Consciousness of God - Book 1: Awareness

1

The ground shook. The vibration seemed to last for minutes but it could only have been for a matter of seconds. Everyone in the Alpha mining complex reached for the nearest point of stability to save themselves from stumbling inelegantly to the floor. Those with nothing to hold on to steadied themselves against walls. Those with no wall in reach tottered precariously to the ground or dropped quickly to one knee before the tremor forced them down. When the quake had subsided, there was a moment’s pause. There was no movement anywhere, as if time had briefly stopped. Then, when nothing else happened within that pregnant pause and everyone was sure that the tremor had really stopped, the complex burst into a frenzy of activity.

This was the first recorded quake to hit the complex, although other relatively minor tectonic tremors had been registered around the planet. Even so, the emergency procedure was well rehearsed. The first priority was, of course, to bring all personnel to the surface; subsequent quakes were highly probable, and the complex would have to be closed down for a period of time to lessen the risk imposed by immediate sympathetic tremors. All personnel knew their place. No one panicked, but all moved as quickly as possible to their designated duties. Those with a role to play in the emergency procedures jogged to their stations; those not needed moved very purposefully towards the exits of the dome complex, ensuring that they removed themselves from the risk of further danger as soon as possible.

The initial emergency activity centred on the two drop shafts that led directly down to the subterranean mining levels. Within the control room, the technicians were already scanning through the network of optics penetrating the shafts to check that the integrity of both drops had not been compromised by the quake. In conjunction with this visual scan, the artificial intelligence was reassimilating information from all the optics and sensors in the drops and throughout the rest of the complex. The structure of the complex was built to withstand quakes of far greater magnitude than this one. Indeed, the dome was one of the first colonisation structures deployed and, as such, was built to withstand a number of extreme atmospheric and planetary conditions. Even so, before the shuttles could continue to work the drops, it was vital to assure traversal of the shafts was completely unimpaired.

As the personnel worked through the emergency procedures calmly but urgently, the trembling began again. First as a low, almost imperceptible background rumble, felt through the ground as much as heard. People’s instincts were naturally to reach out to steady themselves again, but this didn’t seem like another quake. There was definitely something different this time. The ground wasn’t shaking; it was rumbling, growling like a giant empty gut, as if thunder built within it, growing louder as each second passed. As the sound increased, so did people’s realisation that this was something more serious. Panic began to rise; people ran frantically for the exits or for shelter from whatever might emerge from the bowels of the planet. Balance became increasingly difficult, nigh on impossible. The ground trembled increasingly violently; it bucked and shook like a horse being broken in. Then it struck. The ground surface throughout the dome shuddered and violently split in two with a thunderous clap that reverberated eerily throughout the dome. A huge rift appeared around the main drop shaft and rapidly spread, carving opposing zigzag paths across the surface like a piece of paper ripping slowly in two and with the same destructive ease. The crack widened as they grew and headed rapidly for the sides of the structure. The sides of the crack almost simultaneously reached the walls of the structure, and the noise and shaking gradually subsided. The powerful colonisation dome had apparently resisted the destructive force of the quake.

“Clear the dome! Clear the dome!” The command issued from the control room and echoed loudly throughout the complex. The command didn’t need issuing, but it galvanised the workers into action. This time there were no calm controlled procedures. Those personnel already heading for the dome exits now ran for their lives; those left unprotected on the dome floor gathered the injured as best they could and likewise made their way fearfully to the exits. The control room stood on top of the main building block on the south side of the dome. Its shattered glass frontage overlooked the whole operation below and had a panoramic view of the carnage left by the quake. It was staffed by ten technicians who, in conjunction with the vast array of sensors and AI throughout the complex, were sufficient to maintain control under normal conditions. However, normality had long since past. Their priority was to try to bring the remaining miners to the surface.