Spin State - Chris Moriarty [31]
Pit 3 was still burning; the pilot skirted the smoldering ruins and set the shuttle down on a remote, booster-scarred helipad stranded in a wasteland of rutted caterpillar tracks.
The crew donned their rebreathers and helmets and clumped unenthusiastically down the shuttle gangway. Alongside the helipad, pyramids of empty chemical barrels rusted to brown lace under their jaunty green-and-orange Freetown decals. The ground beyond was yellow and acrid-smelling, littered with the monstrous carcasses of stripped-out mine trucks. No one had come to pick them up, so they straggled off toward the Pit 4 headframe-breaker complex, a rickety, wind-blasted jumble of aluminum-sided geodesics that crouched over the shaft like a drunken spider.
Li hadn’t bothered to hook up her rebreather yet, just clipped the mouthpiece to her collar to keep it out of the way. Haas and the witch had done the same, she noticed. As they walked, she began to regret her choice; one of Compson’s dust storms was on the rise, and the wind blew acid-tasting red dog into her mouth at every stride.
A large, thickly printed fiche hung next to the headframe office door. Haas rapped on the wall beside it with a closed fist, setting the siding rattling, and Li saw a notary swipe at the bottom of the fiche.
“Skim and scan,” Haas said, but just to be stubborn she read every word before palming the scan plate.
PIT RULES: THE FOLLOWING ARE THE RULES OF THIS PIT. EMPLOYEES AND VISITORS ARE REQUIRED TO ACCEPT AND ABIDE BY THESE RULES AS A PRECONDITION FOR ENTRANCE. ENTRANCE CONSTITUTES: (I) A RELEASE OF ANACONDA MINING CORPORATION AND ITS SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, AND ASSOCIATES FROM LIABILITY; (II) A FULL WAIVER OF ALL RIGHTS AND REMEDIES UNDER LAW, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO UNITED NATIONS MINE SAFETY COMMISSION REGULATIONS AND THIS OR ANY OTHER JURISDICTION’S WORKER’S COMPENSATION LAWS.
1. ALL PERSONNEL AND VISITORS MUST LOG IN AND OUT AT THE PITHEAD OFFICE AND PIT BOTTOM FIRE OFFICE.
2. THE CAGE WILL BE RAISED AND LOWERED ON DEMAND WITHIN 1⁄2 HOUR OF EACH SHIFT CHANGE. THE CAGE WILL NOT BE RAISED OR LOWERED AT ANY OTHER TIMES EXCEPT ON DIRECT ORDERS OF THE PIT MANAGER.
3. A FULL SHIFT IS TEN HOURS. A FULL WORK WEEK IS SIXTY HOURS. FAILURE TO WORK A FULL SHIFT/WORK WEEK WILL RESULT IN DOCKED PAY AND/OR DISMISSAL.
4. AMC IS A UN-APPROVED MINEWORKS OPERATING UNDER A VOLUNTARY COMPLIANCE REGIMEN PURSUANT TO UNMSC REG. SECTION 1.5978–2(C)(1)(II) ET SEQ. UNMSC SAFETY REGULATIONS ARE POSTED AT PITHEAD AND PIT BOTTOM. FAILURE TO ADHERE TO POSTED REGULATIONS WILL RESULT IN DOCKED PAY AND/OR DISMISSAL.
5. WORKINGS WHERE METHANE OR CARBON MONOXIDE IS PRESENT ARE MARKED ON THE CHECK DOORS. NO PERSON OTHER THAN THE PIT BOSS OR FIRE BOSS MAY PASS A CHECK DOOR WITHOUT PRIOR AUTHORIZATION. AMC TAKES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR MINERS WHO ENGAGE IN UNAUTHORIZED CUTTING OR LOADING BEYOND MARKED CHECK DOORS.
6. NO LAMPS BUT SAFETY (DAVY) LAMPS ARE ALLOWED BELOW GRADE UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. ALL LAMPS MUST BE HANDED IN TO THE FIRE BOSS EACH SHIFT END FOR INSPECTION. THE COST OF REFILLING LAMPS WILL BE DEDUCTED FROM PAY. THE COST OF REPAIRING OR REPLACING DAMAGED LAMPS WILL BE DEDUCTED FROM PAY.
7. NO DOGS ALLOWED BELOW GRADE WITHOUT PROOF OF CURRENT RABIES AND BORDATELLA.
8. THIS IS A RIGHT TO WORK MINE. NO SOLICITATION. NO PRIESTS!
While Li was still reading, the swing shift surfaced in a swearing, stinking wave of bodies. Their backs were bent by the punishing labor at the cutting wall, but their faces shone with greasy pit dust and the relief of finishing out another shift safely. Haas looked like a giant next to them. It was hard to imagine someone could be so clean all over, stand up so straight, smile so broadly.
“Daahl,” he said to a blue-eyed whippet of a man that Li guessed must be the departing crew’s foreman. “How’s the cutting?”
“Twenty gross behind in the Wilkes-Barre North 5,” Daahl answered. He glanced