The Twelve Stones (26 page)

After the scandal had ruined Red’s chances in government service, he settled comfortably into the private sector
,
doing odd jobs for various corporations around the world. Red had been highly recommended to Kline because of his thoroughness, foresight
,
and most important, the ability to bring in any job on time. Plus the little portly man made Kline chuckle to himself with the way he set his jaw. It was uncanny how much the foreman resembled
how
his prize-
winning English bulldog looked while passing a bowel movement.

Kline watched the foreman
,
with his huge underbite
,
chew on his bottom lip in frustration. Adjusting the lantern on his hat to give himself a better view of the plans in front of him, Red didn’t sense Kline looking at the plans over his shoulder for a full two minutes.

Kline coughed slightly
,
and Red
,
still hot from his exchange with the crew above ground
,
turned and yelled, “What?” His face slackened as he rolled his eyes
,
seeing the meddling boss below ground.

“
I understand you’re having some problems with the drilling,” Kline replied politely.

“
You could
say that.
” Red brushed Kline aside as he approached the large drilling vehicle currently parked up against the wall of the cave. “Get this drill changed out pronto,” he barked to several assistants
, who
were busy pouring water over the machine’s gears. The drill ran incredibly hot, which in turn, heated the surrounding area inside the cave to a toasty
120
degrees. The cold water was one of the few ways the workers were able to stay cool this deep underground.

“
Well,” Kline said, following the man like an eager puppy, “
w
hat exactly has my money bought me so far?”

“
So far?” The
f
oreman pushed the plans into Kline’s hands
.
“So far
,
you’ve stumbled upon one of the biggest natural gas formations I’ve ever seen
.
T
his
, this is just…”
H
e
paused
,
catching his breath
.
“The table of gas we’ve stumbled upon here is easily worth billions.” The foreman glanced suspiciously at Kline for a moment
.
“You know, I didn’t expect to find a whole lot out here
;
I was on the original survey team that looked at this area in the 80’s.”

“
Well
,
if you didn’t expect to find anything, why’d you sign on?” Kline asked tilting his head to one side.

“
Money’s good. By the way,”
t
he
foreman slapped a yellow helmet into Kline’s chest, “
y
ou
need to be wearing a helmet.” Red moved off as Kline wondered exactly what kind of magic was contained within this piece of plastic capable of protecting his head against a ton of rock and rubble should the tunnel collapse. Kline tossed the helmet to the side
as he moved to catch back up with the foreman.

“
I’ll keep it in mind. Say,” Kline grabbed the fat man’s shoulder, “I
’ve
noticed that you’re not drilling anymore. Why is that?”

The large man looked back at the billionaire as if he couldn’t decide that he was crazy or just plain stupid. “Mr. Kline, there’s several atmospheres of pressure made up mostly of natural gas contained within some sort of cavern about another twenty feet on the other side of that rock. Now…” The foreman raised his sweaty and hairy arms to demonstrate drilling through the rock standing in front of the drilling machine.

“
If we continue to drill, we run the risk of igniting the gas pocket and blowing not just your profits in this strike, but also my men, your equipment
,
and half of Joshua Tree along with it.” He stopped and placed the map on the wall to emphasize his point.

“
It’d be the single greatest natural disaster to happen in modern times.” He shook his head thinking of the possibilities. “Luckily, what I can do is run a bit through that rock, get it in there
,
and siphon off some of that gas slowly. Give me a few weeks and we’ll have your operation up and running
100%
.”

He turned looking uncertain at the billionaire whose face was losing its smile. He continued nervously, “I can get us pumping probably within
48
hours or so, but…” He trailed off; Kline’s face definitely indicat
ed
there was something wrong.

Kline pursed his fingers onto the bridge of his nose. If Mr. Tate’s men and their incompetence at the
S
heriff’s station hadn’t moved his timetable up, this wouldn’t be a concern. Now, they had to work against the clock. Joshua Tree was a desolate place, but eventually, someone was bound to notice a
S
heriff’s station burned to the ground. Kline wasn’t sure how long that bloody scene could go unnoticed
,
and he had every intention of having his equipment gone before anyone found out what he was up to in the middle of this godforsaken desert.

“
Drill around the natural gas
.
I
f
you pop off any chambers, seal it and cap. Get me to the coordinates I’ve specified. That’s your only job right now
,
Mr. Howell. You have
24
hours,” Kline decided as he turned on his heel, walking back up the tunnel to his office trailer.

The foreman shook his head
.
“Nuh
-
uh, no way…” Kline ignored him as he continued up the tunnel
.
“Hey
,
Kline!”
t
he
foreman cried out running up after him, “I can’t do
24
hours
.
”

Kline stopped and shrugged
.
“Fine
.
H
ow’s
twelve hours?” he asked
.
“But not a minute more,” he smirked
,
wagging his finger.

“
You’re not understanding!” Red yelled at the retreating Kline, his portly face reddening from the effort
.
“
I
f I rush this, I’ll blow us all to hell!”

Kline continued to ignore him
,
walking back up to the top of the Mesa where his office trailer waited, the air conditioner running full blast. Red’s frustration boiled over as he grabbed Kline’s sleeve, holding him back.

“
You idiot!”
h
e screamed as he looked into the Englishman’s eyes
.
“You want to get us killed?”

Kline turned back to the foreman and began to chuckle. For a moment, Red thought he might’ve gone too far, but Kline was laughing, and after Kline approached within inches of his forehead, Red began to nervously laugh along with Kline.

The billionaire smiled, turn
ed
quickly on his heel
,
and walked a few feet over to a yellow and red cooler full of water
, which was
a
ttached firmly to the rear of the monstrous drill by canvas straps
.
Kline paused, looking for an empty cup near the canteen.

“
Ah, here we are,” Kline muttered to himself as he grabbed an old grey cup, once designed for a commuter’s coffee. Putting the metal cup underneath the spigot, Kline filled it and walked back to the foreman
,
who was still waiting, confused at Kline’s reaction to his outburst. Kline smiled broadly and drank deeply until half of the water was gone.

Kline smacked his lip
s
loudly and looked with disdain at the foreman. He paused, looking at the cup of water in his hand.

“
Did you know that comets are responsible for most of the water on this planet?” Kline mused thoughtfully.

Confused, Red didn’t reply, choosing instead to stay silent. Kline looked back to him, annoyed by the lack of response. “Come now
,
Mr. Howell, I’m sure that wall of degrees in your shiny office stood for something, did
it
not?” Kline
continued, his
contempt becoming clear
.
“Or are they
all
illusions? Simple pieces of paper
,
worth only what the frame could fetch from a pawn shop?”

Red bristled at the implication, “I’m no liar
,
Mr. Kline. I earned those degrees.”

“
THEN ANSWER THE QUESTION!” Kline screamed
,
throwing the cup to the ground at Red’s feet.

“
Yes!” Red snapped back
.
“Yeah, I remember reading something like that back in high school.”

Kline’s attitude frosted over once again, “Well, I’m glad to see American
p
ublic
s
chools
are up to the challenge.” Kline bent over, grasping the metal cup off the ground, and walked back over to the cooler.

“
Then you must realize the implications of this moment
,
Mr. Howell.” Kline asked as he opened the spigot once again, rinsing the dirt off the cup
.
S
atisfied
that
it was clean,
he
poured more water, releasing the spigot after filling it halfway.

“
I’m not sure I understand,” Red replied, thoroughly confused. The man was insane, or off some strong medication.

“
My point
,
Mr. Howell,” Kline began dramatically, “is that three billion years ago, less than a quarter of the total age of the universe today, one atom of oxygen was synthesized by one of the galaxies’ hottest and largest stars. Running through its life cycle, the star explodes in a glorious supernova, blowing all those new heavy elements like
o
xygen out into the
u
niverse
in a shimmering display
of power
. After drifting through space for a few hundred thousand years, one by one, those oxygen atoms begin hooking up with leftover hydrogen from the Big Bang, forming what we learned in primary school. H2O. Or...” Kline paused as he began dripping water out of the cup.

“
Water?” Red asked
hesitantly
.

“
Water! Yes! Just that
,
Mr. Howell.” Kline took a sip and continued, “Slowly, enough of our small watery friends hooked up with enough dust to form enormous comets.
Then
they traveled through the universe
for a few billion years through the unforgiving vacuum of space, until eventually, they found their way to our tiny blue marble.” Kline stared for a moment at his cup of water in wonder.

“
These water molecules traveled the Universe, seeing it
as God intended, all the while
completely unknowing that their fate was to smash into a newly born planet, helping it to wash clean, and of course, enable the most precious of all things
—
life
—
to spring up on what had been
,
up til
l
only a few millions years ago, a hellhole of molten rock and lava.”

Red stood there, confused as to what the man in front of him was talking about. Kline was lost in reflection as he stared at the cup. Red cleared his throat and finally spoke up.

“
That’s poetic, but what does that have to do with drilling into the
m
esa
?” Red asked gingerly, hoping it wouldn’t spark a violent reaction from the man.

Kline looked up from the cup and sighed.

“
Americans…always interested in the instant payoff. There really is no respect for the art of conversation anymore
,
” Kline sniffed
.
“I suppose that’s what reality TV will do to a nation.”
He
swirled the water in his cup, staring at it as he continued.

“
The point
,
Mr. Howell, is that all things in this universe have a destiny. This water’s destiny was to travel
hundreds of thousands
of
light years
, last billions of years, all to exist for this very moment. To be here today, for me to drink and satiate my thirst. In a few hours, I’ll expel it through sweat or urine, and it’ll continue on its journey, completely unaware of the purpose it served to my life.