“This is going to be so cool,” Sally said, looking out of the airplane window.
“I just hope I can assimilate everything. Running a hundred million dollar machine by yourself is an incredible responsibility,” Erin replied.
“You’ll do fine. I mean, how hard can it be? It has a joy stick and some buttons. It will be a piece of cake.”
“I got the feeling it’s a little more than that. Actually a lot more than that,” Erin insisted.
“Quit worrying and enjoy the change of scenery. How often do we get to take a trip at the company’s expense? I intend to have some fun as well,” Sally said.
“I think they are going to keep us pretty busy. I looked at the schedule and it didn’t leave a lot of down time.”
“Don’t worry; we’ll have plenty of time to do a little partying.”
“Sally, I don’t do partying. This is about learning. The company expects us to come back and actually operate this giant machine.”
“You worry too much. Chill girl,” Sally replied.
Erin decided to just lie back in her seat and try to catch a short nap. Two rows up Tommy Perkins and Billy Myers were having a similar conversation.
“You want to go to a couple of strip clubs?” Tommy asked.
“Heavens no. We are here to learn the system, not hang out at bars.”
“Come on man. Loosen up some. No one will ever know,” Tommy insisted.
“Three people would.”
“Three? How do you figure that?”
“You, me and my wife.”
“Your wife? How would she know?”
“I’d tell her. We have a pact. We don’t keep things from each other.”
“You would actually tell her that you went to a strip club?”
“I don’t have any choice if I want to uphold my end of the agreement,” Billy replied.
“Man, that’s just too… I don’t know… married. I can’t see the harm in having a little look once in a while.”
“We all have to do what is best for each of us. If that works for you, fine, but it just doesn’t for me,” Billy said.
That pretty much ended the conversation and Billy went back to reading while Tommy nodded off.
They were greeted at the airport by a representative from Dynamic Engineering and taken to their hotel to settle in and freshen up. Two hours later they were collected and driven to corporate headquarters. The President of Dynamic Engineering, Fred Nickels, and the head of the technical division, Avery Collins, were there to greet them.
“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.