A Hidden World

A Demonstration

Stepping off another elevator, she informs me we are underground. We enter what appears to be a bottom floor in the center of a building. Octagonal walls run upward on all sides. A distant hole far up shows a blue sky with slow moving clouds.

Across the massive area in front of me, hundreds of people stand in groups of tens to about fifty. Most are sitting and appear listening. Lecturers are standing.

Halfway across this immense open area I spot them. A group with no lights, but those red robots are what I saw in my wrecked school. I stare and realize some have no helmets. People are inside red robot shells.

We sit behind a railing with front row seats at what reminds me of a massive football stadium. Kathy points, "This is what our world is all about. You're watching rescuers in training. This is an advanced class, a small select group with senior instructors teaching students who will soon become certified rescuers."

She points toward a center area. "Normally training is boring to watch as rescuers practice techniques shown to them on their visors and use special mannequins. This is an old simulation and it models everything in real time while recreating a total environment. In a moment, a rescue ship will lift off. This is a drill. It will appear very life like. You'll hear, feel, and even smell a few city blocks in a disaster situation. There will be fire and noise. It's not real.

"Many of those not in rescue suits will take up safety positions all over and monitor the scenario. Those without helmets observe. Those with their helmets on will come out of a rescue ship and treat this like an actual disaster. Rescuers will find, extract and triage victims while they separate minor injuries from walking wounded, and determine who needs immediate evacuation for treatment.

"Rescue suits protect and enhance a rescuer. Some people have trouble with rescue suits. For others a rescue suit feels like it is a second skin. Trainees must learn how to use their rescue suits. There are many different types of rescue suits and positions. Every person must certify in a type of rescue suit he or she specialize in. This exercise has students in a position and rescue suit they don't train for. This scenario gives them an understanding of what other members of each team do and shows them how complex our groups are. We all work together to save lives.

"We use this as a test to see how well our future rescuers are trained. It has several standards we watch to help determine if we are advancing in our training goals.

"It's time. You're about to see what more or less happened in your town on the day of your tornado."

People scatter. Some move into a huge doorway centered in a large building.

It moves upward. It's not a building. The doorway they disappeared into is less than one quarter of one side of the sloping bottom on a huge ship. It is eight sided. Flat vertical sides are rectangles, huge in length and width. It has smaller trapezoid surfaces sloping up and down. Angled surfaces stop abruptly showing a flat bottom. I have no references to try to guess any dimensions of that monster ship.

In an instant, it is midnight dark. A moment later, a huge explosion of light erupts as flames rocket skyward. I feel heat and can taste fire. The ship drops to less than a hundred feet.

I am stunned. As my eyes adjust, I see buildings and streets where nothing was before. It is a residential neighbourhood. Several streets of houses on both sides, but some are on fire. Train cars smashed through or into several of them. Some rail cars sit upright but others lie on their side. A row of train cars forms a lazy zigzag in what were streets and yards but are now full of debris.

One boxcar burns furiously looking like a part of a two or three story house. Flames shoot through windows. Several flattened houses point to a path of destruction. They are nothing but rubble foundations. Most standing houses have damage. Some are canting to one side. A roar rises from burning rail cars.

Kathy's hand is on mine. "This isn't real. No one's going to get hurt. Relax and watch a miracle happen."

That huge ship lights up like a sun and drops downward yet again. It stops above ground while a center bottom section continues to extend downward. Red robot suited people pour out of it. They are running, heading in every direction. Moving in groups of three and four, they spread out. Several run toward burning buildings. Streams of liquid start pouring down from somewhere on a brightly lit ship. In one spot, two red robot suited rescuers direct water cannons, pointing to specific locations in a couple of close fires.

Kathy's hand holds mine tight as she explains, "Those putting out fires and running up to buildings are engineers. They make sure it is safe for both injured and rescuers.

"Next in are finders. Sensors in their rescue suits identify then locate injured and trapped. Finders' sensors can penetrate solid rock, concrete, and steel. A rescue team moves in with a combination of engineers, finders, and aiders. Together, they extract victims safely and administer emergency first aid.

"They move victims to a central triage location under the ship. There medics set up treatment priority. They transport critical patients up to the ship. Non-life threatening injuries are treated then go by ambulance to a local hospital. Aiders treat minor injuries once they return from search and rescue.

"This is a recreation of a late nineteen eighties train accident. One hundred fifty nine people die due to poor response times and badly implemented rescue efforts. Another two and a half hundred are permanently disabled. No one gets hurt here. This realistic scenario teaches them how to react in a lifelike situation. Sit back and watch a beautiful ballet."

I see it, chaos turned into a carefully choreographed drill. Three red suited rescuers enter a building that looks ready to collapse. A rescuer with a backboard runs toward another two farther out. A rescuer carries two people, one in each arm, toward an eight sided ship. Under that ship, one kneels between two people on their backs while all three lift upward.

Out of the front door from a canting house comes a rescuer. On each side, he has a backboard with a person on it braced between his elbow and waist. A second rescuer emerges holding the back ends of both backboards. A third rescuer follows with a woman in one arm, a child whose arms wrap around the rescuer's neck piggyback style, and a small child in his other arm. They stop, move their charges downward and begin covering them with their backs to a large fire. Two rescuers still stand. Silhouetted by fire, the two rescuers wave their arms.

For me, it happens in slow motion. A huge blinding flare rockets skyward with mushrooming flames, an explosion. A shockwave throws the two rescuers off their feet and ten feet into the air. They land ten to fifteen yards away. Next, an ear splitting burst followed by a roar. A visible concussion ring moves too fast for me to duck. A gentle breeze ruffles my hair, but I do not feel the expected  concussion wave.

Instinctively, I look for dead or injured. I experienced that kind of explosion before. I know there are dead and injured. My last experience left me maimed. Flaming debris cascades down.

Under the ship, nothing penetrated. Crews stand, crouch and work as if nothing happened. The two who flew through the air, are on their feet and run toward flames, directing water cannons. They were closest to that explosion. They should be dead.

Rescuers pick up injured and move toward the ship. The collapsing house is gone and so are several others. I watch in amazement.

Two rescuers pick up an end of a backboard with a patient on it then secure it between a third rescuer's arm and waist. They repeat it on his other side. A second one steps behind the backboards and lifts. A third rescuer picks up a mother in one arm, squats down to allow a child to wrap his arms around his neck, and cradles a small child in his free arm. He follows as they walk toward the ship.

I see two rescuers carrying a backboard, while a third holds what appears to be an IV bag. From under the ship, more rescuers start running. I realize they head toward a couple of solitary red rescue suits. They found more injured or trapped people and direct rescuers to them. I look down at Kathy, who is sitting with a huge grin on her face, staring back at me.

I feel a tear run down my cheek. I look back at the devastation in awe. Rescuers are risking their lives in conditions that trained war veterans would balk at. They keep moving into collapsing houses, digging through rubble and directing fire cannons.

I watch and grow more humbled with every moment. They do not quit. Most rescuers are under the ship treating injured. Some of them give first aid to walking wounded.