Red Dust

  He stepped onto the tarmac as a gust of wind kicked some red dust onto his face. He was suddenly aware of the stream of people behind him and veered off to the side to make way for them. He squinted a little so the dust wouldn't catch his eye and began his journey into this strange red land.

  The ground crunched beneath the fresh treads of his boots and mixed in with the grinds and scrapes of other well seasoned boots as he made his way towards a the lone shack of a building that was the airport. An ATV roared past as it towed a carriage full of the same dark, generic rollers of luggage. He coughed a little from the fumes and wondered how everyone recognised their own.  He followed the ATV out onto the kerb where it parked up. He tried to muscle into the crowd.  It took moments to hunt his yellow canvas bag from a sea of black duffels.  It was then he noticed the same well worn expression of uninterest and apathy on the faces of everyone else.  The inhumane, early flight didn't help things he supposed.
 

  He stumbled towards a sign that indicated "new starters wait here".  As he was about to set his bag down a chirpy lady of Asian descent, who reminded him of a rabbit - jittery, excitable, walked up to him and asked:

  "Are you the new geo?"

 
  Unsure whether she would be working with him he replied:

  "Uh, yes.", he uttered. 
  "You're with exploration? ", he asked still trying to place a short middle aged lady in a supposedly predominantly white department.

  She introduced herself as Theingi and then motioned towards the group she was with and introduced me as the new geologist.  A flurry of handshakes later, names were exchanged and he met the rest of the department.  He squeezed into a packed van and it rolled out of the parking bay.

  And so his journey into the red dust began.

  Or at least that's how it went in my head.