If not for chronos and adherence to a schedule, time became something of an abstract in this place where natural daylight did not reach. Harnell had been here for months, and he wasn't so much used to it, but rather he had simply accepted it in the interval since his quiet arrival. The irregular assignment didn't phase him, though it might be considered dull by comparison to the greater body of his work. His days were routine.
However, in the wee hours of the morning on this very day, something changed. A sharp, somewhat painful signal, a discordant message twisted up in his often bleak dreamscape, roused him from a deep slumber off-schedule and to no small amount of bleary confusion at the sharp advancement of the project's timeline… but orders were orders, and this one came from all the way up. A small miracle it didn’t bloom into a headache, this time.
Within the half-hour, what was for the longest time a near-silent hum of power that sustained the existence of the workforce and their tasks was now climbing. Harnell stood over the shoulder of a technician, a lidded, steaming mug of barely passable caf in hand, momentarily enthralled by the sight of the complex cyclical power system operating at this increasing draw for the first time.
It was exciting, or what passed for excitement, here. He didn’t give space to the typical notion of whether that was sad or not, and it took discipline to do so.
“Eyes wide open, stay alert,” Harnell clapped a hand down on the tech's shoulder, before he would leave the man to his work to look in on other stations, “if the system encounters even the smallest issue, I want to hear about it.”
The technician did not turn to look at him, keeping his eyes on the screen.
“Yes, overseer.”
However, in the wee hours of the morning on this very day, something changed. A sharp, somewhat painful signal, a discordant message twisted up in his often bleak dreamscape, roused him from a deep slumber off-schedule and to no small amount of bleary confusion at the sharp advancement of the project's timeline… but orders were orders, and this one came from all the way up. A small miracle it didn’t bloom into a headache, this time.
Within the half-hour, what was for the longest time a near-silent hum of power that sustained the existence of the workforce and their tasks was now climbing. Harnell stood over the shoulder of a technician, a lidded, steaming mug of barely passable caf in hand, momentarily enthralled by the sight of the complex cyclical power system operating at this increasing draw for the first time.
It was exciting, or what passed for excitement, here. He didn’t give space to the typical notion of whether that was sad or not, and it took discipline to do so.
“Eyes wide open, stay alert,” Harnell clapped a hand down on the tech's shoulder, before he would leave the man to his work to look in on other stations, “if the system encounters even the smallest issue, I want to hear about it.”
The technician did not turn to look at him, keeping his eyes on the screen.
“Yes, overseer.”
