53 Miles West of Venus Ch. 04

"Graphene!" She exclaimed, perhaps a bit too loudly in her excitement, but we were quite indeed alone now. I debated braining her with a nearby rock and rolling her into the water. It would be an accident, I'd swear... that she slipped fell and disappeared into the unknown abyss of the flooded passageway. No one would ever think otherwise! I shut my eyes for a moment until I could convincingly talk myself out of killing her in cold blood. Perhaps she could be reasoned with... she was extremely decorative, and smart too!

"Meah... who knows, but probably nothing really commercially viable, I'll give you a copy of Littlejohn's final geologic report on the crater when we get back upstairs. I've got a copy of it but it's all gobble-gook to me. I just know that when the last geophysicist left that he said there was no reason to ever dig out another thimbles worth of dirt down here... and we haven't." That was actually true... Littlejohn had followed this graphite vein as deep as they could, until they ran into water too deep to be pumped out.

I could see the gears turning in her pretty little brain. I could tell that she wanted to keep that mineral sample and confirm it to be graphene rich, but on the other hand she was already pretty obviously disgusted by the overt hostility shown to us by her team leader, The EPA Bitch, and that this so-called inspection was obviously nothing more than a witch-hunt. She wasn't in the least bit stupid and knew that anything she reported upon, factual or just supposition would be used maliciously against us. Surprisingly, she made the difficult moral decision and she dropped her rock sample to the ground with an audible sigh of remorse.

"Yeah, just graphite. Nice to find but it really is too deep down here and in a rather narrow seam as well to be exploited. Really not at all worth mentioning... wouldn't you agree?"

I did... and I even offered her my arm in support to help guide her past the worst of the slippery spots in the tunnel until we caught up with her now thoroughly exhausted tour mates. I then resisted the urge to hug her and give her a big kiss.

Only Level Four was left on the tourist circuit of the mine, and really there was only one short path to obviously take. Naturally, the EPA Bitch chose the only other alternate one. The tunnel marked closed with red 'Danger' tape. What an idiot!

"Lady... you're on your own down there. It's another flooded tunnel with old very dangerous electrical issues as well. If you turn on any light switch you'll have a better than even odds of electrocuting yourself. It's also steep and wet and I wouldn't go down there on a bet with just a mining hat and lantern, but suit yourself - I'm staying here." Her companions had the good sense to stay put here but she brushed aside the tape and went down the tunnel, but not far. It was wet and steep and extremely dark. After the first time she nearly slipped and slid off into the darkness and the waiting depths of water she though the better of her impertinence and turned around; probably not a moment too soon. I wouldn't go down that tunnel... for any sort of bet! That's exactly why Littlejohn had labeled it dangerous over five years ago!

The short alternative path only lead for about twenty feet before opening into a large dark cavern from which running water could be heard. Yellow 'Caution' tape crossed this natural doorway but it wasn't especially hazardous. From the light of our mining hats and flashlights a bit of the huge cavern could be seen, and the rather large lake that occupied the left two-thirds of the large room. It was quite thermally hot and humid down here and with luck The EPA Bitch wouldn't want to hang around down here.

"We call this cavern Waikiki Beach," I laughed. It's normally off-limits to everyone but it's a fairly safe enough bit of cavern right here if you don't do anything stupid. We've run a few lights into it, enough see things inside clear enough but they're powered off of a gasoline electrical generator. A little extra CO2 is alright down here according to the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates mine safety here as you well know. Our permit for the generator is posted there... right over it, just around the corner here. It's safe enough dry ground there if you'd like to look at it. She didn't. Her disappointment at not finding any open sewage pipes draining waste or toxic chemicals into the lake was unmistakable. I let her look around in the gloom of the cavern to her heart's content, but she'd had enough adventure for one day in dark hot and humid places and just wanted now to get her ass upstairs and out of here!

So did I!