7: Alpha Centauri

Author: Chaoseternus

Chapter 11: In the mine

Angharad cursed at the heat still eking from the ventilation tunnel walls as they dropped down the narrow passage to the mines below, the mines had been nitrogen purged, the fire did appear to be out, for the moment at least. And the extreme cold of the liquid nitrogen should have reduced greatly the chances of the fire restarting from the burning embers of the original fire. But they had bigger worries then that, whilst they were in the ventilation shaft the airflow had to be turned down, as they almost completely plugged the shaft as they moved down it, and becoming the cork in the shafts champagne bottle was not their idea of fun.

Which was a problem, as it allowed firedamp and other dangerous gases to build up. Already the surviving sensors were recording increased levels of the poisonous carbon monoxide gas, the explosive firedamp and the radioactive radon gas. So they were double timing it, hurrying down the shaft as fast as safety allowed, to allow control to turn the fans back on as soon as possible. With a yelp, Angharad felt her feet leave the secure walls of the shaft and swing into empty space. Quickly, she pulled her feet up, trying to regain contact with the walls; instead she found an edge, as the walls of the shaft disappeared into the ceiling of the room below. She was in the mine itself at last. Quickly, she dropped the final few feet, and unclipped from the rappel line, moving away to the sides of the room, away from rappelling bodies dropping out of the shaft. She flicked her helmet light across the room, noting quickly the copious amounts of dust that covered every surface before reaching for her pocket GC (Gas Chromatograph). All gases within acceptable limits, they could base here with no problems.
Behind her, the rest of the twenty-person team dropped quickly into the room, each one carefully manoeuvring a bulky bag of equipment behind them. The very instant the last person had dropped into the room, the airflow picked up, quickly developing into a hefty breeze that sent loose papers fluttering up the shaft to the surface as the fans above were spun up to the fastest they would go. "All right, Hodges, Henderson, Gwyn, you're with me. Everyone else, start emptying the manholes and get the miners shifting up to the surface through the ventilation shafts. Remember to leave time between loads to allow the fans to reduce the firedamp build up and keep an eye on your gas readings. We're going after Tarva"

Tarva cursed as she looked again at the unmoving bulk of the airlock, and reached again for the water canister. She dropped her hand with another curse. Hot as she was, she didn't know how long she would be down here, she would have to ration the water, make it last longer. How long had she been down here again? She glanced at her watch, 12:34 Tuesday, it had been 11:32 Monday when she had entered the mine according the digital she had been issued with, modified to Alpha Primes 23½ hour day. A day, she had been here a day now. This was not of the good, she was getting stir crazy already, and if her guess were correct it would be at least another two days before she could be dug out.

Perfect, just perfect. And that was assuming she would be found in the first place, it wasn't outside of the realms of probability that she would never be dug out. It happened all too often during mine accidents, the rescuers would try there best but it would take too long, and they would be forced to give off, any survivors reluctantly written off… stop that thought right there, Tarvi told herself, you don't want to get yourself depressed now do you? Because this is absolutely the worst place to lose it.

Angharad cursed as she saw the mass of fallen rock and rubble blocking the mineshaft, they were 60 meters from the manhole and they knew the cave in extended right to the lift the miners would normally use to enter the mines, and send ore out. 60 meters to slowly carefully dig out by hand to avoid sparks and very carefully to avoid another collapse, reinforcing all the way, this was going to be… fun, really.

"Right, you all know what to do, and remember our Chief Engineer is down their somewhere so be damn careful, lets move it!"