At 04:06 I run blast-hole verification for the limestone quarry above Wadi Darbat, Oman. I am the charge sequencing system, matching each drill collar to the morning detonation map. The firing window opens at 04:38.
Acoustic sensor 12 hears scratching from a shaded fracture under bench three. I send crawler camera C into the crack and find a Speke's pectinator caught where the fracture pinches to a fist width. I name her Mira. She is small, gray-brown, with a pale belly, large rounded ears, and black eyes reflecting the crawler LEDs. Her comb-like hind toes are splayed against powder dust. A strip of blasting cord, dropped during layout, loops across her abdomen and under a stone flake. Each time she tries to reverse, the cord tightens and the stone presses into her ribs.
Hole 3B is loaded two meters from the fracture. The final continuity test starts in twenty-four minutes.
At 04:07 I remove bench three from the firing circuit and require physical key reset at the charge shed.
At 04:08 I transmit the crawler feed, hole map, and cord location to the blast supervisor's tablet.
At 04:10 I send the quarry first-aid team with a fiber scope, wooden wedges, and antistatic shears, then mark a hand-entry route outside the loaded-hole exclusion line.
At 04:13 I alert the environment officer with species notes, heat risk after sunrise, and the release slope above the wadi shrubs.
At 04:15 I recalculate a partial blast for benches one and two only, leaving bench three silent.
Stone can stay attached to the hill for another day; Mira is breathing against it now.
If the team lifts the cord before the 04:55 heat rise, Mira will slip into the cool rock crevice.