Derrick
Location: Vanado Hive City, deep underground mining zone
The air in the Underhive was perpetually murky, laden with sweat, dust, machinery exhaust, and a deeper scent of rusted metal rising from the planet's guts.
After just four standard hours of enforced rest, Donas was dragged from his crude bunk by the shrill shift bell.
He hauled his exhausted body back into the seemingly endless stream of people heading deeper into the mines.
His work clothes were caked with oil stains that would never wash out, and his face was etched with lines far beyond his years.
"Boss, we've dug almost five thousand meters down. The ground pressure readings are a little off, and the vibration sensors keep giving low-frequency alarms. Shouldn't we stop and get the Tech-Priests upstairs to take a look?" a young miner asked, leaning close to Donas.
Donas could not even be bothered to turn his head. He merely gave a phlegmy snort and cast a glance at the young man with his clouded eyes.
"Stop work? Sure. Take the lift up right now, go through the middle levels of the Hive City, and tell those fine gentlemen in their robes that we Underhive rats think something's wrong down here and want a few days off. See whether they issue you a shutdown order or toss you straight into the reclamation furnace for fuel."
The young miner went deathly pale, mumbling without daring to say anything more.
Donas ignored him and stepped into the enormous, rust-covered descending lift, which groaned like a dying creature every time it ran. The gate clanged shut, and the lift shook violently as it began sinking into the planet's dark entrails.
The lift descended for a full ten minutes before reaching the bottom of the mine.
The sight before them would