“Justin, it’s the rumble. Time to wake up.”

“Yup,” replied Justin, who already lay awake, wondering, as the others still slept, where their dreams had taken them the night before. As he started hearing people stirring awake slowly and wearily, it was always clear that those places were far better than the one they were in now.

With the others, Justin rose and made his way to the breakfast line, grabbing his food portion and making his way to the corner of the room. As usual, Samuel came over to join him, but unlike most days, Justin could hear something was off by the way Samuel walked.

“What happened to you?” asked Justin as Samuel sat down with a grunt.

“Keep it down, will you …” Samuel breathed to Justin, leaning in.  “It’s no big deal. I slipped in the shaft yesterday and landed on my ankle. No biggy. It’ll heal in no time.”

“Yeah, I hear you,” replied Justin. “Here,” he said, pushing his breakfast towards Samuel, “you eat this. I’m not hungry this morning for some reason.” He got up, walked over to the check-in line, retrieved his axes, helmet, and bucket, and made his way down into the shaft with the other workers.

The elevator went down and down and down. No one said anything. But even if they wanted to, what would they say? Instead, Justin, like the rest, concentrated on the rhythmic clanging sounds of the elevator as it descended deeper and deeper. Even with the loud elevator, Justin could still make out the sound of the rumble.

The elevator eventually came to a halt, and one of the men in the elevator pulled open the gate with a grunt. Justin walked without even thinking through a maze of passages he had memorized after years of work until he arrived where he had left off yesterday.

After all these years of work, the axes had also become a part of him—he actually felt more comfortable with than without them. Taking a large breath, Justin began, throwing his weight into alternate swings, right, left, right, left. His shoulders, back, and arms tightened at different moments in a harmony perfected over the years, with each ax colliding into the nearby rock with perfect precision and raw energy. Through the axes, Justin could feel the surface of the rock, its various ridges and valleys along with its composition.

Beads of sweat emerged as they always did when Justin worked. Justin was very conscious of them after a life in the shaft. He mapped them individually in his mind as he worked away, following them as they slowly weaved their way down Justin’s face, chest, and back.

Another day. Another bucket full. Justin walked slowly back to the elevator shaft with the other workers and ascended back to the top, returning his bucket along with his tools before heading back for dinner. He got his dinner and headed into the corner to eat.

Justin ate in silence, zoning out the quiet conversations around him, and even the rumble.

He sighed deeply as he climbed into his cot for the evening. He could sense that the cot beside him where Samuel slept was empty. Tomorrow he would not hear, “Time to wake up.”

         Justin stepped off the elevator the next day just like any other day, and plodded along until he made it to where he had left off the day before. As he situated his axes in his hands to begin swinging at the rock, he noticed something peculiar. The stone beneath his feet felt different than usual, a bit hollow. He slid his feet around the area, then, getting more curious, got down on his hands and knees and began feeling around. Then, he put his ear to the rock below. Over the rumble he heard something faint, so faint that he didn’t believe it at first, ting ting, ting ting.

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         He wasn’t sure what washed over him, whether it was excitement, sadness, or simply rage. Maybe it was because it had been years since Justin had felt anything. For the first time in a long time, Justin’s body jumped alive. He picked up his axes and began striking at the rock with a force that thundered down the mine shaft. With every blow Justin released a fury that had until now lay dormant. Tears streamed from his eyes as he continued pounding with greater and greater intensity. Rock peeled away with great ease and precision like chips of wood from a carving.

         After about 5 minutes, the rock gave in to a small opening. A few more minutes and he was able to slide through to the space below.

         “We’ve made contact! We’ve made contact!” breathed a voice from nearby. Justin heard other voices responding in excitement.

“Who are you?” Justin asked, panting in exhaustion.

“We are prisoners,” replied the voice. “Just like you.”

“What do you mean?” Justin said. “I grew up here. This is my home.”

“I see,” replied the voice slowly, turning to the other people with him. “Do you still have parents?”

“I don’t remember them,” replied Justin. “They died when I was very young.”

“I see,” said the voice.

“I see?” asked Justin. “Why do you keep saying that? What does it even mean?”

“So it’s true!” replied the voice incredulously. “They have created a population of no-seers.”

“Listen, buddy,” Justin finally said, growing confused and exasperated as he gripped his axes more tightly. “You better tell me what the hell is going on.”

“Easy boy,” replied the voice. Justin could hear the man shuffling around his pockets for something. Then the man’s hand found Justin’s, and placed two stones whose texture Justin had never felt before.

“What’s this?” asked Justin.

“Find out for yourself,” said the man. “Scrape them together.”

Justin was a little hesitant, but did as the man asked. What happened next was unlike anything Justin had experienced before. As Justin scraped the two rocks together, tiny particles began randomly emitting from the rocks. But unlike all other times, Justin could not feel the presence of the particles, even though he was aware that they were there. His head was spinning.

“What is this sorcery!?” exclaimed Justin, throwing the stones to the ground.

“They are sparks, light,” replied the voice. “Those eyes on your head, they’re not just good for crying. Those eyes, they are meant to see. I will…”

“Sir,” another voice hastily, “They are coming! They are going to catch us!”

“Quickly,” replied the voice to Justin. “Back up the hole you go. Come back here tomorrow and we will talk. You no-seers are more powerful than you know, and if we work together, we’ll …”

“SIR!”

“Off you go then.”

Justin clambered back up the hole and sealed it off. That night as he closed his eyes to sleep, the first image he had ever perceived, the image of the sparks, danced mysteriously in his mind.