My blood pressure spikes. “What are you doing? These are my workers. Go back to your quadrant,” I say.
Vraik nudges me away from the workers’ peering eyes. He leans near my ear and lowers his voice. “When was the last time your workers found anything of substance?” he asks.
I clear my throat, buying some extra time to come up with a dignified answer.
“Last week. The workers in the shafts found gold,” I say.
The workers take off their helmets. A few of them sit and hang their heads in their palms. Sweat drenches their bodies. The ones closest to the magma pits look like weak.
But I’m on a schedule. Twenty years to find one single fucking element is too long. “I need them to continue,” I say.
Vraik’s eyes shift. “I’d like to speak with you in private,” he says, pointing to the exit. “Outside of the mines.”
Irritated, I gaze at the sunlight leaking through the top of the shafts. I shiver with sickness, a fever that can only come from too much heat exposure.
I shouldn’t appease him. There is more work to be done.
But we are equals, and when we step outside, I see my third counterpart, Rekker. He waits, silently observing me.
This is an intervention…
Rekker is pensive. On any given night, one might find him staring up at the cloudless sky, as if one day he will be the one to point out the planet that will give us the element we dream of finding.
“We need to talk,” Rekker says.
I groan and huff the dusty air. “Talk, talk, talk,” I say. “All we do is talk and bark out orders.”
Rekker ignores my temper. “Have your workers made any progress?
” he asks.
Vraik chuckles. “Why ask if you already know the answer?”
I push Vraik aside before glancing back to check if my workers are behaving. None of them have exited the cave, a good sign that they aren’t ready to test our rule.
Sometimes I hear them speaking in whispers. I cannot be certain this won’t blow up in our faces.
I chew on the inside of my cheek until a noticeable pain creeps into my system. “I am sure Resnyx no longer exists,” I say.
Vraik shoves me back. “So why are we making our men work?”
“If Resnyx still exists, we only have so much time before another mining company beats us,” I say.
Vraik grows irritable. “Whether or not Resnyx exists is not the Ubaran Empire’s concern. It is ours. We have been the ones tasked to find it, and you swore on your life that this planet had it.”
I’ve said a lot of things, but I never swore on anyone’s life. “My planetary analysis was not wrong. It told us that Ferän held trace elements of Resnyx.”
Only problem is it might have all got burnt away.
Rekker continues to walk, waving us to follow. “It’s been a year since we arrived, and we have found nothing near the planet’s core. If there was anything here, we would have found it by now,” he says.
“You want to talk about time? The other mining contractors move faster than us,” Vraik says. “Why aren’t we following their lead?”
“The other companies have found nothing either,” I sneer.
We’re running around this idea in circles. Clearly, none of us have a clue.
Dirt and earthy debris fills my lungs. The planet’s double suns are so fucking hot, I can’t think. One glance at the mine shafts makes me wonder if it’s better to be a worker. In the long run, they at least get to die with some dignity.