chapter 8
TEAM 1, YEAR: 1200
Time Remaining: 185 Days
Jake joined Tyler and Lexi in Mole Control to help set up. The pair was between conversations when he entered. Jake turned on the fan sitting on the kitchen counter and acknowledged his subordinates with a nod. He disappeared into the small boardroom at the front of the trailer and Lexi saw him emerge with several crates. Jake’s presence brought a solemnity to the room that seemed to discourage conversation. Unable to explain why, Lexi felt the need to walk on eggshells in his presence. Jake never initiated conversation unrelated to work and showed no interest in getting to know any of his teammates. A glance from Tyler indicated that he noticed it too.
The large windows of Mole Control revealed a view of the lake in the distance. Jake sighed heavily as he looked out at the tiny slivers of pink from the setting sun as it sliced through the thinning clouds. Movement caught Jake’s eye and he watched as Clint returned to the clearing.
Lexi reached in front of Jake to grab a transport pod from the crate sitting at Tyler’s feet. She looked out the window to see what had captured Jake’s attention. Clint, now wielding a long branch, poked at an abandoned bird’s nest high out of his reach in a tree. Lexi shook her head and chuckled to herself. The thought of working with Clint for six months chilled her, worried she may not be able to keep her dislike of him from the others. Her brief encounter with him in the past made enough of an impression on her to know their personalities would blend together like oil and water. Lexi saw the lens of the transport pod was cracked and dug further in the crate to find a replacement. Finding one, she returned to her seat at the control desk opposite Jake and began removing the screws in the pod’s casing to replace the broken lens.
Clint strolled casually into the trailer, letting the door slam behind him as he entered.
Lexi tried to ignore Clint’s entrance and continued with her work. The cracked lens lay in pieces on the desk and she held up the pod, inspecting the inner workings carefully to ensure no glass fragments had fallen in. “Out for a stroll Clint?”
“Just checkin’ the place out, sweetie pie.” Clint leaned over her, blocking out the lights above and casting a shadow over her work. “Do you even know what you’re doing with that thing? If that lens doesn’t sit exactly straight, the reflector crystals won’t…”
Lexi set the pod down, leaned back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap as she looked up at him. “I’m aware, Clint. Thank you.” She focused her attention back on the pod, finished her inspection and set the new lens flush on the base.
“Don’t cross-thread those screws,” said Clint, watching her replace the first of six screws. He leaned over her again.
Seeing Clint’s shadow fall on her again, she stood abruptly, picked up the device and left the trailer to work elsewhere.
Lexi knew Clint from her National Research and Defence orientation; a mandatory class where all recruits and new hires learned the NRD’s expected protocols, policies and procedures. The difference between Lexi and Clint was that Lexi fell into the “new hire” category. Clint had been ordered to take the course again after having already worked there for eight years. Clint had been an enigma to Lexi. He had chosen a seat behind her on their first day. By the end of that day, she had learned all she needed to know about Clint. What at first she thought were a couple of harmless blonde jokes was his genuine sentiments toward women. No one was immune from his self-righteous and passive-aggressive comments. His temper flared like gasoline on a bonfire, and he oozed a cold negativity that infected everyone around him. By the end of the two-week orientation, he sat at the back of the class away from the others, except for a couple of young male recruits too immature to see beyond his humour.
Watching Clint that afternoon had drained Jake of what little energy he had. After reminding Clint of the things he could be doing, his subordinate begrudgingly selected a small box to unpack and Jake retreated to his trailer. Sealed off from the rest of the world, the silence hammered at his mind. A fan stood at the foot of the bed and he cranked the dial to its highest setting. The anxiety created by the silence dissolved into the whirring sound of the fan motor and plastic blades cutting through the air. He noticed that someone had deposited his bag of belongings on one of the double beds. With a limp, exhausted arm, he dragged the black duffel bag from the centre of the bed and pulled back the zipper. Jake removed a pair of jeans and stared at them without seeing. He forced his gaze to the dresser beside the fan. The task of having to decide what drawer he should keep his pants in felt overwhelming. His shoulders and head fell forward and he closed his eyes, unsure of how it was possible he could feel so much pain while at the same time, feel nothing at all. Jake tossed the jeans aside and they landed on the edge of the chair beside the bed. The pants unfolded as they fell onto the grey carpet below. Heaving an exasperated sigh, he grabbed the bag’s nearest handle and dragged it dispiritedly off the bed and onto the floor. The bag tipped sideways and several pairs of socks and a shirt spilled onto the carpet beside the fallen pants. Feeling as lifeless as the socks lying on the floor, Jake crumpled onto the bed and stared out the window. He watched, as if in a trance, as the trees swayed in the wind. He tried to recall any of his reasons for accepting this position and could remember none. He knew he had made a huge mistake in letting Mitch talk him into this. He felt like he was drowning—like he was slowly sinking deeper and deeper into a lake, looking up and seeing the bright surface high above him with no energy to swim.
When Jake awoke an hour later, he felt more energized. He felt guilty for not feeling guilty about how little he had done for his team on their first day and that encouraged him. It was a small step, but a step in the right direction. Feeling something, even guilt, was better than feeling nothing but pain and emptiness.
He exited his trailer hoping no one would be around. The camp was illuminated by the lights Ben had set up and Jake was pleased to find his wish granted—not a soul in sight. He looked at his watch and guessed Darren was serving dinner, so he took the opportunity to tour the camp, uninterrupted. As he neared the rocky drop-off at the far corner of the encampment, he stumbled over a knee-high, black cylinder with a glass tip protruding from the ground. Jake recognized the narrow metal post as one of the six sensors that marked the invisible wall that surrounded the perimeter of the camp. He knew there would be one stake at each corner of the camp and two in the forest to contain the upcoming drilling site and the path that would inevitably be worn between the two.
The invisible wall did not keep people out, instead, it acted merely as a warning system to alert the camp if someone unauthorized, human or animal, wandered into the camp. Parameters could be set within the system to broaden or lessen the range of sensitivity. Small animals like squirrels and rabbits could stroll through the camp on a regular basis. However, larger animals posed a real safety threat. Moose, bears, even deer could be aggressive, so the minimum body volume an intruding animal would need to exceed that of a fawn before the alarm would go off. By adding different sensors to the stakes, the modular monitoring system could perform various additional functions like collecting environmental or biological data on unauthorized individuals or animals as they passed through the invisible barrier.
Another sensor was jammed into the ground beside the perimeter sensor. Resembling a chrome hockey puck atop a narrow, tapered stake, four of these sensors surrounded the camp with two more at the drilling site. These WeatherShield sensors generated an invisible dome-shaped shield that blocked out undesirable weather conditions. Neither wind, rain nor snow could penetrate the invisible barrier. Hail would bounce off the barrier like an invisible tent. A howling rainstorm could rage on, but the area inside the protective shield would be calm and dry. Buildings or towers contained inside the dome would be safe from lightning. Although the shield protected the area from all forms of weather, it could not protect against debris. If the wind blew grass or leaves into the camp, the detritus would pe
netrate the shield and fall harmlessly to the ground.
Jake walked across the uneven rocky surface to the cliff’s edge and looked out over the forest below. In the darkness, he could only see the line where the trees ended and the sky began with a sliver of lake between. With his VersaTool set to LIGHT, he shone the tool like a flashlight down the steep drop and saw various platforms and rock ledges that could function as steps to climb down to the forest below. Jake hopped down to the first ledge, sat and rested his elbows on his knees. I wish you were here Brit, you would have loved this place, he thought. At the thought of his wife, he slid wireless earphones in his ears and cranked up his music.
Jake lost track of how long he had sat on the ledge. He felt several large drops of rain land on his head and arms, awakening him from his thoughts. As he climbed back up the ledge, the rain became more steady. He felt it stop as he passed through the WeatherShield barrier. He turned back to look at the effects the shield had on the rain. Under the camp lights, he could see the water bead down the side of the invisible boundary like rain on the window of a car. He stuck his hand through the barrier and felt the drops land in the palm of his hand.