Bubble Tech

by Thomas Babak

  Sandy looked up the location of the park, and tapped it into his GPS touchscreen. It was about 240 miles away. He could fly there in minutes. He looked at the satellite imagery with his browser. It was rugged terrain for Minnesota, part of the northern Iron Range of mountains. The Wikipedia article didn’t have much information, other than noting that the area was undeveloped with miles of trees and wolves. Freaking wolves?

  I can help. I have to help, Sandy thought, feeling excitement tinged with fear and nervousness.

  He jumped out of the van, slammed the driver’s door closed, and pulled the power extension cord out of the side of the van, tossing it out of the way. He ran over to open the barn garage door, pulling the chain to raise it as fast as he could.

  Sandy ran back to the van, entered through the side door and slammed it closed. Within minutes, he was in the air and using the digital compass headed northeast.

  Checking the compass every few seconds and making some directional adjustments, Sandy finally felt he was on the right track and pushed the thruster forward. After a few seconds he pushed it even farther forward and soon the ground was a blur below him. There was still no sound within the van.

  Within a few minutes he saw Lake Superior. Sandy pulled back on the thruster and angled the van to the left so that he could follow the north shoreline. Turning left he thought One of these days, I’ll have to learn the difference between port and starboard. He saw a helicopter inland and off in the distance and turned towards it, pulling back on the thruster handle. The helicopter disappeared behind a hill and Sandy pulled the thruster back even more to slow down as he approached.

  The helicopter had landed in a clearing. There were two police cars, several pickup trucks and quite a few civilian cars parked along the edge of the clearing. Sandy tilted the van to the side so he could get a better view and brought the van down close to the tree tops.

  The rotors on the helicopter were still slowly turning and the door was open. The pilot and several uniformed people were leaning around a map laid out on the hood of a police car, parked about fifty feet away. He could see around fifty or sixty people gathering into one large group with a Park Ranger, Sandy assumed, telling them something through a bullhorn. The Park Ranger finished and brought the bullhorn down to his side. The people begin to form several groups. Throughout all the obvious noise and activity, Sandy sat in the utterly quiet van and observed.

  I’m part of the search too now, Sandy thought. Where to begin though? As Sandy glanced out over the miles and miles of heavily forested area, he realized that everyone participating in the search certainly had their work cut out for them.

  The pilot and three of the police officers went over to the helicopter and got in. The pilot took off and with a glance at the search parties forming below, Sandy decided to follow the helicopter. It flew for a few minutes over to one of the hills and hovered for a few moments before beginning to fly slowly in increasing circles around the hilltop.

  Sandy flew the van over to the hilltop and lowered down until he was hovering just above the treetops over a small, level clearing where a tent was set up. This was where the helicopter had started from, so it must be the campsite from where the boys went missing. The site was covered by a thick blend of pines and hardwoods. There were no leaves yet, so he could see much of the ground where the hardwoods were clumped but in the areas where the pines stood, the ground was hidden. Why would anyone go camping this time of year? Sandy thought to himself again. Every few minutes, the helicopter would come into view as it flew by on its circling search.

  In the distance, he saw one of the groups of searchers come out of a tree line. If I’m going to help I can’t just fly around, Sandy thought looking at the searchers and then the helicopter as it flew by again. What would a couple of boys do? With that thought, Sandy leaned forward and tilted the van even further forward to get a better view of the ground. He started down the hillside following the line of pine trees. He turned down to the right at the bottom and followed what looked like an intermittent creek. Today, the creek had water flowing in it from winter melt. The creek meandered down through some hardwoods before disappearing into a large section of pines. Sandy flew slowly over them but didn’t see where it came out. He circled twice before hovering over the center of the pines. The several acres of pines sat in a bowl-shaped valley surrounded by hills. He’d probably flown almost three miles from the campsite.

  A flash caught his eye. Sandy rocked the van back and forth and saw the flash several times more. There’s something down there amongst the pines, he thought excitedly as he lowered the van down even further. The tops of the trees began to bend out of the way as the Bubble Field pushed them to the side. Sandy lost sight of whatever was flashing. Without thinking, he tilted the flight stick over to see if he could catch sight of it again. There! he thought as he caught sight of the flash again.

  Though he couldn’t see it, hear it or feel it, the last movement Sandy made to see better snapped of the top of a large pine tree, which crashed to the side catching and hanging off another tree. Sandy lowered the van even more, causing branches to break off as he forced his way to the ground. He looked at the belly camera monitor and calculated that he was just off the floor of the forest. The van was nestled between two large pine trees. Sandy looked out the windshield, but he couldn’t see what had caused the flash. There were several huge glacial boulders and a few fallen trees that hadn’t rotted away yet.

  Sandy glanced at all the camera monitors and saw nothing but trees. He shut off the Bubble Field. He must have been further off the ground than he’d judged. The van dropped about a half a foot and bounced on its springs.

  Sandy heard sounds from the outside immediately, noticing both the loud creaking branches and trees that the Bubble Field had bent or broken and the helicopter off in the distance, getting nearer.

  Sandy jumped out of the door and sank into the deep bed of pine needles. That’s why the van settled down so far he thought. He quickly ran up to the huge pile of boulders. He hopped from one to the other trying to find what had caused the flash. He jumped from one car sized boulder to another. There it was. Water. The water from snow melt had formed a small pool a few feet wide. That’s what I must have seen. The sun reflecting off the pool. Disappointment coursed through him. It was only water reflecting. The helicopter sounded like it was getting nearer.

  I’ve got to get out of here, or at least turn the Bubble Field on so they can’t see the van, Sandy thought. The helicopter did sound like it was heading this way. He skipped from rock to rock as he made his way back. He just landed on the forest floor, the pine needles soft and cushioning his jump when he thought he heard something. Sandy froze trying to still his breathing to listen. The helicopter was getting closer, but it wasn't the helicopter he had heard.

  “Hey! Somebody there?” he heard briefly from somewhere over by the boulders. A child’s voice. Sandy turned in the direction he’d heard the voice and ran around the left side of the boulders. He almost passed them. In the small alcove formed by two boulders sat two small boys, terrified looks on their dirty, tired faces. They were huddled together, keeping each other warm from the night before. Pine needles covered them up to their chins from where they had scraped them up from the forest floor to keep warm.

  “Hey” Sandy said quietly. They just stared at him.

  “Want to go home?” Sandy asked gently and quietly.

  The boys both nodded their heads, but didn’t say anything.

  “Well, let’s go. We have to be quick, okay?” Sandy said.

  They didn’t answer as they both peeled themselves off of each other and out of the needles. They came out of the alcove, both reaching out and automatically taking Sandy’s extended hands.

  Sandy tried walking quickly, but the boys were tired, hungry and cold and weren’t moving quickly at all. The helicopter was hovering overhead. There was nothing Sandy could do about that so he carefully walked the boys over to the van.

&nbs
p; “What are your names?” Sandy asked.

  “I’m Jeff,” said the older one. “He’s Billy,” nodding over at his little brother.

  “I’m…” Sandy hesitated “…a friend” he finished slowly.

  They came to the side door of the van. The little boy jumped in when Sandy opened the door. The older one hesitated. He’d been told never to get into cars with strange people and that thought struck him, confusing him and making him hesitate. His little brother was already inside and the misery of last night in the dark and cold was still very much with him.

  He looked around and up as the helicopter flew over slowly.

  “How did you get here, Mister?” he asked.

  “You’ll see” Sandy answered with a crooked smile on his face.

  The boy looked at Sandy, too tired to argue and got in the van. Sandy followed and closed the door after himself.

  “Sit at the table, and hold on” he said as he made his way to the driver’s seat. He turned on the Bubble Field and the noise from the helicopter disappeared. Sandy looked at the camera monitors as he lifted the van straight up, the Bubble field bending branches out of the way. He stopped as he got to the top of the trees. The helicopter had moved in closer and Sandy rotated the van so he could see it through the windshield. He could see the pilot and co-pilot looking right back at him.

  Sandy jerked his eyes down to the flight monitor, confirming that the Bubble Field was on even though he knew it was. He looked back at the pilots. They were talking and gesturing and someone from the back of the helicopter was leaning over their shoulders looking at Sandy too and holding a phone up as if he were taking pictures or video.

  Sandy turned the Bubble Van and flew off away from them. He circled around and looked for the clearing where he saw the helicopter land before and headed in that direction. Within a minute or two he’d reached the open field and flew the van over to the side where all the searchers cars were parked. He landed the van and sat there for a few moments. There were people walking around and a pavilion canopy had been set up with some folding tables and chairs since he’d last been here. The Bubble Van is invisible, so why were the helicopter pilots able to see him? It didn’t make sense.

  The boys in the back hadn’t made a sound. Even when he’d taken off and started flying. Their tiredness and the stress having made them not necessarily care or notice what they’d seen and just done. Sandy unbuckled his seatbelt and made his way to the back of the van. The boys were still sitting at the table, both grasping the edge of the table in white-knuckled grips.

  “I’m going to let you out here. Just head to the people here and they’ll take you home. Okay?” Sandy asked.

  Both boys nodded their heads without saying anything.

  Sandy went back to the front and shut off the Bubble Field. He must have done a better time judging the distance to the ground this time because the van dropped only a couple inches before settling. Sandy quickly went to the side door and opened it.

  “Time to go,” he said, motioning for the boys to get out.

  “Come on Billy” the older boy said as they hustled out of the van quickly.

  Just as Sandy was about to close the side door Jeff said, “Hey, mister… friend!”

  Sandy opened the door a little wider and looked at him.

  “Thanks!” he said and then turned grabbing Billy’s hand and pulling him along towards the pavilion tent.

  Sandy smiled. He could hear the helicopter in the distance so he slammed the door and quickly made his way to the driver’s seat and turned the Bubble Field back on.

  He sat there for a few minutes and watched as the boys made their way to the pavilion. Everyone scattered around the field came running to gather around them. He could see Jeff pointing back at where Sandy was sitting in the van, and several people looked over, but there was no other reaction. They couldn’t see him, of course. The Bubble Van was invisible. Sandy frowned, the thought of the helicopter pilots seemingly able to see him for some reason. He couldn’t figure that out.

  It had taken him longer to get back the Yard than it did to get out to the park. He flew back more slowly, a sense of success and accomplishment wrapped warmly about him. He circled the Yard to try to find out if Mr. Bullock was around. Eventually he went over towards Mr. Bullocks mobile home and could see part of the Impala sticking out from under the trees. He could also see that the trailer lights were on. It was getting late.

  Once parked safely back in the barn he searched online for news of the boys. The only update was that they had been found safe and appeared healthy, were reunited with their parents and taken to a local hospital for observation. Sandy felt slightly disappointed that there were no other details. Even though he knew that he needed to keep Bubble Tech a secret, some small part of him secretly hoped for a mention in the news.

  He’d done it though. He had helped rescue the missing boys. The Bubble Tech could be used to help people. I can do so much more with it, Sandy thought. Then he remembered his promise to Mr. Bullock to keep it a secret until he could figure out how to protect the technology from falling into the wrong hands or being used for “evil things.” He’d have to redouble his efforts in solving that. There was just so much that could be done with the technology. The world needed it, he thought.

  By the time he shut everything down and locked the barn doors it was fully dark. There was a chill in the air. It made Sandy think about the boys spending a night alone in the dark and cold again. They would be okay. They were back with their parents and probably after a few days everything would be back to normal for them. The thought made him smile.

  It was time to go home to his empty house. Sandy thought about staying at the Yard and working on the Bubble Tech. The Yard always felt like the safest place for him. Mr. Bullock had a lot to do with that. No, he’d go home to his empty house and make a late dinner and go to bed. The small smile disappeared from his face. I wonder what Tasha is doing, he thought as he left the gravel lot and turned onto the county highway towards home.

  Twelve

  Sandy turned down his street and saw someone sitting on his front steps. It was dark out, but there was some light from the streetlight further down the road.

  Tasha! He pulled his truck into the driveway, grabbed his backpack, and got out.

  “Hi,” Sandy said walking up to her, trying to disguise his excitement.

  “Hi,” Tasha responded. Her backpack and purse sat next to her on the steps.

  “What’s going on?” Sandy asked he walked closer and stood in front of her.

  “Nothing. Mind if hang out here again?” she asked.

  “Um…sure. Come on in.” Despite what she had said, it didn’t look like nothing to Sandy. She was obviously upset and it looked as if she had been crying. Sandy led the way to the door and unlocked it, holding it open for Tasha. She had picked up her backpack and purse and dumped them on the floor once she got into the living room. She flopped onto the couch without looking at Sandy.

  Sandy put his backpack on the steps leading upstairs and walked towards the kitchen. “Do you want anything?” he called back as he went in.

  “No thanks, I’m good!” she called back.

  Sandy got a couple sodas out of the fridge anyway, and walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch next to Tasha. She shifted as if to move over, but didn’t really move much. They ended up with their legs touching. Seated closely together on the couch, her thigh felt electric next to his. Sandy froze in place. Tasha grabbed one of the sodas, which broke the spell over Sandy and he put his soda on the coffee table.

  “What’s going on?” Sandy asked again, looking down at Tasha’s hand as it rested on her thigh. He noticed the red polish on her nails as she was playing with and picking at the fashionable hole in her jeans. She is so beautiful and she’s sitting here next to me, he thought, stiffening up a little with nervousness again.

  Instead of answering the question, she said “I’m so sorry about what happened today.
What happened with Nick.” She looked at him with a miserable but expectant look on her face.

  “That’s okay,” Sandy said. It wasn’t okay, but it also wasn’t Tasha’s fault.

  “No really, Sandy. I should have got up and left with you. I don’t know why I didn’t. I’m sorry.”

  “Tasha, it’s okay. Really. Are you okay? What’s going on?” he asked again.

  “When’s your dad coming home?” she asked instead.

  Sandy fidgeted a little bit, the nervousness changing to a little fear and reached for his soda before answering.

  “He’s not going to be home for a while” Sandy answered taking a sip and placing it back on the coffee table before leaning back as nonchalantly as he could. He felt a little guilty, even though he wasn't necessarily lying to her. He felt guilty that he wasn't telling her the whole truth.

  Tasha slid her hand down onto the couch, then reached over and grasped Sandy’s arm.

  “Can I stay here for a few days?” she asked.

  Sandy didn’t respond. He was frozen again.

  “Okay,” Sandy finally got out.

  Tasha smiled for the first time.

  “Are you sure, Sandy?” she asked.

  “Yes. No problem,” Sandy answered more firmly, a smile breaking out on his face as well.

  “Great!” she exclaimed jumping up.

  Sandy was startled. He wasn’t quite sure what was going on.

  Tasha grabbed her backpack and purse and headed up the stairs.

  “I’m going to take a shower. Okay?” she said as she headed upstairs not really waiting for an answer.

  Sandy got up quickly but trailed tentatively behind her and stopped at the bottom of the stairs. She was already gone from sight as she disappeared into the upstairs bathroom and shut the door.