Aerospace III - The Inuit Cycle

Aerospace III - Other Thoughts

Aerospace III : The Inuit Cycle

Other Thoughts

Gordon Best

Chapter 1 : Building Permit

If Nunavut were a country, it would rank 17th in land area at 1,877,787km squared. Not to be confused with Nunavik, which is east of us. Sudan is 16th at 1,886,068km squared. It took us a while to get up to speed on the building program that started in Nunavik (Ungava).

I am Carla Wilson leader or mayor of Kugluktuk, a western village on the north shore of mainland Nunavut. Just think of Great Slave Lake as a finger pointing north to our town on the arctic sea. I was 22 when the pressure started heading our way. People were asking their leadership, why they had no programs like Nunavik. I was asking too.

I wanted Kugluktuk to grow in population and the people to have a safe place to live. Uncle Jack helped us build the road through the ridge and construct the pad for our first dome. He blasted that famous hole that was the stage for subsequent events.

But something must have been screwy in Iqaluit. It will become a Movie. 'Screwy in Iqaluit.' That is our capital. Did they call in the army?

We were building without a work permit. Do you call in the army? We had thousands of people with nowhere to go. Would they tossed us out when winter was coming?

Then I got the phone call from Suqi in Ungava. She told me about the prophecy. She told me what Namid, their seer, had said.

"There will be a war. A confrontation at your door. This will be used to attack us all. Fighters and bombers. We need to take the fight to them." said Suqi.

"But why us and why now?" I asked.

Suqi said, "It has been brewing for 600 years. They have always wanted to blow us off the map. These domes are a great target. I have already spread the news about the government's decision."

"Then what do we do?"

Suqi said, "It is already in motion. Watch the news."

It was the following week that several army freight planes (C-5M Super Galaxy) landed at our newly upgraded airport. They took control and unloaded many personnel carriers and some light tanks. Everyone was armed. We got the news and uncle Jack moved his equipment across the road at the gap. He had a row of storage sheds on both sides of the road. And only he knew that they were full of explosives.

We don't know what happened next. But Fred warned them not to fire.

Well! All hell broke loose. My uncle is a very peaceful man. But he must have seen himself as a man at the crossroads.

My guess is that some of the soldiers fired. Men scattered and more bullets flew. The bullets found their way into the explosives and a huge wave of fire, blew through the troops. Of the 450 soldiers only 22 survived. We only found small pieces of uncle Jack.

It was the spark that lit a fuse of pent up frustration. We used the media. We had our own satellites. Soon we had 10 wheelships in orbit documenting every move and passing on the information to us.

It was easy to see that the airbases across Canada were ramping up for something.

But many of the maintenance people on the airbases were native. Of the dozen bases across Canada in use, we had people ready to make the sacrifice. They would no longer be able to live in or near these bases.

The signal was given by Suqi and her people, 19th August, a wednesday morning. Small charges, looking like dice, were placed in the exhaust vents of most of the fighters in the country. Transport planes and helicopters were similarly treated. Then a signal was sent effectively closing down the Canadian air forces.