Sterim was sitting at this foreman desk in deep thought. The afternoon sun was comming in through the window in front of him. The light was reflecting on the three black stones on his table.
Seven days ago the grueling visit of the Words happend. Three days later another stone was given to him by the old miner Tim. "That is none of my business and only trouble. You can handle that, foreman." Tim said to Sterim at this day. A day later two more stones just appeared in front of his foreman house. Sterim was sure that many more black stones just went straight to the Words from young miners who wanted to make quick money.
Sterim sighed and looked at the stones. If he gave these 'things' to his boss, it would transform this project into a resource mining operation. Money would flow in and investors would take notice. This great rock would be hollowed out completely.
But maybe we could have a resource mine and living quaters at the same time, if we did it methodically. People would find money and a place to live.
But what did the Words want with these stones? Was this operation actually still run by the boss? Was it taken over 7 days ago?
Sterim took one of the stones into his hand and observed it more closely. It fit neatly into his hand and was black as coal but very shiny with round, smooth sides between it's sharp edges. He could even see himself in these sides.
"Wait a minute.", Sterim said out loud. "Why can I see myself in a black surface?"
Sterim stared at his reflection with his mouth half opened. It was as if the light of the sun was reflected off structures inside of the stone that happened to look like his face. He was prepared to throw this thing out of the the window if anything weird happened.
He closed his eyes and put the stone down. "What kind of 'weird' am I waiting for?". He opened his eyes and looked out of the window towards the fallen tower. "Maybe this is not about our project anymore. We need more eyes on this to make sure nothing weirder happends."
There was a knock on his door. "I have got another one.", the voice of old miner Tim said through the door.
Sterim took a deep breath and stood up. "Something needs to happen.", Sterim said in a low voice. "I am no warehouse for odd trinkets and baubles."
