Odyssey of Eden

Chapter 3: Just Mining In The Rain

The day always starts the same at Control Camp Gamma. The blue sun rises, though it can barely be seen through the dense, black clouds that incessantly roam the atmosphere. A ray or two breaks through every few hours, but nothing more. The Gamma Lessers don't awaken to the morning calls of a native creature, or the warmth of the sun, or even the sound of rainfall battering against their ramshackle dormitories. Just as the first drop of rain falls from the sky, sometimes before it can even touch the ground, the Controllers barge into the Lessers' rooms and drag them outside. Most Lessers don't even bother taking off their work clothes, lest they get dragged out for a whole day's work without some of their garments.

The Controllers forcibly march the Lessers down to the ectirium mines. As the miles long line of people finally reaches its destination, a deep, cylindrical hole that looks as though it may lead straight to the pit of hell, a rusty, old pickaxe is thrust into the hands of each and every Lesser. The endless sound of dull metal clashing against precious metal begins. A dreary anthem that plays in the droves of rain.

“LESSER!" one of the Controllers bellows as loudly as he can. The sound of his voice echoes down into the mines, prompting every miner to look up and see who is being a problem so early in the day.

Hiytax, a young man by most standards, is staring up at the sky, the rain, almost silently, pitter patters on his face. He is sticking his tongue out, trying to catch a spare droplet or two on the tip. He is wholly unaware of the attention he has begun to garner.

THUD!

Hiytax doubles over, realizing only as he begins to steady himself and stand straight again that he had been daydreaming and that the sudden pain to his gut had come from the handle of what looked to be a very broken pickaxe being jabbed into his stomach.

The Controller who hit Hiytax with the pickaxe steps a bit closer to him and scoffs, “Get up you worthless Lesser," the disgust when he says the word almost seems to ooze from his mouth, “the ectirium isn't about to mine itself now is it? Time to earn your keep, filth."

Hiytax should probably feel angry or rebellious towards the Controller, but he can't seem to make himself care enough. He looks at the Controller for only a moment before dejectedly reaching for the pickaxe on the ground and dragging down the great spiral staircase to the deepest part of the mine.

Hiytax can't even tell how long he has been mining for. Not just today, though he has lost track of how long it's been today. Hiytax can't remember the last morning that didn't start with mining for ectirium, nor the last night that didn't end with some light beating from the Controllers. Regardless, whatever the time of day, Hiytax guessed something like midday, the rain was coming down harder than ever. In all fairness, Hiytax always thought the rain fell harder than it ever had. He though it every time it fell. Maybe it was his way of keeping things interesting.

The water from the rain pooled at the deepest section of the mine, and slowly began to rise throughout the day. Those poor, unfortunate Lessers who happened to be working the bottom of the mine had the longest days out of all the other Lessers at Control Camp Gamma by far. As the water pooled, it turned the ground beneath them into mud, and as the water rose, the mud swirled around and formed a thick, gooey substance that would entrench the miners, making it almost impossible to move anything below the waist. The suction from this “mud pool" constantly weighed down on the miners throughout the day, making them more tired than any other worker.

It wasn't all bad though. Some of the miners figured out, Hiytax among them, that water had a strange effect on ectirium. Ectirium is an incredibly resilient substance. It is nearly impossible to break. Before the Edenytes arrived on Gahldor, the Gahldorians never even attempted the smallest ectirium excavations because they thought it was too much effort just to obtain some pretty rocks. Turns out, that the constant rain on Gahldor alters the properties of ectirium in one specific way. When ectirium interacts with water, it becomes more malleable, its resiliency lessens just enough to make it vulnerable, even to half-broken pickaxes that haven't been sharpened in two decades. The miners who collect the most ectirium always receive slightly less abuse from the Controllers. While the rain helps to loosen the ectirium throughout the entire mine, the pool that always forms at the bottom is much more effective at loosening the mineral. Hiytax always finishes the day with more ectirium than his fellow Lessers, and it affords just a few moments extra without the wrath of the Controllers.

The workday was nearing its end, signaled by the rain slowing down and the fire storms beginning in the east. The normally pitch-black sky becomes lit up with bright reds and oranges, as arcs of flames shoot through the clouds and reach down to scorch the surface below. The miners slowly begin to ascend the spiral staircase back up for the mile journey to Control Camp Gamma.

As Hiytax was reaching the top of the mine, just as he placed his worn-down pickaxe in the nearby crate with all the others, a commotion started further up in the line. A young boy, no older than ten, suddenly fell to the ground and hit his head on a small rock. Hiytax could hear a Controller laughing up ahead and began to move closer to see what was going on.

As Hiytax approached he quickly learned what was happening. The Controller stood almost directly over the kid, laughing as he threw an empty energy cell from his rifle at the kid's head. A piece of metal caught the boy's forehead just right and slashed open a wound across his face.

“You call this a good day's work, do ya?!" the Controller angrily threw the miner's sack at him. Hiytax expected to hear a thud of some sort when the ectirium in the bag collided with the boy's face. But there was no sound, none at all, “the pack is EMPTY you stupid Lesser!"

“I'm sorry," the boy was trembling in fear, and he only spoke in a whisper, “ I drop…"

The Controller stamped his foot down quickly dropped down so that his face was only inches from the boy's, “What'd you say Lesser?!"

“Nothing, sir…" the boy clearly didn't know what to do, “I…" there was a deafening silence amongst the other Lessers. Nobody seemed to be able to brace themselves for what they all knew was coming for the young boy, “I dropped it."

After what seemed like an eternity. The boy finally got it out. The Controller stood tall once again and shrugged, as if it were no big deal. He reached behind his back to pull out his lash. He flicked a small switch on the side and the metal cord started to crackle with energy. The Controller raised his arm as highly as he could, then reached back as far as he could.

Hiytax did something rather strange in that moment, just as the Controller brought his arm all the way back, Hiytax looked into the man's eyes and could see the excitement in them. For whatever reason, Hiytax leapt forward, to the great surprise of everyone, and spoke up, but more importantly, spoke directly to the Controller.

“It wasn't his fault sir," a deadly silence hung in the air as the rain came to a stop.

The Controller, as well as everyone else, looked completely stunned. The Controller was able to get himself together after a few seconds and without so much as a word he swung his lash at Hiytax.

CRACK!

A sound like thunder rung out through the air, Hiytax was on the ground, he reached up to feel his face, he could smell something burning. He gently touched the skin around his right eye. He could feel the singed flesh. He looked up just in time to see the Controller winding up for another strike.

BOOM!!!

Before the Controller could deal any more blows, a massive explosion sounded from the congregation hall at Control Camp Gamma. Massive flames could be seen licking up the side of the complex. The Controllers immediately lost interest in the drama unfolding at the mines and rushed back towards the complex. A few seconds after the Controllers took off, the Lessers began to run towards the complex as well, uncertain but infinitely curious about what they were going to find.