by T I WADE
Now it was time to see inside the first cube. The transfer of the atmosphere was complete and VIN would be the first person to break the seal on the sliding doors from the cube to the first of three storage cylinders. While these three cylinders held all the soil, hydroponic growing materials and the plants, they would still be living quarters for the growing crew for several more months.
They had use of both of the spacecraft for several more hours before one was due to descend to connect with the next shuttle. With eight of the nine crew squashed into the two cockpits, they floated over to America One. There were only eight full spacesuits aboard Ivan, and one of the crew always stayed behind to monitor the systems on Ivan.
First, the two small craft, one following the other maneuvered to where Ryan could watch the spiders welding the fifth corridor cylinder on one of the arms coming off the first cube. They could easily see the little metal eight-legged robot going about its work oblivious to its audience. Ryan saw that the first cube had all three of its corridors now standing 200 feet out. The fourth cube had four cylinders attached to its three sides; the seventh cube had only two. There were still four unused corridor cylinders attached to the side wall of the fourth cube. Nine of the larger outer oval cylinders, the accommodation units that had been separated from the inner corridor units, were attached on the walls of the rear cubes, ready for Pete and one of the crew to start building their insides. All the supplies Pete needed had already been placed into the oval cylinders he was about to start work on. Another eight cylinders, two accommodation cylinders and six corridor cylinders would be arriving in two days, and the next set three days after that, when Ryan would already be back on earth.
Since the three storage cylinders—the first units connected directly to the walls of Cube One—were still sealed from both ends, the crew would enter America One through Cube One’s docking port.
The atmospheric sensors in the first and second cubes showed the inner air quality, temperature, and gas mixes inside Ivan and were also displayed on computer screens in the spacecraft cockpits. The delicate atmospheric sensors inside Cube One showed the inner space to have a safe atmospheric pressure. The heater had been on for fourteen hours and the temperature was 42 degrees Fahrenheit, ten degrees above freezing. There were also the necessary amounts of nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide.
Before the panels had left Earth, the liquid hydrogen and argon gasses were pumped into the carbon nanotube flat panels for the walls of the cubes, so that when the internal area was ready it would be protected from cosmic radiation and any loss of air or heat.
VIN and Suzi would be the first to enter the cube. Since many of the seven cubes’ main interior controls were inside the first cube, they were to enter through the cube’s inner hatch and float to the centrally located control panel to turn on the lights, and then check that everything was connected and working properly. Then they could take off their helmets and upper parts of their spacesuits. Once free of their cumbersome suits, they could activate the sealed sliding door to the storage cylinders for the first time, break the temporary silicon seal to the cylinder, and begin floating the supplies into the cube.
As soon as Suzi connected the outer hatches, VIN went through the spacecraft’s docking port; the lights stayed green and he moved through the cube’s brand new docking port. Checking that the lights stayed green, he opened the last hatch to the inside of the cube. He was still safe in his full suit and he floated into a vast chamber of complete blackness pierced only by his helmet light.
VIN waited for Suzi to come through. She was faster as the hatches between both craft were now open. Ryan and Pete would wait until the lights were on and all systems were checked.
Suzi grabbed hold of VIN’s arm. He had his jet pack on and could tow her to the operation panel. She held the map of the interior, and using her helmet light, told him which direction to take.
“The main operations panel is on the inner wall, directly next to the walkway below us,” she told VIN. “Aim for the wall connecting the two cubes.” Slowly they floated down towards the center wall where, with his helmet light, he could see the walkway ten feet below them. Carefully they moved towards the double sliding door that would open and close when crew walked along the walkway to the next cube. Here were the main control units for all seven cubes; seven panels being fed information from inside its cube. Cube One was the front of the ship, directly behind the special revolving command center cylinder which had not yet been built against its front wall.
He and Suzi floated in front of the panels; each one displayed the quantities of each gas in its cube, the air temperature, air pressure and sunlight densities from several lights that they were about to turn on. The lights were computerized to use the full spectrum of sunlight normally found on Earth, at dawn, midday and evening times.
The other cube controls were still inactive. VIN checked that there was a power reading from the reactor to the main board and slowly moved the main light switch to the “on” position. Nothing happened.
“That only gives power to the independent light switches,” Suzi told him. “First turn on the corner lights.”
VIN turned on the first switch and there was a faint glow from all four corners of the cube’s walkway below them. The lights started with a weak glow and grew in intensity. After several seconds they could see the empty insides of the massive cube stretching out in front of them.
“Turn on the wall lights,” ordered Suzi, and VIN saw three different switches in the row, each identified underneath the dials. He switched them on and the intensity of the light grew inside the cube. Now it was bright with no shadows.
“Ryan, Captain Pete, float through the docking port, we have light,” Suzi relayed through her intercom. They waited until the first helmet was seen coming in through the hatch. With Suzi holding onto the wall and her metal legs trying to stay on the walkway, VIN went up to get Ryan. He brought Ryan down and he and Suzi held onto each other while VIN went back up to get Pete.
“It looks like the inside of a diving area of a large public swimming pool,” observed Ryan as he tried to stand. “The light certainly looks the same as the Nevada desert.”
“Ja, we still have to start the computer to change the light spectrums. What we are seeing here is normal daylight,” Suzi replied as VIN returned with Pete.
“Everybody ready?” VIN asked. “I’m going to turn on the gravity batteries below our feet.” Everybody said that they were ready. A 20 percent gravitational pull wasn’t a big pull, but it was better to be ready to stand upright so as not lose their balance. They still could fall off the center two-foot wide walkway and float twenty feet to the wall of the cube below them.
VIN turned on the doubled-armed switch and suddenly he felt his feet being pulled towards the walkway. His feet connected, and he bent his knees to stop from bouncing off. Slowly all four got their footing, and their gloved hands left the body next to them to stand on their own.
“It certainly feels secure to walk on,” suggested Ryan. “It feels as if we were correct on our predictions.”
“I have the jet pack on, let me walk across the walkway to the other side and then I will jump off to see what happens,” VIN volunteered. He left the others. It didn’t matter if they were standing vertically or horizontally; in this cube it all looked the same except that the walkway was two feet square. VIN walked across the cube in the same upright attitude in which they were all standing; then, the other three couldn’t believe their eyes as he walked back to the middle not, vertically like they were, but horizontal to them. The sight of VIN walking normally at a ninety degree angle defied experience and logic.
“I had to get used to this idea when I was on DX2014,” he told them as they tried to absorb this new reality. “It was weird. On our second trip to the asteroid I came to the edge of a ledge. I had to go over to see this diamond vein Jonesy found. I looked over the ledge and he laughed at me, watching me from the spaceship. My mind couldn�
��t fathom that I could walk around at any angle. So I slid my legs over the edge, my brain telling me I was going to fall. Then I stood up. It blew my mind, I suppose just like yours are being blown right now.”
“Yes, this freedom to be a fly on the wall is certainly something interesting,” replied Ryan.
VIN then bent his knees and jumped off the walkway. He easily sailed up to the wall of the cube above his head then he pushed himself away from the wall and ended up grabbing onto the walkway as he sailed past it towards the opposite wall.
“I see that walking around in these cubes is going to take a bit of getting used to,” suggested Suzi.
“That is why my next job is to put the walking cords up on the walls, so when workers in here turn off the gravity, they can pull themselves along the walls to pick crops,” Pete added.
“Won’t the magnetic shoes help?” VIN asked. “How come we haven’t got the magnetic shoes for people in here?”
“Simple,” replied Ryan. “Aluminum isn’t attracted by a magnet. You have to study Lenz’s Law on this problem, Mr. Noble. Extremely thin steel plates were connected across Ivan’s walkways so that the magnetic shoes could be used. We have our own more modern shoes, simple track shoes with small magnets in the soles. To make the most use out of our space up here, thin one-inch wide steel ribbons can be placed anywhere on the walls with a suction system to the inner covering. They can be moved at any time and these very thin strands of steel will become a magnetic walkway in-between crops and areas once Suzi’s team lays them down. One of the last flights is bringing up fifty pairs of these shoes still being made by Nike in California.”
For the next ten minutes all four astronauts removed their helmets to breathe in the cube’s air for the first time ever.
It tasted sweet and smelled like Earth. Then, except for VIN who needed his jet pack to get about, the others removed the tops of their suits and looked around with amazement.
It was mind boggling. There they were, 22,500 miles above Earth, walking around in an open, breathable, but chilly area the size of a cubed basketball court; the biggest room ever made in space.
The temperature showed 44 degrees Fahrenheit as VIN got the tools he needed to unseal the sliding door to the first cylinder. Without his helmet on, he heard the loud hissing of his jet pack for the first time since he was on Earth as he propelled himself towards the first door on the wall opposite to where the spacecraft was connected.
For ten minutes he peeled away a two-inch thick silicone covering to get to the metal sliding door and its control box. Once he had peeled off the soft malleable substance, he activated the control box and pressed the open button. Electronically, the double door, five feet wide and six feet high, slid opened. Now he had to break through the see-through silicone seal inside the cylinder.
Inside the cylinder he could see hundreds of individually wrapped plants and canisters that held soil, hydroponic plastic piping and water; the cylinder also contained a living habitat for four under the temporary docking port. This time the soft seal was a foot thick and he needed the small cutting torch Pete had brought with him through the docking port to melt a hole in it.
Twenty minutes later he had the first hole open connecting the two units. Without his helmet he felt the warm air from inside the cylinder rush across his face as he pulled out the first soft block of silicone. Suzi said that the 75 degree inner warmth of the first cylinder should warm the larger cube by a good ten degrees.
It was tough work trying to cut the hole in the silicon and not float across the cube. Once his fourth cut was done, the hole was large enough to enter the cylinder and now he could cut around the cylinder’s wall. The silicone was being collected by the three astronauts still on the walkway as the squares floated towards them in the middle. This specially made silicone could be melted and reused time and time again to seal anything they wanted. It would certainly become handy if a new home was ever found somewhere out on another asteroid or planet.
Once the silicone was cut away and collected, VIN grabbed each canister in the corridor and gently pushed them to float down to the group on the walk way. Space meant that much less force was needed for any manual tasks.
Two hundred objects later the corridor was empty except for the living essentials the crew would need while construction continued on the craft: four vertical beds, water and food packs, and an enclosed space toilet and bath-bag. Another six of Suzi’s crew and four of Captain Pete’s crew were due over the next few weeks and they needed two more cylinders for accommodations.
The outer edge of this first cylinder, in-between the outer connected cylinders was still sealed; the other cylinders were still open to space. VIN could see stars through the end of the fifth cylinder.
It took the rest of the day before all three cylinders were empty of their stores and tidied up to be livable once the new crews arrived, two-by-two with their furnishings, in the shuttles.
VIN looked down at the supplies now filling the cube. It would take a week for Suzi, together with Mr. Rose, who would be arriving on the next flight, and her crew of two, to set up the cube for growth. They had an intricate plan for each of the seven growing cubes and with the temperature now at 60 degrees, thanks to the warmer air that had escaped from the three corridors, they would have the temperature of Cube One ready in twelve hours. Suzi was about to realize her own dream, setting up the first farm and green house system in space.
Before the four left, VIN checked the control sensors in the second cube. The sliding door between the cubes was still sealed, but could be opened in about twenty-four hours; the air pressure was still rising, the temperature was only ten degrees below freezing, and on the intercom the crew told them that they had opened the last set of air tanks and finished connecting the controls to the board on the other side of the wall where VIN was standing. They were still fully helmeted and they had just turned on the lights, as it was warm enough to do so.
The four crew members floated back through the docking port and back into the spacecraft. Since both ends of their short journey were now safe; the exit from Cube One and the entrance back into Ivan did not require that they wear helmets and upper suits, eliminating a laborious task.
With Suzi back in control of the spacecraft, they closed and disconnected the docking port to Cube One and Ryan was taken around the entire outer area of America One before heading back to Ivan. They could see that two new cylinders were now attached onto the fourth cube’s growing arms.
As with Cube One, the second and third cubes had all their supplies in the three temporary corridors affixed to the outside of one of their walls. These cubes would not have arms and there was only one sliding door for transportation of the cargo. Once the cargo was inside, the door would be detached from the wall and a permanent piece of aluminum wall welded into place.
VIN would repeat the same transfer of supplies into Cubes Two and Three once the atmosphere and temperatures were ready. Cube Two would be ready the next day and Cube Three in ten days; all of its air tanks would arrive in the next three shuttle loads. Now the light, empty cylinders could be returned to earth for refilling.
Ryan worried when the customs officers would find a dozen empty cylinders in some of the returning shuttles’ cargo holds. So far his team had decided to tell them that it was the fuel needed to reenter from higher altitudes, or that one of the crew was now spacewalking. It would look like a large team of scuba divers had been aboard, with all the empty tanks.
With only three hours allowed per spacewalk, the work around America One went on day after day while Ryan was up there. The next shuttle arrived and with Fritz and VIN spacewalking, they separated the outer cylinder and fixed it on one of the cubes so Pete and his growing team could get them kitted out as accommodation areas. Two hundred feet out from the cubes would be the first line of accommodation corridors, running horizontal to the side of the craft, five cylinder-lengths out from the cubes.
This lower accommodation-level of larg
e oval cylinders, having a 50 percent lower gravity than the second accommodation line 200 feet further out, would house a school, a church, the hospital operating and supply rooms, and the incubation area for the chickens and rabbits, whose living areas were higher on the outer level.
It was fine for the crew and animals to be in a lower gravity for part of the day, or their lives, but the humans would spend at least twelve hours out of every twenty-four in the full gravity conditions on the second level. Also each corridor had an elevator which would take crew up and down, as all directions in space, with a rotating ship, would become up and down!
By the time Ryan left three days later all the available corridor cylinders were being bonded to the cubes and America One was beginning to take shape.
The customs officials checked the returning air tanks and wanted to know where they had returned from. They also didn’t know that Ryan had been in space, and not actually on the planet Earth.
Chapter 16
NASA has a big problem!
It was no surprise to the customs officials when they saw Ryan Richmond emerge from the shuttle that had just landed. They never saw who went up in which shuttle, but what surprised them was that he looked paler and thinner than when they had last seen him a couple of weeks earlier.
The officials wanted to ask him why air tanks were suddenly appearing in the holds of the returning shuttles. Ryan tiredly explained that the new tests were to do with spacewalking. They were training to open the shuttle roof doors to remove the radioactive containers if they somehow got stuck inside the hold; this used up a lot of air. If there were an ejection problem the crew would have to spacewalk to release the hazardous materials.
This explanation seemed to satisfy the bored customs officials who unhappily headed back to their lodgings at the end of the runway to report the new events to whoever was their supervisor.