Post by Greywall on Jan 16, 2023 21:34:11 GMT -5
The rattling of the small bell stirred the fuzzy Koian from his deep sleep, he moaned and grunted as his body resisted his attempts to pull from the warm bed, swinging his legs to the floor and sitting at its edge yawning and stretching. Malk Siret was a young mine worker in the city of Noyagrad, 28 years old and already a well established member of the Staol mine. He took one pair of hands ruffling the fuzzy antennae on his and the other pair rubbing his face to invoke himself further awake, he stood forward and began his morning routine of preparing his breakfast and laying out his uniform for the workday. He hummed a tired tune happy it was the last day in his 4 day stretch, he was planning to visit a nearby museum and catch a baseball game in the nearby stadium.
He fixed up some pancakes and berries eating them hastily and then getting dressed, he took one final round around his apartment making sure he had everything. His lunch pail, helmet, vest, flashlight, some rolled up sugar cane cigarettes (he would need to get more after work), his keys and anything else he needed. He traced through the one bedroom apartment and finally left once he felt he had everything. He locked the door that led to the outer alley of the apartment complex, other Koians were already out about going to their various jobs, errands or coming home from the nightshift, Siret waved at his next door neighbor who worked the late night shift at the nearby rail plant, the worn out Koian waved back before going into his apartment with some eagerness to lay down and get some sleep.
As Siret left the complex the colorful city of Noyagrad came into full view, the city had grown in recent years thanks to the overall economic success of the Staol trade. Koian officials approved expansion of mining rock 0203, a meteorite near the city that spanned hundreds of acres, impacted thousands of years ago it now fed staol to the hungry world of Ouhiri and gave opportunity to the Koians living here. He walked toward the nearby train station, the small platform was already full of Koians waiting for the little locomotive and its passenger cars. After a few minutes right on time it pulled up dinging a small bell to alert those on the platform of its arrival, they allowed disembarking passengers to leave first before allowing on arrivals to enter the cars. After a few minutes they pulled into a larger station where Siret got off and hopped onto another train bound for the mines. This ride was slightly longer going out of the colorful vibrant city and into the green countryside, after some time the grass gave way to over driven dirt and gravel where Koian vehicles were hard at work at the mining site, the mine was already several yards deep into the surface chipping away at the meteor. It would take decades to exhaust it as several metric tons of orange rock were hauled up by several means. Pulleys, small locomotives pushing along narrow gauge rails, trucks and even some of the newer hires pushing carts up. Siret shuddered at the thought of when he had to be a 'cart boy', a jack of all trades worker for the mine they usually had to be the ones to take excess staol and push it up hill as a team to the assembly area.
Koian inner city tram
As the workers departed they would see several Koian locomotives at a makeshift loading station built to accommodate the mine, tons of Staol were being loaded and more trains would come throughout the day to haul off the precious space rock. Siret reported at the front gate where some Koian armed guards stood, they just waved him on recognizing him, Siret always glanced at their rifles never really seeing anything like it anywhere else. He placed his lunch pail in a tent assigned to house their equipment and went to his excavator. "Maggie" he muttered, he saw the Maintenace crews already on his excavator. "She's ready to go, had a small leak in the pressure valve but she can work today." the maintenance worker stated, as he shambled off with his crew to the next thing to work on. In these mines as hard as the equipment was used and for how long something always needed a part or two replaced or fixed. Siret hopped into his excavator shoveling some Staol into its steam furnace and getting to work.
For several hours he dug into the bed rock and hauled several hundred pounds of Staol over to carts, sometimes he would wait for blast teams to break up portions of the rock and dirt to allow easier digging but otherwise he kept a regular pace. He took a small 10 minute break lighting up his sugar cane cigarette and shoveling more Staol into the furnace, he lazily checked his gauges knowing they were fine. He flicked the cigarette off before resuming for a few more hours, a loud thunderous horn was heard as foremans yelled "LUNCH!" Siret eased his excavator to a spot and settled it down to not overheat but also not go out just long enough that he could eat. As he entered the assembly tent several Koians were already inside eating and talking, he grabbed his lunchpail and gravitated toward a group he always sat with, "Siret! Come sit down and tell this loll loll he's wrong about last nights game!" Siret grinned putting his lunch out in front of himself as the coworker being called a loll loll rambled on, "The Yankees need to cut Svol, he can't pitch anymore!" "But they won the game!!!" "Barely! Svol threw two balls that were hit for homeruns if not for that kid we drafted last year keeping our boys on base we'd have lost!" Siret ginned but focused on his lunch, he wasn't a fan of either team but enjoyed being around his co workers. He ate a bread berry salad for lunch, sugar water to drink and lucked out having one last chocolate bar in his cupboard. He mused to himself he would have to get groceries tomorrow on his day off, "Siret, you're coming to the game with us right?" a co worker asked, Siret looked at him smiling "Of course, got my ticket already." the co worker pumped both his right sided arms in excitement, "Those Phillies are gonna beat the Yankees!" that started a whole rabble that caused Siret to laugh, the Yankees had become popular in recent years putting fans all over the Republic. Another blast of the horn signaled them back to work.
Siret went back to work, more and more Staol harvested easily several hundred tons of it in the shift. He got one more break before the shift ended rounding up 8 hours, he left 'Maggie' for the next shift, he rubbed his forehead feeling the dried sweat and dirt from the day's work. He boarded the train back to the city taking a deep sigh of relief that he would finally be done for the next two days. His stomach rumbled as the train entered the city now slightly illuminated by the various colorful lights throughout it. He decided to stop by a stall near his apartment that served as a salad stand. He purchased a peach and cream salad with spinach placed into a plastic container for his dinner. He walked down the airway of the apartment complex and saw his neighbor leaving waving at him as he went back to the railway parts factory.
Koian Staol Excavator
Siret entered his apartment flicking a switch that sent a slight buzz turning on the lights. He cleaned himself and dug into his salad listening to the radio, another baseball game was on as he focused on it eating his meal.
"Mvoch steps up to the plate, he's 0-3 at bat tonight against the rocket Hevlaugh. Score is Phillies 2, Diamondbacks 3. Got a man on base, Mvoch swings and misses that's strike 1! Hevlaugh has been on fire as the relief pitcher shutting down the Phillies for 4 innings. He winds up, throws, Mvoch swings, ITS HIT ITS GOING ITS GOT THE DISTANCE....GONE!!!!!" The crowd could be heard going insane as Siret fist pumped his mouth full of salad, "Mvoch hits a home run giving the Phillies the lead 4-3!" Siret finished his dinner and listened to the rest of the game. Phillies finished out the final inning taking the win, making him excited for the name in the next couple of days.
He then read a book on the histories of Northern Reseria, a book he bought at a bookstore a few blocs away before going to sleep anticipating his day off.