A Hidden World

Sharon In Action

Our screen splits in two. One side is a wide overhead shot. Opposite is a visor cam with a bunch of numbers and grids overlaid in multiple colors. Sharon hits ground with a thump. Commander Carol is just in front of her, pointing, while orders come over a headset. Children are barely visible in a dissipating dust cloud. They are coming up from below ground level. Commander Carol disappears from her view.

Sharon says "Lights on." Shafts of bouncing light cut into dust and raindrops glisten on both views as a rescuer runs well ahead of the others. Our screen becomes a single picture. She casts moving shadows all around her as she starts down a stairwell. Furrowed marble stairs are cracked and a bottom section is missing. She jumps.

Van leaps back and looks at her in surprise. He is picking up smaller children and lifting them over the missing stairs. Sharon tilts a broken section of stairs and drags them.

Van's jaw is hanging open in shock. A Phys-Ed teacher, he is a solid three hundred pound cuddly bear. He towers over Sharon, watching her moving thousands of pounds of worn stone, the stairwell base. She lifts them over a huge crack in the concrete floor so the broken section of stairs leans on stairs from above. She changes position to brace and hold them in place.

Sharon voice, "We have victims at this location. We require lighted stairs, finders and medics."

She motions her head as children, Van and a couple of adults run up her makeshift stairwell. Other rescuers race down. A couple of rescuers slide around to help brace her improvised stairs. Others run in different directions while dust covered children and teachers appear then scamper up the broken stairs.

Steel looking stairs with lights slide down. Sharon, in a fog of swirling dust moves down a hallway. Mounds of rubble are everywhere. A section of concrete ceiling is blocking a hallway. Rescuers point and chatter indicates more people are behind the collapsed ceiling.

The screen splits in two again. One from a rescuer watching a dust covered rescuer who I suspect is Sharon. The second half changes to what seems to be a three dimensional view. It continues to change as she moves her head. She checks walls, ceilings, and floors. Sharon moves to an adjoining room. Rescuers are working on a bandaged, back boarded person. She moves back and waits as rescuers carry the back boarded person toward her stairs. She enters an opposite room. Several rescuers are applying bandages to injured amid rumble. A cinder block wall used to make extra rooms in our huge basement disintegrated under the burden of a broken and cracked concrete ceiling.

"Engineer report for all. This area is unstable. Moving anything at this location will cause another collapse affecting any victims beyond this break. We need a different way to get to those victims."

She sprints back down a hall dodging broken brick and cider block. She ducks under broken pipes and up steel lit stairs. Both views are back but one from above is following a running rescuer. She follows the school foundation in a direction parallel to her hallway. Rescuers are in a queue, many pointing down. She reports, "Engineer report to all. The floor above our trapped victims is unstable. There's no way to get them from this location."

She looks down and her display changes showing an overlay of what appears to be a three dimensional blueprint of what is below. She starts following a hallway. She is away from the pack of rescuers when our screen freezes.

Kathy's voice echoes. "We'll halt Rescuer Sharon's progress at this point. We'll change focus completely. Ground controller Jon Kline, a recent transfer from group three who was in command of sections fifteen and sixteen is to testify. Ground controller Jon, in your after action report you state you found a way down to rescue more victims. Is that correct?"

"Yes, I followed the cracked floor to a point where both floor and ceiling are stable. We could get down to the lower level of this wrecked building."

"Controller Jon, I understand you filed a tribunal request. A commander relieved you while you were on this rescue?"

His anger flares, "Yes, she demanded to know what I'm doing and why my teams of rescuers are doing what I ordered them to do."

"Controller Jon, were you with those rescuers?"

"Yes."

"Controller Jon, how far was this stable section to the lower level compared to where you and your rescuers were positioned?"

"About ten yards."

"Controller Jon, can you identify which commander relieved you at this scene?"

"She did." He points at Commander Carol.

"I've one last question Controller Jon. How do you find a way down to an underground hallway without an engineering suit or any engineering experience? I find it amazing, considering you were seventy six yards away from that location."

He stares at Kathy in defiance. After a moment she warns, "Don't answer, Jon. I'll lose my temper if you do. Commander Carol, you know you're in trouble for your 'out of service' call. Why did you relieve Controller Jon during a live rescue?"

"I was ordered to continue to our rescue site. I'm flipping communications channels while checking on sections. I hear reports of trapped victims under a floor with a number of rescuers queued at two locations. They claim their areas are unstable and will collapse if they try a rescue from either location.

"I hear a couple of urgent requests from an engineer for assistance. Rescuers seem to ignore his calls for help. I track their comm. channel and come upon Controller Jon. He has most of his two sections picking up debris in a schoolyard. They are well away from active rescues.

"He ignores another urgent request from his missing engineer who claims he found a way down to an underground hallway. His engineer calls for assistance, bridging and a full rescue section."

She pauses and turns a shade of red, "To be honest, I lost my temper. My squads are out of service and now more squads do nothing while one of their own engineers is calling for help. I inform operations I'm taking control of his team. I relieve Controller Jon, claiming rank and seniority. I gather his squads as the engineer sends an emergency operational alert. I direct his squads to support that engineer."

"Commander Carol, did operations acknowledge your control of his sections?"

"Yes, they acknowledge my control of his sections and order ground controller Jon to return to a ship."

"Thank you, Commander, please remain. You're a glutton for punishment. You've a summons for a second tribunal. I'm thankful you were there. You'll interact with Rescuer Sharon one more time at this rescue.

"Controller Jon, your account differs significantly from Commander Carol's version. I should call your squads in to testify. I'll leave that for your tribunal. This assessment is not about you, it's about Rescuer Sharon. A rescuer who understands what rescuers should do at a rescue."

Frustration is building in her voice, "Rescuer Sharon, please excuse me for what I'm about to do.