by Bob Blink
Two hours later he was back, followed in rapid succession by Tishe, Luzoke, Ronoran, Nerila, Rifod, and Altz. They loaded the heavy inverters and a couple of batteries onto the mound, and Nerila vanished, followed a bit later by Rifod with another load. Janie came out to meet the group while they were loading up the Nexus, and thereby expanded the group of people whom she would know if others had to be sent. Tishe went off with Janie for a bit since the loading effort was too difficult for her. She would take the last load back this evening.
* * * *
“We’ll have them put everything in here until we can sort out what we need to do with it all,” Buris said leading Jolan to an area he hadn’t seen before with a large doorway through the side wall of the lab. “We cleared out the stuff that was in here and sealed up the outside entrance so this is the only way in.”
Jolan looked at the large room, that thus far was mostly empty but which held sorted stacks of items he had brought on previous trips.
“Just the copper is a concern. Do you realize how much that is worth? Even the most honest individual might be tempted to scrape off just a bit here and there given the opportunity. Besides, we don’t want knowledge of what we have to get out, so having this area I can seal off is a good way to keep this stuff out of sight.”
“It isn’t going to be possible to keep it all secret. The power system equipment is going to be large and noticeable.”
“Most of that will be locally made, and we can make a case for it being one of my projects. The rest will be inside existing buildings where it won’t be noticeable. You said all those batteries you brought can be inside as I recall.”
“Absolutely, although the building will need to be vented.”
“There’s a place right out back that is a reasonable size for the battery room. It will allow for expansion as you asked, and we can put those big converter units of yours in this storage room and run the wires through the wall. No one will see what we have even if they come into the lab. You really think you can get this working before you leave?”
“Just a start. I should be able to get a small system up using a couple dozen of the batteries. We can run the wiring to the inverters, and then the output into the lab. I have a computer and a large monitor we can try out. Then while I’m gone Luzoke and Ronoran can continue to move the remaining batteries and the spare inverter into place. I can finish the final connection when I return. Before we can do much, they will also have to get the charging system in place, which means a bit of relocation of the water system outside so we have a continuous flow of water for the Pelton wheel.”
Ronoran and Luzoke had been drafted along with Asari to work full time with Buris. They had only a few people who knew what was going on and a million tasks to complete. They were learning a whole new craft, but a lot of their involvement was simple hard work. The biggest benefit they’d gotten out of their efforts thus far had been the brief trip to Earth, something they hadn’t been that excited about, but after seeing how smoothly the trip went, had started to express interest in a possible return. Asari, of course, still fumed about being left out of this elite group.
Tishe’s pictures hadn’t helped Asari’s feelings of being left out. She had put them on the computer so all of their group could see much of what she had experienced. She also was asked to show them to Vaen who was amazed by the flying sequences and the sheer capacity of the train Tishe had photographed. Now Vaen could actually visualize what Jolan was trying to accomplish with the system he had them building here.
Vaen was still trying to decide how much to show the Queen. While Queen Shyusta knew they had opened the Nexus, they were being a bit careful with just how much they told her at this point. She had gradually come to realize how important Jolan was to the effort to stop Ale’ald, but Vaen wasn’t convinced the Queen was properly careful with what she said. It wasn’t time for those in Seret to know everything that they were doing. Surprise was going to be a major factor in winning this war.
Vaen’s recent meeting with Jolan had also left her concerned. She hadn’t expected Cheurt’s wizard to become so comfortable living on Earth, and the ease with which he had adapted to driving, flying, and interfacing with the people there concerned her greatly. Jolan was right. They needed to cut off Cheurt’s contact with Earth. While killing Ryltas outright was certainly a way to interrupt Cheurt’s effort there, she needed to talk with Jolan about trying to capture Ryltas. She would dearly love to talk with him about what he had been doing the past two years.
It had taken two days to build a couple of sturdy wooden support racks and then mount a dozen of the heavy batteries into their proper locations on the shelves. Asari now helped bend the heavy wire and hold it in place, marveling that the wire was almost pure copper even if the external coating masked the fact, while Jolan wired the cells in parallel. Once the cells were wired as desired, he connected up the heavy output cables that ran from the battery room, through the wall and into the storage area adjacent to Buris’ lab. The inside wiring had already been completed while they had been waiting for the support racks, with the output from the conversion unit routed into the lab with a number of connection boxes and switches installed at key locations Buris and Jolan had agreed upon. After this test, Asari would supervise the installation of the rest of the equipment while Jolan was back on Earth. Everything but the final hookup would be complete by the time Jolan returned next time.
Jolan had set up the very large monitor and the new computer on the work bench he and Buris had selected as a good place for accessing plans and drawings from the computer. They also had the large printer sitting off to the side. Jolan showed them the power connectors on each unit and how it was designed to fit into the small outlet boxes he had mounted along the back of the bench. Once again, he explained how they would need to be extremely careful around the outlets, explaining the voltage they had installed could literally kill.
A bit earlier Jolan had measured the output of the inverters and verified he was getting the proper voltage and frequency, so he was confident this test was going to go as planned. He threw the power switches on each of the pieces of equipment and was rewarded with the usual lights and hum of fans starting up. A few minutes later he had the computer up and running and, just to show off, he put one of the movies up on the fifty-inch monitor mounted against the wall. Now they could see how they were supposed to look.
“You can’t run this very long right now,” Jolan said as he pulled the sheets of paper from the printer. “With the small number of batteries we have on-line and nothing replacing the energy we are taking from the batteries, they will go flat. Once we get everything set up, this can run continuously, and we will have a charging station setup to recharge all of the small batteries we are using in the smaller equipment.”
With time getting away from him and needing to get back to Earth, Jolan sat down with Buris and his three assistants and showed them the drawings he had printed a short time earlier. He had also gathered together the items listed on each drawing and had three separate arrangements on the floor of the storage room.
“Each of these will create a stand alone radio system. The largest will be used to communicate between cities, such as Cobalo and Seret. The middle sized unit will be a somewhat portable field radio that can be deployed with the teams into selected areas, and the last is a smaller unit with far less range. That unit can be placed in a backpack one of the men can carry. We have the parts to assemble several of each, and while I’m gone I’d like to see all of these made up on the indicated support structure. We’ll need a training course on how to use the radios which are much more involved than the telegraph system we have been using, but we won’t be dependent on wires that can be cut any longer.”
Jolan had wanted to bring some vacuum tube devices along as well so he could show them to Buris, but hadn’t been able to locate anything while back on Earth. He’d have to find time to search out some old radios just to get a couple of examples of the tubes. At
some point they would have to build their own more primitive devices.
The larger stations Jolan was having assembled used the large batteries for power and a much smaller stand alone inverter to create the 120 volt power. The smaller units were direct DC units, but once again required a supply of batteries. He was glad that Buris was convinced their experience with batteries to support the telegraph system had taught them a great deal and seeing the inside of one of the units Jolan had brought from Earth he could soon have a local factory turning them out in quantity. The last item on the list was the erection of a suitable antenna for the radio station here and in Seret. Buris had a team at work already next to the Council of Mages building, and Asari would be going to Carta after Jolan left to get Tomas started on construction of an antenna there.
Chapter 116
The day before he had to fly back east Randy headed to the rifle range with Gene to sight in the Remington. Waiting to the last minute to complete important tasks was not a characteristic of his, but things had been pretty busy of late and he kept finding other items that demanded his time. He still hadn’t found time to do any more searching for Oscar’s effects, nor had he any more ideas about what to do about Ryltas. Killing him was the simplest and most direct solution, but Vaen had pushed pretty hard the last time he’d been to Gaea to see if he could bring the man back. One possible solution would be to wait until December when the man made his next trip to Boulder and then try and kidnap him just before he accessed the Nexus. That might be the cleanest approach, but it meant leaving the Nexus open longer, and if Ryltas didn’t show at the appropriate time, Cheurt or one of his people might make the transition. Then he would have more wizards to deal with. He didn’t want to make the Nexus disappear while any of Cheurt’s people were nearby. He wanted them to come back and find it missing. Taking him in Boulder also meant they wouldn’t have access to the man’s house to see what they could learn, although they would have any material he brought with him. Making a trip back to California after killing or kidnapping the man didn’t appeal to Randy either.
Gene had helped Randy mount the variable power Nightforce scope the previous evening, setting the screws with locktite. They had mounted the rifle in a special vise and by looking down the bore of the rifle and then the scope, they’d aligned the two views at one hundred yards so he was certain the shots would print on the paper at that range. The pre-alignment should speed the effort of getting the rifle “dialed in”. They had also set up one of the new rifles in the same manner, just in case they found a problem with the used rifle Randy planned on bringing with him. He didn’t expect anything, but it was better to be prepared since time was running out.
After several hours of shooting and adjusting, Randy was convinced he had a winner. He still wasn’t the world’s greatest shot, but even he was producing groups just over an inch at one hundred yards, and just under four inches at three hundred. He’d decided to sight the rifle in at three hundred yards, not knowing what would be considered appropriate by the school. His selection of three hundred yards gave him a rifle that shot just five inches high at either one hundred or two hundred yards, and a little over a foot low at four hundred. At five hundred yards it was low by a full three feet. He’d shot enough rounds at all ranges to be comfortable with the point of impact at the various distances. He also found he loved the scope. No matter how much fiddling around he did, it was a simple matter to come back to his original zero and start over if necessary.
It was after two in the afternoon when they packed up and headed home. He would clean the rifle, pack it away for the plane ride, and break out a fresh case of a thousand rounds of ammo. That was more than the school required, but he didn’t want to run short of ammunition or have to switch to a different brand part way through the school.
The next morning he boarded the 11:00 AM United flight for Charleston. He was supposed to arrive at 5 PM east coast time, which would allow him time to retrieve his bags, get the rental and drive the ninety miles to the hotel near the school, and still have time for a good meal before turning in. They were due at the school at 8:00 AM the next day.
There were fifteen others in the class, several of whom he had seen at breakfast and wondered about. Most were ex-military or current policemen who were expanding or refreshing skills, but two others were civilians like himself, eager to learn the skills for personal reasons. They were met at the front lobby, taken to a large locker room where they could stow their gear and ammunition in large personal lockers, and then led to a classroom in the same building. Most of the first morning was spent in an introductory session where they learned what would take place each day for the next two weeks and what would be required to receive a passing rating for the course. One thing was made clear. You and your rifle could not fail. If you couldn’t finish the final with your rifle, you had essentially failed. You would be allowed to try and finish with a second rifle, but the highest score possible, if you did everything perfectly, would be a barely passing. After these encouraging words, they spent the rest of the morning learning more about ballistics than Randy cared to know. He realized they expected him to shoot and hit targets out to one thousand yards, and that the .308 he was shooting would drop thirty feet from his 300 yard zero at that distance.
Monday afternoon was spent honing basic shooting skills firing at fixed targets at known ranges. The targets were man sized silhouettes with a fifteen inch black bull on the chest. They were required to create a table for their rifle with the number of “click” adjustments from zero to correct for any selected range. Once they had this table created, and memorized, they were asked to randomly shoot at an instructor selected target, adjusting their sight, correcting for any wind, and hitting the bullseye. Randy knew he’d found a weak point, and had significant trouble with the targets beyond seven hundred yards.
Tuesday was more shooting, although this time they were on a different range, and the distances were not specified. Their task was to determine the range to the target, make the appropriate corrections, and then make their shots. Randy wasn’t the only person who found this difficult, once again the longer ranges being by far the most difficult to assess. By the time the morning was over, Randy had decided he was buying a number of the laser rangefinders that several of the men had with them. They weren’t allowed to use them for setting up their shot, but could verify their guess after the shot had been attempted. Being able to guess the range was an admirable skill, but knowing the range was more likely to lead to lots of dead wizards.
Wednesday moved them from the benches and onto the ground for position shooting. They started with prone, as opposed to the bench rest shooting the previous day, and then shot from a variety of positions to take advantage of the available rests, shoot over terrain, and generally be ready for almost any type of shot that might be offered. At the end of the day they spent a couple of hours learning how to shoot at moving targets, an exercise that Randy considered pointless at any extended range. At a thousand yards he could barely see a target let alone guess its relative speed, and with a flight time of almost two seconds, a slightly missed guess at the relative velocity of the target translated into a substantial miss.
Now that they were all deadly accurate, or at least had some idea how to hit a target down range, they put the rifles away and began to learn a bit about camouflage and concealment. They crawled over the hills and into the weeds with their instructors, and were shown where to hide, and how to make themselves all but invisible, yet still be able to see to spot their target. The school had areas that had been modified from the local normal terrain, so they had a variety of vegetation and environments to practice this in. They learned about discomfort. They were encouraged to crawl through and into places Randy would have never considered given his own inclinations. He was allowed to lie in a cool pool of muddy water for almost an hour, and then slither through some of the nastiest sticker bushes he’d ever encountered. Day two of this delightful part of their training turned to the
construction and use of the Ghillie suit, which Randy had to admit was a remarkable tool when he and the rest of the class were invited to walk a section of the lot searching for hidden instructors. He came within five feet of one of the concealed men without having a clue the man was there until he stood up after Randy had passed.
That brought them to the weekend. While some of the students either took off for home or took advantage of the two days to drive back to Charleston for some fun, Randy decided he needed additional practice, and spent most of the two days on the range, attempting to improve his long range skills and estimation techniques. By Monday morning he had improved, but the very long range was never going to be his thing.
Monday was spent learning stalking techniques and how to get into position without being seen. This involved a lot of slow movement through the often undesirable weeds and rocks. Each of them had to stalk and then locate an appropriate shooting position, and get to it unobserved for three different targets. By the end of the day he was sore and bruised and unhappy with the whole thing. Tuesday was more of the same, but they also spent a little time on escaping detection or simply exiting the area after the shot had been taken. Often escaping meant staying put and hidden until the enemy had given up on the search. A lot depended on the situation and not simply the terrain.
Wednesday gave them a chance to try and put it all together, with a bit of endurance testing added to the mix. After a long run from the start point, they were directed into a target area where they had to make their way into the underbrush, crawl to their hide, and make three successful shots on targets. The third target was a moving target which also eluded Randy. Thursday was a day of individual instruction, where each of the students was paired with an instructor who worked with him on his weakest abilities.