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No, no. You are getting a little ahead of yourself. Finish pruning the 'hedge', then if there is the time, consider reconnoitering the boneyard.
The rest of the way out of the <span class="mu-i">Highest Heaven</span> is uneventful, though getting the bundled conduit through the slit that you cut through the wall of the intake turned out to be a real pain in your ass. However, it is not enough to sour your mood - not with a haul like yours. It takes more than a little bit of doing, but you manage to get yourself, your equipment and your conduit through the intake. Thankful that you didn't take the time to reseal the cap you cut through, you take a moment to collect yourself before switching your boosters on and getting yourself over to the ferry. In what can only be described as a stroke of luck, only the ferryman is present when you declare your load.
"Slickwick, calling to tag."
The ferryman doesn't say anything immediately, and as he is not wearing a new-model suit with a wide visor as you are, you cannot see his expression particularly well ... but even in the clunker he is wearing, you can read enough of his body language to tell that he is stunned. He turns slightly back to glance at the bagged and tagged piles on the ferry. If you had to guess, you would say that there is a grand total of six hundred, maybe seven hundred cubits of conduit - total. Across what, a dozen wreckers? And no doubt a portion of that isn't clean either. While you had figured that you would probably end up bringing in the most conduit for this shift, it never occurred to you that you might end up bringing in more conduit than the rest of the shift put together.
That is not necessarily a good thing. Once you are past the probationary period, and eligible for advancement, you are judged on your performance, compared to the performance of your peers on the same shifts as you. If everyone else struggles this shift, and you show them all up ... that might not be in your best interest. Now, other apprentices and journeymen might not take it too hard - but the master wreckers, especially the ones who have made it into the final degree of mastery, and are now just defending their positions and the privileges that come with it ... you cannot imagine that they are going to be pleased with this. Of course, one shift will not be enough to make them come after you, but it might get you a reputation as an upstart - or a threat. And whatever your long term plans might be, that is a complication that might be worth avoiding.
> Please choose ONE of the following:
> Continue to cut conduit from the 'hedge' but limit yourself to bringing in only one hundred cubits or so more, leaving the rest behind for later - so to not show up the rest of the shift too badly.
> Continue to cut conduit from the 'hedge' and bring it in as originally planned. Whatever notoriety you earn today, well, that is just going to be the cost of doing business.
