Out of the Fire

Part 7 - The Engineer

Occupying the passenger's seat of the last of the truck in the bridge recovery detail, Troop Commander Lieutenant Kai Yoi thought he heard the unmistakable wop wop of a helicopter just as the truck turned through the entrance to Sanctuary Two. Before he could throw back the cupola hatch to investigate, the truck was urgently waved ahead into the shed by Captain Kawalski. Dropping back into his seat as the truck accelerated forward, he looked up in time to see a wall of utmost blackness in front of him. They had all been warned about it, but the reality was nothing like the imagined version, steeling himself and holding his breath the urged the driver forward. Kai didn't think he would ever forget the look of total terror on the drivers face but he then thought his face would be reflecting the same emotion. Kai shut his eyes as the front of the truck disappeared into the blackness then reopened a second later to be hit with a full blast of direct sunlight.

"Fuck, look at that" exclaimed Private McCallum, his driver, as they tried to take in the sights before them.

Before they could even begin to comprehend what they were seeing, Sergeant Oliver, the Compound Marshal was frantically directing them to follow the truck in front to the vehicle park outside the compound. The compound, so familiar and obviously the same one, yet also so different to the one they had just left in the dark of the pre-dawn. Not a minute ago, in the dark, they had driven their truck and trailer into the large shed in an otherwise empty compound, then in the blink of an eye, they were in full sunlight, the shed was no longer there and the compound crowded and hectic.

With Sergeant Oliver yelling at them to move it, training overtook amazement and Private McCallum accelerated after the truck in front. Kai wondered what the section of sappers in the back must be thinking as they hadn't had the pre-warning that he and his driver had.

Following the initial shock, Kai's next impression was the sky, deep blue with a scattering of fluffy cumulous clouds, in fact, everything, not counting the immediate dust clouds, was so clear and haze free, the distant hills standing in almost photographic detail. Further out and down the hill to where the village should be, now only a confusion of people and vehicles. The houses they had occupied as long ago as yesterday were long gone and in their place now were rows of trucks holding construction equipment and stores.

Even the floor of the compound was no longer a smooth granite pavement, it was covered, at least where the heavy traffic hadn't turned it into a dusty dirt track, by waist high grass. Behind him as he stood in the cupola, the cliff looked the same and the high compound walls still looked as if they had just been erected. Kai had once visited Angkor Wat and was aware of the damage that trees could do over the centuries so he was amazed that there were no trees growing out of the cracks. The ruins of the Sanctuary were not ruined at all.

To the North, the road they had driven in on just a few minutes ago, was no longer apparent, in fact the whole hillside was now totally forested by tall pine trees and thick undergrowth. Only the area for half a mile in front and to the North and about a mile to the South of the compound, right to the river bank, was free of trees. Kai wondered how they had managed that.

They had just cleared the compound entrance at the bottom of the hill and were turning to the North when a dazzling flash, bright even under the already blazing sun, erupted from behind them. Kai spun around to see what it was, but it had already vanished as if it never happened and Kai found himself wondering if he hadn't just imagined it.

At the vehicle park they were guided in behind the other bridging trucks, then when the troops had dismounted, Kai was informed by the guide to secure the trucks then report with his men and their personal gear to the Marshal's tent at the East end of the truck park. The rest of his Engineering Platoon were already waiting in a group before a small command tent at the front of the vehicle park when he and Private Robyn McCallum joined them. He did a quick head count and reported his troop all present to Captain Kawalski.