As the Light Dies

by M. D. Woodham

  They are here, he thought. His pulse quickened!

  He abandoned his snowmobile by one of the snow cats and made a beeline to the changing area, with Gunner trotting along behind him.

  Sven rushed through the changing room doors, making Lars jump as he struggled out of his snow suit. Gunner looked up from his comfy bed in the corner, ears tall, alert!

  He quickly relaxed again realising it was Sven, Lars’s long time friend from childhood, turned long term business partner.

  “Whoa!”said Lars.“Big entrance for a little guy!”Then noticing Sven’s suit he added,“You got a job interview little guy?”

  “Not funny Lars, we’ve all got a job interview! I’ve been calling you constantly, where the hell have you been? Talk about cutting it fine, you should be starting the demonstration in less than five minutes and we’re stilltop side!”

  “Been up to Giant’s Throne with Gunner on the snowmobile, didn’t hear the phone, sorry.”

  Sven sighed putting his hands on his hips. He watched as Lars fastened his boots almost casually, and seeing him do so he guessed that Lars was going to do this presentation dressed in his combat trousers and loose fitting woollen jumper. He rolled his eyes!

  “Youdoknow we’ve got our Prime Minister and Defence Minister down there, not to mention two Deputy Prime Minister’s representing Sweden and Finland!”

  “I should hope so,”said Lars.“And what about the others? Has there been any word from Denmark?”

  Before Sven had a chance to answer Lars added,“What about the ones that really matter? The important ones?”

  Sven gasped.“My God Lars, they allmatter!God I can’t believe you just said that, and I seriously can’t believe you’re going to go out there dressed like that?”

  Lars glanced over himself.“This is what I always wear isn’t it? This is me this is what I’m most comfortable in.”

  Sven shook his head and Lars said,“Are you comfortable and more at ease in that stiff, hard looking suit than in your jeans and T-shirt?”

  Sven didn’t answer, he didn’t need to.“Besides,”said Lars.“After today do you really think people are going to care about what I was wearing the day we changed the world? Or you for that matter? Apart from the photos no one will ever know who wore what!”

  Sven pressed his lips together and looked up at the ceiling.“At least I made an effort,”he said.

  Lars tugged his laces tight and stood up, he put a hand on Sven’s shoulder smiling and said,“Well friend, I suppose this is it then eh! Are you ready?”

  “As always. Are you?”

  Smiling, Lars patted his shoulder and said,“Let’s go and save Mother Nature!”

  Lars shot a glance at Gunner, as he exited the changing room with Sven. Gunner was curled up sound asleep. Grinning Lars turned and lead the way.

  Walking along the sterile white corridors towards the lifts Lars nodded to Sven,“So tell me about the important guests that made it today.

  “Lars!” hissed Sven and Lars added,“The ones withbrains!”

  “I know what you mean Lars. I would just rather you didn’t refer toanyonehere today as withorwithout brains.”

  Pushing the lift command button Lars looked at his friend grinning.“Well?”he said.

  Sven rolled his eyes.“They all came,”he said.“Everyone that we could’ve possibly hoped for!”

  “Excellent,”said Lars beaming from ear to ear as the lift doors opened and they entered.

  As the two men travelled down to the main dock, Sven informed Lars that the VIPs had all been jointly welcomed by himself, with Selene standing nearby and that they were all currently waiting in the conference room.

  “They haven’t seen anything of the facility have they?”said Lars.

  “No, although that might have changed now that you’ve kept them waiting for so long!”

  Lars shook his head.“They won’t have moved, they’ll be too busy rubbing shoulders and second guessing, trying to find out what it is there all here for.”

  “Let’s just hope our Prime Minister hasn’t given too much away,”said Sven.

  “He won’t,”said Lars.“He doesn’t really know much more than the rest of them, other than how much our government have funded us.”

  God knows what he’s going to make of it all! Or any of them for that matter!”surmised Sven.

  “They’ll be blown away,”said Lars.

  “I hope so,”said Sven.“I really do!”

  The lift reached the bottom and the men stepped out on to the main dock.

  Directly across from the men stood two security guards in dark navy thermals holding semi-automatic rifles either side of the entrance to the conference room. Both guards acknowledged the men with a nod which was returned.

  The conference room was an unremarkable white rectangle block on the outside but it was very much the opposite on the inside having been fitted out to the same high standards that its current occupants had come to expect from the most prestige of hotels. To the right it was a dead end. On the left was a short corridor with a tall steel mesh gate guarded by another two members of security, one on either side. Beyond the gate everything opened up to form the enormous main entry hangar where all the goods came in from the surface.

  All that was visible through the gate were the enormous roller shutter doors built directly into the mountains bedrock. Across the enormous floor, opposite the gate the front part of an observation office could be seen with low walls and tall windows for viewing the intake or dispatch of materials from or to the surface, that came and went by way of a well secluded permanently manned entrance on the north side of Giant’s Throne where supposedly there were no roads.

  The only other feature that could be seen, and it was a feature, was the large domed ceiling that loomed high and cavernous overhead carved right in to the core of the mountains bedrock.

  Lars could hear friendly chatter coming from inside the conference room; at least he hoped it was friendly!

  “Has anyone been out bugging you guys, fishing for info?”Lars asked the security guards.

  “No sir,”answered one of the guard’s shaking his head.

  Sven said,“There’s another three guards inside the conference room, they’re probably taking all the flack!”

  “Another three inside!”Lars queried.

  “It helps make them feel safe Lars, helps keep their anxiety levels down, keep em calm you know, especially after coming down in here for the first time without a clue as to what’s going on!”

  “Well whatever you say Sven but it sounds like overkill to me,”said Lars.“They’ll think they’re being kidnapped!”

  Sven let out a sigh and shook his head without saying a word, as Lars took a deep breath and cleared his throat. He winked at Sven with a nod and then he entered the conference room.

  The chatter died instantly!

  “Hello everyone,”Lars called in to the packed room as the group turned to face him.

  They all wore dark formal dress reminding Lars too much of his father’s funeral still not even a month ago.

  Dad should be here,he thought.Mum and Dad.

  He struggled to push the thought away and almost thought he was going to lose this fight with his emotions until he spotted the Norwegian Prime Minister stood beside the defence Minister for Norway and the Deputy Prime Ministers for Sweden and Finland. This anchored Lars reminding him all too well how important today was. He could cry later if he wanted. He knew he would.

  Searching the sea of faces Lars recognised world-renowned atomic engineer Andrew Lincoln from the USA who stood beside leading British particle physicist David Smith who had flown in from Cern and a little further along were husband and wife ecologists tag team Philippe and Sarah Sanchez who had flown in from Brazil where they were both helping to sustainably grow, produce and refine crops for bio fuel alongside food crops. Beside them stood Iain Gilmore one of the best oceanologists in the world.

  Many other faces loomed in the crowd a
nd slowly Lars put names to them as his nerves calmed down. He was extremely pleased that these people had come,amazedeven!

  These were people with great minds that understood the planet and fought for it!

  With everyone’s attention now on him he took a second to compose himself, he wasn’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 it’s allowed you all time to become acquainted with each other.”There were some murmuring among the group and Lars couldn’t tell if they were good or bad.

  “Now,”he said ignoring his negative feelings stepping backwards through the door.“If you’ll please follow me and Sven, we’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 helldoyou 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.

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

  “Holy shit!”said someone, and someone else whistled and said,“Shit that’s deep!”

  “Too deep!” came another reply.

  “As you can see,”said Lars.“The walls don’t meet the edges. We’re on the main loading platform, and it’ll take us all the way to the bottom. So please everybody, keep your hands and arms inside the boundaries, because we’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 he’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 it’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 Giant’s Throne which is currently above our heads right now. It’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 don’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 Giant’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 world’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 years’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 you’ll all agree that it doesn’t look good for the local wildlife, what’s left of it, and we already know what impact it’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.

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

  “We’ve been hearing it for decades, yet oil and gas companies still spend Billions searching for the next big find. They’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 sensesurely!”

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

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

  “In short in the last year we’ve seen the highest sea levelseverrecorded, risen because we’ve seen the fastest glacial ice melt ever, ice that took millennia to form, creating millions of refugeesaround the worldas 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 we’re running out of energy because we can’t find any oil or gas, and we haven’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 thenVOILA!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.”