Finding Atlantis - Ch1
#14 of Finding atlantis
Well, here it is, Ch1. Before you start yelling at me, I know there are no furries in this chapter. Unfortunately, it's a nessicary evil because I want to start the naxt chapter with... actually why don't you just wait and see?
BTW, there's no yiff here but there will be later, plan accordingly.
Classified
Private File: Adam Dennis.
Date: 2018
Project Dark Sparrow.
At long last, it was ready. The object of my obsession had finally come to completion. I just stood there and took in the majesty of the moment for a while. What of the object of my attentions? None other than the first working hyper-drive, at least it should work. Then my thoughts were shattered by my best friend shouting across the lab. "Hey, he lives!" Collin Reynolds, my best friend, had managed to sneak into my lab. I looked up and saw him leaning on the door frame. He was about five-foot-eight, just two inches taller than me. He had dark skin with hair and eyes to match. He was also the picture of physical fitness due to his job as a test pilot. We both worked at the Fort Worth research facility. I was a head researcher, he was a test pilot for just about everything that interacted with humans, vehicle or otherwise. Many of the gadgets he tried out didn't exactly work 'as advertised' and after surviving several unbelievable wreaks he quickly became known as "Crash" Reynolds.
"Hey, Crash. What's up?"
"Man, it looks like you haven't slept at all." I looked around at the natural disaster that was my lab with some embarrassment. I wasn't the most organized person in the world. There were tools everywhere, a half eaten pizza on the bench beside me, and about a dozen empty Mtn. Dew cans strewn over the floor.
"Well, it was a long night." I thought at loud.
Oh, you got to be kidding me!" crash chuckled, Iit's seven A.M.!"
"So?"
"Thursday."
"What?! There's no way..." I quickly stepped over to my computer and chased away the screen saver to reveal a clock saying 7:08 A.M. Thur. 06/05/18. I had been working for almost thirty two hours! "Wow!" I knew that I had a tendency to get wrapped up in my work, but I was shocked that I could have lost so much time!
"You do know that it's June right?" Crash was just making fun of me now.
"Whatever. At least I don't blow myself up for a living!" I referenced his latest fiasco down at lab 14
"Hey, there is no way I could have known that compound was unstable."
"It took 'em two weeks to clean up that mess!"
"Oh shut up." he grinned "so, what's this?" he motioned toward the hyper drive, blatantly trying to change the subject.
"This is a mobile hyper-dimensional space-time gap generator, or hyper-drive."
"Cool, you got it done!" Crash walked over to get a better look at the machine, which looked like an oversized steel hula hoop.
"Hey Crash" I asked, "could you get a hold of the hanger and see if they've finished the modifications to that fighter."
"Yeah, sure thing."
"Great, I'm gonna go hit the showers, maybe take a nap to."
"See ya later Adam." Collin turned and started down the hallway at a jog.
When I got back to my apartment the first thing I did was jump straight in the shower. The hot water always felt refreshing. I stood there for a long time letting the heat and steam rinse my cares and stress away. I felt so relaxed that I didn't want to get out, but my raging hunger was eventually enough to make me turn off the water. The cafeteria would be my next objective. I got dressed and left my apartment - it was really more like a dorm - and headed down the hall to eat. I got to the cafeteria at about ten so it wasn't too busy. I preferred it that way. I was tired and hungry, and it was easier to sit alone in an empty cafeteria than to sit alone in a crowded one. After polishing off a burger and fries, I headed back to my apartment for a nap. I laid down and the next thing I knew it was 6:00AM and my alarm clock was blaring. I pounded on the stupid thing until my fist found the button that shut it off. Then I Slowly sat up, waiting for my brain to realize that I was actually awake. With a shock I suddenly realized what today was. First of all, it was Friday - which was always good - but more importantly it was the day that I was supposed to test my hyper drive! I jumped up and after a Quick cup of coffee I was on my way to the lab.
I saw the lab through fresh eyes that morning, and it looked much worse. The place was absolutely trashed! I waded through the empty pop cans to get the drive; I didn't have time to clean it now so it would just have to wait. I boxed up the drive and headed for the hanger. Crash must have told them that the drive was done because when I got there the fighter was sitting out on the tarmac, glistening in the brilliant morning sun. It had started life as a standard Lockheed J-28 and it still had the classic lines and characteristic dimpled "golf ball like" skin. It was designed for high speed low altitude surveillance. But the reason I had chosen it was the lack of real wings. It looked like a B-2 'Spirit' fighter/bomber but with the wings cut off. There were still small winglets used for stabilization, but when looked at from the front it had a very small diameter. That was good, because the ring of the hyper drive had to completely encircle the aircraft so it could travel through the 'tunnel' created by the ring. I walked up to the fighter and crash stepped around from behind it with Scotty in tow. Scotty was an aircraft/spacecraft mechanic, and from the look on her face she had done most of the work of converting the fighter into an interstellar space craft. She was clearly proud of her accomplishment. I would have said that Scotty was beautiful, but the word seemed to girly, though she was easy on the eyes. She wasn't tall, around four-ten and thin, but you could tell at first glance that she was very strong. She had intelligent bright green eyes that were set off by the short dirty-blond hair that was just peeking out from under the filthy red trucker hat she wore.
"Wow, it's looking good!" I said.
"Thanks," she replied.
"Hey, you guys want to give me a hand with this thing." I pointed to the giant hoop I was pulling behind me on a cart.
"Yeah, how's it go on?" Crash asked.
"It goes onto the brackets that Scotty put on the frame" I explained.
I made the hoop into two half circles so that it would go on easier. Then Crash and I hoisted the lower half into place. And Scotty bolted it to the fuselage. Then we repeated the process for the top.
"Can you guys handle it from here?" Scotty taunted. "I can't babysit you all day."
"Considering that I invented this thing, I think I can handle it." I grinned back.
"I'll be back for the launch. Noon, right?"
"Yep"
"Kay, see ya." And with that, she trotted lightly back to the hanger.
There was more than enough work to keep me and Crash busy for the rest of the morning, hooking up all the wiring and running system checks.
"Crash, I know you are probably looking forward to flying this thing, but if you don't mind I would like to make the first test run myself." Even though Collin was the official test pilot, as head of the Project I could volunteer to do the test myself. This did not come into play much as it was usually better to have an ace pilot at the controls than a science geek. In this case however, I knew that the plane itself would not be hard to fly, but the drive was complicated and I stood the better chance of bringing the craft back to earth in one piece.
A look of relief crossed my friends face. "Between you and me, I was hoping you would say that." He said, " I was not looking forward to a crash course in quantum phycics."
I laughed as I jumped in the cockpit and grabbed the radio, " Tower this is dark sparrow, we are go for test run in ten minutes, requesting clear airspace over the field." after a few seconds a voice crackled back, "Copy Dark sparrow, local airspace will be clear for test run."
"Good luck man." crash said as he stepped down to remove wheel blocks, and prep the fighter for flight. I closed the cockpit and flashed thumbs up to the crowd that had gathered. It looked like the whole base had turned out to watch, it seemed that no one wanted to miss this demonstration.
I wound up the engine and after procuring takeoff clearance, taxied to the end of runway 27.
The takeoff was smooth and uneventful so I continued to fly the pattern out over the bomb range; every instrument was in the green as I came around to make a low altitude pass. Half a mile from the airport I would initialize the hyper drive, it would engage after thirty seconds and jump me forward exactly three thousand feet, where I would suddenly appear right over the center of the airport.
As soon as I passed the half mile marker, I started the drive and began to wait my thirty seconds. Then, when the counter ran out, all hell broke loose. All of my electronics went down, even my watch exploded out in a burst of sparks The N2 turbine load shot straight to 130% and within a second it had stopped turning completely! Almost immediately I knew what had happened.
I knew that the motor could power the drive, I ran several tests to make sure, but I hadn't accounted for the huge energy shock-wave that was released when the drive fired, and when it kicked in, the initial shock on the engine had been too much; I had a flame-out on my hands. Normally in this situation, I would just glide until I could restart the engine. Unfortunately, due to a lack of wings this crate was going to fall like a rock. I thought about ejecting, but the ground was now above me and closing fast. I had never thought I would be afraid to die, but when the ground is coming at you at well over five hundred miles per hour, well, let's just say that my under ware were no longer as clean as they had been at the start of the flight! to be honest, I don't really remember the crash but what happened afterwards will be etched into my mind forever.