2041 Sanctuary (Dark Descent) Read online

  2041 SANCTUARY

  1: Dark Descent

  (Book Two, Part One of Ancient Origins)

  Robert Storey

  By Robert Storey

  2040: Revelations

  (Book One of Ancient Origins)

  2041: Sanctuary

  Part 1: Dark Descent

  (Book Two, Part One of Ancient Origins)

  2041: Sanctuary

  Part 2: Let There Be Light

  (Book Two, Part Two of Ancient Origins)

  2041: Sanctuary

  Part 3: Genesis

  (Book Two, Part Three of Ancient Origins)

  —————

  Forthcoming titles

  by Robert Storey

  2042: Apocalypse

  (Book Three of Ancient Origins)

  First published in Great Britain in 2014

  by SANCTURIAN PUBLISHING

  Copyright © Robert Storey 2014

  Robert Storey has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

  1st Edition

  All the characters in this book are fictitious, and any resemblance

  to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

  eBook design by Robert Storey

  Cover design by Robert Storey

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

  Sancturian Publishing

  www.sancturian.com

  CHRONOLOGICAL MEMORANDUM

  The Ancient Origins series of books run sequentially in time, year on year. Within each volume, however, a multitude of characters, located in various parts of the world, may experience events simultaneously despite their narrative being separated by a significant number of chapters. In certain instances, some character timelines may be interrupted in order for other characters’ tales to be told, for them only to resume at a later stage in the book despite minimal time passing in their life. If the reader is prepared for such deferrals in narrative it will serve to let the book’s structure and chapters flow as intended.

  Dedication

  2041 Sanctuary: Dark Descent is dedicated with love to my parents Maureen and Terry, whose continued support proves to be as invaluable as it is inspirational.

  Acknowledgements

  As ever, a big thank you to my parents for reading and editing my work, with their help the whole process is a joy instead of a chore. Also my sincere gratitude goes out to my copy editor, Julie Lewthwaite, who helps make everything shine.

  Table of Contents

  QUOTE

  FACT:

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  CHAPTER THIRTY ONE

  CHAPTER THIRTY TWO

  CHAPTER THIRTY THREE

  CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

  CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

  CHAPTER THIRTY SIX

  CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN

  CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

  CHAPTER THIRTY NINE

  CHAPTER FORTY

  CHAPTER FORTY ONE

  CHAPTER FORTY TWO

  CHAPTER FORTY THREE

  CHAPTER FORTY FOUR

  CHAPTER FORTY FIVE

  CHAPTER FORTY SIX

  CHAPTER FORTY SEVEN

  CHAPTER FORTY EIGHT

  CHAPTER FORTY NINE

  CHAPTER FIFTY

  CHAPTER FIFTY ONE

  CHAPTER FIFTY TWO

  CHAPTER FIFTY THREE

  CHAPTER FIFTY FOUR

  CHAPTER FIFTY FIVE

  CHAPTER FIFTY SIX

  CHAPTER FIFTY SEVEN

  CHAPTER FIFTY EIGHT

  EPILOGUE

  APPENDIX A

  APPENDIX B

  APPENDIX C

  APPENDIX D

  APPENDIX E

  APPENDIX F

  APPENDIX G

  APPENDIX H

  APPENDIX I

  APPENDIX J

  APPENDIX K

  APPENDIX L

  APPENDIX M

  APPENDIX N

  APPENDIX O

  TERMINOLOGY / MAP

  —

  Darkness resides in us all; but when it surrounds us, closes in on us, it’s the only time when we truly know the power of our light.

  – Robert Storey

  FACT:

  On the 8th January 2011 an asteroid with the potential to impact Earth in 2040 was discovered by the Mount Lemmon Survey. This near-Earth object was given the designation, 2011 AG5.

  The governments of the world’s most powerful nations have secret contingencies for global disasters. These plans are kept from the public for a reason.

  There are still many life forms on Earth that are yet to be discovered by science. Many of these mysterious microbes, insects, plants and animals populate our deepest oceans and darkest caves.

  Prologue

  Some people say the cosmos is a mere reflection of life on Earth, a mirror with which one can gaze into the depths of everything that life was, is, and will be. Others hold to the belief that God created the night sky in a matter of days, or that what we are actually seeing is merely a projection, a trick or sleight of hand on an epic scale. Scientists tell us with an unyielding certainty that the light from the stars is millions, even billions, of years old and that as we gaze into the night sky we are looking back through time and witnessing the past; a past before any one of us first drew a mortal breath or long before our species had even evolved.

  Whatever theories of the universe you hold to, one thing is clear; it brims with glorious beauty in all shapes and forms. Pinpricks of flickering light populate the heavens while dazzling magnificent rotating discs, so bright and vast that they can only be appreciated from afar, punctuate an expanse beyond measure. But without the darkness there would only be light. And without contrast there is no beauty, no good, no evil, no life. If there is one, there must be the other; as with all things, equilibrium must always resolve itself.

  On the fringes of space, framed against this backdrop of blissful cosmic serenity, a small craft orbited the once majestic vista that was planet Earth. Where before beautiful clear skies, glistening deep blue oceans and lush green forests could be seen, now only an all-encompassing thick, dark cloud remained. Far from featureless, the predominantly brown and black veil remained in a constant state of flux. Hurricane-force winds created huge vortices which revealed fleeting glimpses of the surface below; such momentary insights into what lay beneath were quickly swallowed up, snuffed out of existence like a small candle within a great and volatile tempest. Enormous thunderstorms coalesced over half a continent, sending lightning flashing and flickering across the upper atmosphere,
with the occasional super plume reaching out into space itself.

  Drifting through the celestial sphere, untouched by the maelstrom far below, the tiny vessel continued its balletic odyssey; and on the side of this distant wayfarer’s white hull, large, black letters read:

  U.S.S.S. ORBITER ONE

  Underneath this, the evocative flag of the United States of America, the star-spangled banner, glinted majestically as the light of the sun streamed across its cold, pristine surface. Rotating through the icy vacuum of space, Orbiter One turned in slow motion, small white lights blinking on and off in leisurely regularity along its silken, metallic length. Inside, through this thin alloy skin, past bulkheads and cocooned within a mass of electrical and finely-tuned mechanical equipment, a small yet comfortable area provided room to live and work for two resident NASA astronauts.

  Tyler Magnusson and his colleague, Ivan Sikorsky, currently on long term assignment, sat at the observation and control deck. The large, transparent, domed window provided the two men with a clear view of their target, an imposing disc-shaped structure that approached from their port side. Concave and smooth, the massive ship’s topside was crammed full of high-yield solar panels while the underbelly sprouted an intricate latticework of intersecting walkways and modules of various shapes and sizes. The United States Space Station, also known as the U.S.S.S. Archimedes, moved within final docking range.

  ‘Orbiter One, this is Archimedes on final approach,’ a strong female voice said over the internal speaker system. ‘Prepare clamps and adjust position as per the navigation graphics showing on your screen projection.’

  ‘Copy that, Archimedes,’ Tyler replied before dialling into the computer the new parameters for the craft’s trajectory. ‘Action pitch and yaw adjustments on my count,’ he told Ivan. ‘Three – two – one – manoeuvre.’

  Small puffs of air vented into space as Orbiter One lined up with one of the space station’s external entry ports.

  ‘Synchronising,’ Ivan intoned, carrying out the final docking procedures.

  ‘Reduce thrust by fifteen per cent aft,’ Tyler said.

  Ivan rotated a small joystick, its white rubber surround stretching as it inched back, notch by minute notch. ‘Reducing thrust by fifteen per cent aft,’ he confirmed.

  The two space vehicles came together and Tyler felt a soft but perceptible jolt pass through the orbital vehicle. A clunk of dense metal on metal, and a muffled hiss of hydraulics, indicated the sophisticated dampers, locks and clamps activated flawlessly to secure Orbiter One in place.

  ‘Welcome home, gentlemen,’ the female flight controller said. ‘Once you have acclimatised from micro gravity to the partial gravity environment here on Archimedes we can proceed with a full mission debrief at zero four hundred hours.’

  ‘Copy that, Flight,’ Tyler said. ‘We’ll look forward to some hot chocolate and cookies, which I’m sure the captain will have waiting for us when we get there.’

  ‘I’ll be sure to let him know of the request,’ the woman replied with no hint of humour. ‘Archimedes out.’

  Ivan flicked off some switches overhead. ‘She’s a barrel of laughs.’

  Tyler shrugged. ‘She must be new.’ He powered down Orbiter One’s systems, putting the ship they’d spent many months aboard into hibernation. ‘All I know is, it’s good to be back.’

  ♦

  A mere three hundred and sixty minutes later, at four hours past midnight, Central Standard Time, Tyler and Ivan found themselves loosely strapped into chairs in front of a large, oblong, transparent table in a circular conference room. Each held an Orbiter One mission folder. Across from them the captain of the Archimedes, Bo Heidfield, sat on a similar seat, flanked by various members of NASA, the U.S. military and the GMRC, the Global Meteor Response Council.

  It had always irked Tyler that the GMRC had such control over NASA and the U.S. space programme in general. Well, perhaps control wasn’t the right word, influence may have been more appropriate. The GMRC would recommend, request and suggest with increasing frequency until the powers that be relinquished or came up with alternatives to satisfy the GMRC bigwigs. Of course, it wasn’t just the U.S. that had to submit to this kind of intervention; the Europeans, Chinese and International space programmes also had to toe the GMRC line. Unilateral cooperation was paramount to the survival of the human race, or that’s what he was told, anyway; what all select NASA employees were told when they were given the real truth.

  In order to ensure an efficient and effective planetary response to the asteroid threat the GMRC would lead the way and every nation on the planet had signed up to abide by its guidance. While this sounded fair and just, it was far from democratic, as the world’s entire civilian population had no vote on the issue, or any idea what was to come. As far as Tyler understood it, and gossip was rife within the segregated space station fraternity, over ninety-five per cent of each country’s politicians also had no idea of the scale of the threat to humanity and planet Earth itself.

  Everyone, of course, was aware of the first meteorite, 2011 AG5, which had struck in 2040 – over six months ago – off the South African coastline. 2011 AG5’s existence and predicted repercussions had been disclosed to the public in 2022. No, what the rest of the populace was blissfully unaware of was that six more asteroids were on their way and that life on the surface of Earth was nearly at an end. It was a stark and terrifying thought that life as we knew it was to cease in 2045 when the last of the asteroids arrived. Thankfully, for Tyler and his family, his job had ensured their continued survival. They were guaranteed precious harbour in one of the United States’ underground facilities. Even Tyler and his small circle of colleagues in the know were left in the dark as to the location or scale of the base they were destined to live out their days in. He only knew its name, United States Subterranean Base Steadfast, or USSB Steadfast for short.

  Tyler glanced up as movement caught his eye through the large transparent ceiling above. A streamlined Sabre space-aircraft had just arrived from Earth and was coming to rest at a refuelling arm. Tentacle-like hoses snaked out from Archimedes to lock onto it, like a giant squid with its prey. Yet this squid was supplying life, not taking it, as the craft’s exhausted tanks were replenished with vital oxygen and fuel.

  The NASA captain cleared his throat, bringing Tyler back to the present.

  ‘Gentlemen,’ Bo Heidfield said, addressing the two Orbiter One astronauts in a formal, business-like tone. ‘First I’d like to congratulate you both on the completion of your mission. You have been in micro gravity for one year, so I hope your transition to life on Archimedes has not been too taxing. As you will have been informed, we are joined by GMRC representatives who are here to ensure all information transfer conforms with their strict protocols.’

  ‘My apologies for interrupting, Captain,’ said a woman sitting immediately to Bo Heidfield’s left, ‘but we are more than mere observers and administrators. We are here to report directly to the GMRC’s senior Directorate and to advise them on the information gathered here today.’

  Tyler noticed Bo’s eyebrow twitch and a clear expression of anger appeared on his face at the woman’s comment, an indicator that he was far from his usual impassive self. Tyler knew Bo well enough to realise tensions were running high between the factions in the room; looking around at the faces assembled he wondered how he’d missed it before. What the GMRC were up to now to cause such feelings he was sure to find out later. Now, though, he was here to report on Orbiter One’s mission.

  Ivan began their presentation on the weather patterns of the all-pervasive dust cloud caused by the fallout of the asteroid, 2011 AG5.

  ‘As you can see,’ Ivan said, while everyone in the room turned to the current page of his report, the paper documents rustling in unison, ‘the dust cloud has reached a stable density in Earth’s upper atmosphere. The Coriolis effect produced by the Earth’s rotation and axial tilt has reasserted its force and the cloud now conforms to a new, but pre
dictable, weather pattern. The circulation cells are now clearly visible due to the cloud’s particulates providing a visual reference of their direction and path.

  ‘From observations made on Orbiter One, over hundreds of tracks at varying compass points, we were able to extrapolate a lot of useful data on the intense weather currently being experienced on the surface. The unusual and powerful lightning strikes which have caused disruption to the GMRC’s Subterranean Programme across the Americas and Eurasian continent are symptomatic of the negatively charged particulates and the enormous super cells that have been forming on a regular basis over the last few months.

  ‘Utilising large data groups,’ Ivan continued, ‘we have been able to accurately predict the occasional breaks in the global cloud cover. This will obviously be useful in scheduling Sabre flights to and from the surface, and to position and launch rockets into orbit for various purposes.’

  Ivan went into further detail about forecast weather patterns and areas of specific scientific interest, and then Tyler took over the report.

  ‘If you turn to the next section,’ Tyler told them, flipping over a couple of pages from his own folder. ‘You will note the thermal images we have taken over the last six months. Underneath each image are corresponding charts and tables outlining temperature drops in comparison to the previous month and to the location’s normal rolling ten year average temperature, prior to the asteroid AG5’s strike.

  ‘Figure five point three dash A is an enhanced image taken of the Sahara Desert two weeks after Impact Day—’

  The GMRC observer who had irritated Bo Heidfield, interrupted Tyler’s flow. ‘Pilot Commander Magnusson,’ the woman said, addressing Tyler by his formal title and with a supercilious air. ‘Can you tell me why there appear to be no images here for the two weeks after Impact Day? Surely this was the most important time to collect such information?’