It was 12 noon and one by one, the unimaginative Gas Harvesting Associates logo on the monitors faded, and a person sat in front of the webcam built into their Dell laptop screen. When they had all appeared, Jason welcomed them and thanked them for their time.
For various reasons, those on the monitors could not hear or interact with others, the only two-way communication was with Jason.
Jason started his presentation.
“As you will know from what my agent said when he visited you, this is a business venture. I need your money. In return you will get income beyond your wildest dreams and complete legitimacy.”
“I know you are not convicted criminals in the drug production world, but you are all marked down as persons of interest with Law Enforcement, all over the world, and eventually your luck will run out. As you are aware from recent events in Mexico, wealth and weapons will not save you. What I have to offer will guarantee wealth and power without risk.
“You will all have heard the adage, if it sounds too good to be true, it is!
“Well, you must decide for yourself, but this time, it is true and it is too good to miss.
“Compare the world production of illegal drugs, even at street prices the world energy market makes your business look like coins in a beggar’s hat.
“You can be a dominant part of the energy market, which is the opportunity I am presenting to you.
“I will now tell you all about what I am offering.
***
“Starting with the fact that we are already in full production of methane gas, natural gas to you, and the 3 billion dollar investment made by friends 5 years ago will be fully paid back from revenue in one year’s time. Bearing in mind production only started six months ago, we will have made 3 billion dollars in one and a half years, from two and a quarter square kilometers of seabed. The same piece of seabed will keep producing at the same rate for at least another four years.
“I need your money to develop more seabed production. I need it now before the secret gets out, and the market catches on to what we are doing.
“First, the science bit.
“Since the formation of the oceans, and life began in them, bacteria have been busy making methane.
“At this time, as estimated by academics, there is at least 30 times more energy locked in the seabed, than in all the other fossil fuels we have ever used since man lit his first fire. This takes account of all the energy we have utilized and the remaining traditional fossil fuel we know about, not yet extracted.
“The fuel is trapped in the sediment layer on the ocean floor; it actually occurs on land as well, but do not be concern with trivia. The gas is locked in a solid form in the seabed silt, where the ocean is more than 350 meters deep and the water temperature is 2°celsius or less.
“Apart from my method, it cannot be economically recovered.
“I will now tell you how it is done, I am sure you will appreciate the simplicity when we combine nature and physics, to work together.
“The seabed is closer than the land, to the hot earth’s core, but the cold water and tremendous pressure keep the methane locked within the silt.
“We float concrete pontoons over the site, and sink them into position to form a massive insulating blanket over the seabed. The pontoons are arranged like concrete paving slabs on a patio.
“The pontoons are 100 meters square, with a top chamber for flotation and emergency storage, and a bottom chamber open to the sea to collect the gas, and act as the main reservoir and buffer.
“Soon after the pontoons are positioned, the heat from the earth’s core starts to warm up the silt causing the gas to break free. It bubbles up into the lower chamber of the pontoon, and is collected when the chamber is full, in huge steel cylinders, one per pontoon.
“Imagine these cylinders to be like submarines with the bow pointing straight down to the sea floor. Water enters the cylinder, so it sinks in a controlled way, guided to a specific pontoon by the onboard automated navigation system.
“As the gas from the pontoon fills the cylinder, it displaces the water within it, and the cylinder rises to the surface.
“Two things to remember; minimal energy is required to position the cylinder, no external energy is required to sink or float the cylinder, and no pumps or pressurization are required.
“In addition, only a small fraction of the cylinder fills with methane, so by the time it reaches the surface the methane has expanded, driving out all the water and yet it is still at extremely high pressure, within the cylinder.
“Like the descent, the ascent recharges the batteries that drive the onboard navigation, for the final positioning. The propellers then act as turbines to generate the electricity.
“A massive amount of gas is stored in a small space, and no external energy is used to compress it, or move it. Normal gas tankers require compression and freezing of the gas to make transport viable. A cost that is more than halved by the way we work.
“A gas tanker receives the gas from the cylinder, then as the cylinder empties, water fills it, and so it sinks back to the pontoon.
“Incidentally, because we have the warmth from the earth’s core in the form of thermal vents or ‘smokers’, as you may know them, and the cold surrounding water, we use a number of Sterling engine generators to produce electricity. The name sterling in this context is coincidental, we are not related. This electricity is sufficient to illuminate the site, and power the robots that carry out the connection and maintenance on the seabed.
“This process achieves perfect efficiency, using abundant energy already available, which would normally have gone to waste.
“When the gas in the seabed under the pontoon is eventually exhausted, gas flows into the upper chamber, causing the pontoon to lift. It floats to a new position and it is sunk, so the process of gas harvesting starts again, about a month later. It takes this length of time for the heat from the earth’s core to build up in the silt.
“I reiterate that we are in production, we are selling and we are making enormous profits, so it is not a pipe dream.
“Those are the facts and principles; do any of you have questions at this stage?”
An indicator flashed on the screens of several participants and Jason referred to each in turn by monitor number, not their name.
“Yes number 3, what is your question please?”
“Why do you need our money, and why not from normal investment banks?”
“Thank you, number 3,” said Jason and he repeated the question for the others.
“You all know about the vested interests in industry and government. You only have to imagine how you would react, if someone discovered how to turn tap water into narcotics and your business vanished overnight.”
Jason could see from the 49 faces that they got the message.
“The next question comes from number 22, go ahead please.”
“Burning methane gas will add to the global warming problem. What is your reaction to that?”
“You are absolutely right 22, the products of combustion are global warming pollutants, identical to that from your gas boiler, gas fire and gas oven.
“That is a sensible question, but it fails to address the issue of what fuel you will use to replace gas, or any of the more polluting fuels. Don’t forget, the energy demand is not going away, so something will have to replace it.
“No sane or caring person would advocate nuclear power, even though it is clean energy, because of the terrible harm caused by radiation leaks and accidents.
“So-called renewable energy technology is still in its infancy and will not fill the energy demand.
“It should also be clearly understood, methane from any source is a greater global warming gas, than it is after burning. Methane is bubbling up from the seabed and from thawing land mass, in ever increasing amounts as the earth becomes warmer.
“Frankly, the day will soon come when we have ruined the planet, so the sooner we all make our fortune, while we are alive to enjoy it, the better. At least with my process, the end is delayed by several hundred years, so none of us or the families we know will be alive. We are not making the situation worse, just delaying the inevitable.”
There was visible shock on the faces of his audience at his proclamation of doom. Sterling was always surprised at humanity’s reluctance to accept that death is inevitable. He was not offering a cure for man’s extinction, just a way of delaying it. Actually, no one else on the planet was able to offer such a postponement, so get over it!
“I see there are no more questions. Then I will continue with the presentation.
“At the moment, to avoid drawing attention to ourselves, we sell the gas at just a fraction less than the cheapest market price. We make 68% profit on every unit of gas we sell, that is before we scale up from our laboratory size production.
“Every aspect of our business is offshore, and I mean that in every sense of the word. We have no government breathing down our neck and no tax liability.
“The seabed we work from is in international waters and too deep to be subject to prying eyes. Our surface presence is no more than a floating quay, where 40 ships take up the gas from 160 cylinders at a time. We chose the location off main shipping routes, although with the traffic using the facility, that is no longer strictly true.
“Our clients wrongly assume the floating quay is just a terminal, no one asks the question, where do we get the gas from?
“The Sargasso Sea is in a region of only the mildest currents and crystal-clear water, and foul weather is almost unheard of. A necessary requirement for the start of our technical learning curve.
“The harvesting field lies 5000 meters down, half way along one edge of the Bermuda Triangle.
“We have world-wide patents on everything.”
Again, the faces told Jason that the audience was impressed.
“To enable us to go from the Laboratory to Industrial scale, I need massive investment from you, in fact every dime you possess.
“Our open secret will come to light soon enough, and by then we must be so large and credible, that public pressure will override corporation self-interest. Governments will be forced to comply with the public will.
“When the news of the harvesting does break, we will slash our gas price to a healthy but honest level, to drive the wedge home.
“To protect other energy producers from bankruptcy and their dependent labor force from ruin, we will suggest the governments of the day take the difference between the price we want and the current market price; a reverse subsidy if you like, an offer they cannot refuse because it will pay off all their debts.
“To maximize your profits and, therefore, your contribution to our scheme, we have already set certain actions in motion.
“However, before I say any more, I need a binding commitment from each of you now. It is not open for discussion, debate or time to consider, you are either in or out.
“When my agent met with you, and told you about this presentation, he warned you that an instant and binding decision would be required. He also requested that you calculate your cash assets for instant transfer, and set them up on the laptop computer he left with you.
“Please declare your vote now!”
Jason had pinned his whole future on this moment; he needed about 70% in favor, although the more important factor was donation value, not numbers of members.
One by one the votes YES or NO appeared on each monitor. On Jason’s personal screen, he could see the pledged contribution from the YES voters. The net worth and turnover figures for the criminals behind the monitors, were provided by The Organization from law enforcement files, from all over the world.
The millions jumped up in ever-increasing amounts, stopping at 1.4 billion dollars, more than enough for his immediate needs.
Only four NO votes registered on Jason’s monitors!
***
“Thank you all for your overwhelming support, I am confident we will reach our target,” said Jason, “please bear with me while I deal with the next stage of the plan.”
Jason scrolled down the list of 49 members and eliminated every NO voter. The respective monitor went dark as the victim’s computer exploded. There was no reasonable chance of survival as 0.5kg of Semtex detonated in the user’s face. Also, a message had been sent to 98 agents, to eliminate other drug producers who were not party to the presentation, because they were either being hunted by law enforcement or too small to be worth considering as donors.
To emphasize the seriousness of the commitment made by the remaining members, Jason told them their competition had been marked for elimination. Some were openly under attack from mercenaries or people close to them. Sleepers just activated, were assassinating others. He assured his audience they were safe and expected confirmation of their pledge value in the next three days.
To transfer the money, he gave them the addresses of the Banks and the account numbers. Those with unlaundered cash which would soon be spent on wages, could deliver it to him at his floating office, Nima Maru, at the harvesting fields in the Sargasso Sea. “You cannot miss it; it is moored at the hub of the starfish layout of docked shipping.
“You will all receive shares, equal to the value of your investment. In the meantime, my agent will be calling on you to explain our storage and distribution network for your drugs. Take advantage of the drug shortage on the streets due to my elimination of your competition, and the preoccupation of law enforcement dealing with the upsurge in crime, to achieve your higher street prices.”
Jason made his closing speech and thanked them for their participation.