AL:ICE-9 (6 page)

Shaking his head and waving back to both, Jake turned back to Sara with a confused look. Sara just shrugged and turned to take her bag into the housing unit that was their home for the next few days. Jake followed in her wake, but by the time they reached the door, both Sandy and Becky had run to meet them, slipping inside past Jake.

“We already grabbed the back room,” Becky stated, looking sourly at Sara, “per your instructions, we are sharing the bottom bunk and gave you the top bunk,” she finished somewhat darkly.

Jake turned to give Sara a questioning look.

“This trip is for you to rest and relax,” Sara started, “everyone was invited with the understanding that no one is to make demands on you,” Sara said while looking directly at Becky.

Ignoring the exchange Jake asked, “So who else is coming?”

“This is it, the others took a pass claiming mothering issues or nausea,” she finished, clearly meaning Jessie for the last.

“Ok,” Jake replied, not wanting to read too much into that.

“Well, you guys get settled. We are going to go back to the water, this is awesome!” Sandy declared, showing that her mood was evidently brighter than Becky’s current disposition. Kissing Jake and darting for the door, she was quickly gone. Not to be outdone, Becky gave Jake a long, lingering kiss, and them swished her way past Sara, following Sandy out onto the sand and then back into the water.

Sara watched her little sister head off into the water with Sandy and then gave Jake a look that said, “I’m gonna kill her someday.”

“Hey, you invited them,” Jake said, correctly interpreting her face.

“Did you honestly think we could get away a second time without all hell breaking lose,” Sara replied as they both grabbed their bags and headed to their separate rooms.

“Bad news,” Jake called out from his room.

“What?” Sara asked.

“There are no locks on these doors,” Jake replied.

“Use a chair,” Sara answered, knowing that would not work either.

“So what gives with the others?” Jake called out as he slowly unpacked.

Sara stopped and walked to his doorway, “I really don’t know, I get Jessie, she’s still sicker than a dog. Linda, Kathy, and I talked quite a bit and while they were helpful in planning all this, there really wasn’t a spark of enthusiasm. I assume the new baby thing is a huge drain on them right now.”

Pausing before continuing, Sara asked, “When was the last time you went to see Bonnie?”

Jake stopped what he was doing to think, “Well, I talk to her almost daily, or at least try to as I do with Linda and Kathy. She shows me Julie and we talk about her a lot. I guess it’s been close to 3 weeks since I have physically gone there. Why?”

“I’m not sure, maybe it’s a sister thing, but I think something’s up with her,” she said cautiously.

“You think she’s upset about something?” Jake asked, concerned that he might have done something to upset her.

“No, it’s more like she’s distracted. Her focus is elsewhere. Maybe its Julie, but I think a trip to Texas should be in your near future,” was all Sara seems to be willing to commit.

With that, Sara turned and returned to her shared bedroom, squeezing her things in the space left between Becky and Sandy’s personal items. For two small women, they seemed to pack a hell of a lot of stuff.

Once they both had sufficiently settled in, Sara grabbed two beers and Jake’s chair. Together, they headed off to the beach, to bask in the sunshine and watch the others enjoy themselves in the water.

----*----

Burt had been the mayor of Prosperity for several years before Jake had landed at their doorstep and turned their world upside down. He had seen the town struggle for many years in the early days and truly understood the impact of the changes Jake had brought to town. It made their name a reality.

Which was why he was very upset about the report he had on his desk. He had ordered the captain of the patrol to verify the content before he escalated things. If this report were true, it was not something he would sweep under the rug. Its implications were far too grave to underestimate.

His hope was this was just a misunderstanding. Until he knew for sure, he would just have to sit on it.

Chapter 6

After spending the afternoon at the beach, Jake received the royal treatment that evening. With duties spread between the three women, they prepared dinner, cleaned up, and even gathered the wood for the evening’s bonfire. With several offers to scrub his back, he managed to deflect them all, claiming the small shower size and healing ribs as excuses. After cleaning himself up, he found they had laid out his evening attire on his bed. 

In the pleasant Southern California evening air, they snacked, drank, talked, and stayed up late into the night. Sitting around the fire, they ended up killing off several bottles of wine in the process. Between the three women and the occasional beach wanderers who stopped by to chat, everyone had a good time and plenty to drink. Jake thought even Sara and Becky enjoyed each other’s company for a change, telling tales of their youth. Both wished Bonnie were there to enjoy things with them.

While this was distinctly different from the trip he had with Sara, the night was enjoyable, everyone seemed to be truly relaxed, and in great spirits, no wine pun intended! Sandy, unmistakably the lightweight of the group, giggled her way through most of the story telling.

As the night wore on, things wound down until the sun and wine had drained their strength. With sore ribs or not, Jake still had to help the two younger women to bed. Both had more than their fair share of the wine, but they were happy drunks. With both women still in their swimsuits, he simply tucked them into bed as is, and then kissed Sara good night before retiring to his own room. Jake took a couple of pain pills, having overdone it earlier, and crawled into bed himself. Between the pills and the small amount of wine he consumed, he was out. During the night, he was vaguely restless at one point, but soon settled into a comfortably sound sleep.

----*----

The next morning, Jake awoke with the feeling of being pinned and dying of the heat. Lying on his right side, he opened his left eye, only to see a pile of blonde hair on the pillow in front of him. He slowly removed his arm from around her waist, trying not to wake her. Whether it was Becky or Sara he wasn’t quite sure, but whomever it was, she was completely naked.

As he attempted to roll away from her, he realized someone else had snuggled up behind him, her arm around his waist. It was then that Jake noticed Sara leaning against the doorframe, sipping a cup of coffee and smiling.

While Jake attempted to slide straight down, under the blankets, and between the two women, while confirming that Sandy was just as naked, Sara made no effort to help. She continued to watch quietly, the occasional giggle slipping out as Jake floundered. Once free of the blonde and brunette, Jake silently slipped out of the room, glancing to the left to see a trail of bikini pieces leading back into the other bedroom. Evidently, the girls had disrobed on the way to his room last night after he had fallen asleep.

Following Sara into the kitchen area, he grabbed the offered cup of coffee she had prepared earlier with some muffins. With the coffee pot in hand, they both went outside to sit under the awning, where there was a table and chairs waiting. They both grabbed a seat before either spoke.

“So you had visitors last night I see,” Sara started, suppressing another giggle. Noticeably, she was enjoying the awkwardness of the circumstances.

“So it seems,” Jake replied, “unfortunately I was too tired and on pain meds to make it anything but a sleeping pajama party.”

“But you seem to be the only one in pajamas?” Sara quipped, still smirking.

“Yeah, well if you get lost, just follow the trail of bikini pieces to your room,” Jake offered.

Sara laughed at that and they ate in silence for a bit, watching the water and the occasional seagull fly passed. Jake enjoyed the peaceful setting, the cool morning breeze and having Sara there to share it. She had a look of contentment on her face, obviously enjoying the moment as well.

All too soon, there was a stumbling noise from inside the unit and Becky appeared in the doorway, wrapped in a sheet, probably from Jake’s bed, and holding an empty coffee cup.

“Oh my god, does it have be so bright out,” she mumbled, while dropping in an empty chair and holding her cup out for Sara to fill, while shielding her eyes with the other hand. Jake watched as she almost lost the sheet, recovering at the last moment with the empty hand.

Right behind her came Sandy, having at least put her suit back on, although Jake was positive the bottoms were on backwards.

“Coffee for me too please,” she managed in a somewhat brighter tone, while grabbing the muffin Becky was starting toward after setting the coffee cup down.

The four spent the rest of the morning lounging under the awning, Jake and Sara watching the two younger women attempting to recover from their nights overindulgences. What that meant was Jake and Sara took their sweet time cleaning up, they even took a stroll down the beach.

Heading back to the housing unit on the beach they called home, Jake pointed out a smaller container near theirs, turned 90 degrees so it jutted out from the rest.

“What’s with the mini-bungalow?” Jake asked Sara, pointing to the smaller container.

“Oh, I forgot about that, it’s for you,” She replied while leading him up to the end of the box that was closest to the water. Reaching up, Sara touched the hand pad on the side of the box and then motioned for Jake to watch out as the end dropped to form a ramp leading up into the container. Jake followed as Sara rounded the end and headed up the ramp, where he immediately noticed it was packed full of equipment.

The first thing they came across were two sets of what appeared to be wave runners, the kind of water toy you sat on and rode like a motorcycle. The lower two were in line, front to rear along his left. Both were on balloon-tired carts, obviously meant to roll across the sand to the water’s edge for launching. The upper two were in the same kind of cart, but suspended above the other two for easy storage.

Continuing to the rear of the container, there were surf/paddle boards, boxes of what looked like inflatables and finally all kinds of diving equipment. There were spear guns, similar to the ones the two used as weapons on the cruiser boarding adventure. Next came masks and fins and finally stabilizer jackets or BCD’s as he knew them. Jake pulled one of the jackets down because he noticed each had a strange backpack attached and the second stage single hose regulator appeared to originate from it.

“What the heck is this?” Jake asked as he set the jacket face down on one of the boxes. Inspecting the pack attached to the jacket back, he could see it was about 12 inches across and 18 inches top to bottom. It stood out from the jacket no more than four or five inches. While it squared out at the bottom with rounded corners, the top had a complete radius across the 12 inch width. Morbidly, Jake thought it looked a bit like a gravestone.

There were actually two hoses passing over the right shoulder, one over the other. They started from the upper right of the pack and terminated at what he thought to be the second stage regulator, mouthpiece in place but no exhaust tee. With closer inspection, Jake could see no means of escape for exhaled breath. Looking into the mouthpiece, he could just make out the slightest internal separation, each of the two hoses connecting above and below the divider.

“Do you have questions Jake,” ALICE asked, causing both to jump.

“Damn I forgot these things are all wired,” He replied, and then said, “yes I do have a question, what is this thing and where are the SCUBA tanks and regulators?”

ALICE replied, “That is a molecular convertor and the archaic equipment you knew as SCUBA is no longer in use. This is a commercial model, not intended for military use.”

“Ok, so would you like to expand on that please,” Jake asked, a little annoyed at the implication he was obsolete.

“One of the more useful components recovered from the NeHaw exploration ship was the molecular converter. Primarily used in their life support systems, these break down molecules to their elemental form and then restructure those same elements to create necessary molecules. Please remove the cover of the unit you are inspecting.”

Following ALICEs direction, Jake found the catches holding the cover of the pack in place. Opening it, he set the cover to one side. Inside he could see where the two hoses attached internally to a smaller rounded flat pancake of a box at the top. Below the pancake, towards the lower part of the unit, were some smaller modules, all interconnected, with two small tanks at the very bottom of the housing. The tanks were both about 10 inches long, three inches in diameter and one over the top of the other.

Looking down at the pancake, Jake could see it had two small flutes, one at three and the other at nine o’clock.

“What are these two ports on the sides?” Jake asked.

“That is the source inlet and outlet. Let me explain, the configuration of this unit is to ingest air and/or water. From those sources, it breaks down the molecules and stores Oxygen and Nitrogen in the two tanks at the bottom of the unit. To better understand, let me start by saying this system works a lot like the rebreather systems you may be familiar with.”

Jake was very familiar with the rebreather systems the military used in both underwater and land Nuclear, Biological and Chemical or NBC gear. The main concept was it didn’t exhaust your breath like open circuit SCUBA/SCBA did, it captured your exhale and then scrubbed it to remove Carbon Dioxide. A smaller tank in the rebreather held Oxygen to replenish what you metabolized, and you simply reused the Nitrogen. A rebreather could last a lot longer than SCUBA/SCBA. The longevity had an obvious attraction to both military and commercial users.

In typical dry land usage, a rebreather would go for about eight hours compared to an open circuit systems 90 minutes. The usage was more complicated in underwater applications, because as your body absorbed some of the nitrogen, it messed with your partial pressures, but the military had answers for that as well.

“The way this system operates,” ALICE began, “is in use, it ingests either the surrounding air or water, and then breaks down the molecules to pure Oxygen and Nitrogen, in their stable forms, for storage in the tanks. Any unused portion of that ingest is exhausted out the exit port. The balanced air mixture feeds through the upper hose into the second stage upon inhale, providing a constant 79/21 percent Nitrogen/Oxygen mixture. Your exhale is captured from the mouth piece and fed back into the converter unit in the lower regulator hose, where the Carbon Dioxide is reduced, releasing the Carbon, and capturing the Oxygen and Nitrogen for re-use.”

ALICE continued, “I should mention a miniaturized and more advanced version of this is what operates inside all the combat suits. That version will also heat or cool the air and filter liquid for drinking.”

“Ok,” Jake asked, considering all ALICE had just described, “but what about underwater use. There is not nearly enough nitrogen there, is there?”

ALICE replied, “Actually there is a significant amount of Nitrogen in seawater. About .5 parts per million, more than enough to keep a recreational divers air supply balanced when you include the pre-populated reservoir tank. Because we are using an Oxygen/Nitrogen mixture, you are susceptible to all the known issues of narcosis and decompression restrictions. The value here is there is no toxicity issues related to Oxygen/Nitrogen going out of balance or running out of air during decompression stops.”

“How long can you stay down with one of these?” Jake asked with his curiosity roused.

“A fully charged unit can operate continuously for three weeks, although there is a mechanism to replace the battery charge while in use, so theoretically it can operate indefinitely. I should mention that there is one other difference in underwater use. The excess Hydrogen that is released from the water molecules is then bonded with the Carbon released from the Carbon Dioxide forming CH4 as a byproduct.”

Jake had to stop for a moment to think about what ALICE had just said, “Wait, are you telling me that this thing exhausts Methane as a waste product?”

“That is correct,” answered ALICE.

Jake could see the confused look on Sara’s face.

“It farts,” was all he could say.

----*----

Upon their return, they found both Becky and Sandy in the uniform or the day, consisting of shorts and a t-shirt, proper attire for a day in the jeep touring the island. Sara was a bit anxious as she wanted to show Jake all the improvements she had been supervising since their last visit. She hoped he approved.

With Jake behind the wheel and Sara navigating, she directed him to the pier they had visited the first time around. Once they stopped, Jake and Sara climbed out of the jeep, leaving the other two to nurse their hangovers in peace. They headed down to the pier, with Sara leading the way.

Sitting in a boatlift on the pier, was what Jake took to be about a 32 to 34 foot center console boat. Stopping to look around the boat, Sara explained, “We had this sent out from Hawaii. It’s a 34 foot center console, you mentioned before that having a boat here might be nice?”

“This is sweet.” Jake replied looking it over, from stem to stern.

As he approached the stern, he noticed three out-drives that looked like outboard engines without the engines on top. It was as if someone had taken the top off an outboard motor, but left the props.