, he acted as though he didn’t understand a word. He responded to Miguel in English that indeed they had coordinated their expedition with the Venezuelan government, though not with the Director of the Canaima National Park, but rather with the Department of Commerce and Foreign Affairs. All arrangements had been coordinated through the Russian Embassy in Caracas with the appropriate top Venezuelan officials, and he apologized if the local Director had not been informed of their proposed expedition. He also pointed out that the Venezuelan military had agreed to provide his expedition with logistic support, and that shortly their equipment would be arriving. This announcement absolutely stunned Max and Scott. Even though Miguel was supposedly authorized to request whatever government support was needed, no such support had been offered or suggested for their expedition, so immediately, everyone was highly suspicious and a bit jealous of what was transpiring.
Jim told Max that Sergei and his associates were very curious about our setup. They wanted to see Peggy’s video, but she quickly shut down the live stream. Some of the Russians were viewing how the rappel lines were rigged down to the entrance ledge and were asking lots of questions about how the rigging was established in the cave. Max warned Jim to be very cautious about revealing anything about our activities. Jim and Miguel started speaking Spanish so that the Russians couldn’t easily follow their conversations, and that turned out to be a total mistake in that it alerted Sergei to the fact that he was not to be trusted. Jim told Miguel that he was very uncomfortable with telling these people anything.
After Sergei made his announcement, Miguel got on the radio and called the Director. The Director immediately went absolutely ballistic and told Miguel to inform Sergei that his group was to cease and desist all activities until he, the Director, received a complete briefing and issued authorization to allow them to proceed. When Miguel informed Sergei of the Director’s decision, Sergei informed Miguel that, while he had no intention of interfering with the activities currently authorized here, he believed that he had all of the necessary permissions for the conduct of his expedition. Sergei was a polished diplomat, so he didn’t just bluntly say it, but he left no doubt about the fact that he didn’t need the Director’s permission to conduct his groups’ investigations. He made it clear by way of implication that he had authorization from government officials way above the Director’s pay grade. He further offered that at some future date, he would be happy to brief the director on his expedition’s mission and objectives. However, for the moment, they would be proceeding with their current plan and schedule. It was obvious to both Miguel and Sergei that this initial encounter had started off bad, and if the conversations were continued in this vein, that it was only going to get rapidly worse.
So, in order to avoid escalating tensions and distrust, Sergei and his associates departed back to the landing field where equipment and supplies for their expedition were already arriving and being unloaded from the military helicopters.
By this time, Ted and Scott had retrieved the mapper. Scott said, “This does not bode well for us. Obviously, someone in the upper echelons of the Venezuelan government thinks we are onto something, and they intend to know or own whatever it is they think we have.”
Ted pointed out that there might be another explanation. “Perhaps the Russians and the Venezuelan government had some ongoing secret activities in the area, and their presence here was just part of that activity. There are still some very corrupt people in positions of power leftover from previous defunct socialists regimes, and I know that some of them had been courting a relationship with Russia.”
Max said, “Well, that would explain why the Russians are here.” Ted added, “I’ll bet there are some Russian activities around here somewhere that they don’t want us to see.”
Scott, who was always suspicious of the Russians, said, “Well, we don’t need to make it easy for them. For starters, I think we need to protect all of our stuff. Let them figure out how to get back here. We don’t need to be overly cooperative. We cannot let them have what we have just recorded. I think we need to take the memory module with all of the data and drop the mapper and wire sounder back down this hole.”
“I definitely agree,” Max replied. “Also, as we leave, let’s clean our route down to bare rock. I’ll bet they don’t have a ‘Spider’ or a Peggy on their team, which means they will be going through hell to get back here.”
Ted said, “While I was doing some of my solo exploring trying to figure out the geology of this cavern, I found a high lead that led to a small dead-end alcove high up above anchor point 720 where we can stow the stuff which is too heavy for us to carry out in a hurry. I doubt seriously that anyone else will ever find it. It is really hidden away. We can leave our long ropes there. I left a fixed-line leading up to it tied to the anchor for the pendulum line for 720.” Max radioed back to Jim and told him that he and Spider were needed asap to help with ferrying equipment out of the cave. He didn’t mention anything about cleaning their route or concealing their data just in case their conversations were being monitored. He sent Scott back to tell Peggy what they had done, and to help her compile all of the important expedition data and video onto a high capacity solid-state drive.
Jim and Spider ‘Tarzaned’ into the cave as quickly as they could in order to render help with the removal of all unnecessary bolts, hangers, and ropes. On his way out, Scott met them as they were on the way in. He filled them in on the plan, rudimentary as it was, and cautioned them about saying too much over the radio.
They worked all night, and all that they left behind at each anchor point was the expansion sleeve in the drilled hole into which the anchor bolts were screwed. The small holes would be very difficult for anyone unfamiliar with the route to find or use, especially considering the difficulty of the route. Max made a bet that even if the Russians did find some of the anchor points, that they would screw them up because they would be using metric threads, and ours were English. Incompatibility is a bitch. The safety lines and pendulum ropes were coiled, transported, and most stashed in the secret alcove, and the salvaged hardware was ferried out of the cave by Peggy’s heavy drone.
In between ferrying hardware out of the cave by Peggy’s heavy drone, she and Scott were busy copying files. Scott suggested that they copy a bunch of miscellaneous survey video onto the spare SSD, encrypt several files with data headers, and then label the decoy SSD as “Expedition data archive.” Scott thought this decoy SSD would be a good idea in case the government or the Russians attempted to seize their data either overtly or covertly. Objections could be vigorously made, and then this disc could be reluctantly handed over. The real data hopefully could be concealed and protected until it was safely removed from the country.
Max was concerned that their every move was likely being monitored, and there was nothing that he could do about it. So they schemed up a little ruse for the benefit of any eyes that might be watching. None of the ropes or hardware that were used to rig the first several hundred feet into the cave were particularly valuable, so they packed those items loosely in the remaining duffle bags that they had. All of this was ferried to the entrance ledge as they cleaned the final stages of their route. After they finally assembled all of the bags on the entrance ledge, Bufford and Spider began the two hundred foot climb up the two rappel lines. When they were about halfway up, Max and Jim staged their catastrophe.
They had all of the bags secured together on a single line tied to a single anchor, an anchor they had rigged to fail. Clipped to that anchor was a carabiner into which the rope linking all of the equipment bags was attached. The rope was attached in a manner so that when a sudden load was placed on the rope, the carabiner gate would fail and release the load. Hopefully, the an
chor would also fail, lending additional credence to it being an authentic accident. Jim was at the end of the ledge nearest to the cave entrance. Spider was halfway up the rappel line whose lower end was secured near this point. Max was on the other end of the ledge, where the lower end of the first rappel line was tied off. Bufford was halfway up this line. Between Max and Jim was the fixed safety line that ran the length of the ledge, and the bags full of ropes and miscellaneous hardware. They made a big to-do about all the problems they were having managing the equipment bags. This to-do was to make sure that any watching eyes were indeed watching. After a bit, Max gave a tug to the line attached to all the bags, and off the ledge they went. The hanger to which the line securing all the bags was attached popped off the anchor bolt, and the carabiner failed, just as planned, and the entire assemblage plunged into the Churún River below where it would soon be flushed down the pit never to be seen again.
In unison, Max and Jim shouted, “Oh NO!.”
This was followed by lots of expletives and shouts that everyone was ok but that all of the equipment was lost. After an appropriate amount of time was spent fumbling around, they retrieved the ledge safety line along with the remaining bolts and hangers, and then they began the long climb out. By dawn, the cave was clean, and the entire crew was back at camp, exhausted and ready for some well-deserved rest.
CHAPTER 5
Time to Re-group
Later that day, Sergei and some of his associates made the expected visit to the camp. Everyone except Miguel was still sacked out. Miguel was busy preparing a large mid-afternoon lunch in anticipation that the crew would be famished after the herculean effort they had made the previous night. Sergei announced that he would like to pick the crews’ brains and get some tips on how best to proceed with their effort. Miguel claimed that he didn’t understand Sergei very well, so he went to rouse Max.