"Don't do that! Stop!"

The last words my mentor screamed were still etched in my brain as I woke up. I was learning how to operate the mega excavator at the bottom of the pit mine. Nothing ever goes wrong with them. Unless a fool loosens the supporting strata under a layer of boulders, gravel, and scree above her.

I could feel something dripping onto my head. The roof was crumpled. I couldn't see Mick. The boulder bounced like an overfilled soccer ball then landed on us. Metal screamed in harmony with the boom accompanying it and my world went black.

I touched my head where the pain throbbed in time with my heartbeat. How was it so calm? I wasn't sure I could keep breathing.

Voices called my name, and Mick's but my tongue felt like it belonged somewhere else. Exploring my mouth, I found my teeth were stuck through it. Metallic fluid trickled into my throat and my stomach revolted.

Wrenching my jaws apart, I vowed to quit my bad habit of sticking the tip of my tongue out when I was trying to learn new things. Dad always stopped me. I could hear him now. "You finally did it. Bit your tongue off."

"In here." It didn't sound like words at all.

"Under this!"

I heard a jackhammer pounding away above me.

How much of the pit wall came down? I couldn't see much really. It was almost completely dark with a few spears of sunlight giving me the ability to make out what surrounded me.

My legs weren't hurting but I couldn't move them. Turning my head a few degrees to my right, I tried to figure out what happened to Mick. It couldn't be good. That steady plop, plop, plop hitting the top of my head was irritating.

My stomach heaved again, and I tried to turn on my side. If I was going to puke, I wanted it to land away from me instead of staying in my mouth. No chance. Damn good thing I'm not claustrophobic. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light conditions, I recognized the issue.

The roof wasn't three inches above my face.

"Mick!" I screamed it this time. My mouth now clear and my tongue sort of working again, my larynx responded.

I caught his faint whisper. Lucky for us, the pounding noise from the rescue team quit at exactly the correct moment.

"Thank God, you're alive."

"Can't breathe though, at least no deep breathing. No room," he whispered again.

"Not much better here," I responded.

"Stay calm and wait."

I nodded, then remembered he couldn't see me.

"Agreed. No choice there." Stating the obvious was always my way. It made sure communication was clear. Then I said, "I'm so sorry. I screwed up big time."

The rescue machinery started up again, and I couldn't hear his answer.

I wondered how much this was going to cost me. I made a costly mistake, and company policy took it out our pay if negligence could be proved. Concentrating on what I saw when I dug the bucket into the wall, I didn't see where the problem was. Hopefully, the camera caught it. I had to know. If it was my fault... how do I fix it? I should be fired.

The thunderous din quit again, and I heard Mick's voice. Stronger now.

"Not your fault. I've only seen that formation once before. It got me like it got you." He coughed violently and I heard him spit something out. Then he continued. "The camera feed will show it."

"Where are you hurt?"

"I'm bleeding bad, from my head, I think. Even with the hardhat, something cut me. Might have been the damn brain bucket."

"Cut is better than cracked," I said. I had to find something positive to hang onto.

A wry chuckle answered me, and Mick's sense of humor snuck through the horror.

"Damn right. Something's moving up there."

The sliver of light widened.

"I'm sorry about this, Mick."

"Like I said, don't worry about it. Rare stratus formation. I had no idea either the first time I saw it. Should have been part of the training manual though. That's on management. Not us."

"Mick! Sarah!"

"We're alive," I shouted back.

"Praise the Lord."

That was our foreman. Great guy.

"We figured you were done for," Gabe said. "We're going to pry this boulder off the cab. "Big son of a bitch. You never had a chance; this shouldn't have happened."

"See," Mick whispered. "Told you."

I hoped he was right. For now, the slow increase in sunshine was the only thing I wanted to see. It was the first step of getting out of here.