The Ark of Asylum (The Ark Series Book 1) (2 page)

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After weeks of researching and looking at numerous mountainous areas but with no luck, John begins to lose hope. But they take a look at one last area of the Colorado Rockies.

The helicopter pilot announces over the radio, “Sir, we are about a mile out.”

Jeff, the real estate specialist, shows John his tablet with all the specifications of the mountain and explains how the elevation and climate and other features are what he was looking for and how the actual mountain, which they will be living on, is completely surrounded by other mountains, except for one area about a quarter of a mile long. John is pleased to hear it has a large water reservoir from snowmelt that will provide them with fresh water year round and that the area receives on average of about three hundred inches of snowfall each year. To his relief, the south side of the peak is perfect for building the majority of the houses and buildings, and the north side is prime for skiing and snowboarding. The land is for sale from the government upon agreement to uphold the U.S. forestry obligations regarding the protection and maintenance of the land.

John looks over the specs displayed on the tablet and then looks out the window. “Can I just say from here it looks perfect. It’s exactly what I was looking for. Fly around the main peak, and try to find a clearing where we can land.” The pilot circles the entire peak and sets the chopper down near the reservoir.

John jumps out of the helicopter and just stands there mesmerized as the propellers power down. Sheer tranquility and the unmistakable feeling of a peaceful energy surround him, and it is almost overwhelming, euphoric. As this natural high dissipates, he rolls his hand across the tall grass. A shimmering reflection of aspen leaves bounce off the clear blue water, drawing his eyes to follow the massive peak’s veins of aspen and blue spruce. He takes a deep breath, but the pollen in the air from the assortment of rainbow-colored wildflowers tickles his nose and completely pulls him out of his daze. “Can you smell it, hear it? This is it. This is the place. It’s perfect!” He looks around smiling. “Jeff, how much video footage have you got so far?”

Jeff replies as he pans the area with his video camera, “As I’ve been saying, the entire time since we landed, the camera from the helicopter has been recording, so I’ve gotten a shot of everything from the air. And I’ll get as much as I can from the ground with the handheld, but is there anything in particular you want me to film, sir? But like I said, we’ve been talking to you for the last few minutes and you’ve just been kinda staring off into space. It was kinda— weird, ah, sir.”

“Oh, well, my bad. Yeah, I’m not sure what happened right there. It was kinda weird, wasn’t it?” John looks confused as he taps his chin with his finger, but then perks up. “Well, just get as much footage as you can. I need good shots of this so I can show my family what they’re getting themselves into.”

The pilot walks up to them. “Pardon me, sir, but it’s going to get dark soon. We really should be getting back.”

“I’ve seen all that I need. Let’s get out of here, and tomorrow we’ll start drawing up the papers to purchase this. Once I get the go ahead from the wife and family, I want to purchase this asap.” John takes one last look around and then walks back to the helicopter.

Jeff gets the last shot and joins John. “Certainly, sir, we can get the ball moving on this as soon as I get the go ahead.” They board the helicopter and fly off just as the sun sets on this majestic paradise.

The next day John shows the video footage to his family, and everyone is hesitantly excited. Many feel overwhelmed, and some are also a little in shock that they are really going to do this, but everyone feels more at ease after seeing the video. Soon, everyone is on board, and John finally has the ‘go ahead.’

In the coming weeks, the land is purchased. Immediately after, construction begins on the land, starting with the clearing out of hundreds of trees, all while planting new ones. A dirt road is constructed so that they can get supplies to and from the area when it isn’t being flown in by helicopter. Almost two hundred men and women are employed to have around-the-clock work on building what is to be the main infrastructure of what will soon become a flourishing town.

Over the next year, construction is in full swing with almost all twelve of the family houses completed, the water treatment facility fully operational, the hospital fully functioning, and the school and boarding houses almost completely built.

John receives the news of the progress of the construction and prepares the family to move in the next few weeks. As of now, the only family members that have agreed to move right away is their parents, John’s sister, and both of Kate’s brothers. The rest of them agree to make the move within a few months. 

They all fly out in helicopters and land on the landing pad just a few hundred yards from the house in which John and Kate’s family will be living. The houses are a mix of solid stone cobble and massive logs, almost like log castles. With their parents getting first pick of which houses they want to live in, they choose a smaller but close house to John and Kate’s house. John’s sister and family and Kate’s brothers and their families choose the slightly larger houses that are a little farther away.

As they all settle in, construction continues on what will soon be a grocery store, a fire department, and a security station. The farm is in full working order, turning out organic fruits and vegetables, livestock, and corn and wheat fields. There will also be an ample supply of food flown in by helicopter from the outside world until the whole land becomes self-sustaining. In alignment with that goal, a large solar and wind farm is built to provide power to every building along with a natural gas pipeline and a thermal heating system.

After finally settling in and the stress of the move dissipating, John takes the opportunity to celebrate the moment. He walks into the living room with a bottle of champagne and two glasses.

“Are the kids asleep?”

Kate looks up from her Kindle and smiles. “Yeah? What are you up to?”

“Oh, nothing, just felt like celebrating with my beautiful spouse. That’s all.”

He pops the cork, which hits the ceiling just as foam pours out of the bottle, and John tries his best to contain the spill.

“Really, honey, a bottle of Dom? Is that really necessary?”

Once the foam settles, he fills the glasses and hands one to Kate and sits down to look right into her eyes. “Sweetheart— you put the air in my lungs, the light in my eyes, and well— I’m just going to say it— the wind beneath my wings.” He purses his lips to give the appearance of a straight face.

Kate looks surprised and furrows her brow then blushes as she starts to laugh. “Will you stop? You are such a dork. What are you doing?”

John tries his best not to smile; he doesn’t want to appear too whimsical in his attempt. He moves very close to Kate on the couch. “I’m trying to be romantic here, so bare with me.” He clears his throat and again looks directly into her eyes as he lifts her chin. “In all seriousness, you are the love of my life and the reason for my existence, and I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you for always believing in me and trusting me no matter what. And I guess I just wanted to remind you how much I love and appreciate you.” 

Kate stares at him for a moment with her mouth agape. She looks amazed and as if John’s few words had the ability to make her fall in love with him all over again. And while trying to contain the schoolgirl crush smile that was still evident on her face, she manages to come up with a few words of her own. “Th—This may just be one of my many character flaws, but for some reason I never doubt you. You always know what’s best for us. And you are the love of my life and the air in my lungs.”

She gently kisses him right before they clink glasses and take a sip of the champagne. Kate takes both glasses and reaches across John’s chest to set them on the table and then slowly straddles his lap and proceeds to kiss him ever so softly. John quickly responds to her advances while reaching over to turn off the light.

After months of steady growth and progress, the need to acquaint everyone with the development of the town is well overdue. John stands in front of a room full of his family members, waiting for everyone to settle down and stop talking. It seems like most everyone is very excited and overjoyed by their new living arrangements. John looks over his notes one last time and looks up at everyone.

“Can I have everyone’s attention, please?” John shouts. When he gets it, he says, “Hello, everyone, and thank you all for coming. Before we get down to business I’d like to start out by mentioning that I’m happy to say that pretty much every family member has moved here except of course for Maggie, who should be joining us when she’s done with school.” He then goes onto explain how this will be the first of many family meetings that will take place on a semi-monthly basis. They will be meeting so they can to go over the progress that’s been made in construction and also to get feedback and ideas from everyone.

John also explains that the hospital is in full-working order with a staff of ten people so far, ranging from doctors and nurses to physical therapists. He also mentions, of course, that Kate will be in charge. Quite a few of their family members look at Kate with approval, and Kate smiles.

John goes on to explain that the school is also completed and that they have around twenty faculty members, mainly teachers and professors. Before he goes on to talk about the vast array of people who will be working in their new community, he pauses to explain in great detail how all of these outside personnel have all undergone strict background and psychiatric evaluations and that everyone hired passed with flying colors. He added that all of the hired workers’ immediate family members have moved to the area, as well, into the recently completed employee housing area.

When John looks around the room at all the smiling and approving faces, he decides to use the time to thank them for only going to the grocery store for the essentials. He explains that, as soon as the farm is expanded and the manufacturing facility is up and running, they will have access to more and different types of food. They’ve been flying in store-bought food for a while now, which he adds is all organic, but he of course wants to start phasing out that aspect and produce only their own food, toiletries, and various other things.

“Okay, any questions so far? John waits as he scans the room. “No one? Alright then, getting on to the next phase of construction will be—Well, since I already touched on the subject, I’ll talk about the manufacturing area. This will consist of various manufacturing facilities producing different things such as food, toothpaste, toilet paper, things like that.”

Gram interrupts while turning around in his chair and facing everyone. “If I may interject, everyone, we will be making our own organic, non-chemical-based toiletries. We are getting rid of all and any cancerous products that are known to cause disease.”

John replies, “Thank you, Dad, for mentioning that because that was another reason I wanted to move everyone out here, not just for safety from psychopaths and terrorists but also from all the dangerous, disease-causing elements that were in our lives that we ingested everyday like smog and store-bought food and all the chemicals that were in our cleaning supplies and other things. We’re manufacturing all of those things so we know exactly what’s going into these products we are using on a daily basis. I know there’s going to be a period of adjustment that we are all going to have to get used to. And the products that we make are going to take some time to be perfect, but in the long run, it will all be worth it. I promise you.” John pauses for a second and waits for a response from anyone.

Kate turns around and looks at everyone. “And just to be clear, these products will be made by some of the top scientists and chemists money can buy. We’ve already hired a small group of them, and we will be expanding that number as needed, meaning as the manufacturing grows. We’re looking to get to the level similar to that of companies you would find in natural grocery stores.”

John bobs his head in agreement, “Exactly, and thank you, honey, for explaining that better. Well, okay, onto the next topic of the evening, which is security.” He knows they are all curious as to why they haven’t seen any kind of police or anything of that nature. So, he assures everyone that they have a small but very effective security unit that is in charge of not only the local security but also security for any and all non-local threats that may occur in the future. They are heavily armed with all the latest technology, and they are also working on some top secret, advanced-for-even-the-U.S.-military type stuff that will keep everyone safe and secure for decades to come. He explains that these men and women will be mostly out of sight; they will be seen only when needed and will be armed with non-lethal and lethal weaponry.

Kara raises her hand, but John has a feeling he knows what she is going to ask. “Just a second, Mom, because I think I know what you and everyone else are thinking: Why do we need armed men in the middle of nowhere?” He explains that someday shit’s going to hit the fan in this country, and when that happens, they need to be ready for any and all foreign and domestic threats that might want to come and harm their way of living. These men and women are highly trained, mostly ex-military special ops and intelligence personnel, and they all went through the same background and psych tests and have family living here. He knows if they all have family here, they would protect this place with their lives, as this is their home as well. Some people start to look uncomfortable, so John tells them that the guns that these men and women will be using have been modified to be safer than conventional guns. They are all equipped with biometric technology so that the guns need fingerprints to activate them. Therefore, no child could ever fire the weapons. Also, there are front and rear cameras on the side of the guns so that everything is recorded, including who is firing the weapon and what they are firing at, and the data gets instantly uploaded to a server.

The last thing John explains is that construction will start soon on a few paved roads for emergency vehicles. He thanks everyone for coming out, and he apologizes that it took so long, but these are important topics they will need to discuss in the future. He asks if there are any questions then tells everyone that there is a buffet and drinks for them all. John and Kate hug everyone and again thank them for attending the meeting. They all eat dinner and play some family games afterwards and eventually retire to their homes late at night.

In the next few months, construction continues on the mountain with most of the roads being paved for emergency vehicles to get to and from houses and buildings. Work on the sports complex is now completed and consists of a track and field stadium set up for numerous events. There’s a basketball court, swimming pool, two ice hockey and roller hockey rinks, two football fields, two soccer fields, two baseball fields, and a large playground for the younger kids. The ski runs are now all logged and with three chair lifts, a terrain park, and of course a full crew of ski patrol, lift ops, and maintenance personnel.

The few manufacturing buildings are for product manufacturing of food and toiletries. Other buildings are for experimental product development, which will include development of things like electric, solar-powered cars that use the same principles as an alternator, just on a much larger scale. As the car moves, the axle is surrounded by hundreds of tiny metal fingers that constantly recharge the batteries. Another technology being developed is an indoor house carpet system that has tiny little fibers that collect static electricity from people walking on it, storing it up in the battery system used with the solar and wind farms.

The grocery store shelves soon fill up with tons of organic fruits and vegetables, meats and cheeses, plus an assortment of baked goods, along with products from the manufacturing facility like chips, crackers, and cookies, all healthy of course. The first generation of toothpastes and deodorants didn’t go over so well, but after a few tweaks and adjustments, they finally get them to where everyone likes them.

Everyone in the town is helping out wherever they can, helping not only in the construction and development of the town but also with helping others, mainly the younger ones, adjust to such a new lifestyle. The children and young adults are spending most of their time going to school during the day and helping out where they can in the late afternoon or just playing and being kids.