Preparations - WfW 15/1 8th Part

Last of the Words for Wednesday January 15:
    Constipation          and / or         Snot
     Rivalry                                       Beluga
     Occupation                                Emergency
     Sneeze                                        Qualify  
     Wishy-washy                              Coffee
     Diatribe                                     Butt
  For this installment I used the last of them: Snot
  We're still in - and around - the plane with Allan and company.

  Robert's group returned shortly afterwards, and told of a totally uneventful, yet strenuous journey.
  "Brown, brown and brown, as far as we could see. Only brown dunes, hot as a greenhouse and this strangely hazy sky. It's like walking inside an inverted bowl, one place is just like another," Allison, the shorter of the two women told. "As stated I'm a biologist, and I did not see any animal, neither the remains, traces or tracks of any life at all. No birds, no mammals, no nothing. This place is dead!"
  Mona, the farmer, added her two bits: "Yes, and no water either."

  Last to arrive, not long before sunset, was  the eastbound group with Hank, the co-pilot and the two actors, John and James. Everybody was outside the plane to hear news and discuss what would happen now. Sitting on crates and coffers or standing around all 37 listened to what the returning groups told.
  Just to ensure that everybody was up to date, Tom asked the groups to repeat their findings before he gave the word to the newly arrived group.
  "We saw something," John, the tallest of the two actors said,"
  "And we estimated that the home trip would be easier, downhill, walking in our own footsteps and all that," James, the other actor added.
  "We went there," Hank told. "And I'm happy we did! We found a forest! In the beginning all the trees were only stumps, then going toward the center, the stumps grew taller, and finally we saw pines or firs or whatever - trees with needles on them, not leaves - and they were still alive!"
  "Just a sec," Allan said. "You traveled uphill as well?"
  "Yes," James and Hank affirmed.
  "We did too," Robert said.
  "I'm not sure," Henny said.  "It was a bit easier going back, bu t then we followed the trail, we made on the way out."
  And was the brown stuff a uniform layer or did it thin out?
  "Became thinner, James said.
  "It thinned a bit," Robert said too, "then it became thicker as we neared the forest."
  "It stayed the same, or at least it did not change enough for me to notice." Henny said, and the two medical students, Sarah and Fred nodded.

"I have a theory." Allan said. "We are actually under water, or we would have been if the water was where it used to be. I dare bet we have landed in one of the straits, with a piece of land protruding north of us. I don't know how, why or anything. But this brown layer seems to be thinner on land."
"It's a theory, and at least it covers all what we have seen." Tom said. "And do you have any ideas on what to do?
"What about when the rains come, what then?" Daniel asked.
"Rain?" The father of the 3 children and Ulla's husband asked. "What rain?"
"Oh, I surmised everyone had heard by now," Allan said. I'll explain: "All the water from the seas and lakes and rivers is up there somewhere," Allan pointed to the skies. "Haven't you noticed how fuzzy the sunlight is, and how hot and uncomfortable we feel, even just standing or sitting around like this?"
   Those of the people who had not heard about his theory before, nodded slowly or gave vent to their agreement in a verbal way.
  Allan concluded: "Well all that water is not going to stay up there. It will have to come down as the earth cools off again. It'll be violent, to say the least, and I haven't got the slightest idea as to what will happen to all this puffed earth."

"Does the plane float?" someone asked.
"Yes, at least for a time." Hank answered.
The woman posing the question stood up: "I think the best move might be to wait for the rains to set in, hoping for the plane to float, and then have all of us pull it to land somewhere dry. Would this be possible?"
  "No idea." Tom said. "A plane like this weighs ... ugh around 100 tonnes when empty. I have no idea whether we could move it at all, and the currents would either aid or hamper us ..."
Allan stood up as well: "If I'm right, the water would flow north from here, in direction of that peninsula. It would more be a question of us steering the plane with the currents, and then getting it to strand where we wanted it to, than really pulling it."
  "We should empty it, Carry all the cargo to the highest possible ground hereabout - that would probably be Allan's Dunes," Hank, the co-pilot suggested."
  Henny spoke: "Could we take the altimeter from the plane. I mean, we we could send someone out to find the highest ground east, north and west of here. That would tell us where to go."
  "Big brain, like my children used to say." Hank smiled. "We can indeed do that tomorrow. And I can support Allan's rain theory by telling that the temperature has been falling steadily since we landed. It seems we're in for a rainy season.

Next morning runners, or maybe quick walkers would be a better expression, were sent out. They had an easy job. Get to the highest point on each of the routes - or deviate if somewhere along the trail seemed higher, read the altimeter there and return with their observations. When darkness fell it was clear, that Allan's Dunes, as they had come to be  known, were indeed the highest point in the vicinity.
  Those at the plain had not been sitting with their hands in their laps. They had been emptying the plane, packed everything as compact and as waterthight as possible. They had devised carrying stretchers from metal strips, evacuation slides, curtains and bits and sundry pulled from the interior of the plane. Hank and a group of helpers had closed the cargo bay and sealed the hatches with a glue-like substance that Hank called "Monkeys' snot".  They discussed emptying the plane of seats and interior, but agreed that they could not carry too much all the way to Allns Dunes in the remainning time, not without more people, as movement still was taxing in the thin, humid air. Furthermore Tom admitted that the plane had to be lighter than his former estimate, since the heavy under-wing motors had fallen off sometime during the Wave.
  Ropes were secured around the wings and belly of the plane, making a harness by means of which the lane could be oulled in the wanted direction. Everything was almost ready when Cordelia, tying an extra stubborn knot gave a yelp of surprise. "Clouds, she said, "The clouds have returned!"

to be continued ...