Clang clang clang...
Deep underground, in a frigid, dark mine, a group of pallid miners clad in ragged cotton coats continued to toil diligently. Using their manpower, they swung shovels to knock down the iron ore, and then the extracted ore and debris were hauled away by manpower-driven mine carts.
Why not use steam power? The reason is simple: if human labor is cheaper than animal power, why use a costly steam engine that also consumes coal?
Staring at the scarcely discernible spot of light toward the entrance, Sander, only thirty but looking like fifty, sighed deeply. He felt his future resembled that light, nothing but dimness.
"Sigh, when will these days ever end?"
According to the Republic's latest laws, as miners, they must spend at least fifteen hours a day underground, from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., with all physiological needs addressed below, almost never seeing the sun.
