Masters of the Arches Ch. 20

As soon as Vincent informed his women about his intention to construct a hot air balloon and also explaining to them how it worked, he proceeded to do a few preparatory calculations.

What should the volume of the balloon be so as to lift the weight of the gondola and its three occupants? There was also the weight of their supplies and the two heaters to consider. They would need to lift with them an good reserve of water, food and of course theirs few precious possessions, even if there were little of those.

It knew that it was very important that he should have an idea of the approximate total weight to be lifted so as to figure how big the volume of the balloon should be. But first, he had to find out the extent of the buoyancy of the hot air that the heater was going to provide.

Of course the lifting capacity of the air craft would depend on the difference in temperature between the air inside the sphere and the air outside of it as well as the volume of air in the sphere itself. For this reason he needed to have a general idea as to how much weight could be lifted by a unit volume of hot air.

On that first day on which he worked on his balloon project -- as he liked to think of it -- they cut strips of material to construct a much smaller trial balloon. The strips were cut in such a way that the middle of each section were wider than their ends so that once these were stitched together it would result with a volume that would have the general shape of a sphere.

They also had to find out, using the method of trials and errors, what would be the best shape of each strip so that once they were assembled the resulting test-sphere would be able to hold about a thousand cubic feet of hot air. A thousand cubic feet of air being his unit of measurement.

Vincent had to searched in his memory so as to recall from his school days the exact formula to calculate the volume of a sphere (4/3 x pi x cube of radius and pi being the constant 3.14) and thus using an approximate radius of a little over 6 feet, he arrived at the conclusion that a test-sphere of that radius would hold just about a 1000 cubic feet of air.

But once they had cut a number of strips of the green tarp material by mean of the small laser cutter hanging above each of the long tables, they were faced with the problem of sewing them together.

None of the numerous tarps covering the hundreds pieces of machinery had any stitches on them, it therefore suggested to Vincent that there had to be some kind of device that could fuse the material together. Furthermore the chances were that this gadget was somewhere in the room where the many rolls of material were stored and where the cutting tables were. It was logical to assume that the tarps were cut and also fitted in the same room.

After long minutes of looking around, they did find the fusing apparatus that would allow them to stitch or weld the many strips together. As best as he could tell, when he tried to test it on two small pieces, it seemed to send an electric current through the two adjacent samples which had been placed in-between the two plates of the machine. When the two sample came out at one end, there was a single and wider strip and it was impossible to tell that once there had been two of them.

It took them two and a half days to construct the eleven-foot diameter test-balloon. But it was time well spent since after performing a couple of tests on the balloon using increasing weights as a load and different air temperature inside the sphere, he was able to calculate how large the big balloon should be for their purpose. It turn out that the diameter of the larger balloon should not be less than forty feet.

Vincent was very satisfied with the performance of the small test-balloon; he did his many tests in one of the large rooms with a high ceiling and long strips of material as ropes. He didn't dare test it outside in case he should loose it and thus risk having it being detected by Kwola's friends or even by Valdo himself. As soon as all the tests he wanted to perform were done, they then proceeded with the construction of the larger balloon that would carry them all.

Fifty-foot long sections, of the green and beige synthetic material were cut to construct the huge sphere. These wide strips had to be longer than the diameter of the sphere since their length had to be as long as half of the circumference of the sphere. Each strip tapered off gradually at both ends thus being smaller there than at the center so as to create the shape of a sphere. Then the strips were trimmed and fused together alternately, a green one then a beige one and so on. In all, there were twenty strips, ten of each color.

From Vincent's calculation, the circumference of the balloon was to be 126 feet since the diameter was forty feet. Dividing that number by twenty he got 6.28 feet per trip at the center. They were then alternately welded or fused together from top to bottom and once the assembly process was over, a circular opening of three feet in diameter was cut at the bottom of the sphere so as to allow the hot air from the blower to enter. Next, they welded a tube-like flexible connection - made also of the same tarp-material - to the bottom hole, this tube was later going to be connected to one of the blower in the gondola.

Finally to give the sphere-shape more strength, two circular patches of ten feet diameter each were fused on the top and on the bottom of the sphere.

Once the balloon was completed, it was neatly folded then they got to work on the many ropes that would fix the gondola to the inflated sphere itself.

They looked everywhere in the complex but they couldn't find any ropes.

Vincent solved that problem by folding many times over and then fusing them together, long strips of the tough material, thus obtaining the long ropes he needed.

Once this task was done, they dragged the deflated balloon into one of the larger room and it was partially inflated using one of the hot air blower. It thus made it much more easy to install the crisscrossing of the many ropes around the sphere. Each rope was then spot-fused in a dozen places so that it would stay in place once the balloon would be inflated.

Now all that needed to be done, was the construction of the gondola and to attached it to the loose ends of the many ropes. It had taken them two long weeks so far but Vincent knew that the time spent was well worth it since they were going to travel much faster than walking if his air ship idea did work.

They took a day off from work so as to go hunting since their food supply was almost exhausted by then. But the smaller game that so far had been plentiful everywhere on the planet, was now scarce, as for the big game there was none to be seen. Vincent figured that they were still too close to the radioactive zones and these must have been keeping the animal life away.

All that they managed to catch were half a dozen rabbits and other small animals that he had never seen before. They cooked half of their catch and they smoked the rest so that the meat would keep for a while.

To construct the gondola, they made use of the light rectangular plastic sheets that had been used to pack the smaller machines that had once been assembled in the complex.

Since there was a large assortment of these sheets, - practically all sizes were available - they choose those that could fit their purpose and they constructed the rectangular box-like gondola using these light and strong plastic looking sheets.

Contrary to the material of the tarps, it was relatively easy to drill holes in them and by mean of brackets, bolts and nuts -- all made of synthetic hard plastic -- he made the whole structure very strong. A series of holes were also drilled all along the side so that later they could tie the ropes hanging from the balloon itself to the gondola.

Once this was done, Vincent added a last touch by installing a roof over half of the gondola thus creating a small cabin-like room. It was a certainty that they were going encounter rain at one time or another while in the air and the sloping roof would then be very precious and helpful in keeping them warm and dry.

By then they were almost out of food and Vincent knew that it was important that they should leave the complex soon since by now he could tell that his two women were very restless and impatient to leave. Little did they know, he told himself, how scary they were going to find this first experience in being lifted high into the sky and then be carried off at the whim of the wind.

It took them a whole day to drag everything outside. Even though the skin of the balloon was very light, they had to pull it up the stair a little at a time and once it was in the cave they finally had to pull it out into the open through the opening of the cave.

Once that task was done, it was the turn of the gondola to go the same way and when they finally had it into the cave, it became evident that it wouldn't fit through the fissure in the rock that serve as the entrance to the cave. Therefore, they had to take it apart and then put it back together again once it was outside.

After that they proceeded to carry all of their belonging into the assembled gondola, they also took two new hot air blowers. A small plastic tank that they got from the complex was filled with water and also loaded into the gondola.

Vincent next got busy connecting one of the blowers to the fireproof material of the flexible tube-like channel that entered at the bottom of the air balloon. Then two ropes for the anchors were attached to the bottom of the gondola through holes that had been made for this purpose. These two ropes were later tied to two medium size stones placed about fifty feet apart.

Later, when Vincent looked at the deflated balloon and gondola on the snow covered ground, he was pleased with what they had accomplished.

"Well ladies, I am proud of you. As a matter of fact I am also proud of myself. We have done a fine job here, and let me tell you that even back home on Earth, with all the experts they have there, they wouldn't have done better than what we have built here. Of course we did have the perfect material at hand to built our balloon."

Both Nika and Verla remained quiet and it was evident that they didn't seem to share his enthusiasm. Vincent figured that they were both beginning to realize that this contraption they had help him built might well be able to lift them high in the sky and neither of them was finding this reassuring.

Since it was late in the afternoon, and they were all very tired, it seemed to him like a good idea to wait until early the following morning to leave. This would also allow both girls to have a good night sleep and maybe it was going to calm their fear a little.

"We will spent the night in the cave and have a good night rest, then early tomorrow morning we will leave this place. We still can make use of the blower in the cave if it gets too cold in there.

The news that they were not leaving immediately, plus the fact that they were going to spent the night in the cave instead of down in the complex, did help to cheer the girls a little.

While Nika and Verla were preparing the inside of the cave for the night, Vincent went to look for food. But he wasn't able to find anything that they could eat. Even the small animals that he hoped to catch were nowhere to be seen and he came back empty handed.

The following morning, as soon as the sun made its first appearance over the nearby hills, the three of them got up and made their final preparation to leave. Snow had fallen again during the night and the temperature of the air was now much colder than it had even been before.

After a very light breakfast -- there was very little food left -- they finished packing and loading their belongings into the gondola. Both girls were now extremely nervous and this did worry Vincent.

"I think we should choose a name for our balloon," said Vincent. "Since you were both so helpful in its construction, I will let you decide on a name. So what will it be?"

Nika looked at him and it was evident that she didn't understand what he was meaning, finally she said to him.

"But it's not alive, so how can we give it a name?"

"Of course we can, and soon it will have a life of its own as you will discover. Beside, we can't always refer to it as the balloon, we need a real name that will give it character."

"I know," said Verla, "let us call it Rumar."

Vincent already knew that Rumar was the name given to very tall wild flowers that grew in abundance near her village, the balloon with its alternating beige and green stripes did resemble an immense Rumar flower indeed.

"Very well then, The Rumar it will be. Let us give it life now that it has a name."

While Vincent checked one last time the two ropes that were anchoring the gondola to the two well-separated stones, the two women looked at one another and finally Nika climbed aboard followed by Verla. It was then Vincent's turn to get into the gondola and as soon as he was standing near the girls, he placed his arms around each woman and he kissed each of them one after the other.

He finally went into the small cabin and he turned the blower of the heater on at half capacity. As soon as the hot air entered the balloon it began to swell a little. He next got out of the gondola again to make sure that there would be no large folds in the material that could prevent the air from going in every corner of the folded sphere material.

After a minute, the layer of snow that had been covering the balloon began slip off and melt, to Vincent it seemed as if a great giant was awakening as the tremendous shape of the sphere began to unfold and rise. After about ten minutes of the constant hot stream of air entering the sphere, it looked full and it began to lift its own weight off the ground. Soon it was exerting an upward pull on the ropes attached to the gondola, he then decided that it was time for him to get back into the gondola.

As soon as he was in, Verla gave a loud shout inside the cabin as the cables began to jerk and shake everything inside. The steady stream of intense hot air from the blower had now filled the sphere completely while the light wind was trying to pull it in a southeasterly direction. Soon all twelve cables joining it to the gondola were taut.

For a few more minutes, the blower kept sending hot air without any visible reaction from the Rumar. Then there was a sudden upward pull and the gondola began to move horizontally a few feet above the ground. After a while all movement stop and it looked like the two anchor stones were finally doing what they were suppose to do.

But by now Verla was on the verge of panicking as she began to shout inside the closed cabin of the gondola. She wanted to get on the firm ground but she didn't even dare to move out of the closed cabin. Nika wasn't doing much better as she sat on the floor just outside the cabin with both of her knees under her chin. She was shaking like a leaf in the wind.

A minute later, the gondola was still higher above the ground and it began to tilt and shake again. This was too much for Verla and she came rushing out of the cabin. She was hysterical with fright as she tried to climb over the five foot height of the side of the gondola so as to get on the ground. Vincent tried to stop her and to reason with her, but she just pushed him aside and he tripped over Nika who was still in a fetal position with her back against the side of the gondola.

As he felt down, he was able to grab Verla by one ankle and he held on to her leg. By now she had half of her body over the side while both of her hands held on to one of the cables that tied the gondola to the balloon.

All at once he felt her stop struggling. He looked at her, from where he was, still half lying on the floor of the gondola, she still had one leg over the side and her face was extremely pale while both of her hands were holding on to the cable as if her very life depended on it, but she was no longer trying to get overboard. When he got back on his feet he reached for her waist before letting go of her ankle.

As soon as he looked over the side of the gondola he knew why she had suddenly stop trying to struggle herself free. The floor of the gondola was about thirty feet off the ground and it was still slowly rising. One of the stones that had been anchoring the Rumar was being dragged near the other and thus allowing the Rumar to rise to its present height. Even as he watched, he felt the slight tug of the two cables tied to their anchors as they became taut, and thus preventing further ascension of the air ship.

He didn't bother to say a word to her. Instead, he placed his arm around her shoulders and by pulling her gently, he made her sit next to Nika. He knew that as long as the gondola was that high off the ground, she would no longer try to get over the side. He now had more pressing things to do and he let both women alone and still trembling in fright.

He quickly went inside the small cabin and he turned off the blower completely. He then returned back outside and he bent over the side to look at the two anchors. The buoyancy of the Rumar was now dragging both stones over the surface of the ground and there was the real danger that they should get stuck in a bush or in a crevasse somewhere. Even then, he knew that he could always untie the ropes from inside the gondola, but he didn't want to do this because it would mean the lost of both cables.

Now that the gondola was off the ground, he still had the difficult talk of setting it free from both anchors. But the urgency was not as great as he had first imagined it to be. The blower had been shut off and the air of the sphere was slowly cooling down, the only possible motion of the Rumar now was downward since the horizontal movement had completely stop for the moment.

He knelt next to the girls to see how they were doing. Nika was still shaken, but she was in a much better condition than Verla who was clinging very tightly to Nika's arm with her eyes shut tight.

"Nika, how are you doing? I will need your help to get the Rumar going, we have to free ourselves from the restraint of the anchors."

"I can't help you. Please take us down; we are so high in the sky. Look through the holes in the floor, you can see far away, please do take us down before we all die."

When Vincent looked down at the floor where she was pointing, he could indeed see through the many small holes that had been drilled to fit the bracket which join the floor with the side of the gondola. Some of these brackets had been changed to other places thus leaving small holes. She could see enough through them to understand that they were very high now; at least higher than it would have been possible for her even if she had went up the highest tree.

"Help me at least to bring Verla into the cabin so that we can make her stretch on the mattress there."

Slowly she got on her hands and knees and they both began to drag Verla's half unconscious body inside the cabin. Once this was done Vincent insisted that she came outside and helped him to release both anchors. She was very reluctant but still she managed to crawl out of the cabin.

"I will try to make one of the ropes vibrate until the stone at the other end comes free. When this happen you must undo the knot of the other rope, this will untie the rope and set us free."

Of course this met that they were going to loose one of the ropes that way, but under the circumstances there was no other way since both anchors had to be release at the same time or it could risk tilting the gondola at a dangerous angle for the passengers. Both stones had been tied in such a way that shaking the rope could release them, but since Vincent would now have to do this by himself, he really had no other option.