Mase knew he would have a long night ahead of him. He was about to make a lot of people upset when they found out about the mass driver, and there would be a lot of questions as to how this could have been allowed to happen.
Nearly thirty minutes later, Mase, Jackson, Jase, and several other engineers were standing alongside the damaged rail where the cargo pod had torn through one of the electromagnetic rings. A good half of the ring was missing, and only jagged torn metal was hanging where a perfectly round magnetic coil had existed a few minutes earlier. On the side of the steep crater wall, two hundred yards from the mass driver rail, a cargo pod lay shattered in the shallow hole dug when it had struck the wall.
“I was afraid this would happen,” muttered Jase, shaking his head in frustration at the damage. His hands were on the hips of his bulky white spacesuit. “An energy surge also went through the system as the other coils tried to compensate for the sudden failure of the first three. The computer systems tried to finish the launch, but the cargo pod became unstable due to the fluctuating magnetic fields.”
“How long to repair this?” asked Mase, looking over at Jase. Jase was one of the top engineers on the Moon, and Mase had a lot of confidence in the man’s abilities.
Mase was angry with himself for allowing the people on Earth to override his judgment. It had gone against all of his beliefs and training, but he had allowed his better judgment to be swayed. He knew he should have shut the mass driver down several weeks ago for repairs. Now, who knew how long it would be down? He was just thankful that no one had been seriously hurt.
Jase was silent for a moment, then stepped over to the other two engineers and began talking to them on a private channel. All three would pause occasionally, gaze at different sections of the mass driver system, and point something out.
“We need to fix this right,” Jackson commented as they waited.
He gazed over at where the shattered cargo pod lay against the wall. He could see that a lot of rock and debris had slid down the crater wall. They were fortunate it hadn’t been worse.
“We will,” Mase promised as he watched the engineers. He was determined to correct the problem with the mass driver regardless of what the people on Earth would have to say. “We will take whatever time we need. I will explain the situation to Jane, and she will have to handle the rest.”
Jase turned around and walked back over to Mase and Jackson. “We have spare coils in the main mass driver building at the base of the rail. However, we need to check each coil in the system and also make sure the rail is still stable.”
“I want it fixed right,” Mase informed him. It was difficult to see Jase’s face through the dark tint of his spacesuit’s helmet. “How long will it take to go through everything and put it back in perfect working order?”
Jase hesitated briefly. “To do it right will take between five to six days. That’s assuming the rail itself is still stable.”
Mase winced inwardly at the news, but he knew he had no other choice. He would have a lot of explaining to do to Jane Kinsey at NASA. The damage to the mass driver would also give Senator Farley more ammunition to use in his campaign against the space program.
“Very well, take the time you need. I will tell NASA the mass driver will be down for at least six days. If you need anyone from Tycho City to help, give me a list of names, and I will have them here first thing in the morning.”
“There are a few I could use,” replied Jase, running through his mind the people that he would like to have. “There are several that have transferred to Tycho City that were involved with the original construction of the mass driver. I could use their expertise in the repairs.”
After going over a few more details on the repairs that were needed, Mase and Jackson returned to Jackson’s office. Once there, Mase contacted Tycho City and gave instructions for the necessary personnel to be sent out to the mass driver.
When he was finished, he turned and looked at Jackson. “This is never going to happen again,” Mase promised. “If there is ever a potential problem again you have the authorization to shut the mass driver down immediately. Earth can scream about it all they want later.”
“Thanks,” Jackson replied, pleased with what Mase had said. “It’s just operated so well for so long; no one thought we could have an accident this severe.”
-
Two hours later, Mase was on his way back to Tycho City. Jackson had promised to keep him informed daily on the progress of the repairs and anything else they might need. Mase took a deep breath as he gazed out the viewport of the Moon Buggy. He wondered what else could go wrong. Little did he know that his problems were just beginning.
Chapter Three
Mase was busy in his office looking over the latest reports from Jackson on the repairs to the mass driver. It had been nearly four days, and the system still had a lot of work that needed to be done. He had already received numerous complaints and even threats from irate companies on Earth.
They were demanding that their metal contracts be filled ASAP or they would implement legal action against Tycho City. Taking a deep breath, Mase rubbed his forehead with his left hand and then looked up. His secretary, Linda, sat across the desk from him with her legs crossed, taking notes on a steno pad. She still preferred to take notes the old-fashioned way.
“I’m getting a headache over this,” Mase said with a slight groan. He very seldom got a headache over anything. “Tell Jane that we still hope to fire the mass driver back up toward the end of the week. Jase feels he needs another three days to finish the repairs. Jackson said they have found no additional damage from the misfire. We are also programming a failsafe into the computer system to prevent such an accident in the future.”
“Commander Larson called from Star One earlier,” Linda began as she finished taking notes, her brown eyes looking toward Mase. “They will be out of material to process for Luxen production the day after tomorrow.”
“Damn!” Mase uttered with a serious frown on his face feeling his headache suddenly grow worse. This was something he had hoped not to hear. At least Steve understood the situation.
He knew how important the production of the wonder alloy Luxen was to Star One. It was one of their primary sources of income. Not only that, Star One and Tycho City were currently in the process of secretly upgrading the Jupiter probe ship. The ship was being built on the Space Platform in orbit next to Star One. A lot of money had been invested in that upgrade. Cash flow for both Tycho City and Star One was extremely important.
“When we start the mass driver back up, Star One will have first priority on shipments. I will order Jackson to make sure the first cargo pods are filled full of raw material for their processing facilities,” responded Mase, reaching a quick decision. He also knew this would compound his problems with the companies on Earth. He let out a long sigh, knowing it couldn’t be helped.
“I will notify Margaret on Star One,” Linda replied with a nod.
Margaret was the chief communications officer on Star One, and Linda spoke with her on a daily basis. The two had become very good friends over the last several months. Margaret was easy to talk to and Linda enjoyed speaking to the other woman. They had found that they had a lot in common, and both were extremely dedicated to their jobs and bosses.
“Jane Kinsey called earlier,” continued Linda, her brown eyes taking on a more sober look. “Senator Farley is demanding a full investigation of the incident at the mass driver.”
Mase’s face took on deep frown. Senator Farley was always trying to cause problems. “Everything will be in the final report once the mass driver is back online. See if that will satisfy Jane. We don’t need to launch a witch hunt to find a problem that doesn’t exist. The heavy shipping schedules caused the problem with the mass driver to begin with. Those schedules were created on Earth. Hopefully, with the new upgrades and changes to the computer system, we won’t have another incident.”
With a nod, Linda stood up, closin
g her steno pad. “Your next appointment should be here shortly. I will get these messages off immediately.”
Linda knew that it wouldn’t be that easy. Senator Farley would not be so easily satisfied. It would take all Jane Kinsey could do to keep the powerful senator off their backs. Linda shook her head as she walked out; she felt sorry for both Jane and Mase.
Linda paused at the door and looked back at Mase, noticing that he was rubbing his forehead again. “I’ll bring you a couple of aspirins for your headache,” she said, knowing and understanding the stress that Mase was under.
-
A few minutes later, Isaac Anderson walked into Mase’s office. “Good afternoon, Mase.”
Isaac Anderson was Mase’s second in command and was nearly indispensable in the operation of Tycho City and its mining operations. He was a brilliant engineer, knew everything there was to know about mining, and was the brains behind Tycho City’s numerous mining operations.
Mase gestured for Isaac to take a seat. “So how are the mining operations going?”
“I’ve had to slow several of them down,” Isaac confessed in a concerned voice. “Everything is becoming bottlenecked because the mass driver is down. All the mass driver cargo pods are full, waiting for the mass driver to be repaired. We are still refining, but I might even have to slow that down in a few more days.”
“We should have the mass driver back up and running by the end of the week,” replied Mase, knowing that Isaac was doing everything in his power to keep the mining and refining operations going.
“I think we can get by until then,” Isaac continued with a nod of his head. “I will just need to monitor all the operations closely. We’ve been doing some preventative maintenance and safety training with all the crews. After the incident with the mass driver everyone seems to be taking the safety aspect of their jobs more seriously.”
“That’s good,” responded Mase, picking up a piece of paper off his desk and pointing to it. “I just read this survey report. You mention in it that you have located a shallow heavy metal meteor close to us.”
“Just eighteen miles away from Tycho. From preliminary surveys, the bulk of the meteor is only 240 feet beneath the surface. Core samples indicate a considerable amount of iron and nickel plus a few other heavy metals.”
“What will it take to mine it?” asked Mase, putting the paper down and tapping his desk with his index finger. They were constantly searching for meteors close to the surface to mine. This sounded like this might be a good one and highly profitable.
“One of the smaller mining excavators should be able to drill a tunnel down to it without a problem.”
“When do you plan on starting?”
Isaac hesitated briefly, recalling what the crew schedule was. “Day after tomorrow. I already have a crew lined up and ready to go.”
“Let’s do it then,” Mase replied. “I may come out and watch; it’s been a while since I’ve been out to one of the mining sites with everything going on at the mass driver and over at Farside.”
“I will let you know when I’m going out,” Isaac responded. He knew it would do Mase some good to get away from the office.
-
Two days later, Mase stood outside his Moon Buggy next to Isaac. Both were nearly indistinguishable in their bulky white spacesuits. A hundred feet away from them, the excavator crew was carefully positioning the expensive piece of mining equipment next to the small meteor crater.
The excavator was a long machine nearly forty feet in length. It contained several rows of revolving cutting blades that bit into the ground. The material was then sent through the center of the excavator to a conveyor that dumped it back out onto the lunar surface. The crew’s cabin was located toward the front, and it took four highly trained people to operate the excavator safely. When operated properly, an excavator could cut nearly ten feet an hour.
“They’re almost ready,” Isaac commented as the crew began entering the excavator.
Mase watched as the four crewmembers clambered up onto the excavator and into the crew’s compartment, shutting the heavy metal hatch behind them.
Another group of miners stood next to the conveyors, ready to move and adjust them as needed. Isaac always made sure he was present anytime a new mining operation started up. It was his way of making sure everything was done safely.
Mase looked at the excavator. It was a good feeling to get out of Tycho City for a few hours. The constant messages from Earth demanding updates on the mass driver were becoming aggravating. Linda did an excellent job of answering most of them, but some Mase had to respond to personally.
He had talked briefly to Phillip the night before and had been pleased to learn that his brother was seriously considering moving the family to Tycho City later in the year. They had spoken longer than usual, with Phillip mentioning that both his teenage daughter and son were excited about the prospect of coming up to Tycho City. It had helped to take Mase’s mind off the current problems, even if it was for only a few minutes.
Senator Farley was still trying to cause problems, but Jane Kinsey was doing a good job thus far of keeping the irate senator at bay. Mase took a deep, relaxing breath as he waited for the excavator to start up. At least for a few hours, he didn’t have to worry about any of that.
With a shower of rock and dust, the excavator began cutting into the lunar surface. Piles of rock and rubble began flowing onto the conveyors to be dumped far behind the excavator. Mase knew the first few feet would be relatively easy to cut through before the harder lunar surface beneath was reached. Mase kicked the lunar surface at his feet, watching as the gray dust floated up and then settled back down. The only bad thing about the Moon, besides the lack of a breathable atmosphere, was this infernal Moon dust. It got into nearly everything!
-
At the Farside array, Professor LaRann was in the Control Room. The large Control Room contained numerous computers and imaging software that could take the readings from the array and convert them into something recognizable. Already, they were beginning a few preliminary observations and scans. While the array consisted of thirty-two dish antennas, not all of them were wired into the system. Eighteen of them were, and LaRann wanted to begin calibrating those.
LeAnn Kelly was in the Control Room with him, watching with interest as they began taking their first readings. The large dish antennas picked up radio waves on specific frequencies and wavelengths. Some of the data would be displayed as nothing more than graphs or charts. Others would be full color images generated by the base’s main computer’s complicated imaging software.
“Two more days and all the dish antennas will be online,” LaRann said to LeAnn. “Then we can get down to some serious research.” He smiled at the words. The array was so close to completion; he realized that his life long dream would soon become a reality.
“I know what you mean,” LeAnn replied as she gazed at the computer screen, which was beginning to show some detected electromagnetic waves. “I’m sure you can’t wait to do more research into black holes.” She knew that LaRann had an affinity toward black holes. He seemed to be drawn to them.
“They’re fascinating,” LaRann replied with enthusiasm showing in his voice. “If I can show that nonrotating black holes have a wormhole in their center, just imagine what that would mean.”
“A traversable wormhole is only speculation,” LeAnn reminded LaRann with a shake of her head. “Every theory I’ve ever read says a wormhole of that type would require some type of exotic matter to keep it open.”
“Perhaps,” LaRann replied with a patient smile. “With the new array, we may be able to find out.”
“I suspect you will be writing another research paper on black holes shortly,” LeAnn commented with a glint of humor in her eyes.
“Yes, but first we must scan for pulsars. The sooner the entire array is calibrated, the sooner I can begin my research.”
Out on the Moon’s surface, the dish antennas pointed upward
toward space. When all the arrays were online, they would begin their scans for pulsars. A pulsar is a highly magnetized rotating neutron star that emits a beam of electromagnetic radiation. Little did Pierre LaRann and LeAnn Kelly realize that very soon the array would change all of their lives forever.
-
Mase continued to watch as the excavator cut into the Moon’s surface. Already the machine was down nearly twenty feet, but the tunneling was starting to slow as harder lunar material was encountered. Behind the last conveyor, a growing pile of lunar rubble was visible. There was also a lot of lunar dust.
“Everything seems to be going fine,” Isaac commented as he carefully watched the excavator. His keen eyes took in every aspect of the operation. He would not leave the site until he was satisfied everything was operating smoothly and safely.
“We have over twenty mines currently in operation,” Mase added as he watched the dust falling slowly at the end of the conveyor. “It’s amazing all the minerals we’ve found on the Moon.”
“It’s a treasure trove,” Isaac replied in agreement. “There are so many shallow meteor cores that our mining operations are highly profitable and growing more so every day.”
They watched as a miner driving a small, specially designed lunar bulldozer began pushing and leveling out the rubble from the excavator. A small habitation dome had been set up so the miners could go inside and rest in relative comfort as needed. The dome was twenty-four feet across and contained beds and a small kitchen. An airlock granted access and a group of solar panels off to one side furnished power.
Once the mine was put into production, several more of the small, versatile domes would be brought in and connected to the current one. Another dome would be placed over the tunnel. It would be pressurized, creating a breathable atmosphere in the mining tunnel so the miners could work in relative comfort.
“I’m glad we came up with these domes,” Mase commented as he saw several miners go inside to rest. The miners would run a two-shift operation.
Star One: Tycho City Survival Page 3