Chapter 27

Trip to Tokyo

Tuesday morning I wake up just before the alarm with an extra weight on my chest. Lia has moved over a bit and now Tama is lying half on me and half on Nari. I smile and laugh, the movement wakes Lia. And she laughs on seeing Tama’s position. We wake everyone and head to the showers. During breakfast Rob goes through the security measures for the next few weeks as I’m leaving him here to keep an eye on the bulk of my family. He’s not happy with me being away from him, but he accepts my main concerns are for my family while I can look after myself quite well. Sharon runs through the things she’ll be handling in my absence and she confirms the extra authorities I’ve approved for access to all of the accounts etc. have been processed and are operational.

While I’m getting dressed Brian Little calls to talk about the garden. He wants to place a structure two hundred and fifty metres in diameter over the main back-up generator between the buildings, offset it a bit, and have covered walkways from the recreation building and residence to it running right over the tunnels. This will help conceal all that work and it’ll help justify the digging in that area as he’ll put in the facilities etc. for the garden beside the main back-up generator. I approve it all.

A little later I approach Nari and say, “Nari, I’m sorry, but I just got a call from the architect. He can’t do a garden area of one hundred and fifty metres for you.” She gives a sad smile, “You’ll have to find a way to fill up a garden space of two hundred and fifty metres in diameter because that’s the size of the area he wants to set the garden dome on.”

Her eyes almost pop when she grins while darting forward to give me a big hug. This gives her one of the biggest Japanese Gardens in the world, outside of Japan, and it’s probably the largest privately owned one in the world, outside of Japan. She can now do it up to be really good.

When it’s time to go to school I kiss all of my girls goodbye when they leave to take the big bus while the rest of us leave in the smaller bus for the airport. Most of our gear was packed and put into the cargo hold yesterday, so we’re fast to board and we’re taking off just on nine o’clock. With just the twenty-four of us on the aircraft, including the four flight crew, we all stay in the front area chatting or working on computers.

Some hours later we land in Los Angeles at ten in their morning. The time zones are going to really mess us up on this trip. We spend thirty minutes wandering around the L.A. terminal getting a bite to eat because our stomachs swear it’s lunch time. While we do that they refuel and service Ryū. We depart at ten forty in the morning, Hawaii bound.

We land at Honolulu at one in the afternoon their time, feeling like we need dinner. We get off and grab a couple of small bags from the cargo hold because we’re staying here for about twelve hours to break up the flight and relax a bit. A nice meal in a nearby hotel where we leave our bags in the suite reserved for us then it’s off to see a few of the sights of Hawaii. It’s a very tired crew who arrive back at the hotel for dinner at seven because our bodies say it’s after midnight. We head to bed early at eight fifteen local time with the alarms set very early.

Wednesday morning we’re up and getting ready by two o’clock, thus we’re leaving the hotel at two fifteen a.m. We arrive at the airport and head for the only food store open at this time, Samurai Sushi. We get three meals each. The owner is working the shop and he’s happy to have so many customers at this time, one of the reasons he opens twenty-four hours a day is to get all the middle of the night sales. I get a few of their business cards to hand out. We’re in the air at three o’clock and eating by five minutes past three. Ryū was refuelled and serviced yesterday.

A few hours later we land in the Marshall Islands at eight in the morning on Thursday as we lost a day due to crossing the International Date Line. We nap a bit during the flight and we have our second sushi meals just before we land. Thirty minutes later we’re back in the air on our way to Brisbane, Australia. We all have our third sushi meals just before we land in Brisbane at nine thirty in the morning their time. Some of the girls wonder why we didn’t just leave the meal until after we land, but they don’t know how long Australian Customs can take while I do.

Australia

We clear Customs and Immigration at ten thirty as we’d landed just behind a couple of international Boeing 747 flights, what a crowd! Being an Australian I could’ve taken a quicker route, but I choose to stay with my people. We completed our Customs Declaration cards while in the air as I picked some up from the Qantas Airlines people in Honolulu. They were friendly and were happy to let me have some for my people.

Jeff, Bryce, and Mr Belling are there to meet us because Bryce and his uncle flew in last night. They’ve a couple of mini-buses with drivers from the hotel we’ll be staying at as they’re already registered there. We only have the minimal luggage we need so we’re quick to load up and head to the hotel for brunch. We all sit down to eat while Mr Belling goes over various matters and I sign papers. Then it’s off to Evans Publishing to present some awards and to give the girls a tour of the place. Jeff briefs me on many matters on the way over.

Several staff had got together and they worked out a way to improve the way we do things, so they get awards and cheques as a more useful reward. I also hand out the Christmas Bonus cheques at the same time. The whole presentation goes well at the start of the lunch break. One of the older staff is late. When Peter walks in I call out to him, “Peter, I hope you’ve got a late note from your mother. If I have to have a parental note for being late, so do you.” He stops to stare at me with a frightened look as his mother is ninety something. “OK, from a married person I’ll accept a note from their spouse. Staff functions are meant for staff to be here at them.” I wave the envelope with his bonus in it. “Next time you better have a note, or you don’t get your Christmas Bonus cheque, understand.” I’m smiling so they all know it’s a joke.

Peter laughs while he walks over to take the envelope as he says, “Yes, Boss. I had something personal to fix first.” We smile at each other.

The girls go on a tour while I discuss many things with Jeff. He does surprise me by having the next Lyn Evans book printed and ready for distribution. We arrange for me to take the shipments to Japan for an early release to save the freight costs, plus some as gifts. We’ll ship the rest out early too, but the stores elsewhere won’t put them on display for sale until early January, even that’s six weeks earlier than the schedule.

While the girls get the royal tour of the place I’m in Jeff’s office with him, Bryce, and Mr Belling while we go over many matters concerning the business. The main items are the need to expand a lot, replace most of the equipment, and most of the staff are due to retire within the next two years. Under the circumstances it’ll be better to build a new facility and close this down when the bulk of staff and the equipment are retired.

I open my laptop, turn it on, and start checking various things while we discuss other matters. We’ve most of the things sorted out before I find what I’m looking for. Turning to Bryce I say, “Look into who owns the land on the Mount Blackheath plateau, the whole area up to Shipley. See if you can buy it for a reasonable price. If you can we’ll set up our new corporate headquarters there with the new printing facility. We’ll keep this place going while the staff are still working, close it down and sell it when the last of the original staff retires. We’ll keep a small office here to do artwork and accept jobs, it’ll also do small print on demand jobs, but the real printing will be done at the new facility. The new HQ will also include staff housing with major residences for the senior staff. I want it to have some space to grow crops too.” They all look at me at the last item, but they note it down. “We’ll need to pay to improve services etcetera, but it’ll be worth it, I think. We can even put in our own airstrip and heliport to make transport easier.” This will cost a lot, but I’m sure it’ll be worth the trouble. It’s now late afternoon and time we move on.

We leave there to take in a few of the tourist sights on our way back to the hotel. A change of clothes then off to a major restaurant and a dance club for a few hours. Back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep.

Friday morning is a late breakfast followed by the girls heading out to spend a couple of hours visiting places while Bryce and I finish some more work dealing with the overseas businesses and bank accounts.

Bryce and Mr Belling accompany us to the airport so they can see us off before they take a flight home to Sydney. My last official task before leaving Brisbane is to hand them both bonus cheques for the great work done this year. Mr Belling wasn’t expecting anything at all because he’s on a private professional retainer, so he’s extremely happy with a one hundred thousand dollar bonus. Bryce knew I was going to give him a good bonus due to the profit from the Nagumi deal, but he’s very surprised when he sees the amount of two million dollars on the cheque. He’s very stunned when he looks at me, “That’s about one percent of what I came out ahead because of the extra work you did, surely you can’t argue about a bonus of one percent as it’s such a low figure.” He gives a slow nod when he recognises the validity of my comment, despite the actual figure it comes out at. Mr Belling leans over to see how much, and he smiles. I leave them standing there catching their breath.

Noon sees us at the airport having lunch while Customs inspects the cargo for Japan before the containers are loaded on to Ryū. We’re in the air just after one in the afternoon. An easy flight sees us landing in Darwin at three thirty local time. Thirty minutes to refuel and service Ryū while we buy some food from the Newscafé and Red Rooster to have later. Five minutes past four sees us in the air and heading toward Japan, nearly six hours to Tokyo with another half hour loss in time should see us landing there around ten thirty Tokyo time.

Just after dusk I look out and I’m surprised the sky is so clear it’s like you can see for ever. Once past the wing tip there’s nothing in sight but the distant stars, and they look like you can almost reach out and grab them. I’m amazed at how it looks. One of the relief pilots spots me looking and he says, “It’s a great sight, isn’t it, Boss? It’s seeing things like this on a clear moonless night that makes me really glad to be up high in a plane.” I just slowly nod my agreement because I’m still stunned by the beauty I’m seeing.

We eat our dinner about then and we all settle down for a long flight. We’re in the air for about three and a half hours when Basil calls for me to come to the cockpit.

Diversion

I can feel the tension when I walk in the cockpit. Matt, the co-pilot, gets up from his seat as he motions for me to sit down. When I do he places the headphones over my ears and I hear Traffic Control talking with a pilot, “ ... trol, Liberty Twelve Seventeen is declaring an emergency. We’ve lost most of the electrical systems and the flight instruments. I’ve no idea of where I really am, or where I’m going. In this darkness I don’t even know if I’m heading for a mountain or not. I know I was at thirty thousand feet when it all went. I was over the Philippines and heading east. I think they’re still right. Over.” He sounds nervous, but in control.

I lift the headphones up when I turn to look at Basil as he says, “Boss, they can’t be too far from our course and from what I’ve overheard of other traffic we’re likely to be the only people who can help. That’s a C Five Galaxy with a full crew and passenger load heading home from the Middle East.” He has a worried look on his face while he tells me. I also understand what he’s not asking, and the risks worry me a lot.

Sighing, I slip the headphones on and I activate the radio, “Control, Ryū. Private business jet out of Darwin, bound for Tokyo. We think we may be in the vicinity of Liberty Twelve Seventeen, do you have us both on radar? Can you direct us toward them? Over.” They respond that they do have us both on radar and we’re about four hundred miles apart. They direct the C5 to continue as they are and they give us a bearing to intersect the stricken plane. Basil increases power while we turn to the bearing a little west of north as he also changes our height to thirty thousand feet. Control moves us to another frequency so we can chat as much as we need and not disturb the normal operations. They continue to listen in and they send us regular updates on our relative positions.

When we get nearer to the stricken craft we learn they’ve no exterior lights and the radio is working because the engineer has it working from a battery. I radio, “Liberty Twelve Seventeen, Ryū. Ask your passengers if they have any torches. If so, have them shine them out the windows on our side. I’d hate for us to be sharing the same cockpit space. Over.” He agrees and sends one of the crew back to check. A few minutes later he tells us they’ve got several torches shining out of the starboard windows.

I relinquish the co-pilot seat to Duke, my second best pilot and lead of the second team, so I can sit in the jump seat behind Basil to use the spare radio headphone set there. The other pilots who’d come to the cockpit when the emergency started give me surprised looks. I wink at them. They start a quick light fight for the other jump seat and radio headphone set behind the co-pilot’s chair. I laugh at their childish behaviour, but I also appreciate it for the game it is. The one who ends up with the unit is the next senior pilot while the one he fought with is younger and in a much better physical condition. We sit as we listen to the radio chatter while we think about the situation and what can be done to help them.

A few minutes later we spot the troubled craft by the dim torches in the cockpit windows. Basil tells them he has them and he’s moving in to take up formation with them so the cockpits are level. When we pull up beside them I hear one of their flight crew on the radio, “Cap, I thought you said it was a private business jet. That’s a fucking Airbus out there.”

I cut in, “You’re both right. This is my private business jet and it’s an Airbus A three one eight. It’s brand new, so behave yourself. You scratch the paint and I’ll be very upset with you.” That gets tension relieving laughs on both craft. I worry about how close we are because the collision warning alarm has been turned off. I didn’t know we could do that.

Basil cuts in, “OK, people, here’s how it’ll go. I’ll pull ahead a bit then I’ll start to turn to a new heading. You follow me around. The only strip I know of around here that I’ll trust trying to ’buddy in’ with two such large aircraft is Kadena Air Base as it has plenty of open approach at low level. So that’s where we’re going. That’s about an hour to an hour and a half north of us. When we’re closer I want to slowly start taking us down to the deck. Control, do you have that?” They confirm and agree. They also promise to alert Kadena to the problem.

We make a slow turn to head north. About an hour later we start a slow and very shallow descent, it takes over forty minutes to drop down to five thousand feet, something that normally takes only a few minutes. By the time we’re flying up the coast of Okinawa we’re at fifteen hundred feet and ready to turn north-east for the final approach. Kadena control is talking to us while we head in, and they give us a weather report: clear with no wind, thank goodness.

We’re now at the critical stage while we cover the last few miles of the approach. Basil has Ryū just in front and off to the side of the Galaxy’s wing so our wing-tip vortex won’t interfere with them. Our instrument readings can do for the C5 at this stage. I get ready to give constant height and speed readings while Basil now has to keep a close eye on the C5 to see we don’t touch or get too close as Duke handles the main flight duties. Basil is ready to take us out of trouble while Duke flies Ryū in as if to land, except we’re aimed to be beside the runway with the C5 lined up with the runway lights as they can see them now. Our landing lights are on to help locate us and the ground.

I’ve a sudden thought, so I mention it, “Basil, take care when you peel off as we don’t want the jet wash to knock these guys out of the sky, not after all this trouble.” Earlier in the flight he’d briefed me on how we’d be landing the stricken aircraft. Once they’ve a good visual and are close to the ground they’ll be able to do a visual landing, so we’ll peel off at that point to leave them to it.

Basil acknowledges my comment then says, “Shit, I didn’t think of that. I’m used to doing this trick with fighters and they have a different jet location, so that’s not a problem. Thanks for remembering, Boss!”

The next few minutes is constant radio chatter while I give height and speed readings as the pilots talk about throttle, flaps, landing gear, etc. while the planes drop toward the runway. One thing many people don’t realise is an aircraft landing is a controlled fall from the sky while power is taken off, it’s not a fully powered manoeuvre like a take-off is.

The spare pilots all have the best view of the action because Basil has his eyes glued to the C5, Duke is focussed on the runway, and I’m staring at the airspeed and height instruments. Then we hear those magic words when Captain Denning says, “We’re right now, thanks.” Basil gives us more throttle as he pulls back on the control yoke while Duke retracts our landing gear. Ryū responds beautifully as she pulls away while rising at an angle and the landing gear retracts. When we bank left I look out the window to watch the Galaxy finish landing, race along the runway, slow down, and stop. A truck drives out, and the C5 follows it toward the hangars while we circle the field before we head back toward the sea.

The radio comes alive, “Ryū, Kadena Control, thanks for the assist. Give us a few minutes to clear the runway.” It’s after ten o’clock and we have to land to refuel because we don’t have enough fuel to make Tokyo now, not with any safety margin worth considering. We used too much of it in the diversion. They don’t want to refuel an unfamiliar aircraft in the dark if they can avoid it and I don’t like the idea of arriving in Tokyo around one or two o’clock, so they’re putting us up overnight. A few minutes later we’re given the OK to land, so we do. A few more minutes later we’re stopped near the hangers beside the C5 we just brought in. Basil sees to the securing of Ryū while we disembark. The girls have Matt open the cargo hold with our overnight gear from Brisbane while I go over to look at the movements around the C5 Galaxy.

The tail is part open with a lot of people who are moving about in the cargo area using torches. I look in to see a bunch of troops getting their duffel bags and gear from a couple of pallets. One man is standing off to one side watching them. I think he’s the senior officer. I approach and ask him, “Any idea how long the plane will be off-line yet?”

He turns to me as he says, “Not really, but one tech said it’ll likely take them two days or more just to identify what’s wrong as so much went down at once. Looks like we won’t make it home for Christmas now. We were heading back to base to sign in gear prior to going on leave for four weeks. Most would’ve made it home, but not now because all the planes are full. We wouldn’t have gotten on a ’FRED’ if we had a choice.” I know what he means as I’d heard the C5 Galaxy was called a Fucking Ridiculous Engineering Disaster by many people in the service. I commiserate with him for a bit and he introduces himself as Captain Stevens, but not what unit. I give him my name and we part soon after.

An officer turns up with a bus to take us to our overnight rooms in the Bachelor Officers’ Quarter (BOQ). I ask him to organise some food for us and he promises to get something delivered. He gets a bit put out when I ask to be taken to the Communications Facility so I can make a secure call to Washington. That requires a visit to the Officer of the Day (OD) in his office before I’m escorted to the ’Radio Shack’ to have the call put through after dropping the rest of my people at the BOQ.

Special Arrangements

When we head to the Communications Center the OD still isn’t sure I should be allowed to make the call. Because I want the Pentagon he’s allowing it and waiting to see what happens when the call is made. We arrive and I surprise both the OD and the sergeant in charge with a request for a double encrypted call to the Pentagon.

We end up in a medium sized room with some fancy gear along the wall and a speaker phone in the middle of a table for six or eight. The sergeant enables the system to make an encrypted call to the Pentagon switchboard where it’s automatically decrypted. They answer and I say, “Extension five six three two niner, please.” They put me through, and it’s answered with just the extension number, “Put me through to Rabbit Run Forty-two please.”