A profane screech trailed by a squawk so loud and obnoxious it would have honored a dying pea fowl heralds an unearthly sound so high pitched no one heard it in the small 15 foot by 15 foot Remote Field Center but by impaling itself into the subconscious of everyone it causes them to shiver and shrug as if a ghost had walked on their grave.
Disturbing the now overarching silence a tentative female voice asks "Hello?" Then with slightly more authority, "Hello, this is I&E calling the RFC. Respond please."
At the north end of the large open space were six 55 inch flat screens that two board operators watch to ensure the proper operation of the three Cogeneration steam and electrical units. They were currently snickering giving each other a high 5. The Head Operator sitting at a desk in the middle of the room turned and looked at me. I shook my head, I knew the I&E chic had been set up, once again. Just as I knew I was going to get the brunt of her recoil. I had just come in from doing the afternoon survey of the plants and just wanted to kick back, eat lunch and watch the football playoff game on my phone, but from the way he was looking at me I knew that wasn't going to happen. My desk is at the opposite end of the center from the board operators, he came toward me.
"Laurel and Hardy on the board over there have been fucking with Carolyn the new I&E chic all day. They told her their stator needed twisting and she could only do that out at Substation 36. When she got there she called in for you to come help her but you were out so they told her they were wrong and that it was at the top of HRSG C."
"And?" I asked taking my first bite of lunch.
"And since you have been sniffing around trying to get into pants, you get to go tell that they are fucking with her and that it is time for lunch. Does that tuna fish you are eating have tiny pieces of pickles in it?"
"No, it is old and beginning to turn green, you want some?"
"Sure, thanks." He picked up the other half of my tuna fish, mayonnaise and pickle sandwich finishing it off in two bites. We have worked together for the last two years so I knew it would be gone even if I hadn't said anything. "What do you mean, sniffing around?" I asked getting up, "I'm the only one who talks to her as a person, you three horn dogs only look at her tits." I headed toward the door, "Call her back and tell her I'm on my way."
"Right away sweetie dear."
"Fuck you asswipe," I shouted back going out the door." I didn't have to hear it to know they were snickering.
Walking away from the center I looked up at HRSG C. It is a 186 foot tall Heat Recovery Steam Generator attached to the ass end of a gargantuan electrical generating gas turbine. No operator goes up there if they don't have too. There is no reason too, everything that is up there is control remotely at the RFC. If she wasn't so brand new she would have known that. Well she really should have known that stators don't need twisting unless she is bullshitting about being I&E too.
As I climbed the stair to the top I thought about what the HO had said. Was I sniffing around her to get laid? Maybe. And why not we are both single. I thought about how she looked. Even in coveralls you knew she had big hips, smaller waist and big tits. It helped that she was cute and smiled a lot. She had long dirty blond hair that if she didn't always have it in a ponytail would fall nearly to her tits. A great big ass, as big as her tits were wide, friendly smile and bright blue eyes that if you took the time to look at them and not her tits were as loving as she probably was. At least I hope she would be that loving. She did have nice tits.
I stopped half way up to catch my breath. I could see the top of the RFC and HRSG A off to the right, Gibson flats to the west, and even farther west Great Falls. To the north blocked by the body of the turbine inlet housing sets Maelstrom AFB and HRSG B. As I climb farther up I can see parts of the Missouri river between hills to the southwest. One platform from the top sits the deaerator and I stop again, I see the hills to the North and east. I have to go up two more flights of stairs then I can see toward the southeast and the hills around my home town of Tracy.