by Britt Ringel
After clearing her way to the next gap, she rested for several minutes. The air was thick, hazy and hotter than normal. Every bit of her seemed drenched with a grimy film of coal dust and sweat. She looked miserably at her confines with the narrow beam of her light. I did die and this is Hell, she told herself. I’ll spend eternity crawling in this spur, alone.
She pressed forward. Soon she was back to sliding on her stomach. She scuttled forward another five meters before being forced to a stop. The ceiling pressed down hard on her back and she panicked when she realized she was stuck. She couldn’t even lift her head to look behind her. She opened her mouth to scream for help but her instincts closed her jaw. If I start screaming, I will never stop. She shifted her weight forward with no success. It felt like someone was holding onto the back of her coveralls. She spent several minutes working her right hand down her body to reach behind her. Something sharp gouged her hand and she jerked instinctively away. Tentatively, she felt for it again. That’s got to be a conveyor frame. She blindly followed the warped metal with her hand until she touched a suspender from her coveralls. A surge of relief flooded into her as she realized her clothing had merely snagged on the frame. She freed herself and began to dig again at the wall in front of her for several more minutes. Less than a meter ahead, her headlamp promised another small, open pocket amid the collapse. It took ten more minutes alternating hard digging with backtracking to the last boulder support with armfuls of rubble to clear enough room for her to claw through to the next gap.
Once through, she sat in the middle of the tiny chamber, trying to steady her breathing. The crawling was aggravating her ribs and her throat was on fire. It felt like she had swallowed half of the coal in the mine. As she rested, black pebbles dislodged ahead of her. She could hear a slight scraping before more pebbles pushed loose. The tiny stones rolled down the slope and in their place, a pair of red eyes looked at Kat.
“Hey,” she greeted in a half-whisper, smiling at the little creature.
The rat’s face poked through the hole and stared at her, seemingly content to commune with another survivor.
“You’re going the wrong way, Mr. Rat,” Kat said solemnly.
The rat’s head swiveled right to left, taking in the chamber. Without a squeak, it disappeared back into the hole and Kat could hear the scrabbling of its feet as it retreated back the way it came. Heartened by the sign of life, she began to work deliberately at the rat hole, clearing away small stones until running into larger rocks that refused to budge. She pushed herself forward, contorting her body to follow the meager path the rat had taken. It zigzagged for another half dozen meters and she expended great effort to widen the small channel through the debris. Meter by meter, she moved forward.
After another half hour, she was stymied again. The rocks were much more densely packed and much greater in size, offering no path forward. Kat peered through a tiny gap between large sections of fallen coal. Just beyond the largest boulder was a good-sized pocket of space. I’m so close. She placed her hands onto the enormous rock and tested it. There was no chance it would budge. I might as well be trying to push the grinder, she despaired. She gritted her teeth and pressed harder. If I can just get it to shift… She grunted with effort. “Come on,” she growled.
Kat pushed forward savagely, digging her boots into the scree behind her and launching herself at the rock. Her muscles were coiled springs but fighting against an immovable load. Sweat dripped into her eyes yet she pushed harder still, refusing to give up. The pressure from her struggle built exponentially inside her head as she shoved her very essence against the stubborn rock. “Come on!” she roared.
She shot forward through a large gap and tumbled down the loose debris on the other side. In a cloud of dust, she slid to a stop at the bottom of the slope, her chest heaving for clean air. She looked behind her to find the mammoth boulder was missing. It’s gone! she thought as she stared at the now clear channel where her impasse had been. Her ragged breathing was the only noise in the tunnel.
Mid-breath, Kat’s ears popped and the boulder reappeared exactly where it had been only a dozen seconds before. Goosebumps broke out over her arms. Just like the knives, she marveled. How did I do that? A more disturbing question prodded her and sent a chill to her core despite the intense heat inside the tunnel. What the hell am I?
You’re still trapped, she answered. And you’re alone. And if you want to be saved, you have to save yourself. She took several minutes to calm herself before twisting away from the impossible boulder to look up the spur. The floor of the current pocket quickly rose to the ceiling ahead of her. She crawled only a few meters before another coal wall blocked her path again. She looked through a small gap between two, large rocks and swore she saw light. Kat pressed her face into the fist-sized gap and strained to see more clearly. Pitch black. She growled and tore off her hardhat, dousing the lamp. Again, she peered desperately into the hole. Pitch black.
Just as her spirits were fading, her eye caught a tendril of dull light. She focused harder into the gloom. Her eyes adjusted to the new dark and the soft tendril of light became a column. One column became two… three… dozens.
Kat raked her fingers against the loose debris and pulled away handfuls of rock. Fifteen minutes later, she had scraped away enough of the channel floor to allow her to shimmy through the shattered passageway. Pulling herself out of the tight confines, she poured into a wide, partially-collapsed tunnel.
It was the main tunnel. The light flickering in the distance confirmed her location. Kat looked back at the constricted path she had clawed her way through. Reece and Deke will never hear me and I can’t get past that huge boulder anyway, she told herself. I need to get them help. She waded through the loose debris in the tunnel until the ground evened out. Then, she ran until she found the elevator cars. Using the last of her strength, she hung on the safety cage from inside one of the cars until it closed. As she engaged the elevator’s motor, she collapsed to the floor and closed her eyes.
“They could still be alive! I’m going right now!” A voice in the distance forced Kat’s head up. Did I black out? I’m still in the car but at the top.
Kat slid open the safety cage and stumbled the last meters to the mine’s entrance. She could hear an apoplectic Sadler Wess, screaming from beyond the bright, white light.
“Anyone who wants to volunteer and come with me, I’ll need your help!” he shouted passionately. “I’m not going to wait another minute when my people might still be alive!”
Kat brought a blackened hand up to shield her eyes from the blinding sun as she staggered from the mine. Blurry forms raced toward her.
Chapter 26
“Oh my God!”
“How?”
Kat heard several voices clamoring atop each other in pandemonium. She was quickly enveloped in an overpowering, and painful, hug.
Sadler’s voice spoke directly into her ear. “I thought I’d lost you, Kat.” He gave her another firm squeeze before pushing away, his strong hands still clamped to her shoulders in support. His eyes swept from her feet to her head.
A black film covered every part of her. Only the whites of her eyes and a thin line of drying blood from her right ear offered any contrast to her stygian form.
“Medic!” he screamed. Two safety officers were already rushing toward Kat with red and white medical bags. Behind the pair, she saw Daniel Lambert standing next to a man in a fine suit. It was Phillip Porter himself.
“Deke and Reece are still trapped in the spur,” Kat spluttered. “I was able to dig a path out but there’s a large boulder that will have to be moved before we can get to them.” The medics flanked her and began to push her gently to the ground. She pulled away forcefully and looked at Sadler. “We need to get down there. They’re still alive,” she insisted.
“It’s too dangerous right now. We have to make sure things have stabilized and wait for the All-Clear,” Lambert stated loudly. “You were lucky to escape with yo
ur life. You go back down there now and a second dust explosion could trigger another collapse and finish you.”
Sadler looked Kat in the eye. “I won’t let you press your luck, Kat.”
She looked away from him stubbornly. Lambert was still glaring at her. The foreman muttered to Porter, “It’s survivor’s remorse. She feels guilty because she caused the dust explosion and was lucky enough to live, but luck never gives; it only lends.”
Kat’s mind reeled at the gambler’s idiom. Her eyes widened and she tore away from Sadler’s grip to stomp toward the foreman. “It wasn’t a dust explosion!” she yelled while savagely pointing at Lambert. “You caused it!”
Lambert’s jaw dropped open but he quickly recovered. “What the hell are you talking about? Just because you failed at your job—”
Kat shifted her scowl to Porter. “I saw a man running from my spur and discovered a bomb under a conveyor frame. It was two explosive sticks with a timed detonator.”
“Bullsh—”
“What’s this all about, young lady?” Porter had cut Lambert off.
Kat took her final steps to stand near the mine’s owner. “It’s about stealing your company out from under you, sir.” She reined in some of the ferocity in her voice. “You said precisely that last week.”
Lambert stepped between the pair and placed his hands on Kat. He roughly turned her away from Porter and said, “Sadler, get this woman to the hospital. She’s obviously hysterical.”
Kat slapped at the man’s hands but it was Porter who froze Lambert in place.
“How did you know I said that?” the businessman asked with a bewildered expression.
“You said that a company named Recore is going to try to buy a controlling interest in Porter Mining and take the company from you,” Kat stated emphatically. “Now, I don’t know much about business but I figure that every accident we’ve had over the last couple weeks hasn’t exactly helped our production or your stock price.”
“It’s been a disaster,” Porter admitted. “That’s why I’ve had to increase quotas, to try to recover some of the drop.” He waved a hand at Kat. “But, mining is a dangerous business and accidents happen.”
“What if someone was making them happen?” Kat asked.
“This is nonsense, Mr. Porter,” Lambert interrupted. “This woman hasn’t even cleared her background check and she’s already caused two accidents.”
“I didn’t place that bomb,” she spat at Lambert. “You did!”
Lambert rolled his eyes and looked to Porter. “It wasn’t a bomb,” he maintained. “She has no proof.”
“Check the explosives trailer,” Sadler suggested boldly. “See what the inventory says.”
“That’s a complete waste of time!” Lambert shouted. “You have men still alive inside the mine and you want to indulge this woman’s fantasy because you’re sleeping with her? Is that why you stick up for her? Because she’s f—”
Lambert’s head recoiled as Kat landed a brutal punch. “That’s the last time you suggest I’m a whore!” she roared and rechambered her fist. She felt a pair of hands come down on her from behind. They were Sadler’s, restraining her gently. “You told me to clean the wrong spur when we were alone, knowing that it would cause a delay and nobody would believe me. That dryman from Spur Twenty-eight, exactly what caused him to fall into those spinning gears and just how often do brake lines fail on those dump trucks?” Kat shook out her throbbing hand.
“He ordered one of my crews into that robbed out area two weeks ago, too,” Sadler added.
“That was a mistake!” Lambert blurted out.
“The day shift has been having a lot of those lately, Mr. Lambert,” Porter noted coolly.
Kat took a malevolent step toward Lambert again. “And when all that wasn’t enough, you got desperate because you’re running out of time and resorted to planting a bomb that killed George and Shannon, and Deke and Reece if we don’t get to them in time.”
Lambert turned to Porter. “She has no proof and more than that,” he threw his hands into the air, “why would I risk all that anyway?”
“Because Recore is paying you,” Kat explained coldly. “They’ve paid you thousands already and ‘there’s plenty more where those credits came from,’” she quoted. “You’re not a very good Craps player, are you, Lambert? Bet big? Lose a lot?” She grinned evilly. White teeth gleamed against her coal-covered face. “And your top-heavy girlfriend seems pretty expensive too. How much have you spent on her? I bet she’ll back up my story and she won’t be hard to spot.”
Lambert’s face was stunned confusion. “There’s no way you could know this,” he muttered in shock. He looked at Porter and said, “Maybe I’ve been playing some Craps but…” He shook himself. “This is a delusional fantasy.”
“I want the inventory checked in the explosives trailer immediately. We’ll get to the bottom of this,” Porter promised. He folded his arms sternly and looked to Kat. “I’m not letting you go back into the mine, young lady, but I’ll permit Mr. Wess and a small team to go down if they wish to volunteer. If the tunnel is only blocked at one point, it might be possible to rush air hoses and medical supplies to the trapped miners while we carefully work to free them.” He gaze traveled to his assistant foreman.
Sadler nodded. “I’m on it. I’ll get it organized.” He kept his arm around Kat as he turned to walk toward the crowd of miners. A few were already standing apart from the rest. As Sadler smiled with pride at the waiting men, he whispered to Kat, “How did you know that Daniel plays Craps and that he’s been betting heavily?”
Kat stopped short and looked to him in confusion. “We saw him Saturday night. He walked up with his floozy and lost two thousand credits with a single roll at our table. When his girlfriend remarked about the wager, he told her that Recore was paying him a fortune.”
Sadler rubbed his chin as he thought back to their evening. He looked over her shoulder. Two men were running toward Porter from the direction of the explosives trailer. “Kat,” Sadler finally said, “Daniel Lambert was never at the Craps table Saturday night, at least not when we were there.”
“We’re missing two PBXs and a timed detonator!” cried one of the runners.
“Mr. Lambert,” Porter said, just a few meters away, “I think Corp-sec needs to have a talk with you and while they’re doing that, I think I need to have a chat with some dealers and ladies at The Lucky Gun.”
Lambert backed away. “This is ridiculous!” He looked around the large gathering, but his eyes quickly locked on Kat. “You bitch!” he screamed, charging toward her.
Sadler intercepted him two steps from Kat with a haymaker blow that sent Lambert to the ground in a crunching thud. The man rolled onto his stomach and groaned while pressing a hand to his flattened nose.
“Jake, Barney,” Sadler said, addressing the crowd of men behind him while standing over Lambert. “Help Mr. Lambert to his feet and keep watch over him until Corp-sec arrives.”
Two bulky laborers pushed through the other miners and rudely pulled the foreman from the ground to drag him away. The man staggered at first, then regained his senses fully and offered futile resistance. When the spectacle was over, Porter approached Sadler and said, “Mr. Wess, you’ll take over Lambert’s duties until we can clear this mess up. Right now, I want you to get that rescue party moving.”
Sadler looked in Kat’s direction for a nod she happily gave and then he moved away, calling out the list of equipment the assembled volunteers would need for the rescue attempt. Several men and women, including the waifish Tick, encircled him.
Kat watched Sadler go. She felt herself being drawn toward him but her second step was cut short by Porter’s authoritative hand and his gentle voice.
“No, young lady,” he said in a low baritone. “You’re going to the hospital for a checkup.” The man turned to another assistant foreman and ordered, “Mr. Matthews, can you fly this woman into Waytown, please? Use one of the puddle-jumpers.”
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A large group assisted Kat to her trailer locker. She was handled as if made of porcelain as fellow miners helped her remove her coveralls. Once free of the heavy clothing, she grabbed her satchel and was guided to a two-seat aircar. The vehicle’s turbines were already idling and Matthews waited patiently behind the controls.
Chapter 27
Kat entered the hospital twenty minutes later and suffered through a thorough battery of physical exams. She was given pain medication and told to wait in a private room for thirty minutes to allow it to take effect. Dull aches remained as a female nurse helped Kat clean herself. Kat had insisted she could manage but her caregiver wouldn’t relent. Even with help, the process was slow.
Two hours after entering the hospital, Kat rested comfortably in the same room. The doctor interpreting her test results had insisted that she stay for observation for at least another hour before he would even consider releasing her.
During the wait, she wanted to fall asleep in the luxurious bed but her apprehension prevented it. There had been no news from the mine and no more arrivals to the hospital. Her concern for Deke and Reece and her anxiety for Sadler and the rescue party turned the minutes into hours. It was pointless worry, she realized. Even if she had the strength to return to the mine, which she didn’t, she lacked the means. The mag-rail only traveled to the mine twice each day, during the shift change.
A knock on the door rocked Kat from her thoughts.
“Ms. Smith?” asked the doctor from the open doorway. He entered the room with a slim handheld in his left hand. “I’ve finished reviewing your exams,” he stated while gesturing to a glass screen inlaid into the wall across from her bed. With a series of sweeps and taps on his handheld, the wall flared to life. The doctor moved to the larger screen that showed the generic outline of a female body. Three flashing, red circles highlighted different parts of the diagram.
