Page 52 of In Your Light

“Found it,” he said, turning the screen to show them.

Sure enough, there were images of the same logo on websites, news articles, and a fleet of white dual-cab utes with the logo on the door.

“Shit,” Ciaran mumbled. “That’s not good.”

“Why, what is it?” Fyn asked. He pointed at the screen. “That’s the vehicle I saw.”

“It’s not a surveying company or a local council,” Sawyer said. It was so much worse than that. “It’s Bickstrom Corp. A mining company.”

“Mining?” Fray asked. “Oh, fuck.”

“That’s.... That’s bad, yes?” Fyn asked.

Sawyer nodded, remembering that Fyn was basically new to the twenty-first century. He’d lived every day of his life hidden in the mountains. It wasn’t that he was naïve or stupid; he most certainly wasn’t. He was simply protected from knowing what humans were capable of. Sawyer envied him for that. “Yeah. It’s not good. Development companies or local councils are easier to stop, but mining companies.... Well, they have the money to make things happen.”

“No matter what it does to locals or the forest,” Ciaran said, his voice low and pissed.

“Even if it’s a national park or heritage listed?” Fray asked. “They can’t come in and just do what they want. It’s protected!”

Sawyer began typing, searching.... “Money. It always comes down to money. They’ll offer the state government insane amounts of money. They’ll pay for roads, infrastructure, you name it. And the government gets to claim it’s creating jobs and improving services while these mining companies bulldoze forests and make moon landscapes⁠—”

Fyn stood up, his face a mask of horror. “Bulldoze,” he whispered. “I need to warn Pax. I told Zaq we’d meet again in two days, and Ha⁠—”

“Hey,” Tobin murmured, gently. “It’ll be okay. We won’t let them in here.” Then he put his hand on Fyn’s arm, and Tobin blinked rapidly before pulling his hand back. His gaze cut to Sawyer, and Sawyer knew he’d seen something....

“My people are in danger,” Fyn said.

“Not immediate danger,” Ciaran said. “These things take time. Maybe months, or even years. And like Tobin said, we won’t let them in here. We’ll do everything we can to stop this.”

Sawyer found what he was looking for. It was the local Strahan council website. He read the first paragraph out loud. “‘RPT Resources’ newest project in Strahan was granted fast-tracked development approval to extract tin, zirconium, and rare earths. The mine is expected to create 480 construction jobs in the area. The project includes the new construction of a concrete bridge after the original wooden structure was washed away in a once-in-a-lifetime flood event. This will rejoin an area of the state long cut off from road travel,’ blah blah blah.” He made a low growling sound. “Like fucking hell it will.” He snatched up his phone. “I need to make some calls.”

CIARAN

“Let’s go outside,” Ciaran said, holding the door for Fyn. He felt sorry for the kid. “Sawyer is probably about to yell and swear a lot, so we might want to give him some privacy.”

They stepped outside.

Low clouds had rolled in, drizzling misty rain, and it was cold. He took one look at Fyn, and because of Sawyer, Ciaran was accustomed to thinking of warm-blooded bodies. “Are you cold, Fyn? Sawyer has a lot of jackets. Maybe some socks and boots.”

“I’m okay,” Fyn said, distracted. “Thank you. Maybe later. I don’t know.”

“We won’t let anyone hurt your people,” Tobin said. “No one is bringing bulldozers onto your mountain. We’ll make sure of that.”

“I need to tell them,” Fyn said, but then he made a face. “I’m not allowed to go back there. Pax said⁠—”

“Pax will allow it,” Ciaran said. “I’ll go with you, if that’s permitted. We’ll talk to him together. He can’t be mad at you when you’re trying to save them.”

“We could meet at the boundary,” Fyn suggested. “I told Zaq to tell Pax. That way, I’m not technically going onto his land. I also told Zaq to tell Pax if he needed to talk, he could come here because you wouldn’t be a jerk like he was. I said you wouldn’t mind. I hope that’s okay.”

Ciaran couldn’t help but smile a little. “That’s fine, Fyn. Any of your family are welcome here at any time.”

Fyn swallowed hard. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Ciaran said. “I’ll tell you what we’ll do. When Sawyer gets done on the phone, we’ll drive up to see Cern. He’ll know what to do.”

“He’s not back, I don’t think,” Fyn said.

“Oh.” Ciaran shrugged. “Well, we can see if he’s back. Can’t hurt.”