Noah's Ark, The Novel

'There's our destination,' Bob announced. 'And I see the lake. Let's fly over it to see what's there.'

Clint and Ivan were listening intently to what Noah and Bob were saying. Clint couldn't suppress himself any longer. 'Yes, let's do it,' he shouted. 'We should really be able to see something using your powerful search light.'

'There it is,' Noah disclosed. 'Right next to the fissure. What in the world is it, Clint?'

'I believe it's an 'Allosaurus'. It's in unbelievably good condition.'

'What's an 'Allosaurus'?' Ivan asked.

'It's a 'theropod', a fifteen foot meat-eater whose main diet was the huge sauropods. They lived during the Triassic through the Cretaceous period. None have been found in such good condition. What a find! It's like finding a small 'Tyrannosaurus.' ' Clint exclaimed.

'Good thing it's a small one. I think we may be able to handle it,' Bob concluded. 'Let's land and get to work recovering your prize.'

The tilt rotorcraft turned and headed north. 'How's this, Noah?' Bob asked. 'We're about fifty feet from the fissure.'

'Perfect,' Noah answered. 'Let's land and anchor to the ice.'

'Are we ready?' Noah asked while he visually checked to make certain everyone in the party had a hundred foot rope fastened to the tilt rotorcraft and themselves. 'Bob, let me help you with the generator.'

'Thanks, Noah. It's a bit heavy. I could use the light on the tilt rotorcraft; but, like you said, it wouldn't provide enough light where it's needed.'

'The icecap drops about three feet,' Ivan observed when the party reached their objective. 'We'll kill two birds with one stone by cutting the chunk of ice out for you, Clint. If we do it correctly, we should be able to determine the movement of the ice at the fissure, which could indicate a possible earthquake was involved.'

'We're ready to light up,' Bob announced. The sound of the gasoline engine was deafening as the still, cold air forced the sound vibrations to the surface of the icecap.

'It was the most quiet place I have ever experienced,' Clint shouted.

The noise was quickly forgotten when the lamps, mounted on tripods, came alive with brilliant light.

'This is more like it,' Clint proclaimed. 'Let's start by cutting a chunk of ice out on each side of the piece containing Al, short for 'Allosaurus.' Then we can cut under Al and lift him out. My goodness, it has eggs and they're intact.'

'I like using a short name, but wouldn't the presence of eggs indicate 'Alice' might be a better choice,' Noah contended.

Right,' Clint agreed. 'From now on it's Alice. How about the rest of my approach?'

'Sounds good to me,' Noah concluded.

Using four rechargeable battery powered ice augers, the recovery team drilled holes in the ice to create a work area next to the ice section containing Alice and her eggs. Six foot pry bars were inserted in the holes to break the ice between the holes. Then the pry bars were pounded into the ice on an angle with a five pound hammer in order to chip out chucks of ice. Once the work areas were cleared of ice, holes were drilled under the piece of ice containing Alice and her eggs. Ice was chipped away as much as possible from under and heavy nylon straps were pulled through the holes and fastened together at the top to allow the tilt rotorcraft to lift Alice free from her bondage.

While part of the crew was working to recover Alice, the rest of the crew was working to extend the work area next to the fissure in order to determine the nature of the slippage. Ivan took a picture of the results of the labor for future analysis and gave the camera to Bob.

'Looks like we are ready for a lift,' Noah said to Bob. 'Can you fly the tilt rotorcraft from its present position to a position over Alice without detaching the three of us from your craft?'

'I think I can,' Bob answered. 'At the very worse, I might jerk all of you off the ice and into the air. No doubt the harness and rope is more than adequate to take the stress.'

Noah shouted after a departing Bob, 'I would prefer a gentle lift.'

'I'll do my best,' Bob responded.

The tilt rotorcraft arrived and hovered over Alice and her rescuers. A swinging hook was slowly lowered toward Ivan's outstretched arm and hand. Ivan caught the hook and maneuvered the looped ends of the straps onto it. Then he waved to Bob to take it up.

The winch's cable slowly moved upward until it took up all of the slack. Then it stopped for a moment while tension increased in the cable, the straps, the connecting ice, and on three observing faces.

CRACK! The loud noise startled the three onlookers who saw the rectangular piece of ice shoot up into the sky, jump around, and then settle down under the craft.

The look of relief on the faces of Noah, Ivan, and Clint was replaced with disbelief when an extraordinarily loud, unbelievable, indescribable sound ushered in a free fall to the end of the one hundred foot rope attached to each of them. The south side of the icecap had fallen away and moved south, leaving a view of the land below from nine thousand feet, with side views extending as far as the eye could see. The fall continued while the tilt rotorcraft adjusted to the downward draft created by the parting icecap.

After falling almost a thousand feet, the downward movement finally stopped with a jerk. The three dangling forms exchanged glances of deep concern bordering on panic which wasn't helped when they looked upward and saw the large block of ice glowing in the search light and slowly swinging from side to side, as if rocking Alice and her eggs to sleep.

Slowly the craft rose into the air and then increased speed. Finally the top of the icecap on the north side came into view. Bob maneuvered up and over the edge of the ice to a flat area about one hundred feet beyond. Then he hovered and decreased altitude to eighty feet from the top of the icecap to allow his petrified passengers the opportunity to unfasten their harness from the rope. Bob lowered the cable holding Alice to the surface of the glacier and landed the tilt rotorcraft next to the chunk of ice.

Noah ran over to the tilt rotorcraft yelling, 'Bob, don't turn the engines off. Let's leave now.'

Ivan and Clint were only a few steps behind Noah. All three of them jumped into the cabin. Bob pushed the throttle slowly forward until he felt the resistance from the weight of the ice at the end of the cable. Then he increased speed and they were airborne. Bob adjusted the length of the cable to achieve optimum flying efficiency. Finally he turned and looked at his passengers.

'My God, all of you are pale as a ghost,' Bob remarked.

'I can't understand why, Bob. The way we were dropping, I would have thought all of the blood would have gone to our heads,' Noah replied.

'It all happened so suddenly,' Ivan added.

'I know,' Bob agreed. 'One moment there was solid ice below me and the next moment there was a two hundred foot gap in the ice. It was instantaneous. I couldn't believe it. Then I experienced a little free fall, also. If it hadn't been for the engineering feature which adjusts the engines automatically, we would have crashed. It was close. What do you think happened, Noah?'

'I think it was like cutting a diamond. There's a point where a small tap parts the hardest substance known to man into pieces. Somehow, we accomplished the tap and the ice parted.'

'The noise. I'll never forget it,' Clint exclaimed. 'I can't imagine what it sounded like.'

'I have an idea about the noise,' Ivan concluded. 'Did you ever put an ice cube in a drink and hear the little crack it makes? Take what you heard and magnify it billions of times and you may duplicate the sound.'