Chapter 4: Show on the Road

Darkness had fully arrived when my supper was finished. I had sat for a bit longer enjoying another cup of coffee. Naomi had reported that the submersible dry dock had been flooded and the outer sea barrier was now open. The vessel was in the process of maneuvering down a long tunnel to emerge in the deep river channel.

I asked how it was that the channel could remain without silting up, and I was told there was a system of camouflaged underwater dredges and suction hose equipped work units that had been keeping the tunnel mouth clear for decades. It had even filled the dredged out deep channel outside the construction cavern with huge water-filled bladders to keep it cleared and silt free until needed. This had kept any satellites from noticing the deeper pool in the river bottom.

I had finished a second cup of coffee when Naomi piped up.

—Joan, we will be ready to depart in the aircraft to rendezvous with the submersible in approximately fifteen minutes.—

“Thank you, Naomi.”

I wondered at the advanced warning until I realized that my bladder could use emptying. I walked back to the igloo shelter to use the head. As I sat there, I wondered if the advanced notice had been provided to give me time to take a piss. Were the A.I.s that smart? Of course, they were. They probably had the optimal schedule planned down to the second and were fully aware of my biological requirements.

A short time later I made it to the hangar clearing. I was using the goggles to see the dark path and when I got to the hard surface clearing, I found that Habu was outside her shelter with the thruster fan wings already unfolded and deployed. The camouflage canopy had been retracted and the clear star-filled sky was visible. In the view through the goggles, Naomi had overlain the fan shrouds with red avoidance arcs and I made sure to stay clear of them in the darkness. With the low mounted shrouds so near the path to the cockpit I realized it would be dangerous and maybe impossible to approach the cockpit while they were turning at speed. Hopefully, the motors were powerful enough to get them up to flight speed from a standstill if I was in a hurry.

The cabin hatch was opening, and the inside of the cockpit was lit with a faint glow providing plenty of illumination for the goggles. I got myself seated and strapped in as the hatch closed and sealed beside me. I removed the goggles to enjoy the full amazing view the inside of the cockpit would provide and sure enough, the forest came alive as the aircraft projected a light enhanced view of its surroundings onto the inside of the canopy shell.

The four fans started turning and quickly spun up to takeoff speed. There was a bit of vibration to let me know that Habu was alive. On the right armrest of the seat, a control stick swiveled up and into a position near where my right hand would naturally rest.

—Take us up, Joan.—

Ok … The A.I. must have known what I was capable of and it also must have known I was familiar with the control systems used on Flipper and Shadow. That means Habu must be controlled the same way. I grabbed the stick and hit the thumb switch for up. The spinning lift fan blades changed pitch and up we went smoothly and quickly. I took us up to a hundred meters and began to move us forward. The enhanced image of the forest below and the river and sound nearby were amazing, and I flew us around the area.

Naomi projected icons onto the viewscreen indicating points of interest in the nearby area and explained what each was. The igloo and café clearing were located but I could not see much of anything from the air with the camouflage over both places. I noticed that two of the icons were in the air and moving and learned that Agent had a pair of drones up to watch our flight and provide a communication relay.

Naomi suggested that I take us up a bit higher and put the aircraft through its paces. I did so, and as I tilted the stick forward the fans swiveled forward and away we went. After a minute of heading east, we were well out over the ocean and moving at over four hundred kilometers per hour when Habu’s speed stopped climbing. The wind noise was very low, which I commented on.

—The canopy shell is coated with a vibration-reducing membrane and the interior has active noise cancellation.—

I banked Habu around to head back to shore and we turned quickly. I noticed that the fans could be angled outwards a bit along with swiveling forward and this helped with certain maneuvers. At the beach area, I pulled the stick back and brought us into a hover. We were down low at around thirty meters and I saw the sand and scrub blowing in the down blast. I asked Naomi about the heat our motors must be producing.

—Joan, the motors are shielded and actively cooled with the heat being transferred by the superconducting energy conduits back from the motors to the main fuselage. Some is bled off by ducted radiators when the aircraft is in motion. The heat can also be stored in an onboard heatsink block to provide a short window of very stealthy flight if required. The block may be jettisoned if needed.—

The A.I. continued to instruct me on how to fly Habu. The seat controls on the left armrest were explained and I found that I could rotate the seat forward so I could look straight down over my feet and legs to see the ground directly below. The straps held me in place snugly while trying this. The controls also allowed me to rotate the seat back and even recline the backrest a bit. I imagined I’d be able to sleep just fine in this position.

Naomi showed me how to find and retrieve the urine collection apparatus stored below the seat. (I did not test it out.) There were also four undergarments for other bodily needs. Next, she caused a section of the front of the cockpit shell to become visible. There was a down folding door which, when opened, led to a small adjacent chamber located in the front fuselage ahead of the pilot compartment. This chamber was about the size of a small microwave oven.

I learned that since we had virtually unlimited electrical power, there was enough to utilize a miniature item replicator like Agent had used in the field bases and construction facility. This miniature unit would provide me with food, drink, and other small items. Naomi explained that this device was fed by a couple of small storage bins located in the nose which contained raw organic materials. These were broken down by a compact reduction unit and the base materials were used to recreate almost any consumable I could think of as long as it was based upon simple organics.

Most simple foods, drinks, or even organic toilet paper could be made by the device. This could include useful items like clothing, fiber rope, or canvas. Habu also could make its own water by precipitating it out of the air from atmospheric moisture although a tank could be filled to speed up the process.

Naomi also demonstrated that by rotating the seat and compartment forward a bit further, the forward cabin door now opened to a long compartment located along the bottom of the forward fuselage. This space was just big enough for a human being to lie in if needed. (Too bad I lacked anyone to carry.) This small cargo bay had an exterior access hatch along the bottom of the fuselage similar to a bomb bay door on a traditional aircraft. The fuselage behind the cabin was filled with the DET and other gear needed by the aircraft to operate.

“Naomi, what if I want to carry a larger load?”

—The aircraft has the power and lift capacity to carry almost a metric ton of cargo slung from exterior hardpoints along the bottom of the fuselage. On board the submersible in the hangar pressure hull are various sized, nested cargo shells. These were designed to carry most foreseeable gear needed for your expedition to Sri Lanka, Joan.—

With most of the features of the aircraft demonstrated or further explained, we angled off to head over to Cumberland Sound where the submarine waited on the surface. I loved the aircraft and Habu was the perfect name. When we approached the location of the parked boat, I asked Naomi to turn off the night vision portion of the cabin view. The view turned black and I could see starlight reflected in the black waters below. A black hole was ahead which must have been the submarine.

—Joan, you must observe the deployment of the hangar.—

The A.I. turned the view back to full night vision and the black boat came alive. With the light enhancement, I could see dim flashing lights along the upper surface of the boat. There were also faint markings indicating a rectangular area centered on the upper surface of the boat. This would be Habu’s landing pad. Naomi added brighter simulated markings and the outline of the boat’s shape stood out more clearly. The boat was riding deep with a bit less than two meters of hull showing above the waterline.

Suddenly, near the bow, the three outer casing hatches opened. A wide curved hatch opened forward at the bow and just aft of it, two more hatches opened to each side. Inside, lit by a series of dim lights I could see the front curved pressure hull of the hangar pod. The aft pressure bulkhead detached from the rear of this hull and tilted backward slightly giving the hangar hull a bit of clearance.

The entire hangar hull then rose up at the rear as it rotated around a point near the front of the tapered cylindrical hull. As it tilted upwards to about forty degrees, I could easily see inside the hollow pressure hull as it was much brighter with its white colored interior visible. This was where Habu and I would be in a few minutes. Before we flew down to land, I watched a long heavy grappling arm extend up and out of the tilted hull, the arm hinged and bent down to lay flat on the upper deck.

Naomi took over and Habu started down. As we descended near the sub, we rotated around so the open hangar hull at the bow of the sub was behind us. I tilted the seat forward a bit so I could see the rectangular markings of the landing pad approaching below us. Ten seconds later Habu touched down with a soft bump directly in the center of the rectangle. I could now see the retraction and deployment arms extend under us and latch on to the underside of the aircraft.

Once we were securely in its grasp, Habu started folding in all four wings and lift fans. As it was doing that, the arm below lifted us about ten centimeters above the deck and started to pull us back into the hangar hull. As we got near the hull’s rim the arm rotated us up into the air so we’d enter at the same angle as the tilted hull. Naomi rotated the pilot’s seat forward as Habu tipped back keeping me level. Back and into the pressure hull we went.

Once we stopped moving the landing legs of Habu were latched to the floor decking of the hangar hull. I watched mechanical arms connect various umbilicals to the rear of the aircraft. Next, the hull started to tilt back down into the submarine, and I watched the stars vanish as the upper lip of the hull’s curved opening slid below the rim of the sub beyond. With a bump, the tilting hull stopped in a level position and move slightly in the aft direction. This brought the rim of the hangar hull into contact with the aft dome.

The rim was circular and contained dozens of huge locking lugs which were being retracted by a huge system of gears and drive screws. Once the lugs were fully closed the hanger hull would be pressure sealed to the rest of the submarine. I hoped its gaskets were foolproof.

My seat was now rotated back to level also and I saw the rear pressure bulkhead of the round hull tilt forward and engage large anchor lugs all the way around the perimeter of the circular mating surface. Once that happened, the viewscreen cut out, lights came on, and Habu’s left side hatch started opening. I stepped onto the walkway and stood beside Habu looking around the hangar. The aircraft fit the circular space nicely with about a meter clearance to all sides. I saw the starboard side had a handrail and a wider walkway which explained why we were brought in backwards.

Directly in front of the nose of the rearward-facing Habu was a round 150-centimeter hatch in the large round bulkhead. The hatch was making loud mechanical noises. I asked why.

—Joan, the round hatch leads to a short tunnel which ends in the next pressure hull.—

“Well, let’s go see the sub, Naomi.”

I had to watch my head as I walked around the front folded wing since the curved hull sloped inward. Once I was standing at the front of Habu, there was more clearance and I could stand fully upright. The exit tunnel hatch cover slid to the side and I ducked to enter the transfer tunnel. This tunnel was a bit over a meter long and its insides were slick as if it were a telescoping cylinder. There was a second hatch on the other end of the tunnel which was sliding aside as I approached.

I left the tunnel and entered the main pressure hull of the submarine. Agent had explained during my exterior inspection this morning that this hull contained the living quarters, the engine room, and the workshop bay. This must be the workshop bay. I was standing on a meter-wide catwalk almost two meters above the floor of the large chamber.

The catwalk extended sideways and met the curved hull at two more round pressure hatches. These must lead out of the main pressure hull and into the twin sponson pressure hulls on each side of the sub. I noticed beside me that a ladder ran up to an overhead hatch. This must be the exit to topside. I stood at the catwalk railing facing the stern of the sub and observed the workroom. It was brightly lit with white colored curving walls and ceiling.

The room was five and a half meters across near the floor and the walls on each side curved up forming the ceiling four meters high. This meant that the room filled the entire upper two-thirds of the six-meter-diameter main pressure hull. From the catwalk I was standing on at the front of the space it was more than five meters to the rear bulkhead. This made the total floor dimensions below the catwalk almost six meters by six meters.

Centered on the rear wall of the workroom chamber at the floor level was a large sliding door. The door was a meter wide and almost two meters tall and slid to one side like a barn door instead of swinging into the room. There was a workbench on the aft port side of the room. Under the catwalk on both the port and starboard sides were large pieces of equipment resembling an automated machining center. I asked Naomi what they were.

—The machine on the port side is an automated fusion and welding center, Joan, The machine on the starboard side as an augmented three-dimensional printer. Below the floor of this room in the bilge spaces are a larger reduction machine and a matching fabrication machine. Parts or items up to a cubic meter can be fabricated. If larger parts are needed they can be assembled in modules, but the cubic meter limit matches the hull hatch size and anything larger would need to be joined outside the submarine via fusion welding, sintering, or even by using various fasteners.—

“Naomi, Do the rooms and chambers of the sub have speakers allowing me to hear your actual audio voice? I’d like to hear what you sound like with real echoes instead of in the center of my head,” I said.

“Yes, Joan, the vessel does have auditory pickups and speakers in all its chambers. Does my auditory voice appeal to you?” Naomi asked.

Yes it did, she sounded exotic and … sexy.

“Um … yes it does, thank you.”

I looked to each side of the catwalk and saw a tiny hatch and ladder by one end leading to the floor below. There had to be a better way.

“How do I get down from this catwalk?”

Instead of answering, the middle section of the catwalk I was standing on started to drop to the floor of the large chamber. The railing in front of me was my handhold. When it was lowered I was able to step around the railing on either side next to the fusion machine or the 3D printer. I found the flooring to be rubbery and with good traction. It was a light grey colored and mostly seamless. I did detect the outlines of various access hatches which I suspected allowed fabricated items to be raised from the machines below.

The workbench on the aft port side of the room was well equipped. I saw many familiar tools along with many I had no idea about. There were two vises of differing sizes along with two wall-mounted robotic arms. I suddenly had the image of the arms putting away the tools automatically and I chuckled as this used to be the bane of my home workshop nine centuries ago. Over the bench was a series of task lights and even a flexible fume hood.

Looking up, I saw near the ceiling was a small bridge crane. Its main beams spanned the room bow to stern right below the curved ceiling. Hanging from those beams was a smaller movable cross beam with a movable crane. The crane featured a compact powered cable hoist with a complicated gripper. I could see how this crane system could be used to lift heavy fabrications out of the floor hatches and reposition them elsewhere in the room, even up onto the catwalk.

The curving wall on the starboard side of the room was covered with storage compartments of various sizes and shapes. I wondered if they were empty or full but there was plenty of time to inspect those later. The last thing I noted was a pedestal cleanup sink in front of the rear starboard bulkhead. It was freestanding in front of the bulkhead which allowed room so the big rear sliding hatch could be left open behind it.

I approached the sliding hatch and pressed the actuator detent. The hatch slid sideways, and I got my first look at what were clearly my living areas beyond. I stood there with my mouth open. Beyond was another large space over five meters deep and spanning the entire width of the six-meter pressure hull. The ceiling was the same four meters as the large workshop.