The Black by Paul E Cooley

Author:Paul E Cooley
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781942137092
Publisher: Shadowpublications.com

The drill string had descended below 25k. The crew was working hard and fast. Vraebel was pleased with their progress, but he’d fought the urge to call Gomez on the horn and tell him to slow down. They had time, after all. No reason to rush it. And yet, he wanted this done. So did they.

He’d heard the chatter in the galley. Rig-folk were superstitious. When you were in a profession that frequently ended up costing you fingers, toes, or your fucking life, paying attention to your instincts became second nature.

And everyone’s instincts were screaming after the wave. He wasn’t sure how it had gotten to the rumor mill, but Shawna’s analysis of the oil samples was public knowledge now. He thought for sure it was Harobin’s fault since he couldn’t believe Calhoun’s crew would spread that nonsense. Didn’t matter.

Compounding that? He knew Belmont had told his dive crew about AUV 2. And even if he hadn’t, they’d no doubt seen the machine on their way to inspect the substructure. That was the kind of thing they were paid to notice. Inspectors inspected, even when they weren’t on the clock.

He sipped his coffee and stared at the monitors. Next to a diagram of the drill string was a depth meter and a time estimate of completion. Spudding would happen in a little more than an hour. After that? They’d send down the drill bit. And then the morning crew could get some chow while the night watch started drilling.

Vraebel rubbed his eyes. Rig chiefs didn’t get a lot of sleep and he was no exception. PPE may have mandated a 12 hour day, but he often couldn’t even get the paperwork done during that time. And then there was the crew to worry about. Sleep was a luxury he could ill afford on an exploration rig. Once he was in command of a production rig, though, life would be much, much better.

The monitor flashed and Vraebel frowned. The white phone rang and he picked it up. “Ops.”

“Vraebel?” Gomez’s tinny voice said. The roar of machinery behind him made the words difficult to make out. “We have a problem. Or maybe not.”

Vraebel shivered. “What kind of problem?”

“I think we struck the bottom.”

The chief blinked and looked at the monitor. The depth chart said 27k. “That’s not possible. The survey said it would be over 29k before we hit the floor.”

“I know,” Gomez said. “But the instruments say we’re sitting on top of rock.”

He thought for a moment. “Gomez? I need to call the drilling office. Stand by.”

“Yes, sir.”

He typed a few keys on a keypad and waited. With the sounds of the deck machinery in the background, the phone buzzed in his ears.

“Harobin,” a voice answered.

“Harobin? Gomez says we’ve hit bottom.”

There was a pause. “Yeah, I was going to call you about that. I think he’s right.”

Vraebel hissed through his teeth. “What should we do here?”

Harobin let out a huff of air and then chuckled. “I think we drill.”

The chief smiled. “Gomez? You hear that?”

“Yes, sir.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.