The Ghost Mine by Ben Wolf

Author:Ben Wolf [Wolf, Ben]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Splickety Publishing Group
Published: 2018-06-05T04:00:00+00:00

Monday morning came too quickly for Justin. He made it to the showers, to breakfast, and to Sector 13 in plenty of time, but instead of Keontae’s electric attitude and demeanor, solemn silence accompanied Justin’s every footstep.

At the front of Sector 13, near the access door, Harry and Shannon had gathered everyone around. As soon as the clock struck 0600, Harry started talking, but Justin barely paid attention.

He looked at the spot where it had happened. Familiar blue filling now sealed the crevice he’d helped to carve into the floor. A group of freestanding posts emanating streams of red light into each other formed a wide perimeter around the spot—caution posts, designed to screech if anything breached their perimeter.

“So let’s get to work,” Harry concluded. “And remember, safety is paramount.”

Sure it is. Justin shook his head. Sure it is.

He glanced up at the science office. Dr. Stielbard stood up there like a scarecrow/android hybrid, staring down at them again. Light illuminated her face and body this time, and Justin met her eyes.

In that moment, they shared the camaraderie of loss thanks to this mine. He understood a part of her, and perhaps she understood part of him. Death had touched them both, and they had both evaded it.

Dr. Stielbard looked away.

Justin headed over to the hand-lasers.

The day crawled by. His muscles performed well, and he hadn’t managed to exhaust himself by lunchtime. Though not hungry, Justin ate while Connie yammered and Candy listened. He made eye contact with Shannon once, but like Dr. Stielbard, she looked away after just a moment.

Back in the mine, the work continued to progress, but every time Justin walked past or even looked at that spot on the floor, his heart broke all over again.

He blasted the rock with his hand-laser, following protocol, working it at a productive speed neither too fast nor too slow. Thus far, he’d made good progress.

But his laser sputtered out, and he couldn’t get it to work again. He hadn’t overheated it—he’d taken extra care to not even get close. It just stopped functioning, and he didn’t know why.

“Barclay,” a voice called from across the cavern.

Justin turned.

Harry stood watching him with his hands on his hips. “Why aren’t you working?”

Why aren’t you? Justin wanted to ask, but he restrained himself. This time. “Laser’s broken, or something.”

“We’ve got twenty more.” Harry nodded toward the rack of hand-laser apparatuses. “Log it for maintenance, replace it, and get back at it.”

“Yes, sir,” Justin said.

He headed over to the rack, unlatched the one wrapped around his torso, and hung it back in its spot on the rack, then he swiped his card and logged the laser as malfunctioning.

Then Justin donned another one and activated it. It worked just fine, so he traipsed back to his workspace. He used the laser for another five minutes or so, and then it, too, petered out on him.

What the hell? He shook it, smacked it, tried to deactivate and reactivate it, but it didn’t respond to anything. Justin looked up for Harry, or preferably Shannon, to let her know.

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