Tom Bennett was a professional. He was a photographer, and he was also a philanthropist of sorts. His work really allowed him to be both. Bennett had always been drawn to photography, however he developed his skill for shooting his subjects outside of any formal schooling.
He honed his skills on the battlefield.
Bennett joined the military when he was nineteen and chose the path of photography. He learned to document warfare in a highly visualized sense. He was able to capture the visceral grittiness of the battlefield, and his photos unfailingly exposed the heavy emotion that was ever-present in combat. It was this ability that set him apart from other photographers. He won multiple awards and experienced actual combat on many occasions. His work covering the invasion of Iraq in 2003, specifically his “Shock and Awe” photographs earned him Military Photographer of the Year, a highly respected title among the field. It was an amazing accomplishment for a twenty year old.
His time in the military provided many opportunities for him to see the world. He had been stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Uganda, Egypt and China. His time stationed in these places allowed him to study the people affected by regional warfare. After four years, he left the military and focused his photography in a commercial mode. A native of Southern California, Bennett opened a studio in Los Angeles and managed to work closely with some big Hollywood names. He worked hard and made a name for himself, eventually collecting a stable earning from his photography. Bennett himself became somewhat of a poster child for the industry, too, with his athletic build and natural, Cali-surfer good looks. He was featured on the cover of Professional Photographer Magazine in 2009 posed in a mock military battle scene. They had him sporting his military buffs and all. Bennett’s short military-length hair dripped with sweat and his strong jaw clenched as he clutched his camera in one hand and strong-armed an enemy soldier with the other. It was a ridiculously romanticized version of real warfare. Bennett later regretted doing it.
After a few years, he soon became tired with commercial life and yearned for adventure again. He missed the journeys brought by travel and decided to invest in expeditions of his own. He knew he wanted to help people; he knew that was his passion. When Bennett turned thirty, he made the life decision to return to the places he had seen through his military travels and go back to help rebuild the lives affected.
Bennett had been doing this for a few years now — travelling around, landing where he was needed. Spending time with a civilization, learning, helping — moving on. He found it hard staying in one place for too long. Because of this, he wasn’t able to cultivate much of a relationship with anyone either. He had had girlfriends — even a few serious ones. But none of them could keep up with his spontaneous nature. He liked to work alone, anyway — one with nature, and one with his work.
The ‘I’iwi flew off. The flash of scarlet now a fleeting encounter. However, Bennett had collected solid proof of the bird’s existence in the reserve. He had also shot some other rare creatures today. The Pueo Owl, the Indian Mongoose and what he thought was a Coqui Frog.
Bennett was confident that this was a prime location for filming. Due to the lean camera crew that would be on-site, they wouldn’t disturb the habitat either. They had made an agreement with the State of Hawaii Wildlife Preserve not to disturb any of the natural environment. Bennett was adamant about keeping this agreement.
Bennett screwed the lens cap back on his camera and placed it back into its case. He swung the bag across his shoulder and cinched the buckle tight against his chest. He checked the GPS on his phone. A blue dot popped up, showing Bennett exactly where he was — about three miles from the entrance to the reserve.
He still had a lot to cover today. In order to get it all in he would have to keep moving. Bennett started back down the stream, hopping over moss rocks when he remembered the waterfall he had seen on his hike in. If he left now he could swing by to scout it quickly on his way out…could be a great location for an opening scene.
Thump, thump, thump, thump…
A steady, thundering reverberation quickly began to close in — distant, then at once directly overhead.
Bennett looked up.
A white helicopter flew by. It was close enough to rustle the large branches in the trees overhead.
Hovering a bit close to the tree line, Bennett thought.
The chopper continued on and eventually ducked out of site behind the tree canopy.
Bennett reached down and soaked his handkerchief in the stream. He tied it behind his neck and then started his hike out through the reserve.
One mile away, at a large research facility, a helicopter touched down on a landing pad. A tall man in a suit exited the helicopter and entered an access door leading inside a building.
CHAPTER 4
“Get Danner down here immediately! I want a full explanation for this and it had better be convincing.”
Dr. Rupert Perry entered the room from the roof access stairwell barking orders to the first lab technician he came in contact with. The roar of the helicopter faded as the door closed behind him. The lab tech responded with an unintelligible reply and scurried away, noticeably frightened. The other lab techs stopped what they were doing upon the entry of Dr. Perry. Understandably so, there was a presence that he commanded whenever he was in the room that seemed to cut through everything else going on.
Perry stood tall at six foot five, making his large physique match his boisterous disposition. He wore an expensive, dark gray suit. His silver hair was slicked straight back and he donned a pair of black, horn-rimmed glasses. Perry had icy blue eyes that pierced through even the most hardened company executives. His British accent only facilitated the slings of insults he threw at his employees, and he was notorious for his verbal lashings. Dr. Perry was the kind of man who didn’t have to deal with mistakes often. This was probably because most employees would rather forfeit their jobs than deal with a heated encounter with Dr. Rupert Perry.
He was a genius, nevertheless.
An Oxford graduate and a Rhodes Scholar, Perry received his doctorate in engineering from Oxford by the age of twenty and was brought into the fold by Marconi Electronic Systems (MES) in 1963 where he pioneered scientific research and development. MES was a British defense contractor that produced many of the defense electronics used in today’s weapon manufacturing. Perry became the rising star at MES for his advancements in military systems integration and weapons technology.
Perry worked on many weapons concepts for MES including the Sting Ray Torpedo in the 1970s, where he subsequently achieved a sort of legendary status among scientists since he was one of the only surviving scientists from the original group to work on the Sting Ray Torpedo. Between 1982 and 1990, twenty-five MES scientists had died under mysterious circumstances — making Perry one of only two survivors.
He was also at the forefront of robotic technology. Perry pioneered major technological advancements in the field of early nanorobotics. He developed many of the founding principles of “swarm robotic intelligence” and created a series of base algorithms used in today’s research. In 1998, MES underwent a £7.7 billion merger with British Aerospace resulting in today’s BAE Systems. Perry left shortly after the merger and was recruited by the U.S. into a small defense operation backed by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Project Agency). The company was founded in 2003 as CERTA (Center for Excellence in Robotic Technological Advancements). Dr. Rupert Perry headed the organization and managed to establish an agreement with DARPA to base his operations in a remote location — Hawaii. He deemed it necessary to be closed off from anything that could distract his team’s scientific progress. Furthermore, he was able to secure a “No Questions Asked” funding policy with the Department of Defense (DOD) — which was basically like placing an ATM on-site that dealt out money whenever it was needed.