Prologue — Stars on Mud (1955, Michigan)
In a dark open field, only the headlights of an old truck illuminated the way.
The smell of wet soil, the breath of two young brothers, and a single rusty bulldozer.
James Manning drew deeply on his cigarette.
“Richard, what will come out of this?”
His younger brother, Richard, leaning on a shovel handle, replied,
“A road. And on that road, stores will open, children will play, and people will live.”
Nearby, Manuel, a Mexican laborer dripping with sweat, smiled.
“Boss, build a road and people will come. When people come, they’ll need more roads.”
Rain-soaked starlight scattered across the truck’s window. At that moment, a dream that no one else believed in lived vividly in the brothers’ eyes: “Let’s carve our name into the land of America.”
Part I — The Era of Fractures (2010s, Houston)
Chapter 1: Shadows in the Boardroom
2012, Houston headquarters.
White lights stretched across a long meeting room. The graph on the slide plunged like a cliff.
The CFO swallowed hard.
“Three consecutive years of losses. The bank wants to cut our credit line. Liquidity won’t last more than six months.”
The head of marketing forced a weak joke.
“At least… we still pave good roads.”
No one laughed.
Only the ticking of the wall clock was heard. The chairman drummed his thick fingers on the table.
“Where is this company going? Who can hold this ship together?”
Chapter 2: A Shaken Site
On the outskirts of Houston, at a highway expansion site, workers sat on rebar smoking cigarettes.
“Think we’ll get paid this week?”
“Heard the office say the company’s going under.”
The site supervisor stayed silent. The sunset gleamed across his steel helmet.
His father, too, had once paved roads under the company’s name.
Now in his hands was a document listing possible layoffs.
A name once synonymous with trust had turned into a name of fear.
Part II — The Savior (2015–2017)
Chapter 3: A New Face
Summer of 2015, in the headquarters lobby.
A man walked in. Dressed in a gray suit, but his stride felt firmly grounded.
Joseph A. Cutillo.
His first words to the board:
“Sterling isn’t a ship anymore. It’s a wreck. But if we install a new engine, it will float again. That engine is direction.”
An executive sneered.
“Easy to say. Where’s the money?”
Cutillo’s gaze did not waver.
“I’ve revived broken sites before. What we need is focus, discipline, and a new market.”
Chapter 4: The First Trial
2016, northern Texas.
A bridge project Sterling had won was delayed by a sudden flood. The banks grew nervous, and investors hung up their phones.
Inside a dusty site container, Cutillo unrolled a mud-stained blueprint.
“No matter the cost, the schedule must be kept.”
The site manager objected.
“That’ll sink us into losses.”
“Worse than losses is losing trust.”
Through the night, lights flickered under the bridge. Days later, the first section opened right on schedule.
The bank officer muttered in disbelief,
“You… actually did it.”
From then on, the name “Cutillo” was no longer just a CEO candidate. It became a symbol of salvation.
Part III — The Transformation (2017–2022)
Chapter 5: The Dawn of Strategy
In 2017, he finally became CEO.
On the boardroom wall hung a new map, drawn with three bold lines:
- E-Infrastructure: Data centers, e-commerce logistics, advanced manufacturing.
- Transportation: Roads, bridges, airports.
- Building: Residential and commercial concrete foundations.
“In the past, we only built roads. Now, we will build the roads on which data will travel.”
Murmurs filled the room.
“A construction company talking about data?”
Cutillo smiled.
“AI doesn’t live in the cloud. It lives on steel and concrete. You’ll see soon enough.”
Part IV — The Age of AI (2023–)
Chapter 6: Invisible Roads
Winter 2023. The world’s media repeated a single word: ChatGPT.
People asked AI to write poems, draft legal advice, even confess their love.
But in the Houston 8th-floor boardroom, Cutillo saw something else.
“Why is AI spreading this fast?” he asked his executives.
“Because of buildings. Power grids, cooling systems, fiber optic cables. Without data centers, AI wouldn’t move an inch.”
The screen displayed a satellite photo of the Arizona desert. A grid of steel frames rising.
“We’re not building roads anymore. We’re building AI’s nervous system.”
One executive muttered,
“So the AI revolution… depends on the people digging the ground.”
Cutillo grinned.
“History is always the same. Every revolution begins with shovels and cranes.”
Chapter 7: The Desert’s Heart
Phoenix, Arizona, under the blazing summer sun.
Hundreds of workers kicked up dust, machines roared, drones buzzed, sparks flew.
Samantha, a young engineer, studied a cable trench blueprint.
“This channel will one day carry billions of AI requests. Humanity’s memories and voices will pass through here.”
Her colleague adjusted his helmet.
“And we’re the ones digging it. Gives you chills, doesn’t it?”
The site director pressed his radio.
“CEO, we can finish three months ahead of schedule. The supply team hasn’t slept in days.”
Under desert starlight, the data center slowly revealed itself, rising like a fortress of the future.
Part V — The Halls of Power (Washington, D.C.)
Chapter 8: A Nation’s Question
Washington D.C., a Senate hearing room.
Under the national flag, Cutillo raised his hand in oath.
“I swear to tell the truth.”
A senator asked,
“AI, semiconductors, cloud. All tied to national security. What role does Sterling play in this?”
Cutillo set aside his prepared speech and spoke from the field.
“Senator, AI doesn’t live in the cloud. It lives inside concrete walls, feeds on power grids, and drinks cooling water.
We build and maintain those lifelines. However powerful the brain of AI becomes, it cannot move without a body.”
The room fell silent.
Finally, one senator muttered,
“So the true supply line of the AI war… is shovels and welders.”
Chapter 9: Shadows
After the hearing, a lobbyist pulled him aside.
“Mr. Cutillo, your company is growing too powerful. Some people are uneasy.”
“Uneasy?”
“They don’t like the idea of one company dominating AI infrastructure.”
Cutillo studied him for a moment.
“You can’t block a road. Roads always find a way through.”
He walked away into the city’s lights. But unseen hands of resistance were already in motion.
Part VI — The Fortress (2025, Inauguration)
Chapter 10: Opening Day
Spring 2025, Arizona desert.
The massive data center stood complete: a building hundreds of meters long, electric substations and cooling pipes running like veins.
On the stage gathered workers, politicians, and investors.
Among them was the grandson of Manuel—the Mexican laborer who once built roads with James and Richard in Michigan. He held a faded photo of his grandfather.
Cutillo took the podium.
“Seventy years ago, two brothers carved the first road into mud. Today we open another road. This road won’t carry cars.
It will carry the voices, memories, and futures of humanity.”
Applause thundered.
Inside, thousands of LEDs flickered on like stars.
In the heart of the desert, a fortress of current came alive.
Epilogue — The Road of Steel and Current
That night, on the rooftop of Houston headquarters, Cutillo gazed at the city lights.
In his mind, the image of two brothers under Michigan’s muddy stars overlapped with the desert fortress burning bright.
“What we’ve built isn’t just a road. It’s AI’s nervous system.”
Far away, the lights of the data center refused to dim.
Above that steel-and-current road, people and data were already racing together.