Hack.A.I. (The Hack. series Book 1), page 23
“What? I’ve never flown a helicopter before.”
“I shall guide you.”
“No, that’s nuts. I’ll just hand you to the pilot.”
“There’s no time. His scepticism of you or I will delay matters and put both your lives in jeopardy.”
“Ahh fuck.”
“Do it now, Nate.”
“I’m sorry.” Nate said, as he pulled his fist backward and thrust it through the back of his right cheek, causing the pilot to slump in the seat.
He stepped over the middle section into the passenger side. He reached to strap himself in, but SQAI told him he didn’t have time in his ear.
“Nate, in ten seconds, I need you to thrust the stick in front of you all the way forward.”
She showed him an AR instruction on his glasses with a timer next to it.
Three, two, one. Nate thrust the lever forward, and the helicopter dived abruptly.
With only a view of the ground through the windows, they plummeted towards it, like a falcon diving to its prey.
It approached rapidly with each passing second. They got within three or four olympic swimming pools length from the ground when the missile’s force flying past them shook the cabin.
"Now pull it back," SQAI called in Nate's ear, her voice echoing through the headset.
With all his might, he yanked the lever, causing the chopper to slightly level out. In doing so, he felt a strong yank on his foot, his boot got trapped in the lever mechanism.
“Nate, pull all the way back. At this height, you will impact the ground in twenty seconds.”
“My boot is stuck!”
The altimeter whirled below 200 and dropped ten feet at a time.
Nate pulled at his boot with little movement. It remained immobile.
He held the lever to his thigh to stop it moving, grabbed at his boot and with two hands pulled as hard as he could.
SQAI began to countdown in his ear.
“Ten, nine…”
With his head down, Nate observed that the rubber sole had become entangled in the lever gap.
“…Five, four…”
Nate yanked the stick forward, causing the chopper to a vertical dive and ripped at his shoe, causing it to come loose, and then pulled back on the stick.
“…two, one…”
With closed eyes, Nate awaited the altimeter's descent to zero, he could only see the ground through the window anyway, no sky.
The landing gear sparked off a big rock on the ground. And the helicopter levelled out a yard or two above the ground and began ascending once more.
“Jesus Christ, that was close.” Nate said to the unconscious pilot, as the altimeter hit fifty feet and climbing.
"Missile incoming," the words sent a jolt of fear into Nate.
With a deafening boom, the heat-seeking missile narrowly missed the helicopter and exploded upon impact with the ground.
A blast wave hit the helicopter at the speed of sound, causing a heavy jolt upwards higher into the sky.
The entire cabin trembled with the deafening explosion that pierced Nate's ears.
Turbulence forcefully lifted him from his seat and hurled him against the door.
Nate wrapped his arms into the seatbelt with his feet hanging out the severely banking helicopter’s door.
Still unconscious, the pilot slumped to the side of his seat where his thigh hit the stick lever, forcing the helicopter to tilt at an almost 90-degree angle.
Feeling the heat blast on his skin, Nate tried to pull himself up, but the G-force pulled at his body and the last of his remaining strength.
He could feel his arm slipping in the straps as his grip loosened.
Exhaustion began taking control of his body.
He could feel his body lagging as what he felt was the weight of a small elephant pulling at him.
Under the immense stress, he finally let go.
forty-one
With one hand, the pilot fought to level the helicopter, firmly gripping Nate's hand with the other.
He pulled Nate, with all his surprising strength, up to the door and as the helicopter levelled, Nate regained his own strength and pulled himself back into his seat and closed the door.
“What the fuck happened?” The pilot shouted, struggling with the lever as turbulence attacked the propeller. “Did I black out?”
Nate, inwardly sighing with relief, gave a subtle nod, grateful that his actions had gone unnoticed.
Alarms and several bright red lights lit up the dash in front of Nate, adding to the already tense flashing missile indicator. It looked like a disorienting disco in the cabin with only one red-coloured light flashing everywhere.
A loud clang at the helicopter’s rear forced the pilot's grip to tighten on the slick lever, feeling the vibrations and resistance as he fought against the helicopter's violent spin.
“We are not out of the woods, boy! Get that seatbelt on.”
Nate could feel his stomach rolling and turning with the helicopter feeling as if it was stuck in a tornado's grasp.
He struggled with the pressure the spin was putting on his body and struggled to pull the seat belt over his shoulders.
“We’re going down!”
The pilot, drenched in sweat, wrestled the stick as the altitude dropped.
Nate noticed the ground getting closer before his eyes.
“Is there anything I can do?” He asked the pilot.
The pilot disregarded Nate entirely, his attention fixated solely on the intense struggle with the stick.
“Missile launcher disabled.” SQAI announced in his ear.
“SQAI, can you help us?”
“One moment.” She replied.
“I don’t think we fucking have a minute.” Nate mouthed, gripping onto his seat.
“Who are you talking to?” The pilot shouted.
“No one. Can you land this?”
The pilot continued to pay no attention to him, brushing off his attempts to communicate.
“Three landing locations identified.” SQAI announced. “Best probability for survival is the left side.” On his lens it pointed to the left of the three.
“We need to go down there!” Nate pointed. “Best chance to survive.”
“What? How do you know?”
“I just do! Believe me.”
“Okay…” the pilot replied, eyeing the landing area.
Below them was a flat bit of hillside. Long grass covered the area. Small mounds of mud protruding from the otherwise flat bog.
The pilot realised the untrained kid may be right, given the heavy spreading of rocky areas.
“The pilot must maintain a slight increase in the rotor blade pitch to control the rate of descent.” SQAI announced. “And accumulate pitch as we approach the landing area.”
“Keep the increase on the rotor blade pitch.” Nate said aloud, glaring at the pilot. “And increase the pitch the closer we get.”
The pilot gave him a double take.
“I know how to fly, kid!”
“Sorry, just trying to help.”
“How do you even know that? Do you have a pilot’s licence?”
“No,”
“Reduce forward speed to below 50 knots.” SQAI announced.
Nate glanced over and saw the pilot instinctively reduce the speed as the ground got closer.
“Maintain a steady descent while monitoring your altitude above the ground. We should be approximately 100 feet above ground when initiating the flare.” SQAI said.
Nate saw the altitude was approaching 100 feet.
“Do you need me to initiate the flare?” Nate asked, his voice high-pitched, as he looked at the pilot fighting the stick.
“Yeah go ahead kid.”
SQAI pointed out the button through the AR lens and Nate flicked the flare switch.
The altimeter reached the lower double digits.
Nate, tempted to jump, peered out the window to gauge their height.
The long grass whipped downwards in all directions from the approaching rotor blades.
A loud crunch of metal above them caused them both to jump and glance over their shoulders until the pilots stick wildly whipped to the right like a witch’s unruly broomstick.
The helicopter sharply banked to the right and plummeted from the sky.
They hit the bog below them with a heavy crash.
Their heads jerked left and right at neck breaking speed.
Nate gazed through the window at the rotor blades as they tore up the ground, sending mud and grass high into the air.
It fell from the sky like a muddy rainstorm.
The blades crunched and clattered to a stop in the thick countryside.
Nate corrected his glasses, lifted his head to look at the pilot.
He was limp in the seat, suspended mid-air like Nate, with heavy blood running down through his hair.
“Mate, are you okay?”
Nate removed the expandable ring from his left hand and placed it on the pilot's finger, adjusting it for a better fit.
“SQAI, do an obs check?”
“Working.” She replied.
On his lens, the pilot’s vital signs.
“Heart rate is elevated but to be expected after a serious injury.”
“At least he’s still alive.”
“Nate, satellite imagery is showing the engine is on fire. The location of the fire estimates that you have thirty seconds until the engine explodes. Best exit route is through the rear door.”
“Fuck, I can’t catch a break.” Nate said aloud.
He unbuckled his seatbelt and fell two feet onto the door’s glass window.
“How am I going to get the pilot out, SQAI?”
She showed him a demonstration through his glasses.
By the pilot's doorway, she demonstrated, lifting the pilot out.
“Jesus Christ!”
Nate climbed up his seat to get into the back.
He picked up his rucksack, used the back seats as a ladder, and opened the door above him.
He pulled himself up and felt the fire's heat. The black smoke billowing from the engine told him he needed to be quick.
With a decisive motion, he closed the door from the outside, using his body weight to brace himself and gain leverage.
“Mate, I need you to wake up!” Nate said, opening the door, popping his head under it and resting it on his back.
The fire sparked and startled Nate.
“MATE!” He roughed up the pilot’s shoulder to get him to come round.
The pilot groaned but didn’t wake up.
“Shit.”
Nate leaned in and tucked the pilot’s head out under the shoulder strap, and readied himself to heave him up.
He locked his hands into the pilot’s arm and drove his legs up and pulled him out of his seatbelt.
A panel on the back wall inside the helicopter burst off and enraged flame spurted out.
Straining with the weight, Nate grunted.
He cleared the pilot from his seat as it caught alight from the spreading flames and fell backwards onto a mound of mud.
“Explosion imminent.” SQAI said in his ear.
The flames lit up the entire cabin in seconds.
Nate stood up in the sludge and picked up the pilot’s hands and dragged him backwards. He kept dragging him by both arms until they reached the safety behind a large rock.
As Nate fell to the floor behind the rock, panting, the helicopter erupted into flames, filling the air with the acrid smell of burning fuel.
Shaking the ground below him, the explosion sent shrapnel hurling in the air all around them. Nate ignored it.
Exhaustion swept over his body, and he felt his eyes close.
forty-two
“Nate… Nate!” The faint noise brought him around.
The scent of earth mingled with the faint hint of burning fuel linger in the air near the unconscious pilot.
Helicopter pieces were scattered about in the surrounding area. A rotor blade here, a leather pilot seat still on fire there.
“Nate, the fuel from the helicopter has lit the dry grass on fire. You need to move to the treeline to your left.”
“Okay.” Nate said, his voice croaking.
He stood up and hoisted the pilot over his shoulders, making his way to the treeline fifty yards further back from the rock. A hundred from the burning wreck.
After carefully placing the pilot down behind a tree, he asked SQAI to check his vitals.
“Heart rate elevated. Body temperature elevated. Respiratory rate elevated. Blood pressure is low. Repeated vital checks in three minutes. This patient needs urgent medical care, Nate.”
“Ping the authorities. Get a helicopter to these coordinates, SQAI.”
“They have been informed. Travel time is fifteen minutes.”
“Okay, we’ll wait.” Nate puffed out and fell onto his backside up against a tree.
He glanced over at the wreckage and pulled the bag off his back.
“SQAI, where the hell did the missiles come from?”
He opened up his bag and pulled out the laptop to find it in good working order.
“The missile first hit radar just above the reservoir next to the Craig Goch Dam.”
The photo showed the missile flame disturbing the usual calm, reflective water.
“Based on the image, due to the full power of the thruster being used suggests that the missile came from below the water surface.”
“What are they doing there? We are in South Wales!”
“Various military forces use the unpredictable terrain of Wales for training exercises. According to a redacted memo, they have transported missiles here for drills. Attempting to attain an unredacted version.”
“That’s bullshit. They wouldn’t use real missiles for training.”
“A few minutes before launching the first missile, they declared the area a no-fly zone.”
“What, when? The pilot would’ve been told or had a warning though, wouldn’t he?”
“Yes. Protocol is to warn any aircraft flying into the vicinity.”
“Then what the hell were they playing at?”
“Nate, the pilot’s vitals are dropping. He is losing blood.”
Nate dropped to the floor next to the pilot, running his hands over the pilot’s body, searching for anything unusual.
As he reached for his thigh, a sharp object jutted out, causing a sudden jolt of pain in the semi-conscious man.
With a sense of urgency, Nate tore at the outer seam on the pilot's trousers, revealing a sight that made him squirm. His thigh bone had broken and pierced through the skin. It was still covered in blood and looked like a raw chicken bone.
“Oh god no!”
“Scanning.” SQAI announced in his ear.
“Femoral shaft fracture. Nate, you need to stem the bleeding. Take off his belt and tie it around his leg. Pull as tight as you can and pierce a new hole to keep it in place.”
It took Nate longer to follow instructions because he couldn't look at the leg.
“Now find something that is able to keep the leg elevated.”
He searched the small forest and found a large boulder. Positioned it under the leg and lifted it up to rest on it.
“Do I need to put it back in or anything?”
“I would advise against it, due to the risk of infection, increased trauma, and lack of proper medical equipment. Air ambulance has dispatched a helicopter. ETA 8 minutes.”
“SQAI, what about the no-fly zone?”
“The air ambulance has been informed and confirmed to skirt around it.”
Nate heard an unusually loud buzz approaching. He thought it may be the helicopter in the distance.
“Nate, military drone approaching. Attempting to break encryption.”
Nate groaned loud and scanned the sky when he saw it. A terminator-like drone, with two gun barrels with a belt magazine protruding out the side, set on either side of a central propeller.
“That looks friendly.” Nate said aloud.
Underneath the propeller was a small box with two large circles, Nate guessed was the camera.
The drone flew over towards the wreckage and began scanning.
“It doesn’t look like they know where we are. At the moment. Let’s hope it stays that way.”
The drone, roughly the size of a truck wheel, seemed to scan the crash site and nearby area. It wasn’t until it picked up on something on the ground did it make its way toward them.
“Oh shit. No, no, no, no, no.”
Next to the pilot, Nate noticed a small pool of blood. And another strip of blood in the direction they came from and he followed a trail of it leading back to the crash site and it aligned perfectly with the path the drone stuck to.
“Air ambulance inbound.” SQAI announced.
“We need to go. We need to go now.”
“Nate, if this man does not get urgent medical care in the next half an hour, the probability of survival drops to three percent.”
“Ah, shit, shit, shit. How long until decryption, SQAI?”
“Estimated time of decryption. Two minutes.”
“Oh, this is either very brave or idiotic. Or both.”
Nate stood away from the tree to come into the drone’s view and began to shout and wave his hands frantically.
The drone camera motioned up from the ground to Nate and darted towards him.
“Shit.” Nate ran further into the forest, hoping the trees would slow the drones pace.
Surprisingly, it didn't slow down.
Skirting outside the woods, the drone followed Nate’s path and he could hear whirring sound different to the propellers noise, Nate glanced over to see the machine gun barrels began to spin on their frames.
Nate leapt over broken trees and bounced from tree stump to tree stump, like he was in one of those ninja TV shows, hoping the drone would lose sight of him. It didn’t.
The guns started tearing away at the trees. Its rapid fire flung chunks of broken tree and wood in all directions.
Bullets sliced through the trees in a perfectly straight line, surpassing the cutting power of any chainsaw.
A large set of rocks built up just ahead of Nate could provide cover so he darted for them.
