Date: Thu, 21 Dec 2000 16:59:18 -0800 (PST)
From: Orrin Rush <orrinrush@yahoo.com>
Subject: Lifeguard Chapter 34
Disclaimer: The following is a work of fiction. If you are
offended by graphic descriptions of homosexual acts, go
somewhere else.
Copyright c 2000 by Orrin C. Rush. All rights reserved.
Neither this story nor any parts of it may be distributed
electronically or in any other manner without the express,
written consent of the author.
This is a work of fiction, any resemblance of the characters
to anyone living or dead is pure coincidence and not
intended. They are all products of the author's imagination.
--------------------------------------------------------------
THE LIFEGUARD
Chapter 34
Mary took one look at Eric and asked "You on a diet or what?"
"Yeah," he teased her, "Goin' for the lean and hungry look
like all the male models have. Even thinking about having
all my back teeth pulled so I'll have hollow cheeks."
She looked at him like he'd lost his marbles.
He kept a straight face as long as he could, then started
laughing. "Hell no, I just missed your cooking."
Edgar hadn't conceded defeat and was still actually running
the Railroad. That had to be changed. Fast.
The Peabody guys advised us on the procedure we'd have to
follow. This time, Eric was a very active participant.
We had to call a "special" Board of Directors Meeting,
propose a new slate of directors to replace Edgar's cronies,
and, since we had control, elect them. Once the new Board
was seated, they could pass a resolution to take the Company
private. We'd have to repeat this procedure with the
Development Company.
"Remember, though," the Peabody guy warned, "You won't be a
totally private company for three years until you can call
some of the bonds that are out there. Until then, you'll
have to report everything that you do just like a Public
company does."
"I've got an idea," Eric said. "See if you think this'll
work. They're fixed interest bonds and only fluctuate in
market price when interest rates move up or down, but that
really doesn't concern us. When we call them it's at a fixed
amount. Am I right so far?"
The Peabody guys all nodded.
"What if we set up an Escrow account with the principal
amount in it, and enough extra to cover all the interest
payments as they come due. The money could be held by a
third party and invested in something real safe like Treasury
Bonds, and when the Railroad's Bonds are paid off in three
years, we'd get back whatever's left over. Would that keep
the SEC happy and out of our hair?"
The Peabody guys looked at each other and shrugged.
"Nobody's ever tried anything like that. Logically, it makes
sense, but I don't know if the SEC would go for it. It's
worth a try, though, if that's what you want, but why would
you want to do something like that?"
"We're a private company," I told them. "We don't
particularly like making what we do public knowledge. We
don't have anything to hide, but we don't like to have anyone
looking over our shoulder either."
"We can propose it, the SEC should go along with you," the
Peabody guy said.
When the group broke up, Bill walked over to Eric and me.
"You're back," he said to Eric, "and am I ever glad. Now,
who are we going to put in as directors? We need nine."
"The family, of course, all four of us," I said. "You, Bill,
Jack and Dale from Legal, and Mike Burdette. At least he
knows something about running a Railroad." I winked at Eric.
"That's eight," Bill said. "We need one more."
"How about Dad," Eric suggested. "He'd be a friendly face."
"Settled," I said. "We'll put the same ones on the
Development Company Board."
"Do you think Burdette'll go for it?" Eric asked me later.
"Count on it. He did help us, a bit reluctantly, but he
deserves recognition. And," I told him conspiratorally, "If
his games ever come to light, it'll look like we didn't know
anything about it."
- - - - -
Annie and I worked at dismantling our clandestine operation.
It had served it's purpose, and soon we would be tied in with
the Railroad's computers and putting our guys to work
plugging their leaks.
"How's Kevin?" I asked. "Haven't seen much of him lately."
"He's history," she answered.
"I'm sorry, want to talk about it?"
"There's not much to talk about. He's a wimp and I don't
need that. He caved in to his father, and if he can't accept
my family, what's next that he wouldn't be able to accept?"
"Unfortunately, there are a lot of people like that," I told
her. "I'm sorry that you're in the middle and had to suffer
because of me."
"Sure, I suffered a little. I cared about him, but I'd
rather know that he can't think for himself now than later.
It's not your fault, that's just the way he is. I'm damned
sure I can do a helluva lot better!"
"Do you want to take some time off?" I asked.
"And miss all the excitement? No way! Maybe, though, in a
month or two when I've got him entirely out of my system.
Then, I'll be ready for some serious hunting."
"Just let me know," I told her, giving her a big hug.
- - - - -
A secretarial pool office on the 30th floor was moved to the
floor below and Eric moved in. It was about a hundred feet
from my office which pleased him. Near enough to be "in on"
everything, but giving him his own space.
John Bussey called wanting to know how to proceed now that we
owned the land. Knowing that Eric was as curious as I was
about it, I invited him to come to our office and insisted on
sending a plane for him.
Eric and I agreed that we'd handle this aspect of our
acquisition ourselves. It would be exciting even if we
didn't find anything.
When I introduced Eric as my "partner", John got a knowing
grin on his face. He didn't comment, however.
From the USGS maps and other sources, he and his crew had
ranked the various tracts of land. At the top of the list
were "Highly Probable", then "Probable", then "Possible" and
on down the scale.
"This is Arizona only," he said. "We haven't had time to
work on the other States yet."
"What would you do next, if you were me?" I asked.
"If I had your resources, I'd do a thorough survey on all of
them, starting with the ones that showed the best prospects.
If others that didn't look quite as good were in the same
area, I'd work on them, too, while we had our equipment
there."
He took out a map and spread it on the conference table. All
the sites were color coded by rank.
"I'd start in this area," he said, pointing at a
concentration of little flags. "There's enough work here to
keep my boys busy for six months."
"Why there?" Eric asked.
"Call it a gut feeling," John told him. "There's a lot of
'Highly Probables' and to my knowledge, nobody's ever done a
thorough survey job on it. It's relatively accessible, and a
good place to start."
"Sounds exciting," Eric said. "Just wish I could be there."
"It's really just a lot of hard work," John chuckled. "When
we get our base camp set up, you guys should come over and
see for yourselves, that is, if you don't mind 'roughing it'."
"When can you get started?" I asked.
"Damn, I was hoping you'd say that! We're all ready to go.
Give us a week or so, then come on over. All you'll need is
a sleeping bag."
Financial arrangements were worked out, and John couldn't
wait to get back and get started.
"I'm serious," Eric told me. "I really do want to go over
there. I took a Geology course for dumb jocks a few years
ago. It was dull as hell, but this is a lot more
interesting. Let's do it!"
"OK, but make sure the sleeping bags you get zip together," I
leered at him.
- - - - -
Annie's Guru, Henry, paid us a visit. Eric was there this
time, for sure, asking probing questions, involved up to his
armpits. So was Tina.
Eric explained our plan of attack. It would take us up to
six months to finalize our acquisition, then we intended to
start selling off the marginal properties. First, however,
we wanted Henry to evaluate each and every one and give us
his opinion.
"A very good idea," he pronounced. "The timing couldn't be
better. Just about all California Real Estate is in demand,
and I predict that the trend will continue for another two
years. Prices are higher than they've ever been, too."
"We'd like you to concentrate on this, but don't forget about
the land we've already decided to develop," I put in.
"I think I'd better explain exactly what I do," Henry said.
"My firm is small, a carefully selected group of people who
are imaginative. We look at a piece of land, study it in
relation to it's surroundings, and decide what would be it's
highest and best use. From there we develop a concept of
what should be done with it, taking all factors into
consideration.
"We produce a 'concept' only. We are neither Engineers nor
Architects. We leave that to others. The drawings that I
showed to you the last time we met were produced by other
firms following the concepts we had developed. We can use
the firms that you choose or some that I've worked with
successfully over the years."
"You have to understand that none of us has any experience at
developing anything," Annie told him. "We're going to need
all the help and direction we can get."
"Are you going to do this 'in house', or are you going to use
Consultants to get through the permit process?" Henry asked.
"Hadn't thought about that," Eric said. "Which would you
recommend?"
"With the number and scale of the projects you're
contemplating, I would definitely recommend that you do it
yourselves. The elected officials who will be approving your
projects are, as a rule, put off by consultants. They
appreciate direct contact with the principals, not 'hired
guns'. I can also recommend several people who would be
ideal to head your effort. You might also consider your own
Engineers," he added.
"Where are we going to put them?" Annie moaned.
"We're already adding another section to the new building for
that," Tina spoke up.
"How long does the permit process usually take?" Eric asked.
"It will vary," Henry said. "A lot depends on how badly a
community 'needs' what you're proposing, and I've observed
that projects that are presented with a great amount of
detail go through fastest. Of course, you will encounter a
certain amount of opposition on every one. The NIMBY's have
to be dealt with."
"What's a 'NIMBY'?" Tina asked. Glad she did because I had
the same question.
"Not in MY backyard," Henry explained. "Those who usually
support progress as long as it isn't close to them. With a
few minor modifications, they can usually be pacified, or
overruled if necessary."
This guy was a real find! He was sensitive to people's
needs, but at the same time a total realist. Up to this
point, we'd assumed that he'd work with us, now it was time
to find out for sure.
"You've been of enormous help to us, Henry. Would you
consider working with us on an ongoing basis?" I asked.
"As a consultant, definitely, but not exclusively," he
answered.
"That would be excellent, Henry. I'm going to leave contract
details up to Annie."
Back in my office, Eric had a few things to say. "That guy
really knows his shit! His presentations are impressive, but
in person, the guy is awesome."
"Do you realize what it's worth to have his stamp of approval
on a project?" I asked him.
"I do," Eric nodded kind of sheepishly. "I may have been
pissed at you but I still kept up."
"Feel better now?"
"I'm where I wanted to be all the time, and didn't have the
balls to say so."
"No more misunderstandings," I told him.
- - - - -
"Ready to go play in the desert?" I asked Eric, my hands
stroking his wonderful hard dick.
"Did John call?"
"Late this afternoon," I answered. "They're all set up and
hard at it. He said to come over anytime."
"Have they found anything yet?"
"He didn't say."
"When do you want to go?" he asked.
"Anytime, everything's under control on my end, how about
yours?"
"I'm OK too, how about day after tomorrow?"
"Let's do it," I agreed, getting a little more vigorous with
the toy in my hand, all thoughts of camping evaporating fast.
I was still coming down from an incredible orgasm when Eric
asked "Think we'll have any privacy?"
"Wha..... Where?" I asked, totally confused and disoriented.
"In the desert," he laughed.
"Oh. I don't know."
"I want to make love to you under the stars."
"You're really excited about this, aren't you?"
"It's exciting to be in on the start of what could be another
big adventure for both of us."
I propped myself up on an elbow facing him. "We'll make it
one."
John met us at the airport in Prescott, the nearest town with
a runway that could handle our plane. Eric winked at me when
he saw me looking over John's battered Jeep.
Our stuff was tied down on top of the load already there, and
we were ready to go. I told the pilots we'd let them know
when to come back for us.
We started out on pavement, then dirt road, then no road at
all. For hours we went across what looked like uncharted
territory. When we started into the mountains, it was much
slower, John guiding the Jeep over terrain that I, quite
frankly, would not have cared to cross on foot. It was a
white-knuckle ride.
Whenever I could take my eyes off the non-road, the scenery
was awesome, huge rock formations stretched in every
direction.
We crested another ridge, the 476th, it felt like to my sore
butt, and there was a little patch of green about a half mile
ahead on the other side of the canyon. A couple of trucks
were parked off to the side of the green, and several tents
pitched closer. This, I prayed, was our destination.
"Home sweet home," John announced as we pulled up.
Eric bounced out of the back and came around to help me. I
felt like I was 200 years old and had just had my entire body
systematically worked over with a ball peen hammer.
A little moving around and stretching helped a lot. As soon
as I was able to concentrate on anything else, I noticed the
sound of gas or diesel engines running in the distance.
John and Eric were talking and I hobbled over. "That's our
tent over there," Eric said, pointing to a four man dome tent
about fifty yards away from the others. "I'll get our stuff
and we can get organized."
I followed him to the Jeep and took the sleeping bags. Eric
grabbed the rest and I followed him to our tent.
A big tarp was spread on the ground in front of the tent.
"The Patio of our cottage," Eric giggled. I groaned. We
unzipped the tent and found two double air mattresses,
already inflated, thank god. They were the big, thick ones.
"The playroom," Eric intoned, continuing his guided tour. I
collapsed on the matress and started laughing.
He dropped down next to me and rolled me on my stomach. His
hands moving on my back brought me back to life. My moans
weren't sexual, just pure relief.
A few minutes of this and I was feeling a helluva lot
better. I rolled over, reached up and kissed him. "Looks
like we've got a little privacy," I observed.
"Yep," he said, leering.
We got busy and organized our stuff and got our sleeping bags
laid out and zipped together.
The motors were shutting down when we walked back over to the
"camp".
Folding aluminum chairs were arranged around a fire pit where
wood was stacked, ready to be lit. I dropped into a chair
and looked around. Five more of the dome tents were set up
in a row. There was a large rectangular tent. Gas cook
stoves in front of it had big pots boiling on them.
Everything was organized, orderly, and clean. A tiny little
stream flowed along the side
Eric brought me a soda and sat down. "This is fun," he said,
"but I wouldn't call it exactly 'roughing it'."
John joined us. "Not exactly the Ritz," he said.
"Don't apologise," I told him. "You have everything you
need."
"That ride bother your back?" he asked.
"Yeah, kinda stiff and sore," I told him.
"Get that big fella there to give you a backrub tonight," he
suggested.
"I fully intend to," I told him.
"It gets dark real fast up here," John explained. "All my
men are on their way in. We start as soon as it's light in
the morning, so it's a long day. Tomorrow I'll take you out
and show you what we're doing."
Men were walking up, collecting a boiling pot off the stove
and disappearing behind the big tent. "Bath time," John
explained.
When they reappeared in clean clothes, they looked ready for
a night out on the town. We were introduced as they wandered
up. Some were friendly and talkative, others didn't have
much to say.
Gas lanterns were lit, and everyone pitched in to cook. Some
were making sandwiches which I assumed were for the next
day's lunch, others worked on dinner. Everyone seemed to
have an assigned task. They worked as a team, John included.
Dinner was hearty and so were the portions. A two pound
steak was a bit more than I was used to, but it disappeared.
The lanterns were turned out and we sat around in just the
light from the fire, and the stories started. All of them
had either been full-time prospectors at some point in their
life, or were out in the hills in their spare time. They
were of the unanimous opinion that only a small fraction of
Arizona's underground wealth had been located.
Finding gold was everyone's dream, but, as John explained,
the really big money was in finding deposits of other
minerals that could be feasably mined on a commercial scale.
"We don't exactly ignore gold," John said. "It's just not our
primary objective."
Eric asked a few questions, and one of the guys chuckled "You
must've taken a Geology course somewhere along the line."
"Yeah, back in college."
"Bet you slept through most of it."
"Sure did," Eric admitted, laughing. "It was an easy course
for dumb jocks."
The fire died down and the men started going off to their
tents. After washing up a bit, Eric and I went in our own
direction.
"Ready for that massage?" he asked.
I didn't answer, just stripped and spread out on the sleeping
bag.
He started on my legs, working upward. The tension
dissolving as he went. Straddling me, he gave my shoulders
and lower back a thorough working over, relaxing the knotted
muscles. Rolling me over, he repeated the process.
"Too tired?" he asked, taking my half hard dick in his hand.
"No," I told him, "just enjoying what you're doing to me."
By the time he finished I sure wasn't half hard any more. He
lay down next to me and rolled over for a kiss. Feeling his
wet dick against my thigh, I moved around so I could lick it
off. He tasted so good I didn't stop there and before I knew
it he was all the way down my throat.
One hand rubbing his left nipple, the most sensitive, my
other hand rolling his balls, and a few long deep strokes
with my mouth had him on the edge. I backed off and teased
him with my tongue. His guttural groans told me he was
ready, so I went back to his dick and finished him off.
It wasn't until he rolled over for a kiss that I realized
that I'd cum all over the sleeping bag.
"You're no fun!" he said, digging out a cum towel to clean up
the mess.
"Didn't mean to, it just happened."
- - - - -
The noise of rattling pans woke us both. "Jesus Christ, it's
still dark," Eric muttered.
It was barely light when we heard the diesel motors start
up. They weren't wasting any time.
John insisted that we eat a big breakfast. "You'll need the
energy, we're going to do a lot of walking." Over coffee, he
explained what they were doing.
"We have four small drilling rigs out there," he said.
"We're drilling 'cores' to get a sampling of what's
underneath."
He gave us each a backpack and a bottle of water and we
started hiking. The first rig was about a half mile away.
The diesel generator powered the drill and it was operated by
two men.
We watched for a few minutes then John explained what we were
looking at. The bottom ten foot section of the drilling pipe
had the coring bit on it. It cut a circle with the "core"
going up the center of that section of pipe. After every ten
feet of depth, the whole thing had to be pulled up and the
core removed for analysis. "Sludge" was pumped into the hole
to lubricate the diamond-tipped drill bit.
When a "core" was pulled up, another bit was attached and
sent down the hole. While it was grinding away, the contents
of the core just brought up were removed. A rod was inserted
in the upper end of the pipe and the center was pushed out, a
foot at a time. These were put in heavy-duty ziploc bags and
labeled.
John told us that he then coded each bag with the location
and depth before they were sent off to the lab. This
certainly was no haphazard operation.
We walked another mile or two to the next rig. They had just
pulled a core and we watched as it was carefully extracted.
"There's a souvenir for you guys in bag 32, that is, if
John'll let you have it," one of the operators told us.
John found bag 32 and rolled it around, then showed us the
small gold nugget.
At that instant, both Eric and I contracted "Gold Fever".
"We'll take it back to camp," John said. "I'll wash it,
weigh it and log it, then you can have it. Our first
'color'."
We loaded our backpacks with bagged samples and started back,
picking up more at the first rig we'd visited.
We unloaded and headed out again in the opposite direction.
This trek was longer and over much rougher terrain. When we
got back to camp in midafternoon, I was tired, but not sore.
Both of us were full of questions which John answered while
he coded the bags. First, however he ran a Geiger Counter
over them to check for radiation. "There's a lot of Uranium
out here," he said. "Isn't worth much anymore,
unfortunately."
We learned that the drilling sites had been selected by
studying the underlying formations, experience and plain gut
instinct. The underlying formations also were factors in how
deep they went with each test hole. Depending upon what they
hit and the depth, test holes could take anywhere between one
and five days to complete, averaging a little over two days
each, and more than 300 test holes were planned for Arizona
alone.
I borrowed John's pocket calculator and went to work.
Factoring in their work schedule of 10 days drilling then
four days off, I figured that it would take 428 days or about
14 months to survey Arizona alone, and we owned much more
acreage in New Mexico, Nevada, Utah and Colorado than we did
in Arizona. At that rate, it would take more than seven
years just to find out what we had, if anything.
I made up an excuse to go to our tent and motioned for Eric
to follow me. I told him what I'd come up with, and he
agreed that that was just too long. "Let's make John a
deal," I suggested. "Get him whatever it takes to finish
this in two years or less."
"We got the land for virtually nothing," he said, "so a small
investment wouldn't hurt."
"Let's look at the odds. We've got a thousand square miles
worth of potential. There's got to be at least one 'find' in
all of that. We already know that a couple of pieces have
copper that's worth mining."
"I like John, he knows what he's doing," Eric added. "Let's
see if he's interested."
We went back over to where he was finishing up the samples.
"I've been playing with some numbers," I told him. "Looks to
me like it's going to take you about 14 months to survey our
land here in the State of Arizona."
"That's about right," he agreed, "barring any major
breakdowns. Then it'll take us a month or so to get another
State mapped and ready to go."
"What would it take to speed things up?" I asked.
"More equipment, which I can't afford," he said calmly. "I'm
not a big operator like the ones out of Texas."
"What if we bought it for you?" I asked.
"I don't want to get stuck with a lot of equipment that I
have no use for when this job is over," he said. "Those
drilling rigs are expensive."
"Don't worry about that. We'll buy them and let you use
them. When we're done, they'll be our problem," I told him.
"We'd need support equipment, too," he said.
"No problem."
"Why don't you just go to one of the big outfits in Houston?"
he asked.
"Because I'd a helluva lot rather deal with a
straight-shooter like you, not some starched asshole in a
highrise who doesn't have a clue about what's really going
on."
He smiled. "I like working with you, Dave, you don't mince
words. I'd like to think about your offer, can I let you
know in the morning?"
"Sleep on it," I told him, "then make up a shopping list.
Think about adding at least twelve more drilling rigs so we
can get this done in two years."
"I will," he said. "I'd appreciate it if you don't say
anything in front of my men."
"We won't," I assured him.
Now it was Eric's turn. "It must be a sonofabitch getting
all your equipment into these remote places," he said.
"We've got that worked out pretty good. The real problem is
keeping them supplied with fuel and the other supplies we
need," John answered.
"You ever think of using choppers?" Eric asked.
"Too damned expensive. Only the big outfits can afford them."
"Who ends up paying for them?"
I knew where he was heading, and nodded my agreement.
"Whoever's having the surveys done, I guess," John answered.
"If you decide to go along with us, use them and add it to
the tab."
"You guys are going to make me run a first-class operation
whether I want to or not," he said, laughing.
The sun was partially over the horizon, so Eric suggested we
get our sleeping bags arranged for the night. "I want to
sleep under the stars tonight," he said, winking at me. "Are
you going to join me?" he asked facetiously.
John started chuckling. "Don't be shy, fellas," he told us.
"All us old prospectors indulge in a little stick pussy from
time to time. Get's mightly lonesome out in these hills."
I felt my face getting red. Eric, however broke out
laughing. "Never heard it described that way," he laughed.
"I like it!"
"I KNOW my boys had wet dreams about the two of you last
night, at least those who didn't find another outlet," John
chuckled.
We drug the air mattresses and our sleeping bag out onto the
"patio". "This is going to be so much fun," Eric giggled,
"watching the stars while we're seeing stars, and we don't
even have to try to be quiet."
I grinned in agreement. "Do we have lube?"
"I put in a couple of bottles and some 'Wet-Ones' to clean up
with."
We washed up before the crew got back. It was a far cry from
a shower, but we washed each other, making it a lot of fun
and difficult to get everything back into our pants.
That night we were treated differently, like members of the
gang. Our trip out to the rigs had evidently changed their
opinion of us.
"You're the first one of John's clients ever to come out to
the site," one of the men told me. "We didn't know what to
expect. Thought you'd be a couple of city dudes and just sit
around camp for a few days then go home, but you seem to
really want to know what's going on."
"We like to take a hands-on approach to everything we do," I
told him.
"That's why you're successful," he said.
When bedtime rolled around, I was ready, but not for sleep.
We lay side by side, looking up. It was so clear the stars
looked enormous. We took our time, touching, stroking,
loving. "I hate to intrude on this wonderful quiet," Eric
whispered, "but I need you to make love to me real bad."
My answer was to reach for the lube, put some on my fingers,
and start preparing him. There was just enough light that I
could see his body outlined. No way was I going to ignore
that stupendous dick waving in my face.
While probing with my fingers, I took just his head in my
mouth. My tongue slowly worked it's way around his corona.
He moaned audibly. We were ready and entry was smooth and
easy but causing a few gasps to come from both of us.
My strokes were slow and deep. I watched his face, his eyes
in particular. He was so peaceful and serene as I made love
to him. Slow and easy, with a stream of sensations running
up my spine with every stroke.
Sitting up so I could see his face, I felt him stir. His
muscles contracted on me, then spasmed and grasped me. His
body shivered and lightly convulsed, his dick shot arching
ropes in the air. That's the last I saw as my eyes closed
involuntarily and short strokes deposited my seed more deeply
than ever before.
I eased myself forward carefully, spreading his cum between
us. I licked the drops from his chin and nose then just held
him, my head beside his.
"I think I just had a religious experience," he half
whispered, half groaned.
I just held him to me tighter.
"I think I saw a comet just as I started," he chuckled, "but
I can't be sure."
I rolled off, still holding him.
"Even if we have to stay an extra day, you HAVE to experience
that," he said.
"I see stars every time you make love to me."
"This was different. The stars, the universe out there, and
the man I love a part of me. Fucking awesome!"
- - - - -
"I see the lovebirds are up early," somebody giggled when we
joined the crew for breakfast.
I tried to act like I hadn't heard. Eric brazened it out
with a big "Cat ate the Canary" smile.
After the crew had gone off to work, John asked us to sit
down and talk. "I've come to a decision," he told us. "I'll
never get another offer like the one you made yesterday. I
like working with you guys, even though you are a little
noisy at night, and I think I can do a good job for you."
We both laughed.
"In fact," he continued, "if I take Eric's suggestion, we can
do an even better job."
"How's that?" Eric asked.
"Using a chopper, we can drop men and equipment into spots we
couldn't possibly even have gotten to before. I know, your
next question is 'so what if you do find something, how do
you get it out?' Let me assure you, if a commercial deposit
is found, there's always a way to get it out.
"Now here's something else to consider. WHEN, not if, we find
something that looks highly promising, one or two holes
aren't going to prove that much. That's just the starting
point. We'll have to go back and drill holes all around it
in all directions to prove that it's not just an anomaly.
That'll slow down new exploration.
"I have a question for you two, now. When we find these
deposits, what are you going to do with them?"
I looked at Eric, shrugging my shoulders, "Just start
digging, I guess."
"Wish it were that simple," John chuckled. "There's
extraction, transportation, and smelting or refining to
consider. You could be out hundreds of millions before you
even got started. But, there are other options."
"Hadn't thought about that. You can see how naive we are,
John. That's why we need somebody like you," I told him.
"Somebody who'll explain things to us without treating us
like a couple of idiots. What options do we have?"
"There are a lot of mining companies that are always looking
for proven deposits to exploit. They work with the
landowners in several ways, buying the land outright, or a
percentage of profit basis, or, the best, in my opinion, a
royalty basis."
"Why do you consider that the best way to go?" Eric asked.
"The least risk with the greatest potential reward," John
told him. "Let's face it, any mining venture is a
crapshoot. What you think you've found may turn out to be
much less than you expected, or it could be a lot more. Let
somebody else take that risk, and if they're successful, you
reap the rewards."
"Looks like we have a helluva lot to learn," Eric said to me.
"And a good teacher," I said, "but I don't want John wasting
his time tutoring us. He's got more important things to do.
He's pointed us in the right direction, and now it's up to
us. Have you thought about what you're going to need?" I
asked, changing the subject.
"I plan to work on that today," he said.
"Now that I know a little more, I'd like to go back up to
where they're working," Eric said. "Want us to bring back
the samples?"
"Nah, the men'll bring them in tonight. Appreciate the
offer, though."
"It's getting hot today, I'm gonna put on shorts, how about
you, Dave?"
The drillers were a lot friendlier, answering our questions
and volunteering a lot of information. I'd taken my camera
and got pictures of everybody with the spectacular scenery in
the background.
After visiting two of the sites, I went back to camp. Eric
went on to the other two.
John had put up an awning, and after drinking a gallon of
water from the stream, I joined him in the shade. It was hot
now, I could only imagine what it'd be like when summer
rolled around.
During our conversation, John threw out an interesting
question. "I don't want to seem nosy, but is Eric your
'partner' in every sense of the word, businesswise too?"
"Absolutely," I answered. "He's my lover, my best friend,
and he's financially involved in everything I'm doing now."
"He's a damned sharp cookie."
"Eric sees what I miss," I told him. "We work as a team.
Over the past two years, he's saved me hundreds of millions,
and he's piled up a fortune of his own."
"You've been together two years? I thought you were still on
your honeymoon."
"Yeah, I know, we're the 'lovebirds'. It'll be two years in
April."
"Don't mind them," he chuckled. "They wouldn't bother to
tease you if they didn't like you."
"We can handle it," I assured him.
"You're completely different than anyone I've ever worked for
before," he said. "Most of the time it's Eastern types in
three-piece suits looking to make a quick buck. I get the
impression that you're in this for the long haul, and with
that attitude, I think you'll do well, very well, but I can't
guarantee it."
"We got into this by accident," I admitted. "We went after
the Railroad for other reasons, and didn't even know about
all this land until we started digging around. My daughter
dug it up.
"Sure, we could sell it all off and make a bundle, but what's
the fun in that? We don't need the money, and we're always
looking for something new."
"You can put up three billion for the Railroad and not have
to worry?"
"It'll be closer to four billion before the dust settles," I
told him. "I usually don't talk much about our finances, but
since it looks like we're going to be working together for a
long time... We bought the Railroad with surplus cash, and it
looks like we may put a lot more into it before we're
through. A subsidiary of the Railroad has a lot of
undeveloped land in California. That's what we were after in
the first place."
"I thought you were in manufacturing, not real estate."
"My family has been in manufacturing for about 80 years, real
estate is something relatively new. Last year we bought a
company that owned hotels, and now we're branching out.
Natural resources weren't in the plan, but it's beginning to
look like we're going to get involved there too."
Eric wandered back. He got a small pot and came over. "Will
you give me a shower with stream water?" he asked. "I
stink! I'll give you one too if you want."
"Too goddam cold for me," I told him.
He got soap from our tent and we went downstream and found a
small pool. Eric perched on a rock to take off his boots,
then his shorts. I dipped and poured. Spring water is cold,
but after the inital shock, he enjoyed it.
"You gotta try this," he insisted. "Feels so good."
What the hell. I stripped and he gave me the same treatment,
washing my back like I had his. With the sun and low
humidity, we were dry almost immediately. It did feel good
and it was nice to feel clean again.
Back in the shade again, John had his shopping list ready. I
glanced down the list, not really knowing what I was looking
at, and saw the total. It was less than I expected,
$1,400,000.
"Looks reasonable to me," I said, passing the list to Eric.
He scanned it. "Less than I expected. Looks like we have a
deal," he said, getting up to shake John's hand.
I shook his hand too.
"Since we'll be using choppers like Eric suggested, we don't
need as much support equipment," he said.
"Get backup," I suggested. "You never know about the
weather."
"Then add another hundred and fifty thousand," he said.
"Done," I told him.
I went over to the tent to get my checkbook. When I handed
John the check, he took a look at it. "This isn't right,
it's too much," he said.
"You're going to need front money for a lot of things, new
employees, supplies, fuel. Just consider that an advance on
your services. We'll work it out in a couple of years."
"I've been a little concerned about that," he admitted.
"You've solved all my problems."
The men filtered in and the cooking ritual started. "Stop
everything," John shouted. "Don't put the steaks on yet. Go
sit down a minute."
They obeyed, taking seats around the fire ring, John too.
"After looking over what we're doing, Dave and Eric here
don't think we're moving fast enough." He let that sink in.
There were expressions of surprise and a few of anger around
the circle.
"So," he continued, "since we can't drill any faster, I guess
we're just gonna have to expand. They're going to buy us
twelve more rigs and everything else we need. How does that
sound?"
The frowns had all turned into big smiles, and they started
getting up to go give him a handshake. One even gave him a
nervous hug. They just glanced over at us, smiling but not
saying anything to us.
"Another thing. From now on, we're using choppers!"
This brought a shout of "All rights".
"We're going to have to build ourselves a fucking
organization," he continued, saying each syllable of
organization separately, bringing hoots and laughs.
"Get some cups," John said to noone in particular. "This
calls for a celebration and I've got my stash."
In a minute or two, he was back with three bottles of Jack
Daniels. Cups appeared and water from the stream was mix.
Back in the circle, John raised his cup. "Dave and Eric have
shown a lot of faith in us, and we're not gonna let 'em
down. Here's to them!"
"Speech!" somebody said, then it became a chorus. I looked
at Eric and nodded.
"I know we're just a couple of 'city dudes' who don't know
diddly shit about mining," he started, which got a good
laugh, "but we're willing to learn.
"We don't know what we'll find or if we'll find anything at
all. Hell, we don't even know what we're LOOKING for!
"We do know, however, that working with John and you guys,
our chances are vastly improved." He got a round of applause.
"Dave?" John said.
"I'll admit, we're anxious to get an idea of what we may
have," I said. "That's why we talked John into getting more
equipment so you could do the preliminary work on a two-year
timetable. That won't be the end of it, though. You've got
over a thousand square miles of land to cover, and we're only
looking at the 'hot spots' now. This project will probably
go on for years and years after that. We're in this for the
long haul.
"One more thing," I added. "We're interested in what you're
doing so you're going to be seeing a lot more of us."
Three bottles didn't go far with eleven thirsty men. After
dinner, the fire was lit, not for heat, but hell, you just
had to have a fire! Instead of sitting on a chair, Eric sat
on the ground between my legs, his arms draped over my
knees. Nobody even noticed.
The moon seemed much brighter than the night before. The
stars as bright or brighter too as we lay there looking up at
them. We leaned toward one another to kiss. It was tender
and sweet, unrushed. Our dicks bumped together and our hips
involuntarily moved closer. We each knew what we wanted.
Preliminaries weren't necessary.
Eric's lubed finger found me, circling and stretching,
unnecessary because I was so totally relaxed. He sat up
between my legs and slid in, just the head, then stopped,
then further and further until I felt his body against mine.
I wasn't watching him, feeling him instead while I gazed
upward. I looked down. His eyes were glued to mine, a smile
on his face as he moved backward then forward inside of me,
slowly, but neverless causing my breath to catch. The love I
felt, as much as the stimulation he was providing, made me
feel warm all over my body.
I looked at the stars but thought of him. I glanced at him.
His eyes were intently on mine. I spotted a comet over his
shoulder, bringing my attention back to the twinkling stars.
The warm feelings started at my toes and moved upward
covering my entire body. I didn't fight, I just let it
happen. The stars disappeared as the intense feelings swept
me up and away.
When my eyes reopened, they were focused on his. There was a
smile on his face as he slowly rocked back and forth. The
much larger than usual puddle of cum on my chest attested to
the intensity of my orgasm. "You were right," I whispered.
He remained still while I recovered. "Did you get there?" I
asked.
"Not yet. Relax, we have all night," he said so softly I
could barely hear him.
"Wanna roll back," I suggested. "Let me be on top so you can
see the stars."
He wiped off my chest then laid back. I followed, still
impaled. With my knees under me, I rose and fell on him in
slow motion. I surprised myself by hardening again, and when
I felt him begin to tense up, spewed another load on his
chest while I felt him spurting inside me.
I worked my muscles to get out every drop, then fell on his
chest to share the afterglow.
- - - - -
We were going home that day, so we got up as soon as we heard
activity. There were a couple of remarks about the
"Lovebirds" that we laughed at along with everyone else.
"We're taking a different route out," John announced. "It's
a little longer but nowhere near as rough." That sounded
good to me.
I dug out my phone and used it for the first time to let the
pilots know when we'd arrive. John, seeing me talking,
wanted to know how it would work, way out there. "Direct
Satellite," I told him. "It works anyplace."
The trip back to Prescott was a helluva lot easier, well
worth the extra two hours it took.
John was going on into Phoenix to drop off samples and go on
a shopping spree. At the airport, we thanked him, and he
urged us to come back. "We're going to have to find
something that makes it absolutely necessary for you to come
again," he said.
- - - - -
To be Continued.
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