Situation Report (from the debriefing)
(Continued) Auto Destruction in 1:18 We were out of the building, but nobody was breathing a sigh of relief just yet. Everybody that could fly, did. Santa, the missus, Prancer and Dancer were in Santa's spare delivery bag, which I had sent Comet to retrieve from the sleigh garage. They were now hanging from the gondola cable, the rocky foot of the mountain over 1000 feet below them. We had tied two ropes to the bag, (which due to a bit of elfish magic was a good deal bigger on the inside than on the outside.) Team 2 and team three were each tied to a rope and pulled them along the gondola cable. I flew into a position directly over where the bag was looped over the cable. Lt. Vixen was with me. In a quiet voice, he whispered to me. Vixen: This is no good. Every foot we pull the bag along rubs the handle against the rough cable. It's like sand paper. You can see it fraying right there. He was right, I could. All I could do was pray that we got far enough away before the building blew up, the cable snapped or the handle finally gave way. Auto Destruction in 0:15 We were about 600 feet away from the building when the bag snagged on a rough spot on the cable. Teams 1 and 2 were forces to a sudden stop. Auto Destruction in 0:11 I instructed teams 1 and 2 to fly high so we could try and lift the handle of the bag over the spot where it was catching. The did, pulling as hard as they could. Vixen: Rudy, that handle looked awfully frayed. Auto Destruction in 0:01 Teams 1 and 2 got the handle off the rough spot, after a few seconds of scrabbling for sky in the cold, dark winter morning. As they gently let it back down, the building exploded. It was a huge explosion, far bigger that was really needed to destroy a building this size. It was only about a second before the wave of the explosion reached us, bringing heat, smoke and debris right at us. I was knocked away from my position next to Vixen by a piece of flamming debris, and was about 40 feet away when I regained attitude contol and could control my own flight again. As I looked back up, among all the smoke and confusion, I saw the cable snap. The bag hung there for a second, like something out of a Road Runner cartoon. Vixen shouted something I couldn't make out as the bag, with Santa and the rest of them still inside, plummeted toward the rocks below. Teams 1 and 2 fell with it, too, as they were still tied to their lead lines. Vixen looked away. I could do nothing by watch in horror, unable to do anything to stop it.
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