Trampship Wars 2

by L. D. Roberts

  The com radio came to life as Mark stuck the tool pouch back under the seat . “Defense Command Base Operations to Truck violating base airspace restricted zone. Turn around immediately or you will be brought down and arrested.”

  “Tom has drifted several miles off coarse into a military restricted zone Mark.” Mickey said into his ears as M ark grabbed the controls from Tom. “I was busy looking for other dealers as well as cargo for you to buy for the ship as the Captain ordered. I should have kept a small a pp watc hing Tom. I am sorry Mark. ”

  Grabbing the controls from Tom, Mark had pushed the throttles up and started a steep turn laying it back on its side . U and u pping the throttles to max to bring them around faster . Mark ignored the growing vibration under his seat knowing the last thing they needed was being impounded by the military for flying into their clearly marked no fly zone . The fans bumping up into the red zone again as elephants sat on their chests. “Sorry Defense Command." Mark was breathing hard as he talked between clenched teeth. "This is Star Queen truck 9 headed for a car lot south east of you. I apologize for intruding into your airspace. We will go arou…”

  A deafening bang shook the front of the tuck as ripping metal brought another ripping bang directly under Mark with several more bangs working their way back into the cargo compartment as the sound of ripping metal continued for a fraction of a second. Mark pulled the throttles back as he slammed the sick over to level the truck out but it was too late. Air started blowing into his face as the truck went past level, banking the other way.

  Mark suddenly realized that he was looking out into open air with nothing around him. He looked down and the deck of the cab between Tom and him was ripped to shreds. The whole front of the cab had been eaten up with the 300 knot e speed of the air ripping off the e i ntire nose of the truck where pieces of the two bow fans had chewed their its way to freedom barely missing the both of them. While his rudder pedals where still there under his feet, the deck beneath them was not, nor was most of the nose of the cab and truck . Mark’s , with his feet were just hanging out in the open air on the rudder peddles pedals . The bottom had dropped out from under Mark and the truck as they rolled completely over on their back and then on around until they were level again before Mark was able to stop the role. The truck going ballistic with the fans at idle as the nose dropped headed for the ground.

  With the truck stable again he had no choice but to push the throttles back up since the fans were the only thing holding the truck up off the ground. As soon as the ass started coming up Mark knew what the problem was. Most of the front fans had disintegrated leaving only the rear fans for support still with half the weight up front. "Tom, blow the trailer. Blow the Trailer!" as he killed the fans trying to keep from doing a tumble as their airspeed quickly dropped to 150 knots.

  With no answer e even if Tom could have heard him over the hurricane noise a s nd the trailer stay ed attached to the truck ing put . M m ark looked over and found a white faced Tom, clutching his seat with both hands and his legs hanging out into the empty air with no support. Screaming his head off as the wind tried to rip him out of his seat. Mark realized he did not have any gages in front of him e a ther either since there was no cab left and the only thing holding him in his seat was his harness belt and the thin brace of the rudder pedals his feet were standing on while all Tom had was his half lose harness with the wind blowing him from side to side as he grip ped the arm rests .

  Looking down Mark he spotted the emergency trailer release in a recess on the deck of the cockpit between his and Tom's seats. As the truck started to pitch toward the ground. He lunged for it but his shoulder straps prevented him from bending over. Trying to be careful he unfastened his shoulder straps without undoing his lap belt. Then bent to the side until he could reach the recessed lever but then could not pull hard enough on it. Taking his foot off the rudder pedals he placed his right foot down next to the lever on the only part of the deck left in the cabin, then bent back down and pulled with all his might. The lever popped up into the hatch way where Mark turned the handle until he felt it lock and then pushed it back down into its slot with some difficulty but was satisfied when it thumped into place and he felt a jerk from the back of the truck.

  With the wind buffeting him Mark glanced down the box of the truck and the damn trailer was still attached. Lifting the handle again Mark repeated the procedure but the trailer remained attached. Turning around he climbed back into his seat as he look ed out ahead at the rapidly approaching ground and hit the throttles for the lift fans as he braced his feet back onto the rudder pedals. The ass of the truck came up as Mark looked straight down at the ground and continued around until Mark was looking up. He pulled back on the lift fans and pushed the single set of propulsion fans to maximum. The short time the thrust fans pointed almost down had s lowed topped their decent briefly until the fans were pointing back away from to the ground again. Mark jerked the throttles off as the truck tumbled with the ass going up around over the top to finally point forward with the truck turned upside down . Mark with him lo lo ok ed ing at the ground over his head again with the truck upside down going backwards and where Mark hit the propulsion fans again to first slow their speed across the ground and then reduce there their decent as the thrust fans pointed down. W w ith Mark looking up at the sky again for a few seconds with the nose rotating to point forward again , before he again jerked the throttles off.

  The truck continued to tumble in freefall with the stern of the truck rotating up to point at the sky again only to come around again to start pointing forward and then down at the ground. Mark slamming the throttle back to full thrust on the propulsion fans each time the stern of the truck dropped down to slow pu sh the truck and trailer ’s dissent back up into the air again as the trucks forward speed continued to slow.

  Only the damn trailer did not want to come off and as long as it stayed with them they would continue to drop toward the ground where they would eventually hit spreading the truck and them over several acers. No , they had to get rid of the damn trailer or they were doomed.

  With the lift fans now pointing in the direction they were speeding Mark slapped the lift fans back on hoping they would help keep them in the air l onger as they rotated down to point at the ground and started slowing their decent lifting them back up again while increasing the rate of the truck’s tumbling spinn . And then the middle section’s forward remaining lift fans started disintegrating, working their way back creating huge tearing booms as they tore themselves apart one by one. The bottom dropped out again as and they tumbl ed ing faster with their dissent again increasing rapidly even though Mark continued to use the drive thrust fans at the rear to slow lift them when they pointed at the ground but the increasing speed of the tumbling truck made that harder and harder to bring the thrust of the fans up long enough to do much good.

  Though the unbalanced thrust was also speeding up their tumbling. As the truck continued to tumble faster and faster, Mark continued jabbing at the different throttles going from lift fans to thrust fans trying to keep them in the air just a little bit longer as the horizon continued to flash past faster and faster. Mark jerking the throttles back off and then slamming them forward as the truck continued to almost freefall as less and less of the thrust was driving the truck way from the ground still some distance below.

  As the speed of the tumbling truck and trailer increased, the stresses in the middle where the truck and trailer were connected continued to grow. Mark knew that there could not be that many latches holding the tumbling truck and trailer together that had refused to release . At least he hoped so. Mark praying that they , could only last so long as the tumbling forces tried to tear the truck apart.

  But with the seat and shoulder harness and Tom’s white knuckled hands glued to the seat’s armrests, the only thing holding him into his seat, his legs dangled straight out in front of him from the centrifugal force of the tumbling truck, Mark knew Tom could not last much longer
either. While the only thing holding Mark into the truck was only his lap belt since he did not have time to fasten the shoulder belts back on, his feet on the rudder pedals hanging on their small beam reaching out between Marks legs from the main bulkhead behind his seat and Marks grip on the control sticks on their own little arms from the side of his seat.

  It was a race to see who could hold on longest as the truck continued to tumble faster and faster each time he slammed the thrust throttle or lift fans forward to keep them from falling and the tumbling truck trying to hold onto the trailer and Tom and Mark holding on for their lives.

  With Mark clung on despera tely with his s upper half being thrown out forward from his seat . Mark’s , the seat seat belt dig ging ging painfully into his gut with and his head between his knees . His , his shoulders and arms pointing back along his side as he gripped trying to hold onto and operate d the control sticks while tumbled toward the ground . as h Mark’s is arms felt like they were being pulled out of their sockets. He knew he could not last even one more rotation as he ran every conceivable alternative through his mind while getting no help from Mickey who was totally silent on the matter.

  Suddenly the few remaining latches holding the trailer onto the truck broke and the trailer finely flew off, flying away on its own under full power until the power cable stretched out and broke leaving it a tumbling freefalling mass of trailer and cars.

  With the loss of the trailer, with most all of the front trucks lifting fans gone and the center of rotation back along the front of the trailer, the truck was thrown clear of the trailer and up away from the ground with little of its original tumbling left as the two halves separated. With most of the truck’s tumbling stopped as it was thrown away form the trailer and the centrifugal thrust trying to throw Mark and Tom away from their chairs gone, Mark cut the power to the few remaining lift fans on the truck, fans letting them freefall ing for a few seconds as he climbed back into his seat and fastened his shoulder straps and tightened them down until they hurt. “Mickey! You still gone?” I could use your help here."

  Now with the trailer gone, Mark started rotating the main truck’s two rear propulsion thrust fans past the 45 degree point they were limited to with the trailer attache d and then past the 90 degree s pointing back out the ass of the truck until they were pointed up past the horizontal as far as they could go instead of down like the lift fans. Something he could not do while the trailer was still attached. Slamming the thrust throttles forward leaving the few remaining lift fans off, the truck now lunged forward as it continued to arch back around toward the ground with the truck now partially stabilized by the cooling fins at the back of the truck with its bow pointed into the wind. The last of the tumble was stopped but not before the bow was pointed toward the ground again .

  Mark and Tom’s only chance was with the two propulsion fans now aimed up past the horizontal. The truck could push it s nose back up past the horizon and start climbing again. But Mark realized that the nose was coming up far too slowly to clear the on rushing ground below them before they impacted the ground as they started picking up speed again across the base. At least that was what it looked like to him. "Mickey it would be nice to know if this rotation rate will get the nose above the horizon before we hit the ground! . "

  The ground came rushing up at them as the nose continued to rotate slowly up. "Mickey?" Mark found himself pounding the control switch as he tried to tilt the fans further past the 110 degree stop used for trimming the thrust to fly the truck in a nose high position no matter where the center of weight in the truck was. Allowing the lift fans to be shut completely down at speeds above 250 knots letting the short wings and body lift support the truck.

  The truck continued to pick up speed as the nose continued to drift slowly up across the ground as the ground swiftly approached. Mark needed the lift fans to lift the nose faster above the horizon but with the only lift fans still working at the back of the truck , all they would do was to lift the tail making sure they slammed into the ground nose first before the truck could tumble fare enough around to let the thrust fans lift them back into the air.

  "Damn it Mickey, I need you to reverse the lift fans to help pull the tail down or we are going to hit hard. Where the hell are you damn it , the motors are brushless and all you have to do is change the programing on the motor controller to reverse it . "

  “No. Reverse the rotation of the remaining lift fans to pull our ass down instead of lift ing it up.” Mark took a fast breath as he waited for Mickey to a nswer or do something as he suddenly realized the world around him had slowed down considerably. “D amn it Mickey! I need your help. Just reprogram the damn fan motor controllers to reverse them. Even I could do that if I had a fucking maintenance screen in front of me. Mickey damn it. Do it now.”

  Suddenly Mark heard the words. " Done Done . Do it." In his head. He slammed the lift lever forward to its stoop and the lift fans came to life blowing air up and sucking the tail of the truck down toward the ground driving the nose up. As the nose rose above the horizon he started dropping the two rear drive fans back down to 90 degrees.

  Mark cut off the lift fans as the truck’s nose was approaching strait up. With all the thrust from the two rear drive fans lifting now and with out the weight of the trailer . The truck finally stopped its descent with the fans blowing dust across the much to close ground as they started climbing back into the air even though they were still racing across the ground at a hundred knots. Though air friction and Mark using the fan trim to turn the trucks tail into the wind and slow their movement as they continued to climb was helping.

  Mark quickly started having other problems as he reached across with his right ha n d to help his left hand tried to make the minor adjustments in the two drive fans to keep them upright. Even with his mind speeded up to some 10 times rea lity , Mark was barely able to keep the truck up right as it flew wildly across the base in a different direction every few seco nds. “Mickey this is like trying to balance the truck on the head of a pin, I need your help gal . I can’t fine tune the power to each fan or move the fans trim fast enough or precisely enough.” As the truck wallowed across the base from one side to the other. "I really could use your help here ." . I need the damn stick to control the fan angles instead of having to use the damn rocker trim switches for each fan while jockeying the power levers ."

  “OK Mark . ” Mickey suddenly spoke into his ears. “I am read y to move I have the motors trim , thrust and angles tuned to your stick but you will have to be careful not to are over control ling . Once the truck starts coming up right, back off on the controls. Follow my directions and the three dimensional horizon ball I am putting up in your glasses. When you are ready I will make the transition. ”

  Mark did not waste time as he said. “Now!” and moved his right hand back t o the main control stick on his chair ’ s right side arm.

  After a few seconds Mark was able to keep it in the air much easier but he was not able to control their direction as they drifted across the sky around the base. "This isn't working Mickey. I need you to reverse the aileron thruster and ruder controls and p . P ut the ailerons on my rudder peddles pedals and the rudder on my stick so I can use the stick to balance us on our tail and use the rudders so I have some control turning this truck to face in the direction I need it to without flopping it back over on its back or belly."

  "Yes Mark, I know a little about aerodynamics. Tying in the controls as you directed in 3, 2, 1, Now."

  Mark almost lost it as the rudder pedals were suddenly controlling the rotation around its long access but with some practice quickly was able to direct the heading of the truck using the rudder. Allowing him to easily balance the truck on its tail. Mark was finally able to hoover smoothly a couple hundred feet above the ground over the middle of a parking lot between the bases buildings.

  With the controls finely programmed properly and Mickey’s help, Mark was able to finely able to relax a little.

  Mic
key spoke up sounding contrite. "Sorry for letting you hang babe . I froze hun . I can't explain it but The Damaged h alf of my processors flooded my working processor half with programing I could not and still cannot understand. I I simply could not do anythin g g but cring e . I was scared to death. I. I. I do not understand am sorry love . It does not compute. "

  Mark was way to too busy to wonder why a computer as sophisticated as Mickey could not compute would freeze or be scared to death . "Ok.. Ahh. Well , glad you are back. I need to land this thing somehow Mickey. Any ideas?"

  You just need to direct the truck to a landing place you can set the trucks tail down on with something soft to flop the belly on when it falls over. Just flopping down onto the concrete could kill you when you come to a sudden stop. Most likely the seat supports would break from the extreme side forces allowing you to hit the ground at speed.”

  With the truck settled into a tail down hoover not far from a tall office building with the bases control tower on top. as Mark started looking around for something or someplace that fit that description.

  With the floor, side and roof panels mostly gone, torn off by the escaping fan blades and then the 250 knot wind blasting what was left , off. Leaving Tom and Mark sitting in their seats like ancient Astronauts in rocket ships, Mark had a nice 360 degree view completely around him. Taking a minute to catch his breath , Mark he looked around and noticed Tom laying in his seat white faced with white knuckles, digging his fingers into the arm rests of his seat. “How you doing there old buddy?” Mark yelled over the sound of the fans at the rear of the truck at almost full thrust .

  His eyes still as big as gulf balls, Tom slowly looked around at Mark and tried a halfhearted smile. “I don’t’ think I brought along a change of pants ass hole.”