The Disillusion Mountains

Chapter 9

"Pay attention because what I'm about to say could save your life. You too Grant, there have been some upgrades since you left." Ranger Jacobs commanded with all the authority of Nimma's former drill sergeants. Even Eridani was paying attention like her life depended on it.

Selmmie and Eridani had come to see Nimma and Grant off on what Selmmie was now referring to as the big misadventure. That was an improvement over the previous adjectives and phrases she'd used such as, idiotic, foolhardy, a suicide mission, cursed, and Nimma's personal favorite–'a childish attempt to get me back for the restraining order, which is in the best interest of the case by the way, and if you really cared about me, you wouldn't be taking the hottest man in the city with you. What am I going to do without my eye candy?'           

"These are state of the art GPS tracking systems; they are solar powered, water proof, can be dropped from sixty feet without sustaining damage and connected to our private network. We will only check your position if we have reason to believe something has happened to you. Such as you're overdo on the return, the tracking system sends us an alert that it's been turned off, or the primary unit, Grant as the guide will be carrying, tells us it has sustained damage or total signal loss. Rangers will be sent to the last recorded location to search for you. If you enter the emergency code 000 we will get a ping on your location immediately and come for you.

"Nimma this unit is yours, it's the backup. I've already linked it to the primary it has all the same functions as Grant's only it's in dormancy mode. If for some reason the primary system fails, is damaged, or shut off, this one automatically wakes up and we will assume the worst and send Rangers to your location. This red light will begin flashing and you will hear three beeps to let you know this unit is now active. If it is not an emergency, and you and Grant are fine, but there has been some accident with the primary unit enter code 111. If you do this we will know that you don't need assistance and let your trek continue uninterrupted. You only have one minute to enter that code before the function locks and we send people after you.

"Regular cell phones don't work in those mountains you will never get a signal up there. I would give you a satellite phone but they are all currently in use by our Rangers. This means that you two are truly on your own up there. If for some reason the two of you are separated hit 5 just once. This will automatically give you the location of the other unit, how far apart you are from each other, and lead you on the most direct route to meet up again. Keep in mind that these will not be able to tell you what type of terrain is between you so be aware of your surroundings and don't rush. Remember there are caves and cliffs you may not see right away and you don't want to fall.

"Nimma," Jacobs continued after a breath. "You read the material on edible plants and how to purify water when you run out. You passed the test with a 93 not as high as I'd like but acceptable. You have pictures and descriptions of those plants in your packs along with water purification tablets, fire starters, and other equipment Grant can give you a crash course on. Due to your military experience you're already familiar with the MRES you'll be eating and how bad they taste." 

"Why do they taste bad?" Eridani questioned.          

"They're small bars designed to give you a hell of a lot of calories and nutrition tasting good isn't required," Nimma told her. "Wanna try one?"

"Yes." The girl said it confidently. Nimma smirked and handed the girl a bar. Eridani took one bite, spit it out, and ran for the drinking fountain outside the Rangers station while screaming obscenities.      

"That's was mean," Grant said.

"She shouldn't have tried sneaking a beer from my fridge the last time I babysat her." Nimma shrugged.