Previous chapters can be accessed by clicking on the “End of the Beginning” tag on the navigation bar. Chapter 22: September 2nd Novaya Zemlya, Russian Arctic The sun beat down relentlessly upon the construction crews as they drove the holes for the support beams deep into the permafrost, in search of a stable foundation. The sodden ground sucked at their boots, creating a squelching sound as they strained to release their feet from its’ tight grip. This had once been solidly frozen permafrost year round, but was now a liquefying morass well into the Arctic fall and winter. All of the scientific bases had to be supported by much deeper foundations as the melt layer travelled deeper and deeper into the earth. For some of the old buildings there was no hope, with the apartment and office buildings in the main town of Belushya Guba being left to their fate as the ground beneath them subsided. This reality was evident across the whole of the Far North, making a mockery of those that had touted it as a new frontier for development. For many decades to come it would be a morass of thawing permafrost, with the added attraction of highly-flammable methane venting into the air as microbes broke down the organic material that had been frozen within it for so long. Many communities had already begun their inevitable decline as the roads built on frozen ice and permafrost had become impassable.
How do you find the earlier chapters? There's no index.