Circumnavigation (99+56) The Belly of the Beast

[C James]

I had to go away for a few days, but I'm back.

 

 

...........Humm, I got to wonder if as the eye approaches the island will the island block the high winds, enough to calm the waters so that  Trevor can make his escape to the west or southwest? It is either that or making landfall while in the eye, and I don't see that happening, if the tracker is right, the eye looks to skirt the island. So the only way I can see out of it, is if the island rescues the Atlantis from punishing winds enough for them to escape.

 

The other problem I see is those boats that were dispatched to the SW of the storm and survived, will they pursue Trevor? Or have they lost the stomach for this fight after hearing about Trevor taking out Bridget and the number one? Without a Capo on their boats and no way to communicate until the storm passes with the others on the island. Of course this is only if Trevor uses the VHS with the overhead plane, thus alerting the other cartel boats.

 

I would imagine even against the odds of survival, the US has launched a ship to the area outside the storm of course, especially since they have spotted her moving west on her own power, the plane above can give Trevor readings of the storm as it passes the island while he is still in the eye. Frank has given the Norte Cartel a green light on Bridget's remaining cartel.  Boy is the press going to love this one! 

 

One the hurricane exit... The eye is basically at closest approach (just south of Portland Head, or just a shade southwest of it) when Atlantis enters. You're right; the shore is weakening the forward quadrant enough that, combined with an eyewall replacement cycle, a boat might escape... except there's a problem: the forward speed of the hurricane. The eye is moving west. (actually a few degrees north of true west.) So, Atlantis has to maintain eighteen knots just to stay in the eye. She'd have to go much faster to run west through the weakened area, and she can't. (plus, even if she could go that fast, she couldn't do it in those seas). That's why the doorway into the eye was a one-way door.

 

What Atlantis needs is the situationion you describe, but to the left (south on this case) of the eye's track, with the eye making a very close pass to a large area of very mountainous land just to the left of its track. Then the weakened quadrant would be the rear one, and if a fortuitous eyewall replacement cycle occurred, Atlantis might have a path out.

 

Here's the hurricane track.

 

 

 

On the press issue... can you imagine what a great news story Atlantis's ongoing predicament would make? Especially after what happened off Jamaica?

CJ has done a lot of research throughout the story.  He also says this about one of the team.

He also has a team member, Graeme, who is Australian.

 

All members of the team (Talonrider very much included!) have had input on various areas and details.

 

 

I agree that Frank has unleashed the Norte cartel on the remnants of Bridget's and the other capos. If one thing is consistent is that cartels will wait for a moment of weakness before pouncing and making their rivals operation theirs. I imagine in the next chapter we will learn of the death of the families of the Cartel and the elimination of the ones hiding in Treasure Cove. If Trevor, Shane, Joel and Lisa survive, they will not have to hide anymore as Bridget's and the FAE's cartel are the only ones to know of the tape and the revelations.

 

Tomorrow I will do some research to see if a boat has ever survived in the eye of a hurricane. I know people on land have, but not sure on the open seas. I wouldn't mind seeing the crew of Atlantis enjoying a few Corona's on the beaches of Mexico as the hurricane deposits them on shore

 

It won't matter who knows of the tape's revelations if (and only if) the entire cartel (the one formerly headed by Bridget and the FAE) is destroyed. But, for the moment, only those off Jamaica, plus the C-130, and the Florida police, know...

 

Has a boat ever survived being at sea in the eye of a hurricane? Yes. A cat 5 hurricane? No. If one ever reached it... they didn't live to tell about it. The closest to doing this that I'm aware of would be US Navy ships in 1944: On December 17 1944, due to a weather report that gave an untrue position and heading for the typhoon, Admiral Halsey unwittingly sailed Third Fleet into the heart of Typhoon Cobra in the western Pacific. Three destroyers sank, and an aircraft carrier nearly sank. Many ships took heavy damage, and nearly 800 lives were lost. However, though the ships entered the core, they did not, as near as I can tell, enter the eyewall and the eye. They experienced category 3 wind and sea conditions at most. Here's what that did to an aircraft carrier.

 

Atlantis survived to enter they eye of a Cat4 only due to being in the lee of mountainous land, which diminished the winds and seas (especially the seas due to the short fetch of the offshore winds). Plus, the eyewall replacement cycle weakened the eyewall. 

 

The windjammer cruises Fantome, which was mentioned in the story (now we know why...) entered a Cat5, Mitch. She may have neared the eye, but there were no survivors. 

 

I remember reading, long ago, a Usenet debate on this issue... one Navy engineer claimed that an Iowa-class battleship (WWII era, though they were reactivated several timers in ensuing decades) might be big, powerful, and strong enough to reach the eye of a cat5. Maybe. However, in August of 2007 they were no longer in service (having been decommissioned years before) amd the closest one... hrmmm, probably the USS Wisconsin, at the Nautica Museum in Norfolk, VA. (I was there two years ago... awesome place to visit!). So, if it could be made seaworthy in time (doubtful, to say the least) and a crew could be found, it might be able to do it... assuming you could find a way to airlift a 45,000 to battleship, as that would be the only way to get it there in time.  

 

So, Atlantis and her crew are in a bit of a conundrum.

 

Oh, I think I have changed my mind CJ Can I get the promised chapter with pink fluffy bunnies hitting Atlantis instead of lightning please!

 

Atlantis, blasted by the raging furies of the pink fluffy bunny.....

 

If I were stuck in a Cat 5 hurricane, and I knew that my boat would be smashed to flinders if I attempted to pass the core wall again, I'd look for another way out.  One would seem to be to ride in the eye, and I have personally driven in the eye of a hurricane in a car, so I know it is possible to keep pace, but then, Atlantis doesn't quite have its full power left to it.  Also, I'd fear the conditions of landfall and then the danger of being left to have the wall pass over me on a potentially exposed beach (which would be the kind I'd be looking for just to beach safely).

 

That leaves me two options: up or down.  Up has problems.  The plane overhead can't descend, or it won't be able to achieve liftoff again, and there are no available helicopters.  Down also has problems.  No submarines, as has been pointed out.

 

There is another option, but I really don't know the math here.  There's another way down.  We know that Atlantis is a dive charter.  We also know that insurance was set to pay out for all the personal materials seized by the pirates.  From the charter way back when with the lesbian and her flirty sisters, we know that Atlantis typically carries at least 4 diving getups.  We were given plenty of education about dive belts, decompression sickness, the group's training, and so on much earlier on in the story.  Is a scuba tank Chekhov's gun?  Will the gang take a dive?  Gun, tanks, leftover rope, EPIRB, some glow sticks, and done?

 

Problems: a quick Google search tells me that one or two tanks would be pretty limited in duration especially given the variance in different atmospheres' depths' compression.  How deep would they have to go to survive the stormy seas?  Surely not the 200 ft quoted for a sub.  How long would they have to stay under to survive the passage of a 20 mph storm roughly the size of Texas?  Would Shane be able to regulate his breath successfully after having his heart restarted?  Would Trevor pass out from the pain or the blood loss by osmotic effect?  Would his blood attract Atlantic species of sharks?  Would the beloved chrome plated gun help in such circumstances?  How would they all stay together?  I dunno, but I'd probably try it myself, as terrified as I am of open water.

 

If they could survive it, and if Atlantis was destroyed, I'd hope that the guys' novel had been saved on the internet somewhere (verisimilitudinously compared to gayauthors), and I'd feel bad for poor, newly-restored Atlantis, but I'd be happy she made her circumnavigation, at least.  And hey, as for that gold carefully concealed in the hull, maybe the experimental sonar developer would be interested in a very late search of the ocean floor, not horrendously farther than he'd originally planned and with the assistance of the Ares/Kookaburra.

 

Now, what I want to know (and bear in mind I just started reading this all last week, so it's all gone by at lightning speed for me) is what happened with Trevor's birthday, and what did his mother give Shane to hide on the boat?

 

Riding the eye is an option... At the moment, Atlantis is fast enough, barely. She's using a lot of fuel at max throttle.... but  she topped up her tanks in Gitmo. She's using about 8 to 9 gph at max throttle.

 

A helicopter couldn't make it through the eyewall, and can't fly high enough to get over. A V22 Osprey tiltroter could probably do it if Dean drops to Cat3 or less (but Dean won't). Going under is a superb idea, and with good scuba gear and a sheltered hole in a reef 80 feet or more down, that could work. Maybe. But, they'd need to stay down for many, many hours. They'd also need to decompress after being down that long. So, they'd need a lot of air tanks. Possible... except Atlantis's scuba gear was taken by the pirates, and Trevor decided to wait to return to Florida to replace it. He has yet to do so. It could be air dropped, but it's a very risky move... plus you'd need a suitable location to do the dive in. Doing it in the open sea would be bad... if a 100 foot wave passes over you, it adds 100 feet to your pressure depth. A very good diver using advanced gasses (helox) might be able to go deep enough to get away with it, assuming he had some way to take along a lot of tanks, but only Trevor might have the skills needed - and he's never used helox. Still, it's possible, maybe.  But good points on Trevor and Shane being in bad shape... plus, as you say, Trevor would have at least a bit of blood loss, which would attract sharks. 

 

What happened to the hidden gift? I cringed when I read that. Why? Because what happened is author stupidity; I think I clean forgot.      I don't think I showed Trevor's B-day at all (it occurred between Hawaii and Cape Horn, during a chapter break), so we didn't see what Shane or his mom got him. It's not plot relevant though... the only gift that was was the 30-06. Hrmmm... maybe I should fix that in the coming chapter? If you, or anyone, feels it should be addressed, I'll do so.

 

I'll reply to some of the other posts above and on the prior page later tonight.

[Benji]

...............Perplexed if the Atlantis cannot escape the storm, the only solution is to ride it out onto land, that being Mexico. Mexicos' law is that you cannot bring in any weapon it is a felony offense, so they would have to throw all their weapons overboard before breaching the Mexico landing, if that is the scenerio of their escape. Given the celebrity status of their woes, I'm sure the Mexican government will take caution in dealing with them, but that leaves Trevor with the problem of Arnold's gold and of Atlantis's finality. Should she be beached and survive, Trevor would have to have it retrieved as he would never leave her behind.

 

I would have liked that Bridget's final moments were her ears ringing from Trevor's taunts at her just before she leapt into the raging sea at least, perhaps even better her anchored to the bottom of the sea with Arnolds bequest of whomever found the tape.

 

I do know that the storm weakened to a cat 4 storm as she hit Jamica, I had hoped that the island further broke the eyewall enough for Trevor to make another river run into the Black River. But you said that is not possible, so the only way I can see our heros surviving this is to ride it out!!!!

Edited April 28, 2013 by Benji

[Nick Deverill]

I've run out of things to cross... Fingers, legs, arms.

 

I can't see a way out of this situation, and none of Atlantis's passengers deserve to die. I even looked up hurricane Dean and as hurricanes go, it was a biggy. 

[jkeele777]

I can't see any way out of this situation where everyone survives. I honestly don't see how any of them will, but odds are stacked severely against both Trevor and Shane living to the epilogue. It is definitely terribly sad, and more than a little sickening to have seen these guys go through so much, and to lose one or both of them in the end. It's also heartbreaking to think of Joel and Lisa dying on their honeymoon. I can't see how you will get out of this one without lots of hatemail, CJ!!

[Trebs]

Come on people - the answer is obvious:

 

 

Superman flies in and rescues them

 

 

/ducking

 

[C James]

Encore!

 

Well done.  Maybe Bridget's death could have been enhanced by one of her people taking pot shots of her in the water, but that would have been too far fetched.  No one would get that close to her in those conditions except to collect the bounty.  There is no such thing as a long and painful enough death.  Her's was probably longer than the poor agent who was eaten by the alligators.  And who knows how long her brain was experiencing pain after she took the last fatal breath, not to mention the way time seems to expand when we are in pain.  And part of her brain also knew that in spite of all her cunning and brutality, all the money and time, that in the end Trevor and Shane beat her at her own game on her own turf.

 

As for the next phase, no doubt CJ has some surprises in store, he certainly does his homework in that.  So we know they can't exit the way they came in, we know there is no trap door in the floor to escape thru (submarine), and we know boats can't fly so it looks like the end of the line for Atlantis, even if our fearless crew manages somehow to survivie.  All I can figure is somehow up and over the top.  The cartel doesn't have a sub capable, does it have a helicopter or some other kind of plane?  And  how long will the eye of the storm be that large.  From what I saw of the eyewall generation cycle sometimes they will have quite a swath of relative calm, other times it's going to seem relatively tight, and probably rougher - but I haven't done my homework on that, although no doubt CJ has.

 

 

A helicopter (cartel or otherwise) can't make it. It can't fly high enough to go over the eyewall, and it can't do a penetration of the eyewall like a C-130 hurricane hunter; eyewall penetrations of major hurricanes are very rough (massive turbulence, heavy rain, etc that are beyond the tolerance limits of a helicopter) and there's the distance issue; helicopters have far less range, and it's hundreds of miles from outside the storm to the eye, and it also has to get back, so getting in and out of the eye in a helicopter isn't really possible in a major hurricane.

 

A V22 Osprey tiltrotor has the range, and in aircraft mode

 

Is resilient enough to take a cat2 penetration (it can't get over the eyewall) and then change to VTOL mode

.  

for the pickup. But it couldn't do it in a cat 4 or cat 5. The eyewall is too severe, including the mesovortexes (essentially, tornadoes within the eyewall) Even the hardened C-130s don't do low level eyewall penetrations on cat 4 or higher; they go in at higher altitude (though still not over the eyewall). 

 

Eye size; often, Cat5 storms have pinhole eyes just a couple of miles across. When that hapens, they lose the calm (relatively calm; large swells but no breaking waves) in the center of the eye, and for Atlantis and her crew that would be a non-survivable event; the breaking waves would slow her enough to make staying in the eye impossible. However, some cat5's have larger eyes. Dean was a mix... they eye began contracting after Jamaica as Dean ramped up in power. Not a lot... it never became a pinhole eye, but it did contract.

 

After reading this I remembered that Trevor almost was drowned after being tossed overboard by the pirates, so its fitting in a way. 

 

So I'm wondering tho, CJames, do you have a background in all things nautical, boating, weather etc... or do you have to put a hell of a lot of effort into researching and learning stuff to write this? I love how you manage to include 'tidbits' so to speak of information about one thing or another that makes it all seem 'more real'

 

Cheers

 

Both.

 

I'm not a yachter; I've only been out on yachts a few times, and the largest body of water I've ever crossed solo (or otherwise) in a yacht is the English Channel. Most of my sailing was done as a kid in a 14 foot Laser racing sailboat, so I do know how to sail, but I'm by no means an experienced yachter. Fortunately, a member of our team, RedA, is, and he is the source of much of the expert-yachting background we see in the story. And, IMHO even more importantly, he's there to backstop me; I can write out an idea or a scenario and run it by him. Even if I get it right, he's still absolutely critical, because without him I wouldn't dare use it, because in many cases I don't know enough to be sure if something is correct or not. 

 

On medical issues, I likewise have expert advice. I won't name the people I get this from (I need to ask them first, as I can't recall if they have ever mentioned their profession in the forum) but without their help, I'd have never been able to have Shane's heart stopped survivably, even though I came up with the concept (aystole) myself, via some research into lighting strikes. They backstopped me, as well as giving advice to make the concept better. As for the lightning... I remembered a great deal about it from research I did in college for a hobby of mine. All I needed to do was brush up on the finer points, as I already knew the basics. 

 

The other members of my team backstop me in similar ways (if they see a goof, they report it) .... and I have hunch that some don't even realize how important it is that part of what they do is; even if they report nothing, the mere fact that they have looked at an item and found nothing amiss is tremendous help.

 

I'm in many ways a Jack of All Trades (and master of none) though in my case it's more a "Jack of a lot of trades, master of none". There are a lot of things that I'm interested in and have a basic working knowledge of, and that's a very useful starting point for the kind of research I do for stories. For example, I knew about eyewall replacement cycles, but I was unsure as to their exact effects on storm intensity in the inner core. In other words, I wasn't sure whether an eyewall replacement cycle plus a close brush with mountainous land to the right of the track would open a survivable path to the eye for Atlantis, and it took some research to find out. However, what bit I knew gave me the idea on the first place. 

 

It also helps that I've never been sane.

 

Great story CJ.  If only the eye was wider and they weren't low on fuel.

 

They aren't low on fuel. They filled up in Gitmo,

 

I just want to applaud the goat on another well researched and written chapter.  While he successfully managed to avoid any cliffs I still think there is a rather steep hill there...

 

Trevor was shot and although it was not all that deep, if the bullet penetrated the abdominal cavity at all that makes controlling the bleeding very difficult because it can just bleed into his belly even if they bandage the wound on the surface.  Let's hope that this bullet only hit the muscle and underlying fascia and did not go any deeper.  While he lost a lot of blood the fact that he is young and healthy and still conscious at this point with the bleeding hopefully under control are all very big pluses for him but if he still has some bleeding he'll only be able to compensate for so long.

 

Shane, however, is on very shaky ground.  Lightning strikes can be very, very bad.  As was mentioned in the story, lightning can cause all sorts of heart problems (Ventricular fibrillation and asystole being the most common I've learned about).  Luckily though, the sinoatrial node is rhythmic and even after a depolarization from a lightning strike can resume its pacemaking duties as long as enough cardiac muscle remains viable after the strike to contract on each impulse. It appears that Shane is very lucky because his heart resumed its automaticity pretty quickly AND his nervous system was still functional to the point he could breath and even respond a little.  I'm afraid that's where the good news ends.  Due to the amount of electricity that went through his body Shane could have some serious underlying trauma including fractured bones (think neck and spine along with that) and even worse, a lot of damaged tissue.  

 

The damaged tissue can come from burns and also just stressing the muscles too much.  All of this leads to cellular break down which releases toxic metabolites, potassium, and in the case of muscle myoglobin into the blood.  If his potassium gets too high in his blood his heart will stop and CPR will not bring it back this time.  The myoglobin can 'clog' his kidneys and cause acute renal failure (usually a later sign).  To help all of this Shane needs medical care and the longer he waits the higher his chances of dying are.  He needs at minimum an IV so he can get 1.5 L/hr of fluid and some bicarbonate to help flush all of this out of his body.  

 

While this might not be a cliffhanger there definitely is a deadfall that we should look out for.  The only way out of this with Shane surviving (if he sustained that kind of damage) is a rescue inside the eye BEFORE they make landfall.

 

Also, kudos on the explanation between chest-compression-only CPR and the traditional method.  The American Heart Association is pushing chest-compression-only CPR because most cardiac arrests are cardiac events (i.e. it was something wrong with the heart).  The rationale behind this is that on inspired air the lungs receive around 21% oxygen.  During exhale there is something like 14-16% oxygen (depending on the source you read) left in the air.  During a cardiac arrest there is more than enough oxygen in the blood to last several minutes without another breath; it just isn't circulating.  Along with that, it takes 5-6 good compressions to resume a coronary perfusion pressure that is life sustainable; each pause in compressions is detrimental to survival.  The exceptions to this are anything that could have a respiratory cause because if there is a problem with the respiratory system then there is most likely not enough oxygen in the blood at the time of the cardiac arrest.  Children are included in the group of "use regular CPR" because the majority of cardiac arrests in children are respiratory in nature (i.e. they stopped breathing and then the heart stopped).

 

The thing about lightning strikes is they vary a lot. Shane may well have internal burns, or he may not. We don't actually know the amount of electricity that went through him; it could have been fairly low and just caught his heart at the wrong phase of a beat to cause Aystole, or it could have been major, giving him the internal issues you quite rightly list.

 

I had help on the CPR issue, so I give all credit on the compression-only explanation to my medical advisers. Without their help, I'd have been very reluctant to raise the issue out of fear of making a mistake.

 

...............Perplexed if the Atlantis cannot escape the storm, the only solution is to ride it out onto land, that being Mexico. Mexicos' law is that you cannot bring in any weapon it is a felony offense, so they would have to throw all their weapons overboard before breaching the Mexico landing, if that is the scenerio of their escape. Given the celebrity status of their woes, I'm sure the Mexican government will take caution in dealing with them, but that leaves Trevor with the problem of Arnold's gold and of Atlantis's finality. Should she be beached and survive, Trevor would have to have it retrieved as he would never leave her behind.

 

I would have liked that Bridget's final moments were her ears ringing from Trevor's taunts at her just before she leapt into the raging sea at least, perhaps even better her anchored to the bottom of the sea with Arnolds bequest of whomever found the tape.

 

I do know that the storm weakened to a cat 4 storm as she hit Jamica, I had hoped that the island further broke the eyewall enough for Trevor to make another river run into the Black River. But you said that is not possible, so the only way I can see our heros surviving this is to ride it out!!!!

 

The legal point is a very good one. People have gone to jail there for crossing the border with a single round of ammo (no gun, just a single round of ammo) unknowingly stuck between the seats. Maybe there is an exception for an unwilling arrival (such as a plane having to make an emergency landing) but I wouldn't bet on it. I do know of yachters who, when needing to make an emergency stop in Mexico, have deep-sixed their guns for this reason. I also know that when I've driven across the border, I've taken care to thoroughly check my car for any stray ammo. 

 

I can't see any way out of this situation where everyone survives. I honestly don't see how any of them will, but odds are stacked severely against both Trevor and Shane living to the epilogue. It is definitely terribly sad, and more than a little sickening to have seen these guys go through so much, and to lose one or both of them in the end. It's also heartbreaking to think of Joel and Lisa dying on their honeymoon. I can't see how you will get out of this one without lots of hatemail, CJ!!

 

Why would I be blamed? It's not my fault! Bridget put them in harm's way, not me!

Come on people - the answer is obvious:

 

 

Superman flies in and rescues them

 

 

/ducking

 

 

Shhhh, no fair giving away the ending. 0:)

[Benji]

......The hint you left was in this title of the chapter; 'The Belly of the Beast' the beast being the storm and Atlantis and company being dead in it's center. Running with it, the Atlantis needs to maintain the course of the storm in it's bearing, how long can Trevor hold up with his injuries? Or even Shane for that fact? Not sure how long it will be before they hit Mexico, but I'm sure it is a few days and they need Trevor to navigate. You know the press is going to eat this up.

 

So what is the next chapters title?

[Anubis]

The thing about lightning strikes is they vary a lot. Shane may well have internal burns, or he may not. We don't actually know the amount of electricity that went through him; it could have been fairly low and just caught his heart at the wrong phase of a beat to cause Aystole, or it could have been major, giving him the internal issues you quite rightly list.

 

I had help on the CPR issue, so I give all credit on the compression-only explanation to my medical advisers. Without their help, I'd have been very reluctant to raise the issue out of fear of making a mistake.

 

Yeah, I overlooked the fact that his was not a direct strike so the burns might be minmal.  However, the rhabdomyolysis could still happen just from the muscle stress from the intense, albeit short, contraction due to the current passing through but as you mentioned we don't know how much actually went through him.  I have (fortunately or unfortunately) never had to treat a lightning strike or even high current energy victim as of yet but I do know they would make me very nervous during my ride into the hospital with them.  

 

What would be considered a "low level" insertion?   NASA has the top of Dean topping out at 9 miles high (NASA Source) so I'm guessing very few planes could fly over that and the ones that could would be of no help to Atlantis.  The V-22 technical specs state that the service ceiling is only 25,000 feet (V-22 Tech Specs) which is only around halfway up the eyewall.  I bet it could go higher if it had to but probably not for too long and definitely not to the 9 mile mark.  Would 25,000 ft be considered "low level" or would it be high enough to avoid most of the bad wind/storms?  The other issue is it sounds like the V-22's cabin is not pressurized which could have profound effects on both Shane and Trevor.  

[wildone]

 

 

Atlantis, blasted by the raging furies of the pink fluffy bunny.....

 

I don't know what everyone is worried about . In my version of the story all the four need to do is get out some tennis rackets and hit the fluffy pink bunnies into the calm water

 

A V22 Osprey tiltrotor has the range, and in aircraft mode

 

That is an interesting picture. I know Boeing/Bell has been trying to sell them to Canada but I don't believe we have any. Not 100% sure though.

 

Okay, now for my theory...The hurricane reaches closest to land at Portland Head in Jamaica. Not sure where the guys are right now, but in theory, if they could get in close enough to land in the eye, tie some ropes around the gold which is now shaped into an anchor and jump overboard. They would be below water, but hopefully in shallow enough water that the waves over top of them would be not damaging to their eardrums, body, etc. If they could survive the eye wall passing overhead than float up, the waves moving from the counter clockwise motion on the back end could take them into shore.

 

Yes they would have to battle the storm surge and back tow into the open ocean, but it is conceivable.

 

Sorry, that is the best that I can come up with

Edited April 30, 2013 by wildone

[xizor]

All this guessing and wondering is fun but there's one question that I keep coming back to again and again.... What's the ETA for the next chapter?!?!?!? 

 

I know I haven't been reading as long as some here and you're all used to the waiting... I'm not and I'm getting withdrawals :s

[TalonRider]

It's a little hard to determine an ETA at this time as I don't think it's been sent out to the team yet. At least I haven't  seen it yet.

[MikeL]

It's a little hard to determine an ETA at this time as I don't think it's been sent out to the team yet. At least I haven't  seen it yet.

 

Nor have I.  The goat has been very busy.

[ltc_fireman]

  Come on folks.... this the most obvious answer!  Three heel clicks and there's no place like home!!!!

[Low Flyer]

Seems as likely as any other explanation...

[bayoudreamn]

We can toss this comment by CJ around to give us something to do. Before the last chapter, I made a comment about having an idea about what was going to happen. I wouldn't spill it because I had no idea when next chapter was coming out and just thought my comments might spur some changes to keep us guessing and I didn't want that....

 

but anyway, apparently I made CJ curious:) because he asked me about it, but he also gave this little nugget to chew on, he said:

 

"I can say this, whatever help they get will come from the crew of Atlantis" Now the boat they are on is Atlantis/Kookaburra. Right? We have said nothing about the other boat in a while. Could the other boat be close enough to play so part and what could they possibly do?? That thought doesn't seem fitting. So, then it's back to the boat with our four heroes, two of whom are injured with potentially life threatening conditions, They don't have the zodiac....no way to get off Atlantis other than to just jump in. Sharks aren't an issue until after the storm, but they'll be there quickly at that time. My idea, alluded to earlier, had been that maybe they'll pass close enough to land the storm throws them on shore, but that's kinda been shot down, the land they pass is on the wrong side....so the only other potential "landfall" is to ride into Mexico landfall. That's a crazy option, very slim chances of living. What could they possibly do with what they have to keep them alive? There has to be some creative use of the resources on hand that will save them. Any thoughts??

 

Remember, last time it was that little silver cannister thingy.....the most insignificant things

Edited May 5, 2013 by bayoudreamn

[DarkPrince]

Ok if someone would so kindly give me an ETA on the next chapter I'd greatly appreciate it.

[Low Flyer]

"I can say this, whatever help they get will come from the crew of Atlantis" Now the boat they are on is Atlantis/Kookaburra. Right?

 

Trevor, Shane, Joel and Lisa are on Atlantis.

 

Kookaburra (AKA Aries) is in Western Australia. We have absolutely no reason to believe that she wasn't sailed there after the two boats parted company off the east coast of Australia. To have her suddenly appear to save the day would be a bit too "deus ex machina" for CJ.

 

Apart from anything else, it would be just as impossible for Kookaburra to escape from the eye of the hurricane as for Atlantis.

 

Where you're almost certainly right, though, is that it will be something insignificant that none of us spotted. Otherwise it wouldn't be CJ.

[bayoudreamn]

That's right, Kookaburra is Aries. I got confused. I didn't remember where they were going, but now that you mention it....that would be a place they would be staying in, no reason to follow Atlantis.

 

So, those points are cleared up, thanks Low Flyer. Now on to the rest. What could our 4 heroes do to save themselves?? I'd say we have a week or more to figure it out. Any ideas??

 

I was thinking about that movie, Life of Pi, where the boy tied a makeshift "raft" off to the boat the tiger was in until he could "make peace" with the tiger. If they can't survive jumping in and riding it out on Atlantis would get them killed, is there any way they could use parts of Atlantis to save themselves? I would think in the worst conditions of a hurricane the worry is all the debris in the water. That's a danger that makes being in the water a high risk...so if you found something to use that's less dangerous than being on Atlantis as she's torn apart you'd need that something to also be able to protect you from debris. Then there's always the question of how to get Trevor to leave the boat to begin with 

Edited May 6, 2013 by bayoudreamn

[C James]

Fast update;

 

I've been sideswiped by a series of minor issues; a flood from a failed water heater, my recent short trip, internet connection trouble, a failed dishwasher, car trouble, a wrecked garage door, and a problem with my well. All of it is stuff that I have to fix while working more than full time, so I've been busier than a one-armed paper hanger.

 

The chapter (the final one!) is almost done. I expect to have it in beta within 48 hours, providing nothing else explodes. I'm not waiting for any date... it'll post the day the team finishes with it.

 

For the epilogue... I'm seriously considering having that as a later post instead of alongside the final. This would mean we'd get the final online sooner, and it'd also allow me to have a thread for posting any loose ends that the final does not clear up, so they can be added to the epilogue. (in other words, anything I forgot, such as small details.). One example; what did Trevor's mother get him for his birthday? I'll be adding that.

 

The title of the final chapter is "From Hell's Heart".

 

And BTW, expect a large chapter... a very large chapter.

[MikeL]

Poor goat!  One catastrophe after another.  Is there any chance of your telling us how the garage door got wrecked?

 

While we all look forward to the final chapter, we need you to know one thing...our patience has been thoroughly tested.  Put another way, cliffhangers grow with time.

 

Hope you have a better week than last.

[Winemaker]

Hmmm its ominous that Ahab's last quote in Moby dick was... "to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee" He was then dragged under by his nemesis, which later destroys all the whaling boats,crew and the Pequod.  I'm sure CJ has a Whale of an ending planned...   oooops!!

[MikeL]

A trained whale, escaped from Seaworld, becomes the hero?

[Nick Deverill]

Given the story is big long huge I'd say there was a fair need for an epilogue to follow at a decent interval as the chance CJ has forgotten something is quite big, despite goats appearing to rival elephants in the memory stakes.

 

As for the list of woes, the fact that car trouble is next to a wreaked garage door strongly suggests a hoof/brain interface problem and perhaps he drove the car into the garage door... A trifle unkind, but I just have that kind of imagination!

 

[xizor]

so um... perhaps they don't survive? Has CJ, anywhere along the way, GUARANTEED that he will not kill of any or all of the four currently on the boat? While this story is currently tagged as "Thriller/Suspense, Mystery, Adventure", perhaps CJ is just waiting till the last chapter to add 'Tragedy''

 

 

I'm also wondering: Did you drive into the garage door? Sorry to hear about the recent troubles.

 

 

The chapter (the final one!) is almost done. I expect to have it in beta within 48 hours, providing nothing else explodes.

 

 

 

Can we forbid you to light any matches so you don't tempt fate, I want no explosions!

[Winemaker]

so um... perhaps they don't survive? Has CJ, anywhere along the way, GUARANTEED that he will not kill of any or all of the four currently on the boat? While this story is currently tagged as "Thriller/Suspense, Mystery, Adventure", perhaps CJ is just waiting till the last chapter to add 'Tragedy''

 

 

I'm also wondering: Did you drive into the garage door? Sorry to hear about the recent troubles.

 

 

 

Can we forbid you to light any matches so you don't tempt fate, I want no explosions!

I'm still hoping that they ride the eye to land and are able to seek shelter  It would certainly add a great ending to Trevor and Shanes book  Even with the ref to Melvilles novel it could still mean "emerging from the eye"