George kept up with the quick step of Clyden and Xavier down to the sub-ground level storage facilities. Here, twin rail tracks along the dirt floor of the tunnels provided paths for the mining carts carrying the sparkling rocks from various places to the storage rooms on the upper levels. Xavier was the first to enter the dump room, in which all the freshly dug red sparkly ore was taken. "When we have a full shipment, a group of large capacity tanks come over the dessert and park at the edge of the moat. With more maneuverable carts that don't use rails, the miners transfer the ore from here to the land tankers. Often it takes almost all our miners the whole day under the strictest guard to do their job."
"But how do you get the ore over the moat, if the only way over is the bridge?"
"We use the bridge. How else?"
George envisioned that in his mind. "The bridge is so narrow; it'd be hard for two miners to pass by each other. And the bridge is so flimsy..."
"Very sturdy," contradicted the governor. "Made from a very strong alloy. The bridge may be a tight squeeze, but we seldom have accidents."
"You do have accidents, though." George shuddered, very concerned as he recalled his own narrow escape. "By accidents, you mean..."
Clyden finished the sentence. "The kind like you almost had."
George coughed a bit. "It's so dusty in these tunnels! Between the dust and that blaring thrash metal music- Can't something be done to clean the air a little bit? Isn't it dangerous to have fuel ore dust floating about- I mean, isn't it flammable or explosive?"
Xavier shook his head, dismissing George's worries. "Believe it or not, the impurities in the air cut down on the fuel ore dust's volatility, because these impurities are the same which are those in the ore rocks that make the ore stable and able to be mined. The dust even cuts down on the accidental blasts that sometimes happen when a miner unknowingly hits some pure fuel."
A team of arriving miners caught George's attention. The gang pushed along a bunch of large overflowing ore buggies, probably weighing hundreds of pounds each. When they saw Gov. Bright and Sec. Ldr. Clyden, the five immediately grinned and saluted. Just like all the other miners had acted, whenever they crossed paths with them while touring the mine.
Covered in red dust, they all wore uniforms which seemed to have been gray at one time. Each miner wore a number on his uniform. There wasn't a single miner under six and a half feet tall, all of them huge and muscular, hulking figures. Some of them had a greyish tint to their skins, while a few of them, while still looking greyish, glowed a bit, a red glow. Some of these glowed more than others.
"More ore!" Clyden greeted the miners, and they responded in a chorus of "More ore! More ore!"
"Excellent," Xavier complimented the laborers. "Keep up the good work. Your governor thanks you, and so does Sparkle City, and also Earth!"
The miners beamed and exchanged glad glances with each other, flattered from the approval of Gov. Bright and Sec. Ldr. Clyden. The team leader thanked Gov. Bright for the opportunity to serve him and his fellow men and women. Without wasting another moment, the five miners dumped out their ore. Then, hastily, almost running, they all pushed their empty carts back down the track, taking a side rail that disappeared down, down, deep down into the ground, rushing to a major ore vein, to mine more ore, more ore! For Gov. Bright! For Sparkle City! For Earth!
"I've been noticing some of them have a glow about them," George told them.
"I guess some like the job so much, it gives them a glow," said Clyden.
Xavier clarified. "Seriously, the longer a miner is here, the more of the dust he ingests and gets into his system. After awhile, the sparkling, glowing ore dust starts to make the miner glow, too. It's kind of a status symbol, really. The more the glow, the better."
Two robot guards happened by, toting blaster pistols, on patrol. They greeted Xavier and Clyden and continued on their way.
George said, "I must say, Xavier, this attitude you have managed to instill into the miners- I find it amazing. I know they undergo an unbelievable transformation physically, but this new attitude you give them- Why, I just can't believe it."
Xavier shined with glee. "Oh, believe it. Their new mindset is incredible. Changing them physically is the easy part. We just make them strong as an ox, so they can dig faster and farther than an ordinary human being, and they can endure all kinds of extremes, including the cumulative effects of the radiation from the dust in their systems. But to enhance production, we made them want to work as hard as they can for us."
"Do all of them want to?" George wanted to know. "There are certain rumors which claim some of the people who disagree with you and offend you end up here in the mines. Do they, too, become willing slaves now with a new attitude?"
"Slaves?" Xavier grunted. "Huh, I don't have to force them to dig. They dig because they want to! If I were to deny these miners the chance to work so hard, I would be doing them a great disservice. You heard it right from the horse's mouth. And then, also, to deny them their chance to be useful citizens, I would be harming Earth, cutting off society's lifeblood, the fuel ore. That is their new attitude. Very becoming, don't you think?"
George said, "I guess they're even more loyal than robots. No wonder Earth prefers to use people to dig their ore."
"Correct," the governor confirmed. "And besides that, today's robots are mostly stupid. Robots have no real intelligence- don't you agree? They have no imagination, no initiative. Simple machines incapable of problem-solving to any great extent. Too bad nobody ever took the time to develop smarter robots... Anyway, criminals-turned-miners are cheaper to use. And, unless they die too suddenly, these miners can regenerate when seriously injured, so they last a long time Quite an improvement over the first human miners, and better, too- Why risk a law-abiding citizen for such work? But let's see a robot do all that a miner can!"
"Fascinating." George had to admit it.
"Would you care to see us do an actual transformation, turning a man into a miner?" Xavier invited. "We scheduled one for today, for your benefit, George. You can see how they go from puny weaklings to mighty digging miners in just a matter of minutes- like those you saw throughout the tunnels. The transformation is more interesting than watching a butterfly hatch from its cocoon."
George hesitated. "I don't know if I want to see that. I hear it is a very traumatic process."
"Excrutiating, too, if their screams are any indication."
"What? You don't use any anesthetic?"
Xavier urged, "Come see for yourself, George. Your report to Earth will be incomplete if you refuse this offer to actually witness the event."
"Um, okay, then, since you put it that way." George decided he should provide as much details and information as he could about what happened on the planet of Hope. He figured it was best to see as much as he could. Maybe he could find out what he was really sent to find out, and then, finally, he could finish his job and return to Earth and be done with this world.
The Transformation