Ocean Research - 17. IOR Chapter 17

It would take two days to get all of the 168 support pillars driven into the ocean floor, with each one to be at the exact right height, before the off-loading of each section of the city begins. With each section taking about 4 to 6 hours to get off-loaded, it was expected that the first three sections would take the longest to get unloaded.

Level six took nearly the whole day to get floating on the water before it was attached to the winch cables, and at daybreak the next day, work began to place level five on top of it, making sure that they are exactly aligned, to ensure a watertight seal, at the stair and elevator shafts, which are the only parts of the city that are vulnerable to water leakage and flooding, and as such a safety system had been installed, that automatically closes doors that surround the shafts to stop any water from entering the city.

Level four was placed on top of level five before dark on the second day of off-loading, but we decided to wait to daylight the next day, before filling up the water to let it slowly sink into place. Early on day three, at the high tide point, a measuring was done from the top of the support columns to the surface, and we discovered that it was half a metre lower than what it should be, but there was not much we could do about that now.

It just meant that we would have to make some adjustments to the landing jetties and the boat bays, with the jetties being at sea level at high tide, which would make it difficult when there is a swell, and make the two entry foyers susceptible to flooding, luckily there are watertight front doors, so that should not be a problem.

Deciding to continue on with the construction of the city, the construction crew got to work with installing level three to the city, as they decided that it would a wise option, after discovering that the city would be half a metre lower than expected.

At 2 pm, with four levels now attached, the pumps were started to allow the city to sink into its permanent position, with a team of scuba divers below, carefully watching the process from underwater, to ensure that the city is positioned correctly. Shortly before sunset, the construction team manager announced that the bottom four levels were now in place and secured to the support columns, and everyone cheered, as the city stood 6 metres above sea level, with two more levels to go.

The last two levels are to be the most difficult, because of their height above sea level, and it was estimated to take a full day to get each level into place. With the ship now a lot lighter, with 2/3^rds of the load now in the water, it has a little more room under the hull of the ship, to be able to get a lot closer to the lower levels of the city to complete the job.

In the mid-afternoon on day four, level two was in place, which meant that the task was nearly over. What I had not known before the start of the installation of the city, was that the Department of Parks and Wildlife had put a stop to all aircraft and sea craft tours to the islands, until the city was fully in place, for the safety of everyone, and Joshua’s grandfather had made payments to those tour companies that were affected by the stop order.

Joshua had been sending daily reports on how the construction is progressing, and now to see it here in the islands, it is quite a sight to see. With the final level to be installed the following day, Joshua received a message from his grandfather, that he ha arrived back in WA, and he would be chartering a plane over to Rat Island, arriving just before lunchtime on the final day, in time to see the final level go into place, and to make the final payments to the shipping company and the construction team.

Although 2 ½ levels are below the surface, the city was already standing out, as Joshua and I cruised around it in the Sea Storm, marvelling at its enormous size.” It is amazing what your grandfather can achieve,” I stated, as he completed a second circle around the city, and Joshua nodded in agreement.

At 11 am, just as we were watching the top level being placed on the top of the city, we heard a plane approaching, and it did a wide circle around the city, before landing at the Rat Island Airfield, and we headed off to the main jetty to get a buggy to go and collect our visitor.

When we arrived at the airfield there was not just Mr Lloyd and the pilot, but there were two other people with them, a man and a woman. “Oh great, nearly the whole family has joined him” I heard Joshua say as we approached, parking close to the now silent plane.

“Joshua, may I introduce my mother, Mrs Julia Atkins, and my step-father, Captain Daniel Atkins, folks this is my good buddy, my deputy and chief research officer for this project, Mr Kipling Ashburton,” Joshua announced making the introductions, and I shook hands with the visitors. “Welcome back Mr Lloyd and welcome to you both, to the Abrolhos Islands,” I responded.

Mr Lloyd turned and spoke to the pilot briefly, “Our Pilot, Mr Bradford will be joining us, as we are only staying to inspect and officially open my latest masterpiece, before returning to the mainland,” Mr Lloyd announced to us, as we climbed onto the buggy, with Joshua driving.

“How is the Swath catamaran going Joshua?” Mr Lloyd asked, “Ask Kip, it is his toy, I mean he is the captain of it,” Joshua replied smiling, and I chuckled at the comment. “It is going very well sir, with the adjustments made to accommodate more passenger seating, it will be very handy for doing island tours, as well as for my marine research,” I responded to Mr Lloyd’s question.

“Good to hear, no doubt you have seen the layout plans, and the large area that I have dedicated for marine research, in the way of a museum and a research centre?” Mr Lloyd stated, “Yes sir, and I thank you for giving me so much space to work in, I look forward to getting to work down there as soon as possible, when not busy with all the other duties,” I replied.

“You have both seen the senior staff list? Your Chief Medico – Dr Armstrong, will be arriving in two days’ time, while the other 18 senior staff will be arriving on three flights the following day. You will be seeing Mr Bradford a lot, as he has been assigned the position of the senior pilot by his company who won the contract, for airline services for our company,” Mr Lloyd stated, just as we arrived at the main jetty.

After parking the buggy in the garage, Joshua walked with the guests to the end of the jetty, while I had raced ahead to get the boat started. A few minutes later we arrived at barge, where we transferred to the more comfortable Silver Cloud, and now including Nathan and James, we headed to the anchorage area, and until the final piece of the city is secured, no one was allowed anywhere near it, apart from the construction workers, so we just watched from a short distance away on the deck of the catamaran.

With Amanda as Captain of the larger catamaran, I was able to spend more time with our guests, and we were served lunch on the aft main deck, as we watched the work continue. Near the end of our lunch, along airhorn blast sounded, which was followed by the horn of the catamaran, and Amanda appeared shortly after.

“Ladies and gentlemen, those horns are the signal that the building work is now complete, and when you are ready, you are permitted to step onto Abrolhos Ocean City,” Amanda announced, “Thank you Captain, I had guessed that is what the horn blasts were about,” Mr Lloyd replied smiling.

Ten minutes later, Amanda moored the boat at the main jetty on the west side of the city, with Mr Lloyd the first to step onto the jetty closely followed by Joshua then myself, before Captain Atkins and Julia, Nathan and James followed. As much as Amanda wanted to follow as well, Joshua had asked that she and the rest of the crew wait until the official inspection of the inside is complete.

Once inside the Entry lobby which was dark apart from the natural sunlight coming from the large windows, Mr Lloyd and Daniel Atkins headed to the left, through a set of doors, while the rest of us admired the view of the enormous swimming pool on the other side of the foyer.

A few minutes later, all the lights came on in the foyer, and both Mr Lloyd and Daniel returned, as Mr Lloyd retrieved an envelope from his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a number of plastic cards, and selecting the ones with a narrow red stripe, he handed over one to Joshua, one to me, one to Nathan and one to James, while keeping one for himself, and he placed the remaining cards back into the envelope and into his pocket, before approaching the elevator doors, and placing his card against the scanner panel, and entering a six-digit code.

When the small light went from red to green, the elevator door opened, and we all stepped inside before Mr Lloyd pressed the button for the roof. “Might as well start from the top,” he said smiling, as the elevator moved upwards to the top floor, where we stepped out to an undercover patio area, with half walls and on one side of the elevator and stairs is a ramp and on the other side are steps leading upwards to the helipad, and we chose the ramp to walk up to the very top of the city.

“Wow, what a view,” I exclaimed when we arrived and looked around the helipad, that has fold-down safety barriers, to stop anyone falling over the edge to the safety net at the 3^rd floor, far below. “Grandfather, I presume that is the Air Traffic Control Centre and Weather Station, how do we get there?” Joshua asked.

“Easy, go down one level, and walk through the government offices area to the other elevators,” I replied, having already worked that out from studying the layout plans so much, and Mr Lloyd nodded his head in agreement. “There seems to be a lot of room over there for just those two departments,” Joshua stated.

That is because the plans do not state exactly what the outer wings on that level are for. They are the two corporate suites, to accommodate me and any other member of the family that may come to visit,” Mr Lloyd responded. “I thought that is what the VIP suites are for,” Joshua asked. “No grandson, those are for guests while the corporate suites are for family only,” Mr Lloyd replied.

It took us nearly four hours to complete the full tour of the city, and it was quite spectacular, including the suite that I will be living in on level one, next door to Joshua’s suite. James and Nathan were blown away by their offices, meeting rooms and accommodation suites, with a shared private lounge located on the 1^st floor,

As Mr Lloyd explained, the red stripe access cards for the executive staff provides access to all areas, while all other complex staff will have a card with a blue narrow stipe, the seasonal fishermen will have a green narrow strip and hotel guests will have a yellow narrow strip on their cards.

With the Marine Discovery Centre and the Marine Research centre located on the very bottom level, I took particular care to inspect every inch of the two areas, as it would be my main workspace, with my own huge research office, with my main executive office on the 1^st floor.

Once the tour was over, Mr Lloyd and Joshua met with the senior crew of the cargo ship, who agreed to lift on board the research barge, which will no longer be needed at the Abrolhos Islands, and it would be unloaded in Geraldton until a decision is made for its future.

While this was happening, I gave the crew of the Silver Cloud a tour of the city, including issuing them with complex staff access cards, and they were shown their assigned suites on level 3, which they were shocked to see where absolutely huge, and although they did not have ocean views, they could see the swimming pool just below them.

After the tour, I returned to the Silver Cloud, where Mr Lloyd and Joshua’s family are about to leave. “Can you give the pilot, my grandfather, mother and Daniel a lift back to the airfield please, as I have a few things to do?” Joshua asked me as he saw me approaching.

“I would be very pleased to do that, when you are all ready we will take the Swath catamaran back to the main jetty on Rat Island,” I replied smiling, before heading out of the main saloon, and off the catamaran to prepare the swath cat for the short trip to Rat Island, and to avoid being around Joshua as he says his farewells to his family.

While the pilot and Daniel began preparations for departure, Mr Lloyd and Julia approached me, which made me a little nervous. “We know that Joshua cares about you greatly, and regards you as his best mate. Please take good care of him,” Julia said to me before she gave me an unexpected hug and stepped away.

“Good luck with everything with the city, it will be quite an adventure for the both of you,” Mr Lloyd said before shaking my hand. “Thank you, I will, and I too regard Joshua as a very good friend, and I will look after him,” I replied before the guests headed towards the aircraft, which was now starting up its engines.

After watching the plane taxi to the runway and take off, before turning for the mainland, I jumped into the buggy and drive back to the garage at the main jetty, where he locked it away and walked down to the waiting Silver Storm.

Instead of heading 4 kilometres back to the city, I headed West-North-West to Gilbert Island, which is nearly 8 kilometres away, which I had explored before and I was keen to have another closer look around the island, which is on the north-western edge of the Easter group of islands.

“Abrolhos City to Silver Storm, are you receiving me, Kip, over?” I heard Joshua say over the radio, as I slowed as I approached the outer reef of Gilbert Island. “Receiving you Abrolhos City, I am just doing a small spot of exploring of this area before it gets dark, nothing to be alarmed about, over” I replied.

“Roger that Kip, I was just watching you heading north-west of Rat Island, and wondered where you were heading, that is all, over and out,” Joshua said.

Setting the anchor just a few metres off Gilbert Island, were there is a sandy bottom in the protected lagoon, I turned off the motor and set the diving flag up, before heading to the locker to retrieve my wetsuit and put it on. I decided to just do some snorkelling for now, since I am on my own, and once I was ready, I slipped into the clear water, and just a few moments later something hit me very hard and slammed me against the hull of the catamaran, and everything went black.

When I woke up, I hear a regular beeping sound and looking around, I soon realised that I was in the hospital. I felt something in my hand and I pressed the button on the top when I worked out that it was the call button. “Mr Ashburton, you are awake at last, you have had us quite worried,” a nurse said when she entered.

Suddenly I realised that there was a second person in the room, and she grabbed hold of my hand and gave a little squeeze, “I am so glad that you are awake, you gave my son a hell of a fright when he discovered you floating facing upwards on the surface and unconscious, do you remember what happened?” Julia said to me.

I tried to sit up, but I sank back down when shots of pain hit me from all over my body. “Take it easy Mr Ashburton, you have severe bruising all over your torso and a couple of cracked ribs too,” the nurse said to me as she continued to take readings and record them.

“I have no idea, I had only just entered the water, when a dark shadow suddenly appeared and slammed me against the hull of the boat, and that is all I remember,” I replied.