Scott Sigler
Earthcore
This book is dedicated to Michael R. Mennenga and Evo Terra.
THANKS:
If I neglected anyone in this thanks page, I'm on a huge deadline and under a lot of pressure to finish up. This is an excellent cop-out and you know it. Therefore, if you don't see your name, it's not my fault. You can't be offended. I forbid it. There, you have been forbade. In fact, I'm so stressed, maybe you could stop thinking about yourself for once and send me some chocolate already.
You're A Trooper Thanks™ to my wife, Jody, who was the first to read the umpteen renditions of EarthCore. She read the story more times than I can even count. That's a lot of pages, folks.
Super Special Thanks™ (which is way more than “special thanks” but still a bit less than “wow, can I bear your children?") goes to the Sigler Media team: Matt Albright, Kevin Capizzi, Kay Satirli, Dan Stah, Robbie Trencheny
Extra Special Thanks™ to Adam Curry & Dave Weiner for inventing podcasting
You're Smart & Other Publishers Are Dumb Thanks™ to Gwen Gades
Podcasting Peoples Thanks™
Accident Hash,Austin Podcast, Dawn & Drew, Mark Jeffrey, Russell Holliman, 49er Media, Tee Morris, Podcast411, The Martini Shot, Paul Story, Podcast Alley, Podcast Bunker, Podcast Pickle, The Rev Up Review, The San Francisco Podcasting Crew, Soccergirl (not last, and not least)
And to the following kind souls, who were patrons of the EarthCore podcast:
Richard Mulholland, Greg Shorten, Timothy Burling, Raymond Kerr, Martin Bergendahl, David McClellan, Mike Gorecki, Kyle Nishioka, Robert White, Mark Zaricor, Robert Gelb, Robert White, Joel Gerhold, Edward Hunt, Joseph Saitta, Joe LaMontagne, Timothy Downing, Leonid Dragan, Ali Buchan, Andrew West, Jason Arneaud, Markus Nesson, Andy Bruce, Martin Jarvis, Matthew Danis, Shakid Otaqui, Katherine Steer, Daithi O'Crualaoich, Joerg Weiss, Richard Pavonarius, Stephen Drury, Matthew Danis, Reilly Beacom, Michael Mayfield, Steven Shouse, Lewis Minteer, Michael Romeo, Peter Diamond, Albert West, Michael Coaty, Dennis Faust, William Midyette, Mark Friedman, Patrick Stevenson, Roger Bass, Bruce Press, Chris Anderson, Patrick Ainge, Steve Johnson, Joel Lipton, Thomas Kier, Michael J Garcia, Dane Summers, Martin Kardon, Steve Rollins, Michael Clark, Brad Callaway, Jerry Scullion, Robert Fink, David Eaton, Dwight Illk, Len Humbird, Andrew T. Kee, Robert Blum, Thomas Holliday, Rich Legg, Ryan Casey, Frederick Beecher, Craig Meyer, Patrick Messier, Robin Hudson, Dan Kuykendall, The Murphy Loft, Paul Grimard, Jeff McFarland, Patricia Drake, Steven Kolstad, Mike Brady, Brian Pipa, Michael Tichon, James Daniels, Jonathan Wallington, Nick Sagar, Sebastian Dittmann, Joe Jennings, Pekka Oikarainen, Christopher Booth, M.J.L. Osborne, Doug Kerr, Greg Collette, Adam Christensen, Patrick Gade, Benson Wong, Joe Fitzgerald, Duarte Velez Grilo, Manu Saxena, Richard Smykla, Rafael Tamayo, Brian Beatty, Brian Cotter, Brandon Hill, Rafael Tamayo, Daniel Pearce, Allan Byxbe, Benjamin Hauger, Mind Over Media, Jerry Poe, Parker Hyink, Allan Byxbe, John Stone, Bryan Gilomen, John Bonewitz, David Wangrow, Derek Jackson, Dennis Moore, Paula Hilton, David Mackler, Russell Turley, Cal Evans, James Spears, David Campbell, Eugene Johnson, William Hart, David Sica, John Hartge, Derek Coward, Donna Finner, Joseph Krackeler, Matthew Blair, Seth Greenstein, Wilbert Leeper, Justin MacLean, Joseph Scharfenberg, David Wright, Stephen Skeels, Darin Peterson, David Hempy, Michael Cecere, Mike Kazmierczak, Sarah Nichols, Richard Wezowicz, Kendall Bullen, Randy West, Edward Garbacz, Catherine McConnell, John Prue, Brian McDavid, Gary Beckstrom, John Skehan, Aaron Propst, Deborah Pugh, Robert Butler, Brian McDavid, David Millar, Eric Ortega, Joseph Scharfenberg, Yvonne Bolden, Steven Jarvis, Richard Dorothy, Mat and Kris Weaver, Roy Hill, Stephen Kendall, Charles Hannum Jr, Stan Smyla, Joel Mullins, Gregory Lewis, Jim McGarr, Tom Bechtel, Michael Barnidge Jr, James McCabe, Jim McGarr, Charles Barone, Scott Fox, Alan Snow, Lee Smart, Mark Thiele, Jort Bloem, Neil Smithline, Chad Minishew, Harley Freeman, Jeff McRaven, Leslie Green, Pablo Chalmeta and David Shaw.
You Got My Back Thanks™ Jabberwocky Literary Agency
Prologue
Wilford Igoe Jr. wrapped his fingers around the pumpkin-shaped rock, steeled himself with a deep breath, and pushed with all his strength. The rock slid back a half inch, accompanied by the sound of stone on stone. He held his breath, waiting, listening for further grinding sounds, for the sound of settling rocks — the sounds of certain death.
But no sounds came. He let his breath out in a long sigh of relieved tension. No point in relaxing, he told himself, I'm just going to have to go through it a dozen more times until I clear this rock.
"Just a little more, Will,” said his friend Samuel, who stood behind him in the cramped cave, watching for any signs of settling. Will could only grunt in response. The light from Samuel's mining helmet jittered from side to side, up and down, bouncing all over the rough gray rock that filled Will's hands. Will's own helmet lay behind him and to the right — he'd had to take it off to squeeze into the narrow crawl space among the cluster of ancient boulders.
The headlamps’ illumination was the first light this pitch-black place had known in decades, possibly centuries. Sunlight had never graced the interior of the cave; they were too far into the zone of perpetual darkness.
"Stop moving that damn light, Samuel,” Will said, grunting out the words. “If I move this rock the wrong way we all die.” Samuel's light stopped bouncing, but only for a moment, then began flittering about again, following the excited movements of his head.
Will fought down his irritation and tried to concentrate, which wasn't easy considering his position. He was wedged into the crawl space that he and Samuel and Douglas had made during the last three days. The space was part of a much larger tunnel that led steadily down into the mountain. Will's head was at the low end of that incline, his body lying in powdery cave silt. It felt like going down a slide headfirst, although he wasn't actually moving, especially if he couldn't budge that boulder.
But removing the rock wasn't the real problem. He had to move it right, he had to move it just so. The boulders surrounding him were remnants of an ancient cave-in. You couldn't tell how these rocks settled against one another. Move out a “linchpin” rock, even if it was a tiny one, and sudden settling would crush anything lying below.
"Come on Will,” Samuel said. His excited voice rang off the dead stone walls. “Try a little to the left."
"Up yours, Anderson,” Will said. He wrestled with the chunk of limestone, his thick arms shaking with a combination of concerted effort and exhaustion.
Thousands of years ago this passage had housed a swiftly churning underground river. Now all that remained of the ancient stream was the tunnel itself and a floor of bone-dry silt, two inches thick and as fine as high-grade flour. That same silt coated Will's sweaty skin.
Sweat dripped from his face, the inverted position making it seem as if it ran up his neck, up his cheeks and into his stinging eyes. Will heard his own labored breathing as he wrestled with the rock, which had already split open two of his knuckles. His breath sounded loud — not because of the claustrophobically confined space, but because there were no background sounds. A hundred yards into the cave and all sound ceased. Not even the insects made noise, although that far down the insects were strange indeed — blind crickets with fragile antenna twice as long as their body, tiny beetles that burrowed ceaselessly into the sand, and ghostly-white, long-legged spiders that had never felt the faintest trickle of sun.