by Nathan Schwepler

Created on: July 01, 2008   Last Updated: April 27, 2009

This is a bit of a wonderful little book, The Great Fire of 2122

As Uncle Robert started his truck and the crowd moved back. Tad noticed one part of this plan that he hadn't heard about. Fire Hill had a large area on the top of it with no trees. The destroyed target truck had been in the center of the clearing, which was not quite the highest point. A workforce had been up on Fire Hill digging. Two parallel trenches ran from near the impact point up toward Robert's truck. They were dirt tracks for the tires. Robert drove the truck slowly over the burnt grass for twenty yards, and eased it down into the trenches. He turned the engine off and got out of the truck. Robert called to his brother. "Richard, on your signal I'll release the break and we'll give it one big push. Mr. President, sir, I would appreciate it if we could have seven soldiers prepared to move the truck forward on my command." Richard talked quietly to Raymond as he set his comclip to send the command. "I've got this ready, but should I hit it right when the truck hits the blaze, or should I wait for it to melt, or wait to see some change in the beam?" "Honestly, Richard, I think if you can see any of those things, it would be a good time. Most likely we'll see the blaze and the truck. Then we'll see just the blaze. When you can't see the truck anymore, send the signal." Richard gave Raymond a nervous look. Ray's smirk calmed him. His face said either this will work or it won't. If it doesn't, we'll try again. Richard called back across the field. "Everything is set, Robert. Send it when you're ready." Robert stood beside the open door and spoke calmly to the men at the back of the truck. "It probably won't move when I release the brake, but if it does, walk with it and wait to push until I am clear of the vehicle and I give the signal." One of the men had a question. "What's the signal?" "I haven't decided yet. Probably, Go now, push it really hard.' "When you start I want you to give it as much force as you can, but don't move with the truck more than ten steps. It's down hill, and we all know it's a heavy enough load, but we want to make sure it gets there. It would be a waste if it stopped five feet from the fire and melted without going in." He slid into his seat and released the brake and the gears. The truck didn't move. He got out carefully and looked toward his crew. "Okay, ready. No wait. I better get my insurance card. I've got full coverage on this thing. In case there's damage, I

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