2041 Sanctuary (Genesis) (60 page)

‘We didn’t see it,’ says the 46-year-old. ‘We saw it on the way out, but if it had just been a bit further over it would have probably wiped us out. These things happen.’

(Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2740010/There-s-asteroid-Brian-Cox-warns-space-rock-wipe-humanity-robots-don-t-first.html)

Official website of Professor Brian Cox and Gia Milinovich: www.apolloschildren.com

Russell Schweickart
– A retired NASA and Apollo astronaut, and founder of the B612 Foundation.

B612 Foundation
– A private organisation dedicated to protecting Earth from asteroid impacts. The non-profit foundation also informs decision-making on planetary defence issues. B612 provides a non-governmental voice on the risks, options, and implications of asteroid data.

(Source: http://b612foundation.org/our-mission/)

Website: b612foundation.org

Newsweek
– Has been a staple of American media for over 80 years, bringing high-quality journalism to millions of readers around the globe. Newsweek publishes print editions in Japanese, Korean, Polish, Spanish, Arabic, and Turkish, as well as an English language international edition, but is a primarily digital property available across platforms and devices. Newsweek provides in-depth analysis, news and opinion about international issues, technology, business, culture and politics /

www.newsweek.com

Nina Burleigh
– An award-winning investigative journalist and the author of five books. Her last book,
The Fatal Gift of Beauty
, was a
New York Times
bestseller. She is currently National Politics Correspondent at Newsweek (see above) and has written for numerous publications including
Rolling Stone
,
Businessweek
,
The New Yorker
,
Time
,
New York
and
The New York Times
/ www.ninaburleigh.com

‘It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves’
–
A famous saying from Shakespeare’s play,
Julius Caesar
… or was it? After doing some digging it appears these words may be a paraphrase of the bard’s work, rather than the words of the man himself. The words Shakespeare actually wrote, as far as I can tell, are as follows: ‘The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

‘But in ourselves, that we are underlings.’

‘Not even the gods, fight necessity’
– A quote from a famous Greek poet: Simonides of Ceos. Used by Contador Valantis when he addresses the captured Pharos.

Judeo-Christian Bible
– The basic text of Judeo-Christianity is the Bible, as preserved in Jewish and Christian tradition. It consists of two parts: the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament /

(Source: http://www.judeochristianity.org/judeochristianity_pri nciples.htm)

UCI
– The Spanish abbreviation for Unidad de Cuidados Intensivos, or in English, Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

Vitruvian man
–A famous drawing by Leonardo da Vinci.

APPENDIX L

LOCATIONS, BUILDINGS & MONUMENTS

Sanctuary Proper –
Ancient underground structure built by an extinct species of Hominid, Homo giganthropsis. Located beneath the deserts and mountains of central and northern Mexico.

Dulce
– Small town located in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, United States.

Ruins of Copán
– ancient Mayan city located in the Copán Department of western Honduras.

Sterkfontein Caves
– Also known as the Cradle of Humanity. Located near Johannesburg, South Africa.

City of New York, State of New York, USA
– Most populous and arguably the most iconic city in the United States.

Smithsonian Vaults
– Secure facilities used to store ancient Anakim artefacts and remains. The vaults are located inside USSB Sanctuary and beneath the Smithsonian Institution’s sprawling Museum of Sanctuary.

Military Vaults
– As above but with extra security and limited access.

U.S.S.B. SANCTUARY United States Military Scientific Laboratory Complex
– High security facility run by the U.S. Army. Utilised by NASA and the GMRC’S R&D Division, the complex contains projects and research based on artefacts of Anakim origin.

Shuttle bay
– Area inside the S.E.D. from where air-shuttles are launched.

Departure lounge
– Nickname given to the staging area in the S.E.D. used by teams prior to launch.

S.E.D. Control Station
– Area inside the S.E.D. Command Centre that controls the launch and return of air-shuttles into Sanctuary Proper.

S.E.D. Command Centre
– Area inside the S.E.D. complex that houses the Control Station (see above), shuttle bay and the offices for high ranking S.E.D. personnel.

Tower central
– Is an ancient Anakim tower located at the heart of U.S.S.B. Sanctuary. At three miles high the spectacular structure was built to last and it was decided – for reasons both structural and aesthetic – to construct the human subterranean base around it.

GMRC Command Complex
– A large office complex with a central skyscraper (or domescraper) located on the Dome level of U.S.S.B. Sanctuary

Dome Level
– The topmost level of U.S.S.B. Sanctuary and the most exclusive, due to the health benefits (both mental and physical) of living, and/or working, in a more open and natural environment. 

New Park District
– Located on the Dome level (see above), the New Park District is as the name suggests, an area within U.S.S.B. Sanctuary that is filled with various picturesque parks and forests; it also contains within its borders the subterranean base’s museum complex

Mission Control Center (NASA)
– Located in the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA, the Control Center acts as the hub of operations conducted by NASA.

The Auditorium
– The largest space module ever built, prefabricated on the surface in the year 2032, and assembled in space a year later, it acts as the central node of the International Space Station (ISS). It has multiple uses including: a mission centre, conference room and viewing gallery.

ALMA
– The Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array in Chile, South America. The array consists of sixty-six radio telescopes which have two sizes of dish, twelve and seven metres in diameter. ALMA has many uses, once of which is the study of comets.

TSKA –
The
Two Square Kilometre Array. Built in the year 2025 in Peru. An array of radio telescopes spread out over two square kilometres.

Anakim Sphinx
– An ancient monument located beneath the surface of a deep lake inside Sanctuary Proper. Date of construction: unknown.

Anakim Arch
– A massive crystalline structure located in Sanctuary Proper.

Cloud Forest Biological Reserve
– A stunning and biodiverse preservation area located in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Also known as: Reserva Biológica del Bosque Nuboso de Monteverde.

Monteverde
– Small town in Costa Rica (approx. four and a half thousand feet above sea level).

Washington Monument
– Is located in Washington D.C., USA and stands at the centre of the National Mall as a tribute to its country’s first president, George Washington. Unlike the ancient Egyptian obelisks it was inspired by, the monument was constructed rather than carved from a single piece of stone. However, due to this, the structure dwarfs anything created in Egypt and clocks in at a towering one hundred and sixty-nine metres, or five hundred and fifty-four feet.

San Pedro Sula
– A major city in the country of Honduras. Population, circa 500,000.

Hospital del Valle
– A large hospital in the Honduran city of San Pedro Sula.

Nationals Park
– Is a baseball stadium currently used by the Major League Baseball franchise, the Washington Nationals. It is located close to the Anacostia River in Washington D.C., USA.

APPENDIX M

TECHNOLOGY, ARTEFACTS & OBJECTS

Thermal Density Reduction (T.D.R.)
– Excavation technology utilised in the creation of large scale subterranean chambers.

Netcube
– A storage device for computers using a state-of-the-art fluid drive instead of the cumbersome hard disc drives which preceded them. Used to store massive amounts of data, a Netcube is capable of storing the majority of mainstream data held on the World Wide Web. (Also known as a ‘webinabox’.)

RV
– Acronym used by the military for a rendezvous point. Also used as an acronym for a ‘remote vehicle’.

Thermal sword
– Darklight personal weapon.

SABRE
– Synergetic Air-Breathing Rocket Engine, an engine that operates in both air-breathing and rocket modes. Developed by Reaction Engines / www.reactionengines.co.uk.

DPD
– Digital Parchment Paper.

T.I.I.
– Thermal Image Intensifier.

Stelae
– Carved stone monuments, singular
stela
.

Rosetta Stone
– An ancient stele created in Egypt over two thousand, two hundred years ago. Its inscriptions – which were carved into its dark grey (or
black
) granite surface – comprised two languages, Greek and Egyptian, and utilised three scripts, Greek, demotic and hieroglyphic. This mixture of texts allowed Jean-François Champollion to decipher the previously lost secrets of the ancient Egyptians’ hieroglyphic language.

T.I.I.
– Thermal Image Intensifier.

Air-shuttle
– A specially designed vehicle which travels on rails and through a large transparent tunnel / tube. An air-shuttle is the fastest way out of the USSB and into Sanctuary Proper (and vice versa). Propulsion is in the form of gravitational pull, staged rocket burns and strategically placed air-jets (assisted by a low-resistance cushion of air).

Computer phone
– Advanced mobile phone with the processing power to run advanced software packages. Acts as a personal computer as well as a smart phone. Computer phones are able to connect to wallscreens and monitors via induction ports.

United States Credits (USC)
– Currency used in United States subterranean bases. One USC is equivalent to one U.S. dollar.

The Centipede
– Remote operated all-terrain supply vehicle. Multiple wheels, low ground clearance and an articulated chassis enable the machine to scale near vertical climbs and all manner of obstacles.

Quantum processor
– Super powerful computer processor based on a qubits (quantum bits) rather than bits. These processors can carry out a far greater number of computations than computer architecture utilised in the first two decades of the twenty-first century.

UAV
– Unmanned aerial vehicle, also known as a drone.

Wallscreen
– Large, interactive monitor attached to a wall, usually taking up the entire surface.

HUD
– Head-up display, or heads-up display. Data projection onto a transparent screen / visor / window allowing a user to continue looking in the desired direction while being kept apprised of real-time information.

Deep Space Detection Array (D.S.D.A.)
– NASA and U.S. military satellite in high Earth orbit. Categorised as an unacknowledged Special Access Programme / black project. Capabilities: satellite disruption technology and deep space surveillance imager.

OLED
– Organic light-emitting diode. Utilised in monitors, televisions and other visual displays.

Monotube
– Public metro transportation system in USSB Sanctuary. Utilising a high-speed mono-rail configuration, the train navigates the subterranean base via a network of transport channels and tunnels.

MX4 assault rifle
– Advanced projectile weapon used by the U.S. military and Darklight security firm.

Beam rifle
– Sophisticated non-projectile weapon capable of unleashing high-powered energy in the form of a beam.

Vacuum Lift
– Super fast mechanism used to transport people up or down within a structure / facility.

Deep Reach helmet
– High-tech headwear worn by S.E.D. Deep Reach personnel.

Multifunction card (M.F. card)
– Given to permanent USSB residents, the MF card acts as a door key, sector pass, credit / debit card, data storage device and identity badge.