THE SENTINEL

  The Sentinel

  A Novel

  T.M. Haviland

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  Millions of years before life sprang forth on Earth, life got a head start in another star system, far from Earth. That lead was roughly the time it took for the human force to push forth through primates to modern, intelligent mankind. In their remote corner of space, the life form understood nature’s competitive design, that it transcended the universe, and shrewdly used their head start to their advantage. Regardless of why they had been granted a head start other intelligent life had to live with the consequences.

  One

  Year 2124, Endurance Site, Northern Antarctica

  One hundred and sixty-eight kilometers inland from the northern coast of Antarctica, on top of the glacier of ice blanketing the continent, Nick Standish and his team of master mining engineers hit earth at the bottom of their ice shaft. This was a special dig, unlike any of the others. They’d dug other mineshafts, deep holes on other continents for mining companies to extract Earth’s riches. None compared to this one, through ice, in the last frontier on Earth.

  Nick waited for Hammer—the crew’s nickname for the demolition robot—as the machine grabbed the last chunk of ancient ice with its claw, rotated its torso, and heaved it into the container on the platform. He then touched the control panel and watched the lift take off, gliding up the track and heading two-thousand six-hundred meters to the top of the shaft he and his crew had dug. It was a hole big enough to house two industrial lifts, the next phase of their project.

  At the top, a crane machine would pick up the large bucket of ice and discard its contents onto a growing mountain of rubble. Head cocked back nearly ninety degrees, Nick squinted as he gazed up at the top—where they had started nearly a year earlier—at the glowing ring of sunlight reflecting off the blue ice. He smiled and was content, satisfied they had hit bottom. He loved digging deep in the Earth, hunting for hard-to-find resources; he loved the physical challenge. It wasn’t just a new hole. It was also the start of a new hunt, in a part of the world that still remained very much a mystery.

  Nick removed his gloves, popped the latch on his clear-domed helmet, and raised it from the seal of his thermal suit. Slowly, he breathed in the arctic air, cringing at the burn in his nose and throat. He scratched his long beard and looked around at his comrades and grinned. “Boys…” he said with some gusto. “We fucking did it!” With bare hands and feeling some hard-earned success, the men shook hands and grabbed each other’s shoulders.

  Nick knelt and touched the surface—soil that hadn’t felt air in over fifteen million years. He wondered what rare elements the mining project would uncover. Iridium? Dysprosium? New elements to add to the periodic table? Fossils of creatures never seen before? What else? Well, Jonathan and Ellie… we’re here now, he thought to himself. Time to explore.

  “Let’s do a full sweep before we wrap it up for the day,” Nick called to his crew.

  Francisco, one of the engineers, picked up a penetrating scanner and walked over to their marked starting point. He turned on the device, pointed it at the wall of ice, and walked around the perimeter of the shaft. A quarter of the way, he stopped.

  “What’s wrong?” asked Nick.

  Francisco frowned. “Man, the display just freaked out.” He powered the device off and back on.

  A moment later, the earth beneath the men’s boots rumbled. Instinctively, they put their helmets back on and looked up as they backed against the walls of the shaft. Ice flakes fell, but no ice—nothing big. Nick sighed. “Just a small one,” he relayed into his helmet’s com unit. The vibrating earth slowly died out. They removed their helmets again and breathed.

  That night, in the most remote spot on Earth, the hardened men celebrated the raw grit of the doing. Jonathan De Clare, their employer, would celebrate their hole through the ice as a doorway to the vast untapped riches deep in the frozen continent. Scientists would celebrate their achievement as a giant step towards finding answers to many questions about evolution of life on Earth. The world would remember their efforts as a historic point in time, an awakening to what was out there in the universe.

  * * *

  Sitting in his conference room at JDC Resources Group headquarters in Lucerne, Switzerland, Jonathan De Clare and a few of his investors and board members met to hear the great news from the Endurance team. Eager to hear from Nick, Jonathan leaned forward and pressed a button on the control unit laying on his conference table. The entire wall slid sideways, revealing a large screen. A moment later, Nick and his crew appeared on the wall-screen, sitting around a planning table inside the Endurance main station. Behind the crew, a curved glass wall framed a scene with a crane, snow crawlers, a vertical-takeoff aircraft, and—in the distance—ice-covered mountains jutting up through the Antarctic glacier.

  “Hello men!” said Jonathan. “I understand you have news for us.”

  Nick rocked forward, resting his forearms on the table. “We have some significant news, Chief!” Tattoos meandered out of his shirt sleeve around his bicep. “We hit bottom! Twenty-six hundred meters of ice.” He smiled and winked. “Takes some real cojones to do, Boss. We hit some roadblocks along the way. Even a minor tremor at the very end when we were wrapping it up at the bottom of the shaft. But we did it!”

  “Very exciting news team!” Out of the corners of his eyes, Jonathan caught the slight movements of a couple men at his conference table, sitting up straighter and pushing their chests out. They didn’t see big rugged men like Nick and his crew too often.

  “See this, Jonathan?” said Nick with his hand wrapped around a glass jar. “It’s full of dirt. Dirt that’s been preserved for twenty million years. It’s some old ass Mesozoic dirt. Hell, it could have gold in it. I haven’t yet run it through an analyzer. At any rate, it took a lot to get that dirt. It’s a little souvenir for you.”

  Jonathan and his group laughed. The engineers on the screen cracked grins.

  “Thanks, team. I’m proud of you guys. I’ll be there soon to pick it up.” Jonathan looked over at his investors realizing a couple were still new to this game. “Next phase is to build the structure to house the dual lifts that will run up and down between the surface and the bedrock level.” After seeing a few nods he turned back to the screen. “So, what’s the schedule for constructing the lifts, Nick?”

  “We begin assembling the framework immediately. All the components for phase one have been flown in.”

  “Can you show us the shaft? I just want to admire you and your team’s hard work.”

  Nick looked acros
s the table at another engineer. He was already working the controls. Jonathan recognized Sergey Kalashnikov—his company’s top roboticist and the project’s head machine engineer.

  Sergey accessed one of the drones docked outside the main station and transmitted to it instructions. “Here we go.”

  The wall-display in Jonathan’s conference room switched to split screen. On the left were Nick and team, and on the right was a view from a drone staring at a parked snow crawler. The drone lifted off its charging station, ascended straight up above the site, and rotated its camera downward. The bird’s-eye view of the Endurance site was clear. The sun glistened off the metal surface of the disk-shaped main station. A vertical-takeoff cargo aircraft sat parked on a nearby landing pad. Rows of heavy metal structures to the elevator framework lay near the shaft. A robotic tower crane stood tall over the site.

  The drone hovered over to the opening of the vertical shaft through the glacier, and slowly descended. Its lights illuminated the walls of ancient ice. Minutes later, as the craft approached the bottom, it slowed and levitated while its engines blew air across the frozen floor. A flag planted in the earth wafted back and forth with the letters JDC emblazoned on both sides.

  Jonathan’s eyes widened; his heart rate picked up. “Team… seeing that flag just gets my blood pumping. In all seriousness, I am impressed. This is a major milestone.” With a forced calm, he leaned back in his chair. His thick black and grey hair, longish beard, and regal demeanor denoted a confidence that rested on many years in the business, experience gained by skillfully building his empire himself, stone by stone. Jonathan applauded his team.

  The engineers cracked smiles through their beards. They appreciated their boss’s sincerity. But mostly, they didn’t give a shit. They knew how hard they had worked; what they had achieved. They were now ready for a bit of celebration.

  With his eyes fixated on the flag on screen, Jonathan thought for a moment about the empire he had built over the past fifty years. He knew he was the world’s largest global supplier of natural resources. His hundred and forty-five thousand employees and over a hundred and fifty mines were spread across every continent in the world. His operating capital, AI scanning technology, robotic machinery, smelters, refineries, and ships brought raw metals, rare earth elements, and other of Earth’s riches to the demanding markets of the world. He was single-handedly pushing to open up Antarctica and mine the treasure waiting under all that ice. He knew he could do it and he had the know-how and, most importantly, the capital.

  While watching the flag float back and forth, Jonathan longed for someone to share the thrill with, to enjoy the rewards of his success along the path of empire building. He had searched for that woman, but the relationships always ended. The closeness never developed. Nevertheless, even staring the age of seventy-two squarely in the eyes, he still yearned for that one.

  * * *

  Jonathan exited his office to meet Aleksander—his first and most trusted investor. It was a clear day in Lucerne. A rarity, he thought. He could see the top of Mount Rigi off in the distance at the far end of the clear glistening lake. Lake Lucerne’s tree-lined path, dotted with boat docks, espresso stands, and manicured gardens, had not changed in hundreds of years. Mothers on benches talked while sipping their cappuccinos. Children rode scooters and chased each other. Jonathan found Aleksander in his usual spot—sitting on a bench, breaking bread and tossing it to a pair of ducks he had befriended.

  After their usual business-handshake and tactful greeting, the two men ambled slowly along the lake front, their private conversation unfolding at the pace of their walk like many merchant bankers and their clients—old monied families, oligarchs, and monarchs—had done for hundreds of years. They retraced the same path they had walked for many of their talks and negotiations.

  Jonathan was in selling mode. “It’s the space industry. These advanced materials and technology used in off-planet exploration are sucking up Earth’s reserves quicker than anyone had ever thought possible. Every time scientists fill in the periodic table with a new, rarer element, we find some highly valued use for it in materials, energy production, or computing technology.”

  Aleksander glanced at Jonathan. “I agree, Jonathan,” he replied in a thick Russian accent. “I understand the dwindling global supplies and the challenges that lay ahead. That’s why I’m onboard with Endurance. Or, let’s say, I am cautiously on board. I see the potential advantage it could give us. It’s the Treaty that concerns me, as well as all your other investors. It still doesn’t allow mining. It is a significant risk. It could impede us for a long time. What are you hearing from the board and our other sources?”

  Jonathan had built JDC on the back of high-risk frontier projects and learned early how to mitigate risk through information, knowing as much as possible about an issue. High quality information came through contacts into powerful governments. To get that information, he paid premium fees to his board of directors—all former CEOs of the world’s leading banks, former heads of state and other former higher-ups who knew the value of their contacts. Many board members’ villas along the Amalfi Coast and other exotic locations had long been paid for by simply sitting on his board.

  “Leaders are being pushed to face the coming global supply situation. I understand the topic is on the agenda more often at the G-X meetings.” Jonathan cast a glance at Aleksander. “I call them G-X because every year or two other countries get invited and then some get booted from the club.”

  Aleksander raised an eyebrow. “Yes, and my country is always going through the revolving door.”

  They both chuckled as they slowly paced along.

  Jonathan had other sources as well. Not on his payroll, but well compensated. Some were his eyes and ears inside his competitors. He looked at Aleksander. “I also know our competitors are testing the Treaty in other parts of the continent and they are getting away with it for longer than in the past.”

  “My contacts are… how do you say it… singing a similar tune? They spoke of this last G-X meeting. Closed-door sessions of smaller groups had discussed the topic. Evidently, things got a little heated.”

  “If bigger governments start throwing their weight into the discussions, I am sure tensions will rise,” said Jonathan, looking off in the distance.

  Aleksander had put a lot of trust in Jonathan’s skills at executing and understanding the risks, the main reasons he had parked so much money with him. His money was patient. He wasn’t driven purely by returns and short-term gains. He sought multi-generational growth. Yet, he had real scars from time and too much patience in other investments.

  They reached the espresso stand by the boat dock, their normal turnaround spot.

  Aleksander stopped. “What’s the biggest challenge you see?”

  Jonathan reflected for a moment with his hands behind his back. He knew his agreement with the Norwegians on mining rights in their claimed territory in Antarctica was rock solid. Once the Antarctic Treaty fell apart, they would stake out their claim and then his agreement would go into effect. That was no longer a significant risk. His eyebrows raised. “Global unrest,” he sighed. “Countries want access to the resources there. They will want their share of the pie, so to speak. Our forecasts tell us global supplies of metal resources will diminish, prices will rise enough that countries will turn to aggression, as they have often done in the past.”

  Aleksander finished breaking the bread and dropping the crumbs. The two ducks had caught up, realized there was no more bread, and wandered off towards the water. He looked at Jonathan and held his gaze. “You know, my friend, I have learned some hard lessons from other investments where the rewards were there, but the risks exceeded our ability to influence and control. My gut tells me this one is going to require a lot of attention, and a lot of capital. Your other investors share my concerns, Jonathan.”

  Jonathan listened. He knew what Aleksander was saying, without saying it. If the project started looking like a sin
khole for money, with no end in sight to the regulations, they would all pull the plug.

  Jonathan smiled as he patted Aleksander on the shoulder. “How about an espresso for the walk back? I’m buying.”

  Two

  Year 2124, Mars

  A formation of aerial drones traced slowly over a quadrant along the dry, featureless equator of Mars, two thousand kilometers west of Station Athena. The penetrating scanners probed under the Red Planet’s surface, hunting for signs of natural resources—H20, Silicon, Iron, rare elements. A third of the way through their job, three of the fifty drones flinched. Each wobbled in space, banking left and right erratically, as if something had briefly disconnected their thinking parts from their control parts. Within a few seconds, the three regained control of themselves and resumed their positions in the formation.

  The drones progressed methodically, slowly, heading northwest towards their destination; a charging outpost between stations Athena and Chronos. Four hours into their day’s work, they completed scanning the quadrant, powered down their scanners and sped up to a cruising velocity. They each had just enough reserve power to manage through any unanticipated weather and to comfortably reach their rest stop just over the distant ridge.