IDEA - 10-3-2020
by
Patrick Ryan
1,523 Words
Energy is at a premium in the future, and desperate scientists turn to Earth's mantle to sustain our standard of living. Off California's coast, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, a corporation named Inertia began boring a four-mile hole through the ocean floor to the mantle below. The goal is to build the world's most powerful geothermal powerplant. Just a few miles down, temperatures are already exceeding 500 degrees celsius. Upon arrival at the mantle, they expect the temperature to be well above 1000 degrees celsius. The drill, called hammerhead, the most advanced drill ever made, will cross the threshold and tap into the mantle later today. As the computer displays the required depth, scientists open and toast with a bottle of champagne. Over the next few days, experiments would begin; by pumping steam and water to the surface, the change in pressure caused the water to turn into steam and moved a series of giant turbines. They pump more water if they need more energy. They test the engine to its limits, and the results are better than they ever imagined. But as they exceed the maximum pump level, some scientists want to push the limits higher. Despite being told to stop, they proceeded, and the Earth started to shake beneath them. It recorded a 5.0 on the Richter Scale, which could be felt as far as Honolulu. They developed a way to create man-made earthquakes. This got Pentagon officials' attention. Upon the scientists returning to the States, they faced a proposal worth more money than their geothermal power plant would ever have made. All they had to do was take vessel miles off an enemy's coast like North Korea or Iran and trigger earthquakes. The team was divided, but the idea of solving the energy crisis with the money from this mission was appealing. They eventually agreed and set a course for North Korea first. Anchored over 2,000 miles away from Pyongyang but had a straight shot without affecting any other nations, they started drilling. Replicating the experiment performed off California's coast only ten times more pressure, triggering a 6.8-level earthquake in Pyongyang's center, crippling its infrastructure, and damaging some of its buildings. The scientists disembarked; no one knew the presence of the U.S. military involvement. High-ranking military officers salivated over their new secret weapon. They could do more harm than a direct war for less than 1% of their budget, with everyone thinking it is an act of God with no blowback on the US. Scientists were told to set their course for an assault on Tehran. They were closer this time, nearly 1,500 miles from their target. They drilled their hole, pumping water. This time they had better results with barely the pressure they needed in the Pacific. The Richter Scale earthquake recorded 7.7. That day Tehran crumbled. However, the huge earthquake also triggered a tsunami in all directions, putting Mumbai underwater and sending a 100-foot wave to Dubai. Along with Iran's deaths, the overall death toll was millions. Ally infrastructure loss was in the trillions. To make matters worse, as they were taking the drill out of the seabed, they were spotted by a container ship who alerted the Indian military. The ship was seized, and the scientists were imprisoned. The US Military disavowed and denied any awareness of the actions of scientists. The resulting anger would spark World War III, and even intensified the global energy crisis’s effects. What started as a plan to save the world only destroyed it in the end.
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