Chapter 1

The money had started rolling in, already, and John Belinty was a happy man. He had discovered an appliqué that made items that were not armored, into armored items; and very tough armor, indeed!

It had taken some time to get someone's attention. Once he did, though, things rolled along quickly. It really speeded up when he was able to show beyond a shadow of a doubt, that it worked on anything. It even worked better if you manufactured the stuff into the product you wanted to protect.

Tires were a problem. They could be sprayed with the substance and they still worked, but the tires seemed to loose their cushioning effect. There had to be a way to build protection in, while maintaining the tire's flexibility.

In just the two years since the US government and he had negotiated the agreement between them, millions had rolled into John's bank account. He was now set for life. The government had subleased the process for this new armoring process, to a major US tire manufacturer. They had quickly discovered a way to resolve the flexibility issue.

The only problem was, neither the government nor the tire companies were allowing this process out into the public domain... for 'security reasons'. Of course, the real reason was that in normal use, the tires would far outlast the vehicle on which they were installed. John was a bit disappointed in that, but he knew how everything worked. They made tires for his vehicles, anyhow, so he was happy.

It was in the second year with the government contract, that John decided to purchase an RV, and take a long road trip. It was not like he was needed do anything, at this point. The government was paying him monthly royalties, and he was making more money than he had ever thought possible.

One of the first things he did was whip up a solution to spray onto his new RV, as soon he got it home. This effectively turned his RV into a huge armored vehicle. He was careful to do the undercarriage, the sides, and even the windows. He asked the tire company make tires in the correct size for his vehicle. They did so, willingly.

Hydrogen fuel cells had come a long way in the past decade, and the RV had a huge one. It provided the RV with a thousand mile range, before it needing refueling. It powered everything within the RV easily, and John was happy with his new toy.

For months John traveled the US. He had replaced the fuel cell several times already, and was doing it yet again. A thousand miles seemed to melt away under John's wheels as he traveled.

He was at a dealership in West Virginia getting yet another replacement fuel cell and looked curiously at his bill.

"I don't understand. It cost three hundred dollars per fuel cell. I went eight hundred ninety two miles on this one. I have a rebate coming to me; yet I am paying almost three hundred dollars, still, for this new fuel cell!" John asked with concern.

"With rebate, replacement service labor charges, and taxes, your bill comes to two hundred ninety eight dollars and sixty two cents," the technician stated

"Please," John responded, "feel free to soak me for as much as possible." John responded sourly.

Shortly, John found himself on the road again and was happy about it. It seemed to him that since he had bought this RV, dealers tended to screw him at the drop of a hat for all the money they could get.

Two hours on the road brought him into a storm front that started out gentle, but soon climbed in intensity. He started looking for a place to park and ride it out. Rain hit his windshield heavily. The wind blew hard enough to make driving an adventure of on staying on the road.

He finally found a place to pull off the road and parked. He used his automatic jacks to stabilize the vehicle, and level it out. Not even the storm, which was raging fiercely, could affect the RV now that they were down and set.

John looked out the front windshield an hour later, and decided he was there for the remainder of the storm. He tried to get his satellite TV working, but reception was sporadic due to the storm. Radio came in the best; but it, too, was intermittent.

John put on a CD and listened to music, while he cooked a meal for himself. He decided on spaghetti. Soon the RV was filled with the smell of spices and onions, which were used to season the meal.

When his meal was ready, he placed a DVD in the player, and watched an adventure movie. Steven Segal was in Alaska, trying to stop 'Big Oil' from polluting the land. While not a very old movie, it was still a favorite of his.

Steven Segal was not the best actor in the world, but he was great with martial arts. He had studied for years, and John wished he had taken the time to learn more about the martial arts than he knew.

Thunder and lightning were going off frequently. Despite the sound proofing in his RV, the lightening lit up the darkness outside, and the thunder was a background rumble that he was very aware of.

After the movie, he closed the curtains of his front windshield, and went to bed. Sometime during the night, John awoke with an unsettled feeling. He felt as if he had just fallen a great distance, yet the RV was quiet and stable.

That was it! The storm was not going on, outside, anymore! It was quiet, and the small rocking motion that had been caused by the wind, was missing. He made his way to the front of the RV, and opened the windshield curtains. It was pitch black outside, so he went back to bed.

The first thing that he noticed when he woke was the interior thermostat had kicked on the heater. It was almost too warm, inside the RV. He wondered about that, until he looked out and saw snow outside!

Huh? Snow?

He tried the usual radio stations, but only received static. Nothing was coming through. He frowned. He tried his satellite TV. It, too, was dead. He ran a diagnostic, and also discovered his GPS was not functioning. According to the diagnostic, no signal was being received.

This was preposterous! He'd paid a small fortune for satellite TV, the GPS system, and the other perks. Yet nothing was being received. The diagnostic said everything was working properly.

He cooked eggs, bacon, and made toast while he considered what to do. First of all, while he ate, he considered the snow. It was late spring. While not unheard of, a late snow was something that he was not used to, particularly this far to the south. Also, the last weather report said that the temperature was going to be in the fifties and sixties for the next few days in the area where he was!

According to the external temperature reading, it was thirty-one degrees outside. He checked his internal temperature, and noted it was seventy-two degrees in his RV. He notched it down to seventy, as even two degrees would save hydrogen fuel cell energy.

After taking care of the dishes, he retracted his stabilizing jacks and turned on his engine. He pulled onto the road, which seemed to have turned into a dirt road. He frowned. When did he leave the blacktop for a dirt road? He didn't remember this as being a dirt road, last night.