She looked like a predator stalking the river.
The trailing whitewash, a stark contrast against the near black river against the night’s sky, was the only demonstration of the vessel’s unique combination of raw power. She was powered by twin Rolls Royce 28,000hp MTU diesel engines, and twin ZF gearboxes that projected the force of the combined 56,000 hp into four HT1000 HamiltonJet waterjets. This power was married to her unique hull, which used a series of hydraulic actuators to alter her shape in order to achieve the greatest speed and stability given any type of sea conditions. She was able to lift out of the water onto the aquaplane at speeds of 60 knots — making her the fastest motor yacht of her size in the world.
To the south the snowcapped crest of Mount Hood rose up against the backdrop of a velvet night sky. The vessel turned south, following the natural curvature of the river as it snaked through the gorge. Up ahead, a single propeller light aircraft disappeared as it lined up and came in to land at the nearby Columbia Gorge Regional Airport.
Moonlight shone across her dark hull and the vessel’s name came into view…
Tahila
A name Sam Reilly, the ship’s owner had given her, yet refused to tell anyone of its meaning or purpose. A small pool of guesses had circulated among the crew on board as to its hidden meaning. Some Googling and guessing came up with an interesting array of answers, which Reilly had thus far refused to acknowledge as either right or wrong — in an unusually stubborn display of mystery.
Some of the more popular suggestions were that it referred to the Hindu meaning of the name Tahila, which literally translates to, Darkness. A pertinent name for a dark vessel, capable of stealth. Although the image matched, it was hardly what the ship’s acclaimed owner was going for as a means of offering assistance and scientific refuge to study the sea. Others considered the Hebrew meaning, which translated to, A Song of Praise. Again, few people on board believed that Sam Reilly would have named the yacht after a song they had never heard him sing.
Elise, a computer hacker with an Intelligence Quotient well and truly off the charts, argued that it was a derivative of the ancient Greek word, Thalia, which was the youngest sister of Algaea and Euphrosyne. Usually found dancing in a circle, they were the daughters of Zeus and the Oceanid Eurynome, a goddess of good order and lawful conduct. Sam Reilly, she argued, was using it as a play on words. The Tahila was a weapon of Goodness, while also representing the modern-day Greek word, which means, rich, plentiful, luxuriant and abundant — referring to the vessel’s raw power and beauty.
At 3 a.m. Tom Bower stepped onto the sleek top deck. Despite his six foot-four-inch stature, and two hundred forty pounds of muscle, he was little more than a speck on board the dark bow. He stared at the giant gorge surrounding them.
His jaw was set firm and his dark brown eyes pensive as he stared at his ancient surroundings in awe. Only humans could be so destructive to threaten the very existence of such a wondrous place. The Columbia River was the largest in the Pacific Northwest region of North America, having started out in the Rocky Mountains Trench and the Columbia Lake — 2,690 feet above sea level — and the adjoining Columbia Wetlands form the river's headwaters. The trench is a broad, deep, and long glacial valley between the Canadian Rockies and the Columbia Mountains in BC. From there the Columbia flows northwest along the trench through Windermere Lake and the town of Invermere, a region known in British Columbia as the Columbia Valley, then northwest to Golden and into Kinbasket Lake. Rounding the northern end of the Selkirk Mountains, the river turns sharply south through a region known as the Big Bend Country, passing through Revelstoke Lake and the Arrow Lakes.
Out in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, it flowed northwest and then south into the US state of Washington, turning to the west to form the border between Washington and Oregon, before emptying into the Pacific Ocean.
The river is 1,243 miles long, and its largest tributary is the Snake River. Its drainage basin is roughly the size of France and extends into seven US states and a Canadian province. The fourth-largest river in the United States by volume, the Columbia has the greatest flow of any North American river entering the Pacific.
Matthew Sutherland, the ship’s skipper, stepped onto the deck.
Tom asked, “What is it?”
“Sam Reilly wasn’t on that flight.”
Tom frowned. Sam was meant to be in Portland hours ago, and had booked a flight to meet them at the Columbia Gorge Regional Airport to come aboard the Tahila and take command of the project. Until then, Tom, as his deputy director, would be in charge.
Tom said, “Really? What does he think’s more important than this project right now?”
Matthew shrugged. “Apparently his car broke down.”
Tom suppressed a smile. “Of course his damned Thunderbird broke down! The thing’s more than sixty years old. I don’t know what his love affair is with old cars, when he can afford the best modern engineering has to offer.”
Matthew turned to walk back down below.
Tom stopped him. “Did he have a revised ETA?”
“Heck. Right now, I don’t even know if he has a place to sleep for the night. He’ll probably call in the morning. Until then, he said that you’re to take over the command of the project.”
Tom nodded and stared out at the river, as Matthew disappeared below deck. As his eyes searched the dark gorge while the Tahila motored on through the Columbia, his mind wandered, imagining all that was at stake with the current leaked nuclear radiation.
The Columbia and its tributaries had been central to the region's culture and economy for thousands of years. They had been used for transportation since ancient times, linking the region's many cultural groups. The river system hosted many species of anadromous fish, which migrate between freshwater habitats and the saline waters of the Pacific Ocean. These fish — especially the salmon — have provided food for the region’s First Peoples and European settlers, through to modern day fish producers.
All of that was at risk now, due to human folly and greed.
In the late 18th century, a private American ship became the first non-indigenous vessel to enter the river; it was followed by a British explorer, who navigated past the Oregon Coast Range into the Willamette Valley. In the following decades, fur trading companies used the Columbia as a key transportation route. Overland explorers entered the Willamette Valley through the scenic but treacherous Columbia River Gorge, and pioneers began to settle the valley in increasing numbers. Steamships along the river linked communities and facilitated trade; the arrival of railroads in the late 19th century, many running along the river, supplemented these links.
Since the late 19th century, public and private sectors have heavily developed the river. To aid ship and barge navigation, locks have been built along the lower Columbia and its tributaries, and dredging has opened, maintained, and enlarged shipping channels. Since the early 20th century, dams have been built across the river for power generation, navigation, irrigation, and flood control. The fourteen hydroelectric dams on the Columbia's main stem and many more on its tributaries produce more than 44 percent of the total US hydroelectric generation. Production of nuclear power has taken place at two sites along the river.
Then in 1943, the river was irrevocably changed.
Plutonium for nuclear weapons was produced for decades at the Hanford Site, which is now the most contaminated nuclear site in the US. These developments have greatly altered river environments in the watershed, mainly through industrial pollution and barriers to fish migration.