The First Sar Mission Ch 12

-The Full Moon Retreat-

Episode: The First Search and Rescue Mission

Chapter 12:

Meet the press...

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Tomorrow, Tomorrow...

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The sun will come out tomorrow

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To the reader:

Well, dear readers, this is the final chapter in this episode of The Full Moon Retreat, and my last chance, for a little while, to say thank you. This, as you probably know, has been my first published attempt at writing, designed solely to entertain the reader. There are other 'firsts', too. This is, by far, my most lengthy writing, of a nontechnical nature. For me, this story has been a needed educational experience. I have spent a lifetime in engineering and science; where the highest accolades for a paper are given for killing more than one gray-haired academician with a single writing. The only stipulations are that they are found to have died as a result of having, repeatedly, fallen asleep and bashed their heads on their desks or had a major burst aneurysm. Extra credit is awarded for evidence of bleeding from the eyes. Anyway, I suspected that the casual reader would be looking for something else, entirely. In these twelve chapters, I feel that I have grown, considerably. I hope that they present evidence to the reader that this old wolf, now 'long in the tooth,' is still capable of learning a few new tricks.

At any rate, thank you again for your patience, perseverance, and your tutelage. It has been enough of a rewarding experience that I hope to continue with new episodes in this series and other stories and, if I can consume that much alcohol in one sitting, maybe, a poem or two. I had hoped to have the next episode written by the publication of this last chapter of this story. However, the heavy rework required on each of the published chapters has consumed most of the time available for this pursuit. I did, though, complete most of the research for the next story. So, hopefully, we will meet again in two or three months.

Well, chapter twelve... I told you that I love a happy ending, or at the least, a funny one, (I hope). I considered not writing it, as for some, it may put an anticlimactic full stop on the story. Still, keep in mind that this is a series and that Anna and Aaron; themselves may be an important part of a future episode. 'The eleventh commandment', (Thou shalt not kill off characters that may sustain the series)! So, Anna and Aaron are hereby awarded yellow jerseys rather than the red jerseys which are 'fodder for the rock monster'. I think that they have served their purpose to this story with distinction. In turn, I hope that this story has served its intended purpose for the reader. May it have provided you with entertainment and a distraction from the mundane, for a short while.

Thank you!

As has always been the case, I have to thank my wife, Diane for her service as my proofreader, confidant, (and part time psychoanalyst).

[09:00, Saturday, base camp]

"That is great news, Berry. Did they say how long the good weather might last?"

"The weather service thinks that it will last at least two or three days, but they said that this area seemed to generate its own weather and that we should not bet on it."

"Well, that's great. I'm going to call and try to arrange for a couple of helicopters to come in as soon as this weather clears."

"I need one to bring out people and retrieve our radio repeater and I need a heavy lifter to bring out the aircraft."

"Did you ever hear anything from the NTSB?"

"I talked to them and I got the old "I'll get back to you," and, of course, I haven't heard a thing."

"Well, you might give them a call. Tell them that I'm going to bring it out if that is still doable. And, that there probably isn't going to be much of the crash site left, due to a flash flooding event. Tell them that if they want it delivered to some place in particular, that I would have the heavy lifter take it there. Otherwise, I am going to bring it out, have the wings taken off, and the whole thing loaded on a flatbed and taken to a storage facility. Tell them that if they have any input, they need to get back to me quickly."

"That sounds like a good plan, Jack. I'll tell them."

"Jack goes to the ops room, to start making calls on the sat-phone"

[09:30, Saturday, campsite]

George has a brainstorm...

"Has anyone climbed this ridge beside us?"

Jimmy Goodman speaks up: "George, I was up on top just before this storm began."

"Good, Jim, is there an easy way up there? I would like to get up as high as I can and try to contact base camp. I'm hoping that if I get up high enough I can reach them without the repeater."

"I can show you the path I took. It isn't too bad."

"Good, would you guide me, please."

"Sure!"

Both men strip and start climbing a steep, rocky trail...

[09:58, Saturday, on top of the fourth ridge]

George unfolds a piece of waterproof parachute cloth and pulls it over himself in order to use the handy-talkie without getting it wet. He removes the device from the plastic bag that he had been carrying it in.

"Unit 41 to base camp, do you read me? Unit 41 to base camp, do you read me?"

Initially, there is no reply, but George is not surprised. He knows that no one in base camp is expecting any communication with the crash site since the storm took out the repeater. However, George, as a soldier in World War II, was also a 'radioman'. He carried and operated an SCR-300A backpack R/T. He knows that at least two of the radio operators in base camp are also military trained. George knows that a command radio set, (a base station), is always turned on, even if it is not constantly being closely monitored, because, 'you never know'. George waits for 2 minutes and then tries again.

"Unit 41 to base camp, do you read me? Unit 41 to base camp, do you read me?"

[09:59, Saturday, base camp, radio room]

Jim Bonner walks into the radio room not really paying a great deal of attention to the radio. He doesn't expect to receive any messages since the repeater went down, but, like any good radioman the radio is on and he listens with some remote part of the brain, just in case.

"~nit ~orty one ~o ~ase cam~, ~o ~~u ~ead me? un~~ forty ~~~ to bas~ ~amp, do you rea~ me?"

Bonner runs over to the radio and grabs up the desk mic...

"Unit forty-one, this is base camp, I read you three by four and broken, over"

[10:00, Saturday, on a cold, wet, rocky outcrop]

"Status report: all Dawsons are wolves, all is well, stream impassable, camp in good spirits. I say again, status report: all Dawsons are wolves, all is well, stream impassable, camp in good spirits. Over"

[10:01, Saturday, base camp, radio room]

"~~atus ~port a~~ ~awsons ~~~ wolves, al~ ~~ wel~, stream impass~~~~, ~amp ~~ ~ood spirits. I ~ay ~gain stat~~ report: all Daws~ns ar~ ~olves, ~~l is well, st~eam impass~~le, cam~ ~n good spirits. ~ver"

"Unit 41, read back: 'status report, all Dawsons are wolves, all is well, stream impassable, camp is in good spirits.' Report read back. Over."

"Read ~ack ~orrect. Ov~~"

"Roger, read back correct."

"Do you want to speak to Alpha? Over"

"Afirm~~~~ Ov~~"

"Stand by, I will get Alpha. Over"

"~~anding by. ~ver"

Bonner dashes off to the ops room where he finds Jack.

"Alpha, I have George Scott on the radio and I have his status report. He would like to speak to you. His transmission is very broken. I think that he is communicating direct and not through the repeater.

"Yes, I heard it on the monitor speakers"

"Lead the way, Jim."

Jack and Bonner enter the radio room...

"He knows that he is breaking up, but I think that he can hear us clearly."

"Understood."

Jack sits down in front of the microphone...

"George, it's good to hear from you. Are you ok?"

"Al~~~, ~tuation ok. ~im Bon~~~~ ~as stat~~ ~~port."

"How are you reading me?"

"~ead you ~ive by fiv~"

"Good, George. I have good news. The sun is forecast to come out tomorrow. I will have two helicopters coming tomorrow. One heavy lift chopper and one personnel chopper can you arrange for landing site? Over."

"~ think ~o, ~lpha. ~ver."

"Personnel chopper will arrive at about eleven hundred hours, land and pick up Dawsons. Heavy lift chopper will drop cargo net and slings. Rig plane with slings. Heavy lift will remove plane. Then have your team, break down camp and load it into cargo net. Heavy lift chopper will return to take cargo net. Both choppers should have handy-talkie so you can communicate. When heavy lift chopper has camp, personnel chopper will return and begin to transport your team out. They can carry four to five persons at a time. He will repeat until all team members are back at base camp. Do I need to repeat that? Over."

"No Alph~. Copy all. Ov~~"

"George, do you have anything more for me? Over"

"No Alpha ~ver"

"A very good job, George. I will see you sometime tomorrow. Over"

"~~~~~ one, ou~"

" SAR base camp, W-Q-H-B-six-six-seven, channel clear"

"Alpha, this is the status report as I interpreted it, read it back and George said that it was correct."

"Just read it to me, Jim."

"Status report: all Dawsons are wolves, all is well, stream impassable, camp in good spirits."

"Outstanding! Thank you, Jim."

"Yes, sir."

Jack goes to find Mari. He finds her in the dining hall talking to reporters.

"Mari, may I see you for a minute?"

"Sure Jack."

They step aside to talk.

"What's up Jack?"

"Mari, you were right. I just got a status report from George. It is short. We figure that he climbed up the ridge and was talking directly to us on a handy-talkie. He was very broken and his message was short, but here it is."

Jack gives Mari the piece of paper given to him by Bonner.

The paper reads: Status report: all Dawsons are wolves, all is well, stream impassable, camp in good spirits.

"You can pass the message to the press and tell them how we think George got it to us. I told him about the helicopters coming tomorrow. If all goes according to plan, the Dawsons should be coming out at around eleven tomorrow. I will talk to them to see if they will give a mass interview if so, we will try to do that starting at about noon."

[11:14, Saturday, campsite]

George returns to camp naked, wet, and cold. Becky Winston spots George, first.

"Hey! George is back!"

Aaron asks George: "Well, how did it go?"

"It Worked! They couldn't hear me as well as I could hear them, but it worked."

"I've got some really good news too! First, the S-U-N will come out tomorrow morning! Second, there will be a helicopter here at about eleven o' clock tomorrow morning to pick up the Dawsons and take them to base camp. Third, there will be a heavy lift chopper here after that. He is to drop slings and a cargo net. We have to get the slings under the plane and he will haul it back to camp. While he is gone, we have to break the camp down and load it into the net. Then, he will take that back to base camp. Finally, the other smaller chopper will be back to start ferrying the wolves out four or five at a time. How does that sound to everybody?"

There are cheers and extended applause from all of the wolves in the camp.

George continues: "We will need to find a safe place that the small chopper can land to pick up people."

[11:30, Saturday, the campsite]

Anna and Becky start making the midday meal and the food is ready to serve right at noon.

[12:24, Saturday, the campsite]

Anna and Becky finally sit down to have their lunch. Anna is curious about the Full Moon Retreat.

"So, Becky, tell me some more about the retreat."

"Well, it's both a nudist resort open to, both, Weres and mundane humans and a vacation resort for Weres. The only difference is that humans generally don't care to go running in the woods all night or chase rabbits and deer. I guess that, if they did, they would be welcome to do so, though."

Anna can't help but to laugh at the silly image of naked people chasing rabbits in the moonlight.

"We have three pools. There is a larger one with a deep end for adults and older kids. There is a smaller, shallow pool for the young kids and a wading pool for the tikes. There are two hot tubs, one holds maybe six or eight and a large one that holds twenty or thirty. There are two volleyball sand courts, and we have the equipment to set up a baseball diamond. Let's see, there is, I think, about, six-thousand acres of woods that actually belong to the retreat, plus the north gate opens into a National forest. The retreat's woods are always safe, but we send out scouts into the National Forest before we hold big runs at the retreat. You can't be sure that there isn't some fool with a deer rifle out in the forest. We try to keep track of hunters out there. Then, there is a recreation hall with all of the rainy day stuff: billiard tables, ping-pong, darts, card games, toys and games for the kids. Let's see, oh, yeah, there are: video games, movies, music and a small library, but the library is growing fast. There is also a giant gymnasium with an indoor track, four sparing pits and a forest of workout equipment."

"There is the dining hall. It's the biggest building at the retreat and also, serves as our assembly hall. They have buffets for breakfast, and lunch, and, usually, a buffet, and a serving line and short orders for dinner. They offer anything from seafood to, really, good steaks, burgers, and fries and a good vegetable menu, too. During the day, they offer coffee, tea, and soft drinks and at night, they add wine and beer. There is a lounge for drinkers. By the way, about the only way for a Were to get drunk is to turn a bottle up and drink it. We metabolize alcohol so fast that we can party all night and not get tipsy.

There is the hotel for guests. I think it has more than five-hundred rooms and about a dozen 'Alpha suits'. Oh, and they're getting ready to build a second hotel building of similar size and a new dining hall that is more than twice the size of the old one. The Alpha has told us that it is to have a full-size stage and will convert into a dance hall and event center. The plan is to go from handling a thousand guests at a time to two-thousand."

Anna's jaw is hanging open and she says: "Oh my Gawd! It's like 'Disney Land'."

"Yeah, but for wolves!"

"There are cabins for rent, tent spaces, and trailer hook-ups. And, there is the adult compound. Both it and the entire retreat are surrounded by a ten-foot high double fence with a wolf-run between the fences. Right now everyone that lives at the retreat, has apartments in the main building, but they are talking about buying some acreage adjacent to the retreat and setting it up where members can build homes. And, then there are some smaller buildings, including a school-state certified, K through twelve. The main entrance to the retreat is through a building. It houses the offices for the retreat and has showers and locker rooms for the day visitors. It has a two or three hundred car parking lot out front. Within the retreat, there are several outdoor shower and restroom blocks. There is a good size lake along one border of the retreat with a beach and a grassy area with trees for catching some rays or just hanging out. There are some picnic tables. And, there is a lot of acreage with, just grass and trees. Oh, yeah, there is a good sized, open-air pavilion, too. There are always dances and events going on at night. Down in one back corner they raise deer, rabbits, and some other animals to replenish the woods and forest. They raise chickens, too. They supply most of the eggs for the restaurant. There are stables with horses for riding. Oh, and get this! They have sixteen Clydesdale draught horses and four big sleighs for when it snows."

"Wow, Becky! That is some operation! You said that there was an "adult area." What is that?"

"Oh, yeah, well the adult area is a smaller compound within the main compound where anyone over eighteen can go to fuck in the open."

"Again, please?"

"Well Wolves are very sexual creatures, and they do not have any sort of shyness about it. Sex is mostly between two, but doing it in large groups is fun and commonplace. At the retreat, since we are open to mundane human nudists, who do have a thing about sex, we set aside an area where you can take your mate or a date, if you are single, and have sex in the open, and in a large group. We restrict that to eighteen and over, also, because of mundane public opinion."

"I see..."

A wide-eyed Anna says: "It sounds titillating, but I'll have to get used to it first."

"You will. Most packs have almost no restrictions. It's just where ever the mood takes you."

"What about the young ones in those packs?"

"They grow up seeing their parents have sex. It just isn't a big issue with them. We are wolves, you know."

"I guess..."

"Anna, let me ask you something. Are you going to talk to the news people, tomorrow?"

"Oh, Becky, I don't know! I'm not sure that I want to. Why?"

"Well, I was kind of worrying about you, earlier. You do know that you and your family are the biggest story since the moon landings, don't you?"

"I hadn't thought about it. I guessed that we had made the evening news, but I didn't think that it would be such a big deal."

"Oh, no. It had turned into a huge media circus before we even got here. 'Family of four, victims of an airplane crash, lost in a wilderness, so remote that human search teams couldn't go in to search for you. Then, over a hundred Werewolves are brought in to find you, they do, but, several of you are so, seriously injured that you can't be brought out on foot. The weather is so bad that helicopters can't get in to get you. Two Navy helicopters, with volunteer crews, try and nearly crash in the attempt, so, they call it off. To save the dying members of the family the mother, the only conscious member of the family, asks that the entire family be turned into Werewolves, they are turned, but then must survive a tremendous storm. Then the storm clears and the sun comes out and they are brought out.' No, my understanding from the guys that have been ferrying supplies to us is that your progress has been followed around the world on TV, radio, and newspapers with hourly updates and break-ins for dramatic events. I was told that there are hundreds of reporters and cameras swamping base camp."

"Oh, my God... Becky, I had no Idea."

"That is exactly what I have been getting from everyone that came down here. I couldn't help worrying about how you were going to deal with it. I and a couple of others were mulling it over, last night; before you woke up. Can I offer you the advice that we all concluded?"

"Yes. Of course! All of you are like family to us. If you all have thought it through, then it has to be the best advice that I could get. I need your help!"

"Well, all of the media is up there now and if they get to you when you first get to base camp, it is going to be a mob scene. We don't think that the Alpha will let them jump you, but they are going to be out for blood. What we figured was that you should ask the Alpha to set it up as an organized news conference. You and Aaron will need to face them. That would be hard, I know, but if you don't take the thunder out of the news story they will hound you to insanity, later, trying to get the "scoop." You can bet that some of them are going to try to get to you later for exclusive interviews, but, if you burn the story now, under controlled conditions, then you will get rid of the worst of it. Our base camp consists of two giant tents with a big courtyard in between them. Ask the Alpha to set up a stage with a dais either in one of the tents or in the courtyard, depending upon the space needed, have the kids with you, but in wolf form. That will disguise them so, that they can be seen on TV. But, here is the important part that we came up with. You might have a prepared statement, but that won't satisfy them. You need to take their questions until they get bored and quit asking them. When you have done that, there won't be a news story anymore. Hopefully, not, too many will be after you later on."