CHIMERA

by Marshall Huffman

  “Welcome to Dynamic Engineering,” Nickels said, shaking their hands and introducing Avery Collins.

  “Nice building,” Billy said.

  “Thank you. It seemed like a good idea to have an intriguing building if you are in the engineering business. Did you all have a chance to settle in?”

  They all acknowledge that everything was just fine.

  “You will be spending a majority of your time with Avery. He is in charge of the project. I think you will be fairly impressed with the capabilities of the BARD-P1. Your Mr. McDillon was able to offer some very good suggestions when he was here. I understand that he will be returning once the actual operational training starts,” Nickels told them.

  Fred had a slender build, salt and pepper hair and his age was difficult to tell. He could have been in his late 40s or 50s but he was in fact 61 years old.

  “When do we actually get started?” Sally asked.

  “Tomorrow morning at 8:00 a.m. We will have a car at your hotel at 7:30. Even with the morning traffic it shouldn’t take more than ten minutes to get here,” Fred told her.

  “Ouch,” Sally muttered.

  “Tonight we would like to treat you to dinner at one of the best steakhouses in America if you are all up for it,” Nickels said.

  “I’m in,” Billy said.

  “Me too, I’m starved,” Erin added.

  “I guess I’ll tag along,” Tommy replied.

  “Ms. Strong?” Nickels asked.

  “I think I’ll pass. I want to turn in early so I’ll be ready for tomorrow.”

  “I’ll have the driver take you back to the hotel. The rest of us can go in my car.”

  They were given a tour and introduced to way too many people to remember names. When they were done, Sally caught a ride back to the hotel while the rest went out to dinner.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Training began a week later. First they trained on the simulator before actually touching the real BARD. The controls were much like any remote controlled object. A joy stick was used for up, down, right, and left. Forward and reverse were controlled by a second joy stick. Twenty cameras mounted on different areas of the BARD gave the controller a 360 degree view.

  Two lines reached out from every monitor with a distance bar so they could judge were they were at any point in time. Billy was the first to master it, closely followed by Erin and then Tommy. Sally was going to need additional training before she could operate it efficiently.

  It was an amazing piece of equipment, designed similarly to the BTM used to build the French-English tunnel. It was smaller, more agile and able to move in any direction by use of the controls. The huge teeth ate large chunks of coal and sent it through the center of the machine while crushing it into smaller, more manageable pieces. A conveyor belt was attached to the back and the coal was then moved along to the entrance. Four workers were situated outside of the tunnel and they would attach a new section of conveyor belt when the previous one reached a certain point.

  In all it only took five people at a time to run the entire mining operation.

  ***

  One of the people most unhappy about the new equipment was Art Stetson. He was the UMWA representative and he saw this as a direct threat to not only the Bedford Mining Company but to the industry as a whole. How many men would ultimately lose their jobs, no matter what the management said, he wondered.

  At their monthly meeting he addressed his concerns with the rank and file.

  “People, you have to look at the handwriting on the wall. If this machine is successful we could all be replaced. They say they wouldn’t use it in any of the current mines but how do we know that? Do you honestly think they are going to be satisfied with one machine that can be operated by five workers? You people need to wake up before you find you no longer have a job,” he told them.

  “They said it was just a test and that they wouldn’t use it in any of the other three.”

  “And you believe that? Come on Ben we’re talking about management here. They will do anything to increase the bottom line.”

  “Well I for one, think they have treated us fairly. We get paid more than any other miners in the area. We work in the safest mines. I think you’re blowing this all out of proportion,” Ben countered.

  “Fine, look the other way but when the second one shows up a bunch of you will be out of a job. I think we should demand that they stop right now.”

  “That’s not going to happen Art. They are paying over a hundred million dollars for that machine and it’s already built. Just leave it alone. You’re getting all worked up without knowing all the facts,” Betty Stover said.

  “Fine. I’ll get all the facts and we will just see who is right,” he said storming out of the room.

  Betty leaned over to Ben and said, “Sometimes he is such a jerk. I know he think he is looking after us but he is overreacting.”

  “Wasn’t the first time and it won’t be the last.”

  Art was seething. They were all fools. When it hit the fan they would come begging for him to do something. Morons! None of them could see what management was up to. He decided he had to do something to stop this right now. A plan was slowly formulating in the back of his mind.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  RiotousOne had been hacking into computers all over the world. For him it was a way of life. When he wasn’t hacking he wasn’t really living. The challenge surged through his veins like blood.

  His reputation in the shadow world was notorious. He had been into almost every conceivable venue from MIT to the Pentagon. He had even hacked into Bill Gates' private computer. There was a time when he was a ripper. He would put the bins up for bid and sell them to scammers. He had nearly been caught twice and decided that that was not the way to go. He stopped stealing credit card information off of tracks1 and tracks2 and decided to take a safer approach.

  His latest endeavor was corporate theft. He was able to lift thousands of documents and sell the information to competitors. Of course he never got his hands dirty. He always used mules and cutouts to handle the actual transaction while he stayed hidden.

  His latest contact had come from a man going by the name of Miner One. Gee, he thought, some cover name. Was he for real or not? Even though he seemed pretty much clueless he did offer a unique challenge. At this point, money wasn’t as important to RiotousOne as doing something totally unique. He had been bored with what he was now doing and this would offer a little recreation. Miner One, what a dweeb. Still it peaked his interest enough that he was considering actually hearing the details of the request.

  **

  On a blustery, overcast day in February the RC-BARD-P1 arrived at the Bedford Mine. Four flatbed trucks rolled through the gates just before noon.

  “It won’t be long now,” Barney Falk, the Executive Vice President, said.

  “The sooner the better. Ann is getting a little nervous over our cash flow.”

  “She will be a lot more nervous if this damn thing doesn’t work.”

  “It will work,” Paul said.

  “How long does it take to assemble it?”

  “They said about three weeks,” Paul told him.

  “Hey guys, I see it’s here,” Ann said sliding up beside the two men.

  “At last. Of course the downside is we will have to fork over another twenty-five million pretty shortly.”

  “Oh, I am very well aware of that little detail.”

  “They said their technicians would work six days a week to get it up and running. I guess they want the money too,” Paul told them.

  “Just so it starts paying us back as quickly as possible. The break even analysis predicts we will have paid for it in forty-two months.”

  “That’s not too bad really,” Paul said optimistically.

  “Keep in mind we had to estimate the variable cost. No way to really tell if they are accurate or not,” Ann warned him again.

  “I know, I know,” he said shivering.

&
nbsp; “Let’s go inside, I’m freezing,” Barney said.

  “I’m with you,” Ann replied.

  “I’m going to go talk to Mac for a few minutes,” Paul told them.

  Mac was directing the trucks to where they needed to unload the valuable cargo. He waved at Paul and held up a finger to indicate he would be with him as soon as he finished.

  “Hi Paul,” he said, taking off his heavy work gloves.

  “Good to have you back. The thing is here at last.”

  “In all its glory. Everyone did a good job at training with the exception of one.”

  “Sally?”

  “Sally.”

  “I wasn’t sure about her. We probably should have sent Karen but she is six months pregnant. No use training her and then having her going on leave. Can you whip Sally into shape now that you are back here?” Paul asked.

  “Yeah. She is young and doesn’t get out much so she was pretty distracted. She was the first one ready to quit and the last to get started. I’ll have her work with me the first few weeks until she can get on track. We have a lot invested in her at this point.”

  “It’s your call Mac. If you need someone to replace her just go ahead and do it. You don’t need an okay from me,” Paul told him.

  “I appreciate that. I’ll give her a fair shot before I make a decision.”

  “The control room is all ready, so we won’t have any delays once the machine is assembled.”

  “Three weeks. I’m counting down starting tomorrow.”

  “Ann will certainly appreciate that. Well, I should get back to the office. Welcome back, I’m sure glad you’re here.”

  Mac gave him a quick salute and went back to work.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Mac stretched his shoulders and neck before he leaned forward to start the BARD-P1. After all this time they were finally ready for the unveiling. Paul, Ann, and Barney were all crammed into the small control booth.

  Mac flipped on the master switch and the bank of monitors came to life. He pressed the start button and a high pitched whine filtered through the room for a few seconds until it was fully up to speed. It seemed to taper off and all the gauges came to life.

  “Everything looks good. Green across the board,” Mac said, more or less to himself.

  His eyes were glued to the readouts in front of him.

  “Okay,” he muttered and put his hand on the joy sticks. He pushed the velocity stick forward just a little and the BARD inched forward until it was just touching the front wall.

  “Here it goes,” he said as he started the augers spinning and moved the giant machine forward until it bit into the face of the mine. Dust and chunks of dirt and coal were thrown into the air.

  “Is it supposed to do that?” Barney asked.

  “Only until it reaches the coal vein. Once it has opened up the entrance it will settle down and we will be on our way,” Mac explained.

  The watched as the BARD literally ate a large hole in the side of the excavation site. Inch by inch it crawled forward and within a few minutes coal was being shoved out the back. The four workers at the back of the machine attached the first conveyor belt and the coal began to flow.

  “Holy smokes. Look at that thing go,” Barney said, wide-eyed.

  “It’s at its lowest speed right now. Once we get a little further in, I’ll kick it up a notch,” Mac said never taking his eyes off of the panel in front of him.

  His eyes were constantly moving. The GPS signal was showing his progress in relation to the planned excavation that the surveyors had laid out earlier during the initial site work.

  “Amazing,” Paul said.

  “Wow, we may be looking at the future of mining,” Ann quipped.

  “Well in a way you are. This combines long wall mining and continuous mining but without having to put up the overhead protection shields. The only thing that can get buried is the machine itself and even then it has a reverse feature that will allow it to dig itself out,” Mac told them.

  “Unbelievable,” was all Paul said.

  They watched for almost an hour before they left. Mac was glad they were no longer looking over his shoulder. He watched as the tonnage counter reeled off the numbers. They were right, it was amazing. Even he was impressed.

  **

  “Hey Art, how ya been?”

  “Hey Sally. You know. Same ole same ole. How is that new machine doing?”

  “It is really amazing. Fantastic actually. The thing just keeps eating up coal and spitting it out the other end. I forget how much the counter said but it is a lot I can tell you that.”

  “No problems so far?”

  “Not a one. I mean other than Mac always checking up on me. I don’t think he trusts me much.”

  “I’m sure you have it under control.”

  “I do, but just try to tell him that,” Sally said.

  “Maybe I’ll drop over and see how the thing works sometime.”

  “Hey come during my shift and I’ll show you all about it. It’s not all that hard really.”

  “I’ll think about it. Good to see you again”

  “Nice to see you too Art. Have a safe one.”

  “I intend to,” he said waving over his shoulder as he headed for Alpha mine.

  **

  Paul and his staff sat at the conference table for their monthly meeting.

  “Mac, why don’t you go first? You are getting to have all the fun.”

  “That’s one way of looking at it I suppose. Well, BARD is doing even better than I had hoped for. Here are the tonnage figures as of last night,” he said passing around a spreadsheet.

  “Holy smokes. Are you kidding me?” Paul said after looking at the figures.

  “Not too bad for five people.”

  “I guess you could say that. It has produced more in two week than the other three combined.”

  “Pretty slick huh?”

  “Yeah, pretty slick.”

  “So if I’m reading this right,” Ann said, “We are way ahead of our estimate.”

  “That is correct,” Mac replied.

  “So our break-even is going to be less than we thought. That means we are going to be in really good financial shape in about another month.”

  “I don’t know about that, I don’t understand the financial end but if you’re saying that we are going to produce more than we ever have before, you are spot on,” Mac told her.

  “Paul, I think I will forgo my report. I need to really study this and see what it will do for us.”

  “I totally understand. This could change the entire complexion of the company. This is exciting stuff,” Paul said, with a huge smile.

  “Did you know Art has been nosing around the new mine? He has been ‘accidentally’ running into Sally almost every day. I would imagine he knows exactly how much has come out of Delta.”

  “Well, we can’t do much about that. I mean, I would be curious too if I was in his shoes.”

  “A couple of people have told me he is trying to stir up the rank and file by telling them that they won’t have jobs once we realize how efficient BARD is.”

  “Then we need to do something to counteract him. Let’s call a work stoppage day, with pay, and have an appreciation day. Ann, would you mind heading that up? I want it to be really nice. Not just dogs and burgers on the grill. We need to really lay it on so they know how much we appreciate their work. I’ll do a quick dog and pony show to reassure them that the three other mines will continue to operate as before. We’ll set up a place they can come to offer suggestions to make it safer or more efficient to work in the mines,” Paul said.

  “Hell, let’s just fire his butt,” Barney replied.

  “Oh that would be a great idea. Fire the union representative. No problem there. Can you imagine how that would play out, not to mention the litigation cost?” Ann said, rolling her eyes.

  “So we let him hold us hostage, is that what you are suggesting?”

  “No. I’m saying that
by firing him we would face not only the UMWA but the labor board as well. The expense would be out of this world. Firing him is simply not an option unless he does something against company policy or criminal. Stirring people up is almost part of his job description since he is the representative for the UMWA.”

  “Well I don’t like it,” Barney said stubbornly.

  “It isn’t an option,” Paul said, ending the discussion.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Worker appreciation day was a huge success. At least for the most part. Steaks were grilled, there were inflatable toys for the children and gallons and gallons of ice cream. Paul gave a short speech about how much the company appreciated each and every one of them and reaffirmed the company’s position of not using the BARD in any of the three previous mines.

  Art Stetson and Nate Learner did their best to let people know that management could not be trusted. Despite their efforts, everyone had a good time and took Paul at his word.

  “Nate, these people are fools. They think a little pat on the back is sufficient. We need to get this thing nipped in the bud before it is too late.”

  “So how do we accomplish that?” Nate asked.

  “I have been thinking about that for some time. Whatever we do it can’t be traced back to us. It has to be some sort of an accident that causes serious damage to the machine.”

  “That is easier said than done,” Nate insisted.

  “Of course it isn’t going to be easy. Nothing worthwhile ever is but we need to think of something. Paul may be okay but I don’t trust Falk any further than I can throw him and I can’t even pick him up.”

  “That much huh?” Nate said.

  “Maybe a little less.”

  “You said you knew someone who could help us. Maybe you should talk to him and see if he comes up with any suggestions.”

  “Yeah, I guess it’s time to do something or just let our jobs disappear,” Art replied.

  **