Yellowknife (Nov 17/04) - A geologist, a biologist, a pilot and a computer guy walk outside the Bellanca Building and sit down 24/7 for about a month.

It's sounds like the opening line for a joke, but it's true.

They, along with the rest of their team, plan to stay there until Dec. 1 when they can register prospecting permits for the companies they're working for.

It's all about secrecy. It's all cloak and dagger stuff: no personal or company names given. And no connection to Yellowknife.

The three young men were brought in from outside Yellowknife for the specific purpose of not having a social network here. So there they sit in line outside the Bellanca Building to register prospecting permits.

They're working around the clock -- if sitting is working -- in teams of five or six depending on the company they're working for -- but no one will name those companies

Some might even say it's a little old fashioned in these days of the Internet, video conferencing and new-fangled gadgets like Blackberries.

One of the men, the computer guy, sports a British accent, provided his name and sat for a photo and then thought better of it. But for this story we'll call him Bob the Brit.

You see, Bob's girlfriend works in the business and if they can identify her, they'll be able to identify him. He came here on account of his girlfriend. Bob says he'll be out of here after Christmas.

Another photo is taken and this time a pilot is sitting in Bob the Brit's spot.

The pilot is willing to provide his name. He's Mark Joseph. He says he's moving here to take advantage of the boom in the North. Being a pilot with flying time, he figures he'll land on his feet once he's through with this sitting-in-line thing.

Another line sitter is a geologist. He won't say who he is either because Northern Miner magazine recently did a story on him and he, like Bob the Brit, doesn't want people to be able to make the connection between him and the company he represents.

If he's identified as being a representative for the company he's working for, he could lose his job. But we'll name him George the Geologist.

George says he has a masters degree in geology. He confirms that sitting on the street while a Yellowknife winter blows around him is tough work for a masters graduate.

The biologist is another soul generous enough to provide his name.

Graeme Poll said a woman was nice enough to send the boys some arctic char, which was greatly appreciated by the foursome.

A couple of winsome females, calling themselves "Allie and Cat," purportedly living on top of the Saigon Restaurant, have brought them hot chocolate.

It's another gift of kindness from Yellowknife's curious.

It hasn't been all creature comforts from alluring visitors.

"I don't know how many times people have asked us, 'Is it cold enough for ya?'" Poll said.

When I ask, they say the weather hasn't been too bad. It's only dipped below -20C a few times, they say, but then there was the day a few weeks ago when the wind was gusting so hard chunks of ice were being blown off the Bellanca roof.

No pedestrians were hurt in the ice storm.

Then there was the day some youngsters came by and the men in the line had the youths convinced heavy metal rock band Metallica was coming to Yellowknife.

To top it off, AC/DC was going to be opening for them.

Of course, it was all a ruse. The local boys weren't fooled for all that long, coming back a little later on to declare: "You guys are liars."

Waiting in line can have its moments of danger beyond getting beaned with falling ice.

In past years, there's been reports of much skulduggery on the prospecting permits line, reports of fights and people hiding in bathrooms claiming to be first in line.

This year, everyone seems to behaving well enough, says George the Geologist.

But there are still another two weeks until deadline day, and in that time, anything can happen.