The Encounter

by Donal Myrick

  Dr. Fred said, “If there is a possibility of what we are speculating is true, then we need to keep our findings totally to ourselves, or else we may find ourselves in the middle of something which we won’t want any part of, and our knowledge could become a danger to all of us.”

  Max suggested that if Ted could spare the additional time off, he should go to Huntsville and bring Scott up to date regarding their latest speculations and concerns. Ted accepted this assignment and said he couldn’t go immediately but that he would make it happen soon.

  CHAPTER 7

  A Little Engineering

  Back in Huntsville, it took Scott a couple of weeks to reestablish his routine. Although Connie, his secretary at the foundation, had handled his affairs with exceptional competence, there were numerous ongoing projects that he felt needed his personal input and attention. So he was quite busy doing catch up work. He welcomed the fact that Ted was coming to Huntsville soon because he was going to need some help in unraveling the mapper data. So far, the data was still sitting untouched in Scott’s safe. He knew that programming of some new algorithms was going to be needed, and some additional human intelligence would be most appreciated in the accomplishment of these tasks. He also knew that Ted would want to be the first to view the results as they emerged.

  When Scott began sketching out the flow for the algorithms to process the mapper data, he was thinking that it was about time that he really put his engineering degree to use. Being the manager of the foundation was rewarding and had its own perks, but in reality, nothing is as satisfying to an engineer as getting down in the nitty-gritty of solving a difficult technical problem. Processing of the mapper data in a manner that would yield useful results was going to be a difficult problem. The lack of data fidelity, the gaps in the data due to obscuring of the images, coupled with a lack of a rotational orientation reference for the data was going to make data processing a challenge. So he thought that we will just look at all possible orientations of the data and see which ones make the most sense. After all, that is what computers are best at, i.e., number crunching, so looking at all possible orientations of the pit cross-section slices would certainly be a rational approach.

  When Ted arrived in Huntsville, he was grateful that Scott had already made arrangements for him for a place to hang his hat. After he was settled in, he and Scott got down to business. Ted told Scott about his mentor and major professor, and the fact that Dr. Schillinger confirmed his suspicions about the cave walls. He pointed out that Dr. Fred also noted that this could be the greatest geologic find of all times, or it could be that we just embroiled ourselves in a major international illegal nuclear test or maybe even some kind of nuclear accident. At this point, we don’t know which. The presence of the Russians and their interest in us suggests the later. The interest of our own government in us also lends credence to the later. But in either case, we need to keep our findings and intents to ourselves and closely guarded. Ted also told Scott that Dr. Fred wanted to join our group and that Max concurred. Scott said that he also concurred, and thought Dr. Fred would be an invaluable addition to the team.

  Scott then brought Ted up to speed on what he was pursuing, and that he needed Ted’s input on refining, testing, validating, and interpreting the output of the computer code he was developing.

  Ted said, “Absolutely, that is the second reason I was anxious to get over here.”

  Scott also showed Ted some sketches for a potential design for a shield that would protect them during the rappel into the pit through the waterfall and what was obviously going to be a tortuous climb out. After reviewing Scott’s sketches, Ted said, “I have a few suggestions. If we put a small bowhead prow on the top, like on an ocean-going ship, it will reduce the drag on the shield, and if we properly shape the shield, we can make the water to flow off of the trailing edge in a smooth laminar sheet. This should create a dry tunnel around and beneath the climber.”

  Scott agreed, “If we could do that, it would be a tremendous achievement, and might actually make a descent possible.”

  Scott remarked further that he had some contacts in the boat manufacturing business, and that they could very quickly make prototypes for testing. We will get them made using carbon fiber so they will be lightweight and super strong. Also, there is a pit not far from here with a substantial waterfall where we can test the designs.

  Ted was thinking out loud, “We need to get Jim over here to do the testing. He has lots of wet cave experience, so he can be the guinea pig on the rope.”

  “That’s a good idea,” Scott said. “We need to give him a heads up so he can plan some time and get his gear ready.”

  “And there is another thing I have been thinking about,” Scott continued. “Communications. Conventional modes of communication won’t work in the extreme environment posed by the torrential waterfall. I am betting that, based on the amount of rope we have already bought and are going to buy, that we can get NMI to make a special rope for us, one with embedded conductors in the middle. We can make a magnetic transducer and send and receive signals anywhere along the line. This would be rather simple to implement, but it is something we need to start working on immediately.”

  Ted said, “Wow, another good idea from the aggie engineer.”

  Scott said, “I resent that, you must have me confused with one of your associates from Texas. The problem I see here is that we need more people that we can trust. We need someone to honcho this project.”

  Ted said, “Jim is a big-time ham radio enthusiast, he understands this communications stuff.”

  “Jim is going to have his hands full testing the shield. He won’t have time to honcho communications as well. However, he might know someone we could enlist.”

  And, it turned out that Jim did know somebody. One of his ham friends, Sam Holbrook, was an electronics engineer who worked for one of the big electronics manufacturers in Dallas. So, when Jim was assigned to recruit someone for this particular job, he immediately thought of Sam Holbrook. Sam was the kind of nerd that liked to putter around the lab ten or twelve hours a day inventing stuff. He held over twenty patents, so it was evident that he was pretty good at what he did. Unfortunately, Sam was no caver. Nor was he athletic or much of an outdoors person. Other than that, he was a good guy, very bright, and perfect for the job. But, he also had his own pursuits, so when Jim approached him about managing this unconventional communications project, he was not particularly interested, especially when he learned that there was no money involved. He would be expected to volunteer his time. It took some real arm twisting on Jim’s part to convince Sam to take the job. Jim had to stroke his ego a bit. Jim pointed out that he would become a member of a highly elite exploration team that was involved in an equally high clandestine mission. He said that the Russians and the CIA, FBI, and Homeland Security were all involved, but that he couldn’t tell him more until he was fully committed to the team. Jim described the extreme environment that they were dealing with and pointed out that an additional challenge was that they needed to keep their communications secure from eavesdropping by the above-mentioned entities. It was this last little tidbit that hooked him in. He could not pass up the opportunity to snark both the Russians and the CIA/FBI/DHS at the same time. He agreed, and he was in. They shook hands to seal the deal, and Jim proceeded to brief Sam on the details of what was needed. Sam thought that it shouldn’t take more than a month or so to develop and test a prototype, work out the bugs, and then make a couple of full-up systems. The next day, Sam let his company know that he needed to take a short leave of absence. They were not in the least happy with this sudden request, but Sam was a very marketable commodity, and they did not want to lose him to one of their competitors. In the end, they reluctantly agreed to a six-month leave.

  Over the next several weeks, the projects progressed smoothly. NMI produced six thousand feet of the special rope with the embedded wire strands. The boat manufacturer produced two beautiful shields, which, when test
ed in the waterfall cave, performed better than could have been expected.

  Sam was in his own element. His system would take all audio signals and encode them using a secure algorithm before transmitting them. The key to the encoding algorithm could be changed daily, thus making the system near impossible to hack in real-time. He outfitted all in helmet transceivers with his device. His primary system interacted inductively with the wires in the rope and with a transceiver mounted in each shield. This system allowed any helmet within a hundred feet or so from the primary system or the transceiver in the shields to communicate securely without fear of unfriendly eavesdropping.

  While all of these projects were ongoing and planning was being finalized for the next in-country expedition, things were not going as smoothly for the Russians atop Auyán tepui. However, for Miguel Santos, life was good. Miguel had been assigned to monitor the activities of the Russian expedition. The Park Service built him a very nice “temporary” ranger station, and he was the onsite permanent park ranger. His accommodations were not nearly as Spartan as they were when he camped with Max’s crew. His home was a nice sized tent erected on a newly built platform. His office was a similar facility. He had a screened-in tent next to his kitchen that served as both a dining facility and a meeting room. He had a solar array to provide power, he had a refrigerator, an adequate kitchen, an ATV, and most importantly, he had satellite internet. Miguel also had a new toy. He had a drone, and when he wasn’t busy watching the Russians, he was busy honing his drone piloting skills.

  Miguel communicated daily with Scott. It was with some glee that he reported that the Russians were having a bit of difficulty. He said that it was absolutely comical watching them trying to rappel down to the ledge. They spent over a week trying to pendulum over to the ledge. Miguel didn’t give them any information as to how Max did it. After about a week, they came up with a simple but effective solution. They used a long bamboo pole. The pole was lightweight and long enough to reach the wall. They used it to push off from the wall and start swinging. And, after just a few minutes, the Russian climber was on the ledge struggling to find a handhold. He found a hole where one of the American’s secure anchors had been affixed. He tried to screw in one of his bolts only to discover the incompatibility of English and metric threads. With great disgust and a few choice Russian expletives, he set about drilling a new hole for his own anchor. Miguel reported that that event had pretty well set the theme for the remainder of the time he had been observing the Russian activity.

  Miguel reported that when the Russians began their assault into the cave, things got very interesting. Most notably, they didn’t have Lilly Lawson. The crew they had assembled for the assault were woefully unprepared. They lacked the skill sets required to tackle climbing challenges of such great difficulty. Of course, the Americans’ skills were also a bit lacking at first, but the Americans had both Spider and Peggy with her drones. Miguel reported that the Russians had opted for a lower route, which they thought might be easier. He said that during the first three weeks, the Russian climbers experienced several near-catastrophic falls, and twice climbers had to be fished out of the river. He also reported that after the first three weeks, there was a noticeable change in personnel. New climbers were brought in, all of whom seemed to have some serious alpine skills. The new personnel were able to make progress much faster and without any new serious incidents. However, they were still using brute force assault methods. That is to say, hang on your anchor, lean over thirty inches or so, drill a new hole, set a new anchor, rig the new anchor, shift your lines, move over, and repeat. The lead climbers were followed by another team that added more ropes and structure to their route. Then with all this infrastructure in place, the Russians began building what looked like a two-meter wide hanging bridge all the way back to the pit.

  Sometime between the fifth and sixth week, Miguel reported that they had made it all the way back to the abyss with their hanging bridge. He flew his drone in and out of the cave on a daily basis taking high-resolution video of the Russians’ progress. He uploaded his video each day to Scott’s server. Max’s group was both amused and amazed by the Russians’ effort. Amused with the enormous effort they were making, and amazed with what they accomplished. From the video, it appeared that the narrow suspended rope walkway or bridge that they had constructed all of the way back to the abyss was indeed an excellent piece of engineering. It was amazing what you could do with an unlimited budget and man-power, and this structure certainly made moving equipment in and out relatively easy.

  Miguel reported that they were moving some substantial pieces of equipment back to the pit area. The equipment appeared to be some sort of winch apparatus, so it was apparent that they were in the process of plumbing the pit. Everyone was wondering if they would discover the same cavernous anomaly some four to five hundred feet down, and if they did, how they would interpret their findings. Max and Jim were also concerned that they would descend the pit first, upstaging their own personal caving objectives. This was not good, and the possibility spurred the team to finish their development projects as quickly as possible.

  When Max and Jim saw the Russian winches, they thought maybe they should consider using winches to lower and raise the shield and climber rather than rappelling in and climbing the rope back up. It would be hugely easier, but Max thought it would require some new and untried technology.

  They posed the idea to the group. Scott said, “I think it is a good idea, and frankly, the technology is neither new nor untried. All we have to do is buy it and adapt it to our needs.”

  Max questioned, “Oh, really? Just what is and where do we just go and buy this technology?”

  Scott replied, “Large sailboats have been using electric-powered winches for at least a century to manage the sheets for their large sails and anchors. The winches are a mature technology, extremely robust, and specifically designed for handling rope. Also, they are sealed for use in wet environments.”

  Max continued his query, “What sort of battery bank do you think we will need?”

  Scott said, “Probably just a couple of batteries. What we will really need is a lightweight heavy duty twenty-four or maybe a forty-eight-volt dc generator, depending upon what size winch we choose. We can get it all within a week. We can get the boat guys to make us a carbon fiber frame that we can hang on the wall someplace with a couple of carabiners, and we will be in business. We will need a frame for both the generator and the winches. Consider it done. In eight days, we will test it out.”

  Jim interjected at this point, directing his comments to Scott, “Scott, first of all, order two of everything, and second, let’s keep our options open. If everything fails, we need to be able to climb up the rope as we would normally do from any other deep pit, and do it while pushing the shield ahead of us. A manual climb of this magnitude up through a waterfall with the shield will be more difficult than running a marathon in a hurricane, so the thought of being winched up is very, very attractive. But we need the backup plan.” Jim’s comments were well taken, and no one disagreed.

  Scott contacted the marine equipment manufacturing company that was making the carbon fiber shields to discuss options for a winch. He explained that he thought a large sheet winch would meet their needs. However, after explaining how it would be used and the need for high reliability in harsh environments, it was brought to his attention that a variant of the winches used for towing parasails would be a much better choice. An electric version of the parasail wenches met all of Scott’s criteria, and as a result, Scott ordered two.

  D-day was set for eighteen days in the future. Everything had to be finalized on a frantic schedule. Every few days, some equipment or supplies were readied for shipment and were airfreighted to Canaima Camp. The last things to be crated were the two Shields, Sam’s communication gear, the winches and generator, and a long list of late-arriving gear and supplies. At last, they were ready to go.

  CHAPTER 8

  Discussio
ns

  Meanwhile, atop Auyán tepui, Sergei had caught wind of the Americans' imminent return. It was not possible to keep their travel plans secret since they had to be coordinated with several branches of the Venezuelan government, so it was no surprise to Miguel when he received a visit from Sergei, who just wanted to confirm the American’s planned arrival time. Miguel gave him all that he knew, and that seemed to satisfy Sergei.

  When the Cessna 205 touched down with Max and Scott aboard, guess who was at the runway to welcome them back to Auyán tepui, none other than Sergei and Miguel. “Welcome back, Mr. Meccum and Mr. Mueller. I have been looking forward to your return. We have a lot to discuss,” said Sergei.

  Thanks, it’s good to see you also, Sergei,” replied Max wondering what all Sergei had discovered and with some dread as to exactly what Sergei wanted to discuss.

  Sergei said, “Can I offer you some assistance with moving your supplies to your camp area, and possibly with helping you get set up again?”

  It was obvious that there weren’t going to be many secrets held back from Sergei on this trip, so Max said, “Yes, of course, any muscle you can lend will be most appreciated. That will help us get reestablished much quicker.”

  With a wave of Sergei’s hand, a military pickup truck came rumbling up, and a couple of beefy soldiers quickly loaded up things that Max and Scott had brought with them on the Cessna 205. Miguel, Max, Scott, and Sergei climbed into Miguel’s new ATV and headed off to Miguel’s new ranger station.

  Max asked, “How did that truck get here?”

  Miguel answered for Sergei, “You can actually drive up to here from Canaima Camp. Unfortunately, the road is unimproved, and it takes about two days to make the trip. Generally speaking, only military-style vehicles are suitable.”