As the Light Dies (3 page)

With everyon
e’
s attention now on him he took a second to compose himself, he was
n’
t used to speaking to large groups, and right now he felt vastly inexperienced. He cleared his throat and started
.“I’
m Lars Aronstein the co- designer and engineer of this place
,”
he made a gesture with both hands waving them in a semi circle over his head
.“
I believe my co- partner Sven has already made himself known to you all in my brief absence which I apologise for. I hope i
t’
s allowed you all time to become acquainted with each other
.”
There were some murmuring among the group and Lars could
n’
t tell if they were good or bad.

“
Now
,”
he said ignoring his negative feelings stepping backwards through the door
.“
If yo
u’
ll please follow me and Sven, w
e’
ll make our way down to where all the hard work goes on, where we make the magic
!”
Lars smiled letting out a nervous chuckle as everyone poured out of the conference room following him. He continued
,“I’
ll explain as best I can what it is we have accomplished here at Project Tree Cycle as we make our descent
.
”

Lars spun around joining Sven, and the two men led the group along the short corridor, through the previously locked gate and out in to the cavernous main docking hangar.

More murmurs arose from the group as they entered the hangar. The ceiling over a hundred feet up was well lit showing off millions upon millions of angles and grooves of the bare rock, under the ceiling was a lattice work of steel beams that supported multiple interior cranes and hoists that hung freely in the empty hangar. Opposite the group on the far side the observation office stretched deep in to the hangar made up mostly of glass from its tall windows, where it ended it butted up against a forklift truck parking and charging bay. Beyond that for another two hundred feet or so the hangar floor was a mass of black and yellow stripes crisscrossing the floor before the hangar floor ended where it met the back wall that swung down from the curved ceiling high above.

“
This is the main docking area
,”
Lars called back to everyone. He was walking fast eager to move things along with excitement coursing through his veins.

“
Everything that comes in or goes out, comes through here
.
”

“
What the hel
l
d
o
you bring in and out
?”
came a voice through the group.

“I’
ll show you in a few minutes
,”
said Lars without turning around.

More murmurs rose up!

As they reached the black and yellow lattice work of stripes some of the more observant members noticed that they had left the smooth concrete floor and were now on chequered plating and there was a barrier all the way around its outer edge running along the back wall.

The Norwegian Defence Minister was the first to wander over to the brightly painted barrier.

Air whistled through his teeth as he took in a sharp breath
.“
What the hell
!”
he said alerting everyone, and they all hurried over towards him, curious to see what was up.

Gasps followed as the curious observers were treated to a narrow view that dropped six hundred metres below their feet! The shocked gasps and murmurs sped up the stragglers at the back.

“
How far down is it
?”
someone asked without looking up from the view.

“
I
t’
s not far off two thousand feet
,”
replied Sven.

“
Holy shit
!”
said someone, and someone else whistled and said
,“
Shit tha
t’
s deep
!
”

“Too deep!”
came another reply.

“
As you can see
,”
said Lars
.“
The walls do
n’
t meet the edges. W
e’
re on the main loading platform, and i
t’
ll take us all the way to the bottom. So please everybody, keep your hands and arms inside the boundaries, because w
e’
re about to descend
.
”

Before anyone could say anything, he hit a switch on a control panel and another barrier rose up from the floor of the platform and separated them all from the hangar, encasing them on the enormous lift platform. Then the whole area that was the size of several football pitches started to sink downwards!

Nearly everyone was glued to the barrier looking over the edge as they commented to each other, some excitedly and others not so much.

Lars watched their important guests smiling. He opened his mouth about to speak when he was cut off by Sarah Sanchez
.“
You said that this place is two thousand feet deep
?
”

“
Yes
,”
he said
.“
Six hundred metres
.
”

Sarah Sanchez frowned and said
,“
What kind of impact has the construction of this place had on the surrounding geography
?
”

Lars opened his mouth to answer, but was stopped before h
e’
d even begun!

The Norwegian Defence Minister almost barked at Lars
,“
Who gave permission for this construction? And where on earth has the funding for such a project come from? This must have cost millions! Billions even
!
”

Lars still smiling held out both palms in submission
.“
Please, please
I’
m about to tell you much of this, and any questions you have afterwards I will be more than glad to answer
.
”

They all murmured amongst themselves for a few seconds before they became quiet and waited for his explanation. The only sound was the steady hum from the mechanics of the platform as it dropped smoothly in to the abyss!

Lars exchanged glances with Sven, cleared his throat and began.

“
As a small boy I spent much of my time out in the wilderness camping and exploring. I became a keen hiker and climber. I still hike climb and camp year round as often as I can, and with the skills that my father taught me I can sustain myself and live off the land nearly anywhere I might find myself. He taught me to survive with nature, to live in harmony with it and I fell in love with the wilderness especially during winter time, and i
t’
s because of winter that you all find yourselves here today. You see as a boy I would dream of trekking across the Arctic like Frederick Cook or Robert Edwin Peary and Matthew Henson with their Inuit guides and whilst sifting through some old photos in my bedroom I came across some of my parents in what to me looked like the Arctic. I remember thinking it had to be looking at the depth of the snow and the barren horizon. But to my astonishment my mother told me that they were nowhere near the Arctic but in fact trying to find Gian
t’
s Throne which is currently above our heads right now. I
t’
s a fifteen foot tall pile of rocks that loosely resemble a chair and it marks the summit of the mountain and it was completely buried under the snow, feet and feet of snow
.
”

“I’
ve never seen the snow even remotely that thick in my lifetime, not even in the harshest of winters that
I’
ve witnessed, and my mother told me that it was due to something on the news called climate change, and so, my fascination with the climate and the results of human intervention and global warming began. From that point on I started taking notes and recording what the snow was doing. How thick it was, how cold it was, the first fall and then the first melt and so on and I noticed a pattern emerging, a very clear pattern! The winters were getting very slightly warmer and shorter, and they continue to do so to this very day, and sadly I do
n’
t expect that trend to change any time soon. You only need to glance at the news stand or turn on the news for a few minutes to know what is happening to the planet! I know
I’
m preaching to the converted somewhat here but I must get the full picture across
.
”

There were some murmurs, some nods of agreement and some stern looks.

Lars continued
,“
Last year a rocky perimeter of a hundred and thirty feet around Gian
t’
s Throne remained totally free of snow, all year, all winter! Little did the twelve year old me realise how much of an effect global climate change could and would have in my lifetime! In my lifetime alone the Arctic will become completely unrecognisable along with the worl
d’
s coastlines if current trends continue. Some scientists predict that the Arctic Ocean will be totally ice free throughout the summer as soon as in eight year
s’
time. But each year that prediction drops as we continue year on year to burn fossil fuels at an unprecedented rate, some scientists are even suggesting a totally ice free summer in just a couple of years. Great news for oil companies looking to cash in on easily accessible oil and gas reserves once the ice is out of the way, not to mention the new shorter shipping routes further disrupting the Arctic with their traffic without the risk of running in to ice.
I’
m sure yo
u’
ll all agree that it does
n’
t look good for the local wildlife, wha
t’
s left of it, and we already know what impact i
t’
s having to people around the world as the sea eats up their land
.
”

Suddenly a look of bewilderment struck everyone!

“What the hell’s that?”
blurted someone as the previously rocky wall behind Lars gave way to an enormous grey pipe, big enough to drive an articulated truck through with room to spare came in to view.

It disappeared out of sight in both directions nestled in its own tunnel large enough again for maintenance platforms along its side that were easily wide enough for vehicles to operate alongside! To those that had a good view it looked like it ran on forever in either direction disappearing in to the ground.

Members of the group commented to each other shocked. Some glanced at Lars before looking back at the giant pipe as it rose up over head as they sunk below it.

“
W
e’
ll see more of those as we descend
,”
said Lars continuing
.“
Yo
u’
re all well aware the world has an addiction problem to fossil fuels despite the damage the
y’
re clearly causing
!
”

“
W
e’
ve been hearing it for decades, yet oil and gas companies still spend Billions searching for the next big find. The
y’
ve sucked all the rest dry, so they venture in to extremely fragile ecosystems in the furthest most remote places on earth regardless to the cost, both monetarily and environmentally and cause untold damage. They do it over and over to find a constantly diminishing resource that in use is killing the planet all because of greed, and because we mindlessly burn through it at an alarming rate. None of it makes sens
e
surely!”

“
The damage already caused will take life times to heal, and tha
t’
s only if we have
n’
t gone so far beyond the turning point that the damage caused i
s
irreversible!”

The group were starting to look restless. He knew had to get to the point.

“
In short in the last year w
e’
ve seen the highest sea level
s
eve
r
recorded, risen because w
e’
ve seen the fastest glacial ice melt ever, ice that took millennia to form, creating millions of refugee
s
around the worl
d
as the waves eat up all the low lying land, yet we still hunger after fossil fuels, burning them to suit our needs, heating our homes, running our cars and trucks, planes and so on while pumping enormous amounts of carbon dioxide in to the atmosphere warming our planet and poisoning our air, the list goes on and on, and now just as we all fear w
e’
re running out of energy because we ca
n’
t find any oil or gas, and we have
n’
t invested nearly enough time and money in to creating sustainable green alternatives, governments around the world start to panic and suddenly dump hundreds of millions in to the development of alternatives, and the
n
VOILA
!
The biggest reserves of oil and gas ever discovered have been found in the Arctic region now that the ice is out of the way and sadly the trend seems set to continue
.
”