The ear-piercing sound of the siren quickened the already racing heartbeat of Eddy and it made the situation feel even worse.
"Brett !!"
Upon sighting Brett in the massive dust cloud in front of him, Eddy dashed towards him.
"Eddy, is everyone out ?! Am I the last one ?? Please say that I am.."
Eddy grabbed Brett around the shoulders and lead him into the portable site office.
"Yes, you are !! They're all out, they're all good. Are you okay ???"
"Oh thank f*cking goodness."
"Brett.. they're calling off any further digging."
Brett looked up and glanced at Eddy.
"What!?! What the hell for ??!?"
"We're having too many setbacks..."
"But we haven't finished our projected excavation yet...! C'mon Eddy!!"
"Yes I heard you. But they said they're gonna can the project."
Brett looked pained.
"..Why!?"
"Oh my god I already explained it to you!!!"
Eddy opened the door to the site office and let Brett in first.
Brett removed his mask, goggles and helmet and shoved them all into Eddy's hands. His hair and face was drenched and dripping with sweat. He unbuttoned his orange mining coveralls and got his arms out of the top, showing his torso in a sweat-drenched T-shirt.
Eddy dumped Brett's protection gear on the table and stepped over to the small bar fridge in the corner of the site office and took out a chilled bottle of water. He twisted and removed the water bottle cap and handed the bottle to Brett. Brett nodded and immediately downed the contents of the whole bottle, Eddy watched Brett's throat pulsing with each gulp. When he finished, Brett threw the empty plastic bottle into the bin as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
"Eddy, do you think I enjoy being down there !? It's soooo f*cking hot in the mine and not only do I have that helmet on, I've got that dust mask on as well, that thing almost chokes me to death!! I'm not even asthmatic and I'm having breathing difficulties."
"Oh my god Brett, more the reason to quit now then. C'mon, please."
"NO!!!"
"...why are you so adamant about this??"
"Oh my f*cking god, maybe because we made a commitment to do it!?!??! What's gotten into you to quit like this ? C'mon Eddy, I know you're the site manager but you were just as passionate about this project as I was."
"Brett... the initial analysis of the soil was completely off. This stuff we're trying to drill through is hard as f*ck. We have completely stuffed up our assessment. This is the 4th time our drill has broken down. And we're not talking about a little chip on the drill or a little bit of overheating. We are talking about our chassis getting completely fried and f*cked, we've never tried to dig through anything as hard as this."
"Oh for f*ck sake, Eddy!!! I'm the one that picked up on the soil analysis being stuffed. I annotated it in our final report before we started the digging, remember? But no one listened !!"
"Yes I've received countless copies of that report with your annotation highlighted... There were even copies left for each executive and board member in their meeting rooms!! That was you, Brett, wasn't it!?".
"Yes. Not that it made any difference. None of the board or exec members came to talk to me. I was so pissed...."
"Brett... I collected and removed all those reports...."
Brett's eyes widened, then he glared at Eddy. He took a step forward and pushed Eddy's chest with his hands.
"WHAT !? Da FAQ did you do that for!?!?!?"
Eddy pushed Brett back.
"Brett, don't you EVER push me like that at work ever again!!!"
".. Eddy.. I'm sorry.. but...why..."
"Brett.. I'm sorry, but I didn't want you to lose your job."
Brett closed his eyes tight and fought his dilemma. As pissed as he was, he knew Eddy's actions came from a good place.
"...Eddy...So we never got the budget for the drill with more torque and power. Nor extra funding to improve the working environment down there, a higher-grade ventilation system for the drillers. Because I knew that soil was gonna mess with our lungs.."
"Brett, I have been getting that funding... I've been fighting for additional funding approval since we started digging which is the only reason why we've been able to continue up to this point. Even after we f*cked up 3 drillers... but they won't approve this one.. they said that 4th drill was their last approval."
"OH F*CK!!!"
Brett turned around and slammed the wall.
"Oh my god... why are you so..."
"Eddy... even you might think I'm crazy, but...I sense it. It's there.. I can feel it..."
Eddy was taken back from Brett's reaction. Brett had always been the "calm one" out of the two of them. For all the years Eddy had known Brett, he had never seen Brett this worked up about anything ever. And Eddy has known Brett for a pretty long time.. at least 10 years as a colleague.
Eddy stepped towards Brett and placed his hand on Brett's shaking shoulders.
"Brett.. how can you be so certain.."
"Eddy... that location.. we didn't just pick it out of a hat and you know it.. all that research and planning looking at the characteristic landscapes, the water quality of the nearby groundwaters... and once we started digging, oh my god, Eddy, those ore veins..."
"..what? What about the ore veins?"
"We can't even get a good photo because of the f*cking dust"
Brett fished out from his pocket, his mobile phone in a ziplock bag.
"A ziplock bag ? Are you serious Brett?"
"This was all I could find in our apartment to protect it from the dust"
Brett took out his phone from the bag and went into his photos.
"Here...this is the best shot I got to date. I took it just before we evacuated today."
Eddy left his hand on Brett's shoulder and moved in closer to him to look over Brett's shoulder in order to look at the photo on Brett's phone. Eddy's eyes widened as he gasped.
"Oh my god.. Brett.. when was the first time you saw stuff like this ?"
"Day 15"
"OMG you saw this on Day 15 and never told me ?"
Brett scrolled through his photos.
"Eddy.. I've been too busy arguing to get new drills and sh*t. At any opportunity, I've tried to get a photo... for days. Have a look at all my failed attempts. Too much dust, too busy evacuating, whatever."
"OMG.. I've never seen anything like it.. But Brett..if I were to draw a picture of ideal ore veins.."
Brett exclaimed excitedly.
"Yes!!! It would look exactly like this, wouldn't it !? Eddy.. please.. fight for me."
Eddy bit his lower lip.
"....How much more were we meant to dig according to our original plan?"
"2km"
"OH MY GOD TWO F*CKING KILOMETRES of that hard sh*t !?!?"
"Yes.. that rock is so hard...we're inch worming through it.. but it's just 2 km more.. please Eddy, please."
"...Send me this photo ?"
"Yes I'll Airdrop it. Thank you Eddy, thank you."
Eddy closed his eyes and shook his head.
"Brett, I haven't said I'd do anything yet."
Brett turned to Eddy and grabbed his arm.
"Eddy.. thank you."
Eddy opened his eyes and stared at Brett.
"...I hate it when you do that Brett."
Brett tightened his grip on Eddy's arm.
"No, you don't, Eddy. You know I'm onto something and you wouldn't miss it for the world."
"Goddamnit Brett.. Please go and get some rest. You want me to wake you as soon as I find out or you good for me to touch base with you in the morning?"
"Wake me. Any time, I don't care, please."
"Okay."
"Promise?"
"Yes Brett, I promise."
To be continued to Twoset Geolists II..