The housekeeper of the camp was an old man whose body was solid and sturdy. His body reflected the time he had spent in the relentless wind and snow of Alaska. His face was marked with deep lines of determination and resilience, hardened by the unforgiving climate and harsh weather. He bowed in front of the guests, his movement excessively low—almost too respectful. His gesture made Anderson uncomfortable, as his actions felt outdated and unnecessary. He seemed like a relic of an old-fashioned form of hospitality that Anderson found unsettling and difficult to react to. Normal people didn't know how to escape the abnormality he created within the first minutes of their meeting.
"Miss Layla Smith and Mr. T.B. It has indeed been a long time since I last saw you two," he said, extending his strong, tanned arm as Layla Smith introduced Anderson to him. T.B. was standing a little bit further and looking around.
"Yes, Mr. Hanta, it has been a very long time, nearly a year has passed," Layla Smith responded with a warm smile, extending her right hand to him. His humble greeting, one again, made Anderson surprise. He saw Hanta take Layla Smith's hand and kiss it in a respectful and old-fashioned way. His gesture felt out of place in such a rugged and utilitarian environment.
"Mr. Anderson Jr. Seely, this is Mr. Hanta, the housekeeper of this camp. Mr. Anderson Jr. Seely will be the Chief Engineer of our survey team," Layla Smith continued, formally introducing him. She looked normal, as if she used be familiar with very warm welcome of Hanta.
Anderson responded with a polite smile and shook Hanta's hand. He could have a feeling of the man's rough, calloused skin, as hard and unyielding as the bark of an ancient tree, each groove a testament to the labor and hardships he had endured over the years.
"Let me carry the luggage to your rooms, and then I shall prepare the meals for all òf you," Hanta said with quiet efficiency before swiftly gathering their belongings and disappearing into the camp.
"Well. Hanta—his name held significance in the Inuit Eskimo language, meaning 'hunter', Mr. T.B." Anderson said when two young guy walked to the trucks and Hanta escorted Layla Smith to her room while carrying her luggage
T.B. nodded in silence.
Hanta was a name that reflected the naming tradition among the Inupiat Eskimos that had been shaped by history, environment, and cultural adaptation over generations. Anderson Jr. Seely, being of Inupiat descent himself, understood that the naming conventions of his people had not always followed the European structure of given names and surnames.
Before the first half of the 20th century, Inupiat Eskimos did not have their surnames at all. In fact, their names carried deep significance and represented the elements of their world—spirits, animals, family ties, or natural phenomena, and were often not tied to gender or hereditary lineage.
By the 1920s, however, external pressures from missionaries, fur traders, and government officials who was seeking to impose European norms and the patriarchal system led to a shift in these naming conventions. It was argued that the absence of standardized surnames and consistent spelling made it difficult to track individuals for trade, census records, and governmental administration, leading to the introduction of numerical identifiers known as 'disc numbers.' This system allowed for more efficient record-keeping, particularly in managing family allowances, benefits, and healthcare distribution among the Inupiat population.
As the years passed, various proposals were made to transition away from numerical identification in favor of more conventional naming structures, including the introduction of a binomial naming system that adhered to European standards, the standardization of spelling, and even the controversial suggestion of obtaining fingerprints from every Inupiat individual. Ultimately, the federal government implemented "Project Surname," an initiative aimed at replacing disc numbers with family names, thus forcing a cultural adaptation among the younger generation of Inupiat Eskimos, many of whom, like Anderson Jr. Seely, fully adopted Euro-Christian family names upon reaching adulthood. Traditional Inupiat names, once deeply significant, became relegated to the status of informal childhood nicknames, much like the name 'Lynx,' which Anderson had recently acquired.
"Mr. Hanta, the housekeeper of this camp, has been working here for five years, Mr. Anderson," T.B. suddenly said while they both were getting in the Toyota Hilux to take their inventory lists of goods. "Every three months, Kivalina Resources LLC sends supply trucks to restock the camp. Hanta will be responsible for serving us throughout the duration of our survey mission. Seventy-five days from now, those trucks will return, a little earlier than usual, to resupply the camp and transport us back to Anchorage."
This time, Anderson nodded in silence.
Seventy-five days—the precise timeframe that Anderson Jr. Seely had proposed for this survey when questioned during an online meeting by Kimberly Smith, who had inquired about the length of the field expedition.
"Each geological borehole will take at least three days to survey," Anderson had explained. "Given that we have twenty-five boreholes to assess, the timeline is necessary."
Two young men wasted no time getting to work. Together with the employees of Kivalina Resources LLC and two hired drivers, they began systematically unloading and organizing the goods onto the multi-story iron shelving in the warehouse.
The warehouse was situated roughly twenty steps from the dining and resting area. The warehouse was a part of a spacious camp, consisting of a series of one-story buildings, each divided into multiple rooms, all topped with aluminum roofs reinforced with solar panels to provide supplementary power in the remote location.
Holding an A4 sheet of paper clipped to a file folder listing the incoming supplies, Anderson meticulously checked off the items while T.B. managed his own inventory, which mainly consisted of essential goods—canned food, fuel, electrical components. And, to Anderson's curiosity, there was a significant supplied inventory. Noticing Anderson's inquisitive glance, T.B. responded with a nonchalant shrug:
"Beside new items such as the Starlink antenna, several other pieces of equipment need replacement due to prolonged inactivity, including storage batteries and electronic systems. Kivalina Resources LLC has not maintained an active presence here for quite some time. Once we finish organizing the supplies in the warehouse, I also need to load the truck with discarded materials and non-biodegradable waste for transport to the waste treatment facility in Anchorage. Environmental protection remains a core principle for an exploration and mining company like us."
Anderson, however, was much more concerned with one category of supplies—his C4 and TNT explosives, indispensable tools in the process of geological exploration. These volatile materials were stored securely within wooden crates marked with explosive hazard symbols and stacked in a designated inner section of the warehouse, far from the entrance. Fuel barrels, another critical resource, were housed in a separate corner on the opposite side, ensuring a safe and structured storage arrangement.
Anderson's geological exploration methodology involved the application of seismic techniques. This was a method that utilized artificially generated seismic waves to investigate the structural composition of the Earth's crust. These artificially induced powerfull waves that had enough capability to penetrate deep underground, interacting with various geological boundaries formed by layers of soil and rock, each possessing distinct physical properties. As the seismic waves traveled, some energy was reflected at layer interfaces, while other portions refracted, continuing deeper into the subsurface before ultimately returning to the surface, carrying invaluable data regarding the underground formations.
Reflected waves would be detected by the equipment that calls "geophones" and recorded by other specialized seismic equipment. They could provid crucial information that, when processed through advanced interpretation software, yielded detailed two-dimensional representations of subsurface geology. This technique was particularly useful for mineral exploration, including the detection of gold deposits—an essential objective of this survey.
Anderson Jr. Seely felt satisfied with the camp's setup, knowing that the storage of explosive materials and fuel had been arranged with maximum safety, ensuring that hazardous substances remained far from living quarters and workspaces, minimizing risk while optimizing efficiency for the task ahead.