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Knox and Hail had a five-hour break before Kornev’s plane reached Dubai. Hail was taking a nap. Knox returned to the lab to finish the last few items on Jefferson Starship. The kids had asked Renner to look over their project and verify that it was ready for field testing.
Renner gave the beast of a weapon a once over, walking all the way around the capsule, allowing his hand to run over its smooth black-painted surface.
Jason Wilson, a young black kid Hail had rescued from the gangs in his old neighborhood, walked behind Renner, ready to answer any questions he might have. The others—Sarah Starling, Paige Grayson, Dallas Stone, and Alex Knox—stood in a group next to the weapon and waited for Renner to complete his inspection and tender his judgment.
“Are these doors watertight?” Renner asked Jason.
Jason responded, “Watertight as in rain won’t get in, but if you’re asking if the capsule could be submerged in water that would be a no-go.”
Jason thought Renner looked disappointed and added, “But we could make it watertight. It would take more time, but then you also get into watertight at what depth and stuff like that. That opens a new can of worms. Deeper means thicker and thicker requires more weight and so on. No, it was not designed to be a submersible.”
Renner simply nodded his head and finished making his 360-degree inspection of the craft.
The rest of the group was waiting for him when he rounded the backside of the weapon.
“How is it going to be delivered into theater?” Renner asked
Paige Grayson was the first to respond, “We installed a hook ring on the top to support its weight. I guess a wings package could be outfitted to it, but it would probably be best if we choppered it into position.”
Renner looked dissatisfied and told the crew, “That would mean someone would have to fly a chopper, since at least for now, we don’t have any remote-controlled full-sized helicopters.”
“I guess we have a new project then,” Alex Knox suggested.
Renner didn’t want to take the air out of the kids’ sails. They had, after all, created a compelling weapon, but he couldn’t resist knocking them down a few pegs.
He said, “If I had designed this, I think I would have gone with a lifting body concept so it would be more aerodynamic. That way not only could a wings package be attached to it, but also the shape of the capsule would reduce some of the stress on the wings. After all, how much does this thing weigh?”
Dallas Stone responded, “About one thousand pounds, depending on the battery load and the ammunition used. Hell, the ammo and batteries could make up more than half the weight of the deliverable.”
The young adults were carefully watching Gage’s reaction. He let them off the hook with a quick smile and said, “All in all, I think you did a great job. For your first attempt I think it was very well conceived and executed.”
Knox asked, “Where can we test it?”
Renner thought about it and realized that the word testing could take many forms.
He asked the group, “How do you want to test it? Do you have some suggestions?”
Dallas said, “We hoped we could test it on one of Hail’s islands—maybe use the uninhabited one—Courtney Island. We thought it would be cool if, like, dozens of us dressed in combat gear and had an objective of some sort. It would then be up to the Jefferson Starship operators to try to stop us.”
Renner nodded his head in understanding and said, “Kind of capture the flag type of thing?”
“Exactly,” Dallas said.
Renner asked the group, “I’m assuming you would like to use the new acid ammunition during your test, right?”
There was a muttering throughout the room and a few of the kids expressed, “Hell no,” along with a couple saying, “Fat chance,” and one, “Are you crazy?”
After the hubbub had died down, Alex Knox said, “No, we would just use good ol’ airsoft BBs during the test. All the attackers would also use airsoft guns. I think if the attacking force could make it all the way up to the Starship without getting shot with an airsoft round, we would say they won. But if the defenders operating it can keep the attackers away for—let’s say an hour, we would be declared the winner.”
Renner didn’t respond immediately. He reached out, touched the Starship and appeared to be giving the request some deliberation.
Renner asked, “In a defensive posture, what type of duration does this weapon have?”
The group looked at one another, making it apparent they had never given this parameter any thought.
Paige responded, “I think to answer your question we would require knowledge about the attacking force. The Starship has four flying and four ground-based deterrents, in addition to a number of static defenses; but if all those parts were in constant motion and had to be recharged as soon as they depleted the power reserves, it would be hard to calculate. There are just too many variables and not nearly enough constants to provide you an accurate answer.”
Knox added, “That’s one of the reasons we want to make sure it passes a full field test.”
Renner said, “There are two problems with your request: first, the Hail Nucleus is currently unloading steel rails for the new railroad, thus, we aren’t going to be passing anywhere near the island anytime soon; second, this thing won’t fit in any of our standard jets, and I’m sure Marshall doesn’t want to fly a chopper all the way across the ocean with this monster hanging underneath it.”
The group looked disappointed.
Renner added, “Let this be a lesson when you are designing something. Make sure you determine how you will get it into theater before you build it.” He fingered his chin thoughtfully. “Tell you what. I’ll discuss it with Marshall and let you know if we can figure something out.”
The crew all smiled, and Dallas said, “That will work.”
Knox looked at the clock on the wall and told the group, “I need to meet Marshall back in the operation’s center. Why don’t you guys finish up here. I’ll text you in about an hour, and then we can go get something to eat.”
Paige said, “Not me, I’m working at the mall for the next four hours.”
A few of the other kids said they had something else going on, either a Jiu-Jitsu lesson with Nolan or other obligations.
“All right, I’ll group text you, and those who are free can meet me somewhere.”
Knox and Renner left the lab and stepped out into the ship’s long white hallway.
“You want to join me?” Alex asked Gage.
“Nope, I have a Jiu-Jitsu lesson with Nolan as well.”
As they walked, Alex asked, “And how are those lessons working out for you?”
Renner said, “It’s weird, but ever since I hit the ripe old age of 40-something, I find that pain I would have shrugged off at your age tends to stick around a little longer. And I never used to bruise, but after an hour with Nolan, I look like a spotted hyena.”
“I heard that pineapple helps with bruising,” Knox suggested.
“Yeah, well I need to bathe in pineapple juice for all the bruises I have.”
“No, instead you need to drink a bathtub full of pineapple juice. You must drink it. There is some enzyme in pineapple juice, I think bromelain or something, that prevents bruising.”
Renner added nothing.
The pair reached a stairwell and parted ways.
“Catch you later,” Alex said.
“OK, hope all goes well,” Renner said.
*_*_*
A few minutes later, Alex entered the mission center.
Hail was already sitting in the Captain Kirk chair in the middle of the room, reading text messages on his phone.
Hail looked up at Alex and greeted the young man. “How have you been during the last five hours?” Hail asked jokingly.
“Great,” Knox replied. “Gage wants to talk to you about a good place to test Jefferson Starship.”
“He does, huh? Do you think that mass of metal is ready for primetime?” inquired Hail.
Knox sat in front of his flight station and said, “Ah, it will probably take some more tweaking, but the only way to tell if it’s ready is to put it in the field and find if it has any weak points.”
“Probably right,” Hail agreed.
Knox pressed some icons on his screen and a map of Dubai appeared on his monitor. He did a little more electronic voodoo and the same map appeared on a large screen above his station. Seconds later a red blip began pulsing on the screen.
“Looks like Kornev’s plane has landed and is taxiing,” Knox commented.
Hail superimposed a floorplan over the satellite image of Dubai International Airport. It was a big airport with three distinct terminals. Before the death of his family, which preceded Hail’s new fear of flying commercial planes, he had been through Dubai’s airport dozens of times. Based on passenger traffic alone, it was the world’s third busiest airport. The airport’s webpage had a handy-dandy snapshot of all arriving flights. Hail confirmed Kornev’s plane would arrive in Terminal 3 at Gate 5.
“Time to get this sucker off the plane,” Knox said, grabbing his control sticks. He pressed a button that released the drone’s magnets attached to the ferrous metal inside the wheel well. Knox squeezed a trigger on his right controller and told Hail, “OK, I’m in a hover and dropping down.”
Hail assigned the video being shot from the camera on Milky Way to large screen number two. The drone dropped down so low it almost seemed to have touched the black tarmac. Knox bent both control sticks forward and the drone began to accelerate. After gaining more speed and a few feet of altitude, Knox leaned his right stick to the left and Milky Way began to traverse the sandy island between the runways.
Hail told Knox, “Terminal 3 will be on your two o’clock about a quarter mile ahead.”
“Roger that,” Knox confirmed.
Purposely keeping the drone low to the ground, Knox flew the machine briskly over the even terrain. Any traveler or air traffic controller would assume it was a bird of some type crisscrossing the field. The controllers were so busy with planes, none of them would pay more attention to it than if they spotted a single bird from one thousand meters.
When Milky Way reached Terminal 3, Knox poured on the power and flew the drone sideways, accelerating from the modest 30 mph to more than 100 mph in mere seconds. If any traveler had been looking out the window, the drone would have flown by so fast it would have appeared like an aberration.
Once over the top of the terminal building, Knox quickly reduced the drone’s speed and landed it atop the edge of the building looking down at Gate 5. Taking control of the camera on the drone, Hail began scanning the apron for Kornev’s jet. He found the big Emirates plane on its final taxi and locked the camera onto it by selecting an icon labeled TRACK. In a few minutes the jet came to a stop, and five minutes later the jet bridge rolled up to connect with the jet’s exit door.
Knox and Hail watched the red blinking light coming from the key fob Kornev had in his pocket. The tracker showed that he was still aboard the plane. The light began to move toward the exit of the plane and Kornev entered the terminal building.
“We’re still in business,” Knox said holding out his fist in the air. Seconds passed and Knox said, “Don’t leave me hanging here.”
From across the room Hail made a mock bump with his fist to his young pilot’s and said, “So far, so good.”