"You owe me twenty dollars." Ziva held out her hand to her passenger.
"What! I don't think so!" Viv exclaimed.
"Gibbs didn't go home with that redhead," Ziva replied. "So you owe me twenty dollars, Miss Blackadder."
"But he still might, Miss David," Viv retorted.
"But he has already come to chase," Ziva pointed out with a grin.
"So give each other ten dollars and be done with it," Tony's voice retorted over the radio. "Abs, where is this storm supposed to be?"
"Northeast, twenty miles ahead," Abby radioed. "If we go a little faster, we'll meet with it before touchdown."
Ziva frowned, looking around the flat land. There was no tornado in sight, and no indications of one except for the dark dryline in the distance. "I don't see anything."
"We should take the 30 until further notice," Viv said into the small mouthpiece. She frowned as she flipped another page. "We're running parallel to the 30 right now."
"There a road we can turn onto that'll take us to the 30?" Tony's voice crackled over the line.
"Sure, there's one about a mile ahead," Viv replied, her finger tracing the line on the map. "We're going to take a little walk in the woods."
Ahead of them, Tony drove another fifty feet and then suddenly turned off at some dirt road.
"That was not a mile ahead," Ziva mused. "What's he doing?"
Viv groaned as the car rattled along, bouncing them all over the seats. "A Gibbs shortcut!" She yanked out a map. "Have to find this road," she muttered to herself, shaking her head. "It's like, 'Bob's Road'!"
Ziva chuckled. "Just hope it doesn't turn out to be a Tony shortcut also," she replied.
"I heard that!" came Tony's indignant voice. "Once! Once I say I know a shortcut and get lost, and no one lets me forget it!"
"Tony," Viv sighed. "That's because Ducky - Ducky, who can't read a map if his life depended on it - managed to arrive ahead of us that day."
They hit a huge bump, sending them flying several inches into the air, despite the seatbelts.
"This is enough to make somebody ralph," Tony commented.
"DiNozzo," came Kate's sigh. "Please, if you're going to be sick, throw up out of your window, not to your right."
"Hey! We're driving behind you!" Ziva shouted.
"Everyone's a comedian," came Tony's huff over the radio channel. "I do not get sick when I'm driving."
"Where's the 30?" Kate finally asked again. "I don't see it."
"See what?"
"The 30!" Tony exclaimed. "Where's the road?"
"Yes, Vivienne, where's the road?" Ziva teased with a grin.
"There's about five miles of brush along 30," Viv radioed, looking over the map. "The road suggested - and, I'm guessing, the one Tony took - both go through it. See that cornfield?"
"We see the cornfield," came Kate's mutter.
"Right over the cornfield."
"Right over the cornfield WHAT!" Tony was shouting so loud the crackling was almost unintelligible. "What's beyond it?"
"Beyond it? Beyond what?" Viv asked.
"The field!" Kate exclaimed. "What is beyond the field! Brick wall, bearded lady, Oz?"
"It's the highway," Viv radioed back. "It's the 30! Right...about - "
"Whoa!" Ziva shouted as the van's wheels suddenly hit pavement, and she nearly crashed into a car coming along the road. Horns sounded left and right as she jerked the wheel to the left, keeping her eyes peeled for Tony's truck.
" - here," Viv finished, unnecessarily.
"Hey, look who it is!" Tony called, pulling ahead to meet up with the first car in the line. "It's Sellout Fornell," he said with affectionate enthusiasm, referring to their longtime rival and friend.
"Oh, joy. Oh, bliss!" came Ziva's sarcastic voice over the line. Kate grinned.
The long line of black SUVs pulled up alongside on the road, and Tony cranked down his window as did Fornell. "Hey, Fornell!"
"DiNozzo," greeted the older man with a chuckle. "I'm surprised you're still alive, driving like that."
"Driving like that keeps me in the game," Tony grinned. "Twenty says we get there first, old man."
"'Old man'," the older man huffed, albeit with a grin. "Those Pampers Pull-ups make you bold, DiNozzo?"
"Funny, Fornell, funny. Maybe you oughta join all your friends and retire, huh?"
"So you can get the grant?" Fornell grinned.
Tony laughed. "That would be nice."
Fornell laughed. "I'd throw coffee and a croissant over to you as a peace offering, but I don't think Kate would appreciate it."
Kate laughed. "Thank you for your kindness."
"I would like a croissant," Tony said suddenly, more thoughtfully than he should have.
"Tony! You said you went to an all-you-can eat pancakes and sausage place for breakfast!"
"I'm hungry," Tony whined.
Just then a croissant came flying from Fornell's car into the cab, bouncing off the seat and landing on the floor. Tony leaned over, picking it up as Kate gave him a disgusted look. "Five second rule, Mommie."
"DiNozzo, put that croissant down," came Gibbs' voice over the line. "It's muddy and dirty on the floor of that cab. Do you want to get a stomachache like last time?"
Tony made a face at the reprimand, then looked at Kate pleadingly. "Can you peel off the outside?"
Kate sighed, then took the croissant. As she worked on it, Tony called, "Hey, guess who's back?" he grinned, then jerked a thumb backwards.
"I'm not back," came Gibbs' voice over the line.
Tony's car sped up as Fornell's car slowed down. The other two DiNozzo team cars passed by, waving as they went, and Fornell's driver pulled up level with the blue Ford.
"Fornell," Gibbs greeted with a grin, waving.
"Gibbs," Fornell grinned. "Just couldn't stay away or something, huh?"
Gibbs grinned. "Or something."
"Guess you didn't visit any city hairdressers, Gibbs," the other man snorted in laughter, waving a hand at Gibbs' hair. The funnel came into view, and Fornell grinned. "Want to share how it's going to twist?"
Gibbs chuckled. "No way."
"You're no longer in charge of your team, you know."
"Yep," Gibbs agreed, a mischievous twinkle in his eye.
"Um, guys?" Abby's voice came over the radio. "Just wanted to know if you want this one coming up, or you want to catch up with Fornell and go after the next one."
"Give it to us, Abs," Tony ordered.
"Groundspeed 35 miles and hour. Stay on the 30, it's supposed to to come in from the east."
Gibbs cranked up the window to make sure Fornell didn't hear, then picked up the radio receiver in his truck. "DiNozzo."
"Yeah, boss," came the automatic response, and he smiled a little at the appellation despite his retirement several months before.
"Make a right when you can."
Car doors slammed as the two teams gathered at the diner. Jen slowly climbed out of the truck, heading inside.
Jethro was talking to Tony outside.
Kate came in then, her light leather jacket barely covering the dusty black top she had on, and mud on her loose blue jeans. She stomped her feet at the doorway to the diner, trying to get the mud off of her boots. She was talking with Ziva and Viv, who were standing by the door, fresh coffees warming their hands, and then moved towards the counter. "Three coffees, one with hazelnut, one black, one with milk and sweetner, and one of your 64-ounce sodas, please," she said to the waitress.
Jen took that time to study the other woman, her eyes tracing slowly over the stormchaser.
"Too bad we missed that one," Kate sighed, opening again with conversation. "Driving that many miles for nothing...." she trailed off, shrugging. "Hazard of the job, I guess."
"It can't be easy, with the gas prices," Jen offered, and Kate chuckled.
"Jethro used to complain incessantly about how much of the budget had to go for daily, weekly expenses like gas," Kate replied with an amused smile. "He seems to forget daily details like the fact that we have to eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom." The waitress set her items in front of her, and Kate nodded her thanks as she handed the woman the money. "He forgets everything but his work, sometimes."
"He's good at it," Jen replied in defense.
"He's the best in the game," Kate replied. "But he does tend to forget himself."
Jen watched her, carefully, quietly as she counted out bills and a little change, dropping them onto the counter.
"You're still in love with him, aren't you," Jen said quietly, pointedly. "I can see why, but...that's in the past. You can't hold on to the past, however desperately you might want to."
Kate turned to her, an indescript look on her face. She gave a quick smile, picked up two sugars, and disappeared out the door.
"Still checking on the upflows," Abby replied, typing quickly to bring up a new screen. "Take a look at these dew points."
Gibbs frowned, squinting at the screen. "Kind of low," he said.
Abby and McGee looked at each other, puzzled, then squinted closer at the numbers. "What?"
"Dewpoint of 30," Gibbs pointed out.
"Gibbs, you just need young eyes," Abby laughed. "That's an eight, not a three. Dew point's 80."
Gibbs squinted. "That's an eight?"
"Yes!"
"What does the sector scan on the cell say?" Ziva replied, coming over with a cardboard cupholder. "Kate's drink stop delivery." She pulled out a coffee for McGee and a gigantic soda for Abby.
"What number Caff-Pow! is that?" Gibbs frowned.
"If you must know, #3." Abby slurped happily.
Gibbs gave her a disapproving look, then grabbed a coffee out of the tray, gulping down a good-sized mouthful.
"Hey! That was Kate's!" Ziva protested. "She asked me to put it in the truck while she went to the head."
"I know it's Kate's," Gibbs replied, taking another gulp. "I can smell Tony's hazelnut crap from a mile away."
The woman flipped her long braid over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. "You can go get her another one."
"So."
Jen started, looking to her left at the man who'd just dropped onto the stool next to her. Tony grinned charmingly. "How long you and Gibbs been together?"
Jen startled at the question. "Excuse me?"
"You and Gibbs," he said unabashedly. "How long you been together?"
"Are you sure that's even appropriate to ask?"
"Eh, he's not my boss anymore," Tony grinned. "And you're a redhead, and he married all redheads."
"For your information," Jen began shortly, a little irritated at the personal questions, "I worked on his team six years ago. We just met again a few months ago. I'm the new director of the NSSL."
"Whoa!" The entire room went silent, even the waitresses looking up in surprise.
"D-ng," Tony whistled. "Whew."
Gibbs straightened, stretching. He could see Fornell working on something some distance away and made his way over slowly, inconspicuously.
He watched for a full minute, his expression turning stormy as he strided away, heading straight for the truck where Kate was now sitting on the hood, working on her PDA.
McGee gulped, and the others gathered by the RV turned to look at him, then slowly followed his gaze to their former boss, making his way over to the truck.
"Maybe we should do something," Viv spoke.
"Get Tony?" McGee suggested, unable to move.
"We really ought to intervene," Ziva muttered. "Maybe?"
"Fornell."
Kate looked up up at the familiar voice. "Not really, not last time I looked in the mirror," she replied with a straight face.
Gibbs was no mood for jokes. "Freeman's design," he replied shortly.
He watched as understanding instantly dawned on her face. "Jethro, I'm sorry. I should have told you, but - "
"How did it happen," he replied shortly. "We both know there was no way Freeman's design was going to get into the air."
Kate sighed. "Their...corporate sponsors beg to differ," she said quietly. "They sent in two of the engineers to help with readjustments." Her eyes traveled towards where Fornell's team was. "With the extra help, they got a viable model." She paused. "It's not going to get them as close as TOTO is, but - " she trailed off.
" - if they get it into the air first they get the grant," he finished.
Kate nodded. "Yeah."
"We had planned on four TOTOs," he said carefully. "Why are there only three?"
"We built four." Kate took a deep breath. "Larabee cut a deal with us. He and the gang promised to take one of the TOTOs, try to put it in the air for us down in Texas. It'll help our chances of getting a TOTO into the air earlier."
Gibbs ran a hand through his hair. "That's a lot they're doing for us."
Kate shrugged. "That's what I said." She paused. "Well, they still get a little recognition if they succeed. It'll help them with grants, too." She shrugged. "But I think it still has to do with you saving the Travises two years ago. Think Chris feels pretty...grateful."
He sighed. "I'll give him a call."
She didn't say anything. "Uh. Tony...called him to thank him," she said carefully. "After we worked out all the details."
He nodded slowly, then hesitated, as if wanting to say something more. He didn't, then nodded at her and walked away.
Viv stood on the other side of the SUV, watching as Gibbs left, watching as Kate watched him go. The brunette heaved a sigh, then got off the hood and climbed into the passenger's side.
Viv could see in the sunlight the silverly shimmer of the wrapping paper Tony had used and knew that Kate was looking at her gift, as yet unopened. She walked over quietly, wanting to see the woman's reaction.
Kate didn't seem to notice her approach as she flipped open the top of the box. Viv knew what was inside - a small garnet rose pendant on a silver chain, and a note in Ziva's distinctive script: "From all of us".
"With your birthday just passed, and Christmas so far in the future," she said softly, "we thought this would be a good chance to give it to you."
Kate looked up quickly, and Viv smiled. "Thank you," the brunette said softly.
Viv shifted, a little uncomfortable at all the niceties. "We looked at it online at Bachendorf's, ordered it, and Tony picked it while he was there," she continued, and grinned when Kate's eyes went a little wide. "We all chipped in, and Ducky knows a guy down there who got it to us wholesale." She grinned. "You'd be proud of our ability to cut corners."
Kate smiled as she fingered the necklace. "Still, it's...it's a lot of money."
"We've been saving since you sold yours," Viv replied. "It's not quite as large as your old one, but - " she hesitated. "When Ziva figured out you sold that rose pendant your parents had given you, we - " she shrugged awkwardly.
"I love it," Kate smiled. "Thank you."
Viv grinned.
"We got one!" Abby shouted, waving at them. "We got to get going!"
"East! East!" Viv could hear Abby calling. "We've got a touchdown!"
"Give me a road!" Tony called. "Impress us, Viv!"
"There are none," Viv retorted, throwing one of her atlases onto the dashboard and grabbing for another. It started to slide, and Ziva reached up to grab it. "We're not going to come on - "
"Get into that field!" Kate's voice came over the line.
"I know what I'm doing. I have to get ahead of it, come at it from the south."
"You can only get at it by going through that field!"
"Hey!" came Tony's sharp reply. "If you were driving we'd still be forty miles back!"
Ziva looked down at her speedometer as the old red truck carrying Kate and Tony shot ahead. She was already doing 70.
A few seconds later, the truck disappeared off into a dirt road in the woods. "I just lost visual," Ziva muttered. "How am I supposed to follow...?"
"Past these woods should be the highway," Viv spoke into the mouthpiece.
"Battlezone just at the end of the field," McGee spoke. "It's not going to stay on the ground long!"
"We're on the road," Kate radioed.
"Possible F2, on the ground," Abby shouted. "It's gorgeous!"
"You stay on this highway, it's coming straight at you,"
"Horizontal rain," Tony's voice crackled. "Hang back, prepare to receive, and we'll see you on the flip side."
"Look at that surf," Kate muttered, pointing off to the side. She carefully brought the digital camera around.
"Does that mean you'll try that two-piece Puerto Rican bikini I got you?" Tony grinned. "Surf's up!"
"Pigs. I work with pigs."
"Look at those clouds," Tony frowned. "I've never seen it like that."
They drove on, the rain pounding the windshield so hard there were no long just drops, but rivers that wipers were trying to part.
Suddenly the twister ahead of them split into two. "Sisters!" Kate gasped, using one hand on the handrail above her door to steady herself, the other holding the camera steady.
There was one brief second of silence, and then she shouted, "We're right under the flanking line.Tony, get us out of here. Get us out of here!"
He was frantically pumping the brakes in the rainy mud. "I'm trying!"
"Tony, we're going to get rolled!"
Jen listened as the radio crackled out, Kate's last audible words telling Tony to get them out. She watched Gibbs' knuckles tighten on the wheel as he leaned forward, watching the storm.
Ahead of them, Ziva was showing more driving panache than either of her bosses, former or current, slamming on the gas and shooting so far forward on the hill the car left the road for a moment. They were speeding forward when Viv's audible 'uh-oh' came over the line.
The two twisters had jumped off the water onto the muddied road, and the tiny red speck that she had assumed was Tony and Kate's truck suddenly disappeared into them.
Gibbs swore, flooring the gas and pulling up fast behind the others, barrelling closer.
The twisters suddenly stopped short and retreated back into the clouds, not before thumping down and settling the truck onto the muddy road like a parent putting a pouty child in a corner.
Doors slammed as the team ran out of their cars towards the truck. Jen jumped out of the cab, running after Gibbs. Ziva and Viv and then Abby and McGee followed.
The doors to the red truck opened at the same time, and two screaming and cheering brunets jumped out, hopping up and down and shouting and hugging. "Did you see that?" Tony shouted, waving at the sky. "Did you see that?"
"We were right in the middle of it!" Kate exclaimed.
"It was INCREDIBLE!" Ziva shouted, running straight past them, jumping up and down in the random puddles as she and Tony carried on their shouted conversations, their enthusiastic delight pouring out as they gestured at the sky. "What was it like?!"
"Dark," Kate replied in a deadpan voice.
"Dark," Ziva repeated in disbelief, then looked at Kate's twinkling eyes and grinned.
"You all right?" Gibbs asked, touching Kate's arm.
She nodded, her eyes shining. "Look at this," she grinned, shoving the camera at him, replaying the digital picture. Abby and McGee and Viv soon crowded nearby, each clamoring to see the tape. Gibbs stood over her as she held it up, and there was no mistaking his grin. It was an excellent shot of the twisters coming in, twisting in and out between themselves before it picked up the sudden gray winds and the turning of the car. "Look at that!"
"Are you all right?" Jen asked breathlessly, coming up.
"Oh, we're good," Tony enthused. "We're better than good! Did you see that?! We were right in the middle of it!"
"And what for?" Jen exclaimed, her voice snapping. "Did you get TOTO up into that thing?" she pointed out. "To risk lives sitting in the middle of that storm without getting any kind of sensors up into that funnel?"
The team fell silent, looking at each other, half bewildered, half unsure as to what to do.
"We're fine, ma'am," Tony said pointedly, tersely. Behind him, Abby crossed her arms.
"Director Shepard," Kate cut in slowly, quietly. "We'll remember the warning. Rest assured, ma'am, that we don't take UNnecessary risks."
There was another long, chilly silence, Tony's discontent with the new NSSL director quite obvious. They were saved by a honking horn, followed by the sound of cars. "Fashionably late," Tony heckled as Fornell's caravan pulled up, the team obviously happy to put the fight with their director behind them. "We were starting to think you'd never come!"
"Har har," Fornell replied, looking at their red truck. "You enter her in the mud wrestling contest?"
"Funny, Fornell."
"I'm a funny guy. You guys all right?" he asked with genuine concern.
"Aww, he worries about us," Ziva cooed.
"My source of perennial entertainment would be gone without DiNozzo," Fornell joked. "You get good video?"
"You can watch it on the six o'clock news," Kate replied laughingly, waving the camera but not offering a look at the tape. "If we decide to share it."
"Guess you had your fun for today," Fornell kidded. "You going to leave me a few, huh?"
"'Course," Tony offered gallantly. "There's plenty of toys to go around the sandbox."
Tony and Kate began to pull ahead. "We're going to get this one!" he shouted. "Where's Fornell?"
"They turned off a few miles back. They thought they were going to get it on that back road," McGee grinned.
"So much for sharing your sandbox toys," Kate snickered.
Tony grinned. "Muahahaha," he laughed evilly, rubbing his hands together in a stereotypical evil genius look.
"Please keep your hands on the wheel," Kate replied patiently.
"Gibbs' gut was right," the brunet murmured, looking up at the sky over the wheel. "That ninety degree turn just a few seconds ago would've thrown Fornell off." He gunned the gas pedal.
"Back off and set up," Kate radioed.
Gibbs pulled off behind the others. Both vehicles were still moving when Abby and Viv, the respective passengers, jumped out to make the last minute preparations for receiving.
Jen hurried out. "Tell me what to do," she instructed, and all four looked at her, puzzled, then to Gibbs, who gave them a slight nod.
"We need to hook up these wires," Viv began, handing a set to Jen.
Gibbs turned, watching the old, battered red Ford running down the road, straight for the twister. It was going to turn - it was going to turn. He started to rush back to radio when he saw the truck turn off the path, pulling up towards the north, and grinned to himself. Tony and Kate's instincts for chasing had always been good, and only ever got better.
"It's going to turn," Kate muttered.
"Oh h-ll," Tony murmured. "It's coming for us."
"Get off to the side, get off to the side," Kate replied, crawling into the backseat, then opening the truck's back window and crawling out. She tossed on the three switches, then yanked the release cord, unlocking TOTO out of its moorings.
"You got her ready?" Tony shouted.
"She's ready, just get us closer!" Kate shouted, ducking as a car tire flew over here. "Whoa!"
"Debris!" Tony shouted, searching frantically for somewhere to turn off. He floored the gas pedal, putting more distance between them and the tornado. "H-ll!"
"Tony!" Kate suddenly screamed from the truck bed. "Go right!"
He looked up and felt the blow at the same time, as a tree torn out of the ground barrelled straight for the truck and slid under it, lifting the bed into the air. He could hear Kate's yell as she was slammed into the truck's back window. "Kate!"
"Get us off this thing!" she shouted, climbing back into the safety of the cab. "Get us out of here!"
Tony swerved, sending the car spinning in a circle. The back wheels got tangled up into the branches of the tree, and the tree, still skidding across the road at a frightening speed, took the car with it, pushing it along like a leaf before flipping it straight into a ditch by the road.
"Tony!"
Gibbs' head snapped up at the scream coming over the radio, and then there was a loud crash and silence. Ziva jiggled the radio receivers anxiously. "Tony? Kate. Hello."
"They went off the road somewhere," McGee muttered. "I was watching through the camera - they just sort of disappeared off the road. I lost visual. No idea where they went."
"Get in the car!" Gibbs barked, and the team scrambled. Abby was still in the back of the old RV, working on the strapped down computer with Viv as Ziva and McGee took off, Gibbs and Jen following close behind.
A few minutes in came Ziva's voice over the intercom. "Kate just responded - they were in an accident."
"What's TOTO doing, sitting in the middle of the road?" McGee wondered. He pulled the RV off to the side, allowing Ziva and Gibbs to drive past.
Jen watched as Abby and McGee jumped off to pick up the machine, sitting placidly in the middle of the road in the middle of all the debris, an odd island of serenity in the midst of the chaos. She tore her eyes away, then looked ahead.
They drove past two four-foot long, black tire skid marks, which suddenly stopped. A few feet away was a red, smoking heap.
They saw Tony, leaning heavily against the truck. The truck was tipped over on the driver's side, the passenger's side door sticking straight up in the air, propped open by a stick. Kate's hand came out of the cab, dropping something out of the open truck door, and then disappearing inside to pick up some other stuff. The front of the truck was crushed. The car was totaled.
"Hey boss." Tony gave a weak grin as they pulled up.
"What happened?" Ziva asked, parking and jumping out.
"That half of a tree blew in front of us, I swerved to miss it but got caught under it," Tony muttered. "We flipped a few times before dropping onto the driver's side." He smacked the car. "We're lucky Old Faithful held together long as it did."
"How come TOTO's sitting out there on the road?" Viv asked.
"Kate had it up and going and unlocked, so she unlocked the tailgate and shoved it off the back of the truck after that d-mn tree got stuck under our back wheels."
"Well, seems the design worked like a charm," Ziva commented. "It's upright, no mess, sitting in the road, although we will have to wait for McGee and Abby's final analysis."
"Our final analysis is that we did good!" Abby shouted, bouncing out of the RV. "TOTO's just banged up a little. Still good to go."
"DiNozzo,"came Kate's voice from inside the cab. Out flew another bag. "I told you not to bring that Rolex in your bag. It's busted now."
Kate's head popped up out of the passenger's side, her arms coming up to push herself out of the passenger's side. She pulled herself up easily to perch precariously on the side of the truck. Jen watched as Gibbs reached up a hand, which she accepted as she swung down off the cab.
Tony and McGee gave Abby meaningful, prodding looks. McGee tilted her head over at Kate, who was busy looking over the truck. Tony nodded vigorously.
"Kaaaate," Abby smiled sweetly. "You know...I couldn't help but notice how close we are to Wakita."
"No."
"You know what I think," McGee said with mock solemnity. "I think that, after that accident, we should have you and Tony checked over."
"I think we should see a doctor just to be safe," Tony agreed.
Jen frowned, looking puzzled as Gibbs began to grin. Abby began to cheer, as Ziva just laughed.
"No!" Kate exclaimed, picking up her things off the ground, trying to suppress a grin. "No."
"But Dr. Mallard is such a good doctor!" McGee protested.
"Plus, plus, I believe a little rest and food would be beneficial to my nerves after that accident," Tony agreed with a big grin, slapping a high five with McGee. "Very beneficial."
"We are not invading Ducky!"
Chapter End Notes:
1. In the 1980s, researchers tried to put TOTO, 55-gallon drum designed to take measurements of the storms, into tornadoes. When "Twister" filmed (1995), they tried again but still without success. In "Twister", the team's TOTO is named "Dorothy" (get it?), and they do succeed.
The machine is put in the path of a tornado. She opens up, and lots of the little sensor balls go up into the funnel and radio back info on internal structure, wind speed, flow, asymmetry. (That's from the script.) The purpose was to design an advance warning system (in the movie, 15 minutes over 3 minutes).
In my story, Kate and Gibbs have worked to produce a better, more durable model, which includes relocating the machine's center of mass into the bottom of it (making it bottom heavy and thus more likely to stand upright). But all that's explained.
2. Tornadoes are ranked by the Fujita scale, by how much each destroys. F0 is the weakest, F5 is the strongest but also VERY rare.
The machine is put in the path of a tornado. She opens up, and lots of the little sensor balls go up into the funnel and radio back info on internal structure, wind speed, flow, asymmetry. (That's from the script.) The purpose was to design an advance warning system (in the movie, 15 minutes over 3 minutes).
In my story, Kate and Gibbs have worked to produce a better, more durable model, which includes relocating the machine's center of mass into the bottom of it (making it bottom heavy and thus more likely to stand upright). But all that's explained.
2. Tornadoes are ranked by the Fujita scale, by how much each destroys. F0 is the weakest, F5 is the strongest but also VERY rare.