Algorithm - Book 1 - The Medallion

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

            Shades of gray streaked the river valley. Nearby trees cast long shadows across their path. A few leaves danced by the group as an early sign of the autumn to come. Ben and Adam paused to look back at the women and considered their next steps. They were walking along the river bank, and the dark triangular outline of the breaker hovered over nearby tree tops. The one story mine office was a few hundred feet south of it, largely obscured by vegetation. The people chasing them were either still in the mine or had gone back to the office.

Adam was the first to speak. "I don't want to depend on the police to save the day since we don't know when they will arrive, or even if they will. I was thinking that maybe we could sneak around to the breaker and go through it to reach the office building from the back? This way we could size up the situation. Get an idea of what we're up against."

Ben agreed, "That should be possible. What do you think, Hedda?"

Hedda responded in a wary tone. "Ya should know, Ben. Of course it's possible. We're gonna lose light awful soon, so it's best to get goin' as there's no electricity in the breaker and that's a damned dark place." 

Without waiting for Ben to acknowledge, Hedda shook her head, took Linda by the hand and led the way. Ben shrugged and turned to Adam. "Looks like we take up the rear guard."

They trudged through a scattering of trees and shrubs that had grown wild over the years, carving out a path by pushing aside vines, kicking through brambles and stepping over scattered debris hidden by dense tufts of grass. They crossed the remnants of several tracks running in parallel, one of which wound its way back to the Slope Mine. These were the rails used to move raw coal to the breaker. Hedda made a turn to the left following one of the tracks. They were able to pick up the pace by avoiding some of the thick undergrowth, despite running into an occasional tree sprouting from between the rails. The darkening gloom of early evening descended, making the going more difficult. When they arrived at the rail entrance to the breaker, Adam looked up at the massive building and was at once captivated by the stark contrast it posed to anything he'd seen before. This looming edifice was the one remaining testament to a harsh, merciless way of life that had once been the norm in this valley. A tattered, rust-encrusted, black and decaying corrugated metal collage soared ten stories above him. The building cut an enormous black wedge into the remains of the twilight sky. He tried looking into the entrance, but there was little to see. It was like the mouth of a cave. 

Hedda turned to the group. "We're here. This here's where the raw coal from the mines were delivered," and with a wave of her arm sweeping upward she added, "The coal got loaded into these conveyor bins which moved them up to the top where they got crushed and sorted."

The conveyor bins and belts were mostly gone, but several sections of the ramp and the corpse of a huge electric motor sitting astride several wheel assemblies were clearly visible. Adam's eyes followed the ramp up to a chute perched at the very top of the breaker.

Hedda added, "We can get in through this door."

She pointed at a small entryway beneath the shadowy outlines of machinery. The group followed her inside into a cavernous recess, dimly lit by a dozen small windows scattered along the walls. Muted shards of failing light fell across the vast space. The tall coal-black wooden beams could have been ebony columns majestically ascending toward an invisible domed roof of a long-forgotten cathedral. Faded colors of mold and decay covered the remains of flooring, staircases and broken gangways arrayed at odd angles along the high walls. Adam made out several mechanical sorters and crushers suspended in midair above him. He imagined a time when the breaker was filled with the noise and dust of coal being smashed, scoops and belts moving the crushed rock from floor to floor.