Tree of Life

Book II Chapter 03

TREE OF LIFE BOOK II

CHAPTER 03

Just in case you didn’t know, there is no direct flight into the Amazon rainforest.

The chemical that Brian and his group had found was the d-isomer of DCA, or DDCA. He had found it in the stream water that flowed around the base of the Yerupaja Mountain. The Yerupaja, or Nevado Yerupaja, was a mountain of the Cordillera Huayhuash in west central Peru, which was itself a part of the Andes range of mountains that stretched along the western edge of South America. At around 22,000 ft, it was the second-highest peak in all of Peru and the highest point in the Amazon River watershed.

So, this was where it all began. This was the common starting point, where water would gather first to eventually feed into and form the river, that would nourish and feed all of the largest rainforest on the planet, which then in many ways, went on to feed the rest of the world. Brian’s research camp was here, a little bit off in the bush, by the base of Mount Yerupaja in the shadow of its southwestern face.

The pharmaceutical company that Brian was working at, Movartis, was big. According to figures in 2009, it was the second largest drug company in the US as ranked by total yearly gross revenues. That year alone, it made well over 40 billion dollars, US. Brian had risen to nearly the very top of Movartis in a few scant years. He was now the youngest VP in the pharmaceutical and biotech division of the company, under the department of oncology. All his colleagues hated him. But his bosses loved him and that was more important. They let him do pretty much whatever he wanted. In every way that mattered, this meant unlimited funds at his fingertips, so with it, he had chartered the company jet to fly him and Nicole down to Huaraz, Peru that very night. From there, it would be a little over an hour or about a hundred miles to the camp where Brian’s men were stationed.

When the two got to the airport in Huaraz, it was nearly morning, and the duly outfitted military transport helicopter was already there and ready to go with blades up and spinning.

“Why military?” asked Nicole, as she ran to get on board with her hair whipped up by the wind from the rotors and all crazy. She could tell it was military because it had machine guns strapped to the sides.

“It’s the only kind I could get just now.”

They hopped on. It was a Bell UH-1N Iroquois, or more commonly called, a Twin Huey. It was the same utility helicopter that everyone was familiar with from the old Vietnam War movies. Even though it’s been around for decades, it was still a useful transport and updated versions of it were still used by different services all over the world. Including the military in Peru. In this one in particular, they had added extra padding and other higher tech so it was less noisy in the cabin in the back.

Brian told Nicole it was going to be a little while to get to the base. The ride on the chopper wasn’t too bad, so Nicole tried to close her eyes and get some rest, but before she knew it, a rainstorm had kicked up to keep things exciting, complete with thunder and lightning and turbulence that came at just the wrong times.

Nicole was strapped into her seat with her hands on the armrests. She was staring out the side when another bolt of lightning flashed and lit up the sky. She jumped.

Brian, sitting beside her, laughed. “You know, this happens all the time.” He indicated the storm.

“I know, I know.” She rolled her eyes.

“They call it the rainforest for a reason. Every day, at some time each and every day, it tends to rain.”

“I know. I know.”