Morag Leask

Morag Leask is a North Sea helicopter pilot. For thirty-four years she flew the ten to seven out of Dyce: roustabouts and drillers in 2009, half as many of them after the oil price crash of 2016, decommissioning crews in 2027 sent to take apart the platforms her father had flown people to when they were new, and from the 2030s compute technicians for Skerry Alpha. Two weeks on, three weeks off, ten to seven. Only the cargo changed. Nobody, she noticed, had invented a new kind of tired for data.

She retired in 2038. Her daughter, Isla Leask, flies the route now.

It was never really about oil. We thought it was, because oil was what was there. The oil ran out. Aberdeen didn't.

Behind the scenes

Morag Leask opens Oil Rigs to Training Rigs in "The Ten to Seven", and appears again in "Dyson Shoal", both by Charlotte Joanne at Blind Ant.