The Devil's Legs Upside
Platforms

Mr. Teigl finally ended his presentation. The entire audience stood up to applause. Of course, except for Lim who was still fast asleep. Then old man James stood up and directed us all out of the hall. I immediately shook Lim's body, he woke up in shock. The few people who saw us chuckle, I was so embarrassed.

After sharing the ID Card, this time Mr. James directed us out of the Living Platform, to go around to another Platform. Tracing the small iron bridge, we walked in two rows. This bridge is fenced by strong steel on the side and the roof that forms a jag, so that a large gap is formed due to the crossing of iron. For the side, there is only a barrier as high as my chest. The purpose of this structure is certainly so that the bridge can be stable from sea wind. Just now I was muttering about the structure of this bridge, the sea breeze instantly blew, almost making me stagger down. Lim was more shaken. Because of his unfilled consciousness, he almost fell down and crashed into the person behind us. The beautiful woman behind Lim was already preparing to dodge when she saw him stagger. The woman glanced at me who was walking next to Lim, many times I was embarrassed by her behavior, Duh.

Production Platform was the first platform we visited. Upon entering the gate connected to the bridge, we were presented with a very large room with a large oil refinery in the middle. At the mouth of the plant, there are two large pipes that spill oil continuously. At the foot of the plant were several oil-processing machines, and several passing workers. In one of the giant rooms there is a monitor room hanging, attached to the wall. There is a large transparent glass that becomes the wall of the room. From there, I could see several supervisors who were busy watching the oil processing from computers and large monitors. The inspectors are European and I can see one of them is Chinese, Eh wait?

I looked to the side, Lim was gone. Then I turned my head towards the room, squinting my eyes. It was really Lim, What the hell?! How did he get up there so fast.

“Your friend’s are bit weird... aren’t he?” (Your friend is a little weird, huh?)

Suddenly a beautiful European woman greeted me. Her hair was long blonde, with skin so white. Her eyes are so beautiful with blue on her iris. Plus the body is so ideal, I like to see a Hollywood artist in front of me.

“Um ... well ..” (Um... So...) I was a little nervous.

“Julia ..” she stuck out her hand at me

I was so flattered, I immediately returned his hand. “Dimas .. Indonesia”

“I see! Asian huh...” (Oh .. Asia yes) he then turned his eyes up, seeing Lim's behavior.

I-I too with a twitch. “Well, not all Asian are weird, you know” (So, not all Asians are weird, you know)

Julia then smiled knot and passed “Haha, I can see that ..” (Haha, I can see that.).

Shit, my mother won't let me marry a Caucasian woman, I swear in my heart.

Lim seems to be assigned to the production department. That's all I knew when I was about to apologize for his actions that had been carelessly thrown into the monitor room to old James. He seemed to understand although a little hissing annoyed, considering Lim was so chatty and uncontrollable. Besides, it's his workplace there, maybe? After being satisfied to look around, we were all then invited to continue the tour of this company to the next Platform.

Of the approximately 20 Engineers, only half continue their journey. Looks like they are Engineers who will be working in the production section. I was lucky, Julia was still walking in front of me, following the group that was heading to the next Platform, the Well-head Platform. I really wanted to be able to work with Julia.

“Pretty huh?” (Beautiful huh?)

“China-girl are cuter than her .. I think” (China Girls are more cute than her .. in my opinion)

“Well, I’m not interest in china-girl like y .. WTF!” (So, I'm not interested in Chinese girls like yes. WTF!).

I glared in shock at Lim who was already next to me. I think he works on Production Platform. He seemed to laugh with satisfaction at seeing me astonished. It seemed like he was only joking when he went up to the Production Platform's monitor room earlier, he didn't really work there. Then why did he go up there earlier, grrrr ... Lim!

Immediately I nudged his shoulders and neck in annoyance. But at once I let go of my grip, when old Mr. James and Julia looked back, hearing the commotion we were making. On this first day, we had already made a humiliating commotion, all because of Lim!

Well-head Platform is the largest platform, and when we enter the room inside it is much larger. A large, towering tube - silver in color - was right in the middle of the giant room. I can already confirm it is the tube that enveloped the giant drill of the Bridge\, which was used to dig for petroleum. Just like the Production Platform, there is a monitor room attached to the top wall. Old man James immediately gestured to the Engineer assigned here to climb into the monitor room. I walked up to the small staircase attached to the wall, to the room where I worked, but, well! unfortunately Julia did not go up.

The next platform to be visited is clearly the Generator-Compressor Platform. I didn't expect a woman as beautiful as Julia, to work in a place, which, of course, was full of men. Sure enough, when I looked down, only Julia was the only woman left, among the four men. Gaaaahhhh .. what a jewel in the mud.

My legs refocused on stepping on that steep iron staircase. Because I was too focused on Julia, I didn't pay attention, there were about five engineers who also went up, including Lim. I immediately asked him a few questions, asking him why he went up, whether just for fun like that or indeed he was a division with me. Lim confirmed that he was also assigned to the Well-head Platform with a small laugh, Grrrr.

There were two women between us. The first was a tall, thin European woman, with acne spots on her cheeks. The other was an African woman in black, I could tell from her thick and large lips. Truly, still no one can match her Julia.

At the end of the stairs was an iron door. It seems like all the doors and gates in this bridge use this standard, iron-plated. Even the door was exactly like my room. When we entered the room, we were immediately greeted by Mr. Teigl's. How surprised we are, the Chief Mine Engineering himself who welcomed. Followed by several other European-faced employees, they stood up from their seats and greeted us one by one. What a warm system of karma, I am so flattered. Usually, when there are new workers, we must be the ones who greet them. But not here, as if they appreciate us very highly, they attentively greet and direct each of us to where we work. Although their faces bend sullenly when they greet us - and I am a little worried about that, haha-culture like this you will not find anywhere, especially in Indonesia that upholds seniority. I think I'll be very comfortable living here.

..................................................

Today we were taught about the work here. In the monitor room there are complete nautical equipment, such as radar, sonar regulator, and others used to monitor the depth of the sea where the drill bit stuck. Do not forget there are small computers connected to a large main monitor screen near a transparent glass window. That way, we can keep a good eye on the drill movement.

Mr. Teigl then called my name, Lim and the African woman. The three of us sat down at a round table. Mr Teigl then called five other Europeans and we started discussing the work to be done today. My heart was pounding, really my first experience working with a stranger. I even sat down with the Head of the Rock directly.