Chapter 19
Fingers lightly stroked Foreman's face and he smiled.
'That's nice,' he said and opened his eyes. 'Monkley!'
He was disappointed to find he was the only human in the room, in fact, when he checked, the only human in the base. Monkley handed him a cup of coffee.
'Thanks, pal.'
'Andy happy.'
'Are you kidding? Me, spending the night with the hottest woman this side of the galaxy? Oh. Yeah.'
Stuck on the bathroom door he found a note. “Not keen on beards. See you tonight, Susan.”
'Can't argue with that, Monkley. Time for a shave.'
It took longer than usual, but the beard was gone. 'She's right. Much better. Then women usually are right about most things.'
After breakfast, they tidied up. 'I was thinking. It could be interesting, taking a look at the drilling operation. I don't think they'll mind.'
Foreman wasn't surprised to find the buggy gone. It was only a half hour walk up the ramp to the ship. The ship was deserted, the back of it opened up from where the driller and associated equipment was stored. The driller was gone and huge tracks in the soft sand pointed the way. The buggy was parked by the ship, the drilling team using the driller for transportation. Foreman got in the buggy as did Monkley. They followed the tracks for a half hour and came to the site. Like the Moonstruck, the driller was an impressive piece of equipment. Behind it was a trailer stacked with drill tubes, with its own winch crane for manoeuvrings the pipes into place. Foreman and Monkley ventured closer. The driller was already grinding its way through the Martian ground. Mitchum saw them and held out his hand to stop them, then he walked over to them.
'Morning,' said Foreman.
'Andy. Morning, Monkley. Look, Andy. Don't take this personally, but this is a work site. Our insurance only covers authorised drillers. If there was an accident...'
'Sorry, Mike. I should have figured it out myself.'
'Hey. No worries. If you move away a little, say to that dune over there, I'll let you watch. This time only though, okay?'
'Fair enough. Thanks, Mike. Come on, Monkley.'
Feeling a little stupid and embarrassed, Foreman led Monkley to the designated dune and sat on top of it. They had quite a good view of the action. He couldn't tell who was who in their suits, as he watched the efficient way the team worked together. The massive driller was fed tubes via the crane, which were manually connected to the preceding tubes. The driller turned the tubes and the industrial diamond drill bit chewed inexorably through the rock, so slowly, it seemed no progress was being made at all. It took nearly two hours before the next tube section was attached.
'Well. I think we get the general idea, pal. Come on.'
They returned to the buggy and left it where they had found it by the ship. Then they walked back to the base.