The Transport

Chapter 18 - Sina

Sina's fingers tingled, her personal tell-tale tic that the transport was about to start. Mac's team was running through the last items of their checklist, while her own team ran through the pre-wheel-rolling list. Lieutenant Kimmig nervously stood beside the giant rig, a little lost, visibly unsure whether to step in or to let the teams do their jobs.

One of the many displays of Sina's command cockpit showed the under-load timer showing the time the Object was in the hands of the MMTU cluster, counting up the minutes for the last ten hours and five minutes. So far, knock on non-existent wood, without problems. The hangar floor had been solid all the way through, post-war quality, only a few cracks from the permanent pressure bearing down.

The com gave a double-beep, announcing an incoming team-message. "Load ready. Repeat: load ready," Mac's voice sounded in Sina's earpiece.

"Copy, load ready. Prepare moving wheels." Sina sat on the throne, a ten-yard-high command center with glass all around that gave her full 360 degrees view in theory, but twenty yards behind her loomed the bulk of their transport, blocking parts of her rear view. Mac's team had covered the whole spaceship in a white plastic tarp that made it look like a Christo art object. Low-tech protection from curious eyes.

From her seat, she could see all tech-readings that also showed on the computers of her team. She switched channels. "Team, we are good to go. Status?"

Goresuch came in first as he was the driver, six yards below Sina in his own glass box. "All wheels green."

"Powertrain at cruise capacity," Gerkin replied. He operated the power generation units in front and back. As if to underline his readiness, the motors of the generators gave a loud roar left and right of Sina, belching hot exhaust into the air.

"Stop your farting, Carl," Sina said. "Distribution?"

Ludowick came on the line. "All well."

Sina saw Kimmig in front of the transport without a headset, opened the side window and caught his attention by waving. She made a circular motion with her index finger and gave a thumbs up. Ready to roll.

Kimmig nodded, returned the thumbs-up and jumped into his jeep.

Sina switched to all stations. "Standby to move wheels." And to make really sure, while thinking of The Kid's fate hundred times a day, she repeated, "Standby to move wheels." It was the final warning to step away from any of the three-hundred-ten wheels. She settled back in her comfortable ergonomic chair and looked ahead.

Their security detail started their check-in chatter, led by Major Bristol. "Falcon, ready. No eyes," came from the helicopters. "Goose, no contacts," called in the air squadron responsible for the outer perimeter. Another voice came in, the AWACS radar plane. "Corridor control. Confirm no-fly compliance, no contacts." Thumbs up from Major Bristol who entered the front Humvee.