Blood and Profit: Chapter 30

The sun was going to rise any moment now, the sky was getting lighter by the second. This was Arthur’s favorite time of day on the airfield. He was sitting at the far edge of the area Toll had chosen to park his little squadron of fighters. They were a motley crew of hand me downs, not unlike their pilots. Arthur looked over the rusted and worn paint with a sense of loving awe. The squad had painted fresh call signs under the rear edge of their cockpits. Arthur was sitting in between Dog Breath and Smart Guy. He watched the light steadily creep over the grass and onto the concrete, shortening shadows and forcing the steady retreat of night. Finally feeling the warmth of sunlight on his back.

He heard the carrier ships before he saw them but it wasn’t long before the absolutely massive pair of ships appeared screaming up the coastline. The airfield was just big enough to land both ships and  Arthur folded up his chair, laid it in the grass as the carriers were landing. He made his way over to the opening door on the front carrier. Once there was enough space in the opening Carter jumped out followed by an assistant. 

“And let’s see if we can’t siphon off nine tenths of the water this time, I would like to see that osmosis field at peak functionality.” The assistant was tapping furiously on his tablet. “Do we still have a clean tracking signal on our target?” He turned to see the assistant hold his tablet up and show a map with a blinking light on it. “Fantastic. How’s your coffee Arthur?”

Arthur held up his old worn metal travel mug. “Same as a always, hot, boring, dirty river water.”

Carter smiled. “The way God intended.”

Arthur nodded. “Amen”

Each carrier ship was extruding was a clear foam that would harden in when the ships outer body shot off a low level electric blast. The foam was designed to reinforce each ship from crushing under the pressures of the ocean. By the time the reached orbit the covering would be gone but this process was the only reason these carriers could travel in both space and under water. Carter looked out at the ocean. “By my watch, we’re on schedule, we’ll be out of the way by the time the crews are ready to board the command and control ships. Anything out of the ordinary I should know about?”

Arthur shook his head. “It’s going to take months for the grass to grow back but that’s basic biology, nothing you need to worry about.” Arthur pointed at the neglected field where the command and control ships were parked. “How’s the star of this show?”

“I’ll let you know in about a half hour.” Carter turned to his assistant. “Are the carriers ready for submersion?” The assistant’s hand blurred over the tablet screen and then he nodded. Carter turned back to Arthur. “I wish you were going with us old friend.” Carter and Arthur shook hands.

                                                            

Arthur shook his head. “I don’t, with you gone someone’s gotta run the store.”

Carter tapped his headset and spoke to crew on both carrier bridges. "Initiate slave protocol, from here on out we're flying as one ship." Arthur watched as hatches on the front and rear  of the carrier ships opened to reveal the osmosis field generators.

The assistant made his way back into the front carrier ship.Carter stepped onto the stairs of the ship. “No parties, don’t answer the phone unless it’s me calling and absolutely no boys.”

Arthur rolled his eyes. “Yes mom.” He shouted as the door closed and the engines started up. Arthur got clear of the lift off and watched at the carriers headed out to sea and eventually sank beneath the waves, at almost the exact same time as the buses carrying the command and control crews came out of the tunnel and finished his coffee, the sun was just barely above the horizon line and he had a long day ahead of him.