Watching the plasma drill bore down into the core of the world, I remember Cahil, the foreman, saying, 'It's more the pressure than the heat that does it. Relentless pressure, like a vice turning and turning, cracking everything below it, breaking it down until there's nothing but molten sludge.'
He was talking about the drill of course, but I don't know if that was what he was thinking about. There was a lot going on with Cahil. I wish I'd said something then. Offered him a way to vent. But I just nodded along, listening to him talk about the drill, watching him drown.
Paddy Dobson
10th December 2022