Adventures In The Far Reaches

Chapter 2

IN ALL THAT time, my black Sony Handycam was staring the two of us from atop my bulky backpack, perfectly still in front of my legs. I didn't turn it on yet; I didn't want the team to see and feast on the awkwardness between me and Chris that could potentially happen any moment now, though Judd specifically instructed us to keep recording and shooting no matter what so we could get as much material as possible. Other than my personal camera which was intended for additional B-shots, Chris has his larger and much more sophisticated camera for the main shots. Our reporting style in The Valiant was of The Blair Witch Project-type, "found-footage" style, so our viewers could really get that sense of being in our feet, not to mention that additional authenticity factor. That would require us to show every single thing we would do in the two-week duration of this assignment, be it me peeing, taking a shower, meditating and acting all crazy to get rid of my anxiety attacks or making out with Chris, and endlessly talk to the camera like it was my best friend in the whole world. The editing team would our footages into a 90-minute documentary for the convenience of our YouTube viewers, but we make available DVDs with the unrated version of everything. Because of our baggage capacity, we couldn't have live feed for the entire mission so we would just keep shooting everything we see when we touch down and let the editing team do their magic and make me my documentary, which hopefully, would be the instrument of the further popularity of our channel, and of me.

I did manage to get a few minutes of sleep, the assurance of Chris of our safety being an important factor, until a brief violent turbulence snapped me off. I looked around the cabin, and it seemed I was the only one disturbed. Even Chris was still in deep sleep. I was back to square one. My wristwatch showed 5:16, and though we won't land in Tehran until 45 minutes later, time that I could use for more nap, my body was already awake and could no longer fall into another slumber. My house routines and the report assignments for our channel have altered the biological clock of my body, which seems unhealthy but no chronic illness from this has threatened my life just yet. I do suffer from a severe form of asthma, which inflicted me out of nowhere, but I don't associate it with that. Instead, I grabbed the camera, turned it on, aimed it at my face, and I did my first video diary.

"Hey, good morning. It's Holly Grace Thompson, on my way now to Tehran," I said, whispering. I kept my eyes just slightly opened to make it seem I just woke up, though I could already open them wide. I rotated the viewfinder to see how my face looked. I didn't want to wake Chris up so I just turned on the lights on the camera. I looked terrible. The stupid pimple in the side of my nose was all red, making me a clown. I focused the camera just to my left face, which kind-of reminded me of that scene in The Blair Witch Project where the lady was crying and apologizing to the camera. I continued to whisper, bringing the camera closer to my face.

"It's now 5:17 in the morning local time, Friday, and as you can see behind me everybody's still sleeping, even my partner and cameraman right here, Chris Banner." I turned the camera accordingly to what I was talking about. "So... in 45 minutes we will be landing at Mehrabad International Airport to cover the war that's going on in Iran. And as usual, The Valiant will bring you right where the action is, beyond where other news bureaus could take you." That was our catch phrase.

I turned the camera to the window and zoomed in on the orange hue on the horizon that was slowly eating the darkness of the night. "As you can see, the Sun is just about to rise. And I believe we are just about uh... above the northern Arabian Peninsula." The cloud canopy got thinner, but barely enough to see down the ground. I pointed the camera back to my face, then started explaining why our news coverage would matter to our audiences.

"So... this is easily one of the biggest and most significant events, if not biggest and most significant event, of this year or decade in fact. For more than ten years, Iran has been one of the most highly scrutinized nations in the world by international organizations for its covert nuclear program. Though not really proven, it's long been assumed that the country has a hidden stash of nuclear bombs, possibly of the more advanced type than what other nations have. Such an assumption stemmed from the fact that Iran has one of the most corrupt and radical regimes in the world. They give weapons and funds to several militia forces, especially the Hezbollah, who are responsible for recent turmoil in Syria, Jordan and the Gaza Strip. And now that the president is dead, everybody's on edge that the nukes are loose, that's why the United States has dispatched its military to prevent that from happening." I felt my hands tire from keeping the camera steady, so I placed it back on top of the backpack.