Time and Space, Hastio

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Hastio

-I'm sick of this damned life, every day I have to go out in the middle of the night to take this dirty transport, to travel on the ice for almost an hour, to get to that dark and bad smelling mine, -said Ernesto, as he settled into one of the seats of the mine's employee transport.

-Will we have to start the day with your complaints again, Ernesto? -asked Miguel, who came after him and settled into the seat next to him.

-It doesn't bore you to have to do this, day after day, the pay is good, but the work is depressing, - continued Ernesto.

-I don't know what you're complaining about, you have one of the best jobs, at least you don't have to spend all day repairing broken-down robots, you just sit in the control room and watch the time go by, - interrupted Herbert, who was sitting in the seat in front of them.

-You think what I'm doing is easy, I'm in that kitchen room with three other operators monitoring the operation of two hundred machines operating simultaneously, the control of the devices is not completely automated, if something goes wrong we must respond immediately, otherwise the mine will stop and that would be a disaster, - replied Ernesto, apparently offended by the comment.

-Yes sure, -said Herbert, without paying much attention.

-Damn it, I'm killing myself in this stupid job, I'm sick of all this and people don't recognize your effort, -concluded Ernesto.

-Bah -Miguel spat.

The rest of the trip Ernesto remained almost completely silent, with an expression of discomfort on his face, emitting only a few moans and sighs of nonconformity, from time to time.

After the entrance control and passing through a glass of coffee through the generating machine, he went to the control room, opened the door and was able to see Maurice, Ronald and Roberto, the other three operators who were still there since the night, Maurice with his feet on the console, accommodated the blanket that covered him almost to the Nose.

-Hello Ernesto, how did your day begin?- Maurice asked, while the other two operators raised their hands in a gesture of greeting, almost without losing the attention of the chessboard, where they played one of the many games of the night.

-As always, for fuck's sake, the idiots of this mine think we come here just to scratch each other's backs, -he said, placing his coffee on his workstation and taking a look at the machine's operations report. -The damn 54 is broken again, I'm going to send Herbert's idiot to repair it.

He pressed some commands on the panel that was projected from the board and then sat down, took his glass, took a sip and with a quick movement of his feet he took off his boots, and then put his feet on the board, as he did towards Maurice. He stretched out to place the glass on the floor next to him and reclined in the seat.

-They wake me up when his shift is over or if something comes up, -he said and covered his eyes with the fold of his cap, at the same time as his companions raised their thumbs almost simultaneously as a sign of approval.

Text of @amart29 Barcelona, Venezuela, June 2019

Other stories from the Time and Space series

• El Destino de Fenrir / The Fate of Fenrir
• Mundo Océano / Ocean World
• Realidad (1/2) / Reality (1/2)
• Realidad (2/2) / Reality (2/2)
• Púlsar / Pulsar
• Esferas / Spheres
• El Laboratorio de la Isla / The Island Laboratory
• Rescate de Chatarra / Scrap Rescue
• Mares Eternos / Eternal Seas
• El Reactor (1/2) / The Reactor (1/2)
• El Reactor (2/2) / The Reactor (2/2)
• Terror Nocturno / Night Terror
• Criaturas de Agua / Water Creatures
• Mi Día Entre Gusanos / My Day Into Worms
• La Masa Gris / The Grey Mass
• Colisión / Collision
• Los Bosques de Perséfone / The Forests of Persephone
• Osiris / Osiris
• Metamorphosis
• Hastio

Original story for Steemit.

I hope it was to your liking, I am attentive to your observations and comments.

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