by R. A. Mejia
“Yes, but we will need them installed and then time to recharge our systems. But that doesn’t solve the other issues. You need food and oxygen. Building the oxygen tanks would give you more time to breathe, and ration packs would fulfill your need to eat.”
So, the choice comes down to which of the many problems to fix first. I could make all the food I’d ever need, but then I wouldn’t have enough resources to make the solar panels or the oxygen tanks. Screwing up here could mean coming up short on something I need to survive.
After a bit of consideration, I finally decide on what to make first. “Well, I still have three days’ worth of rations left so I’m good on food for now. Let’s make our first project the solar panels so that the environmental systems stay on. Then we can fabricate batteries to store all the electricity. After, we’ll work on resource containers and oxygen tanks. Of course, we’ll need to get oxygen to fill them too.”
“No problem there. If we extract oxygen molecules from any of the materials you deconstruct, we can automatically store it in one of the oxygen tanks. Otherwise, it’ll be stored in the fabrication system until we transfer it.”
“Well, let's get as many resources as we can into the machine so that we see what we have to work with.” A plan in place, I feel hopeful for the future. As long as I work hard and think things through, I should be able to solve some of my survival problems. There’s a bounce in my set as I toil, taking apart the galley with the sonic power tools and laser cutters from engineering.
Sonic Power Tool
A sonic power tool is an all-in-one, low energy cost, multitool. They provide all the benefits of normal tools, but use sonic waves to manipulate stuff. You get a Sonic Screwdriver, a Sonic Hammer, and a Sonic Wrench, all in one.
Laser Cutter
A hand-held device that projects a single laser beam like a blade on an axe or hacksaw. It can be used to slowly cut through most objects, though the denser an object, the longer it will take.
The sonic power tool is about a meter long and requires two hands to use. I adjust the knob on top to the screwdriver setting and pull the trigger to activate it. The machine emits a low hum, and the first screw I point it at immediately begins to rotate backward all on its own. I switch to the wrench function, and the nuts and bolts that are holding the refrigerator come undone--all except one set of nuts and bolts, which seems to have rusted together. I try to pull them apart but just don’t have the strength. Instead, I turn to the other tool, the laser cutter. It’s a simple enough device: press the ‘On’ button, and a laser extends out from the device and cuts stuff. It’s not rocket science. The laser makes short work of the rusted bolt, and the last thing holding the door to the refrigerator is soon gone, and the whole hunk of metal and insulation drops to the floor with a clatter. I have to jump back to avoid it when it tips back and falls against one of the kitchen tables.
The rest of the galley goes quickly. I use the sonic power tool to remove as many nuts, bolts, and screws as I can before resorting to the laser cutter to chop up the pieces of metal, foam, and plastic. Occasionally, it’s just easier to pull something down than go through all the hassle of taking out each screw, but the ship is well built, and the opportunities to apply brute force are few.
Before long, the refrigerator is gone, along with all the tables, chairs, and even the metal panels that lined the walls. The lights produce small amounts of iron, carbon, silicon, and oxygen. The insulation in the walls is made of hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen with minor amounts of oxygen and silicon. Even though the kitchen doesn’t contain large amounts of oxygen, SAI directs the fabricator to store what is extracted into the environmental system’s oxygen tanks.
After I break down the galley, it’s onto the crew quarters, the only other place on the ship that is not needed. I leave my room alone, since I need a place to sleep, but the other quarters are going to waste as is. It takes hours to break everything down and drag it to be deconstructed. Including beds, data pads, crew clothes and personal items, dressers and all the unneeded walls, insulation, and lights nets us:
H (Hydrogen): 267.5 kg, C (Carbon): 245.2 kg, N (Nitrogen): 24.5 kg, Fe (iron): 790.4 kg, Al (Aluminum): 2.2 kg, Cu (Copper): 44.9 kg, O (Oxygen): 41.65 kg, Si (Silicon): 81.43 kg, S (Sulfur): 0.3 kg, Li (Lithium):0.55 kg, Ni (Nickel):0.34 kg, Co (Cobalt):0.34 kg, P (Phosphorus):0.18 kg
Although it seems like a lot, I have to build some storage tanks to hold all the material, and their thick metal walls eat up a lot of our iron. It costs 690 kg of iron and 14 kg of carbon to make five small elemental storage units, but I am also able to fabricate the solar cells we need. The 20 m2 solar cells themselves cost:
H (Hydrogen):24 kg, C (Carbon):23 kg, N (Nitrogen):1.4 kg, Fe (iron):88.2 kg, Cu (Copper):14 kg, O (Oxygen):31.8 kg, Si (Silicon):75.2 kg
There’s still plenty of other resources left, but making these items leaves us with only 12 kg of iron, 6 kg of silicon, and 9.85 kg of oxygen. The fabrication process also drains much of remaining ship’s power, and I’m forced to put the suit back on to install the solar cells outside so that they will start charging the ships batteries. As I’m refilling the oxygen pods for the space suit from our meager supply, it occurs to me that, if the solar panels don’t work, I’m a dead man. No electricity means no environmental systems to recycle the air in the ship and no juice to power the suit.
As I ride the transparent elevator down, I get my first look outside the ship. Even though I feel nervous about the solar panel installation going well, I still can’t help but be awed by the alien planet. The sun is still a few hours from the sunset, but the view is breathtaking. A vibrant blue-green sky is peppered with wisps of orange clouds and a salmon-pink ground meets it off in the distance at a mountain range. My boots sink into the sand as I step off the lift, making it harder to walk, and I note that there are sharp-looking green rocks around the ship. I think I can see an odd object with unusual colors off in the distance, but I don’t have time to explore just now. Instead, I climb on top of what’s left of the hull and haul the solar cells up one by one with nylon rope from engineering. It takes me a bit over an hour to install them, but once I do, SAI lets me know that the batteries powering the ship are slowly refilling.
Unfortunately, SAI estimates that I’ll have to wait two more hours until the batteries are charged enough to restart life support. I pace in front of the elevator, just counting the seconds till the ship returns to life and I know everything is working ok. My mind fills with all the things that could go wrong. The solar cells might not work, or they might work but not be able to get enough electricity to restart life support, or a connection to the batteries could come loose and the energy collected isn’t stored. A dozen scenarios come to mind that would mean failure, and thus death. I go to rub my temples to relieve some of the stress, but only hit helmet. The act makes me chuckle, and I realize that I’m doing it again: I’m worrying about something I have no control over. Annie always tells me that I rub my temples when I do that. The thought of her brings a tightness in my chest as memories of her and Marie surface. I miss them so much, and I’m worried I won’t ever get to see them again. What will things be like for them if I’m gone? Who will take care of them?
I squeeze my eyes shut tightly to keep the tears back. No! I can’t let myself think like that. I have to believe that I’ll survive this and make it back to them. I decide to stay busy and distract myself from all the ‘what ifs’ and explore a little. The outside of the ship looks like a wreck. The entire front and back sections were ripped off as the ship came down, and it shows. Large strips of the outer hull are missing in places, and wires and pipes stick out everywhere. I’m genuinely surprised that the ship even functions as well as it does. SAI must have re-routed power through various systems to keep everything running.
As my O2 gauge begins to drop towards empty, my nervousness and the thoughts of what can go wrong return. Thankfully, SAI notifies me the ship has enough power to turn life support back on just as the sun d
isappears over mountains and night arrives. My oxygen gauge is just about empty, and I run back toward the elevator, glad to live another day. My eyes are focused on the indicators displayed in my vision as the lift descends, and I realize that the time left on O2 doesn’t match up with my battery indicator. “SAI, why does my suit always run out of oxygen before power? I still show I have another couple of hours left in the batteries.”
“That’s because your suit is only using its basic functions right now. It’s only powering life support and motor functions.”
“Motor functions?”
“Yes, the suit augments your ability to move while you wear it. It might be hard for you to tell, but the skin of the suit is actually made of many micro servos that aid your ability to carry the rest of the suit. It will even enhance your carrying capacity to a degree. Other suits used by the military or scavengers are more obviously enhanced, and their capabilities differ. Your suit is an Engineering Space Suit Level 1 and is primarily used to perform repairs on the outside of the ship, which don’t normally take more than a few hours. Your suit has several tools and scanning systems to aid in this, and when used, those tools drain the suit's batteries.”
“That’s something I’ll have to fix if I want a chance to reach that communications center. One system limiting its range is unacceptable.”
“If you want to extend the normal range of the suit, you can fabricate upgrades to enhance the battery or oxygen tank capacity.”
“Wait, I can upgrade this space suit?”
“Yes, of course. The ship’s fabricator could build you an entirely new one if we had the resources. You could make a military model, a scout model, or a scavenger model. They’d all have differing capabilities, but the fabricator could make them if we needed them. I’ll send you a list with more details.”
Engineering Space Suit Level 1
Oxygen: 70 liters oxygen
Energy: Battery 1 - 750 Amp Hours
Suit Integrity: 100/100
Life Support: LSS 1 - 100 Amp/hour
Motors: MCS 1- 25 Amps/hour
Tools: None
Sensors: Scanners 1, Spectral Analysis
Upgrades: Magnetic Boots
“Your suit is currently an Engineer Class 1. Life Support 1, Magnetic boots as an upgrade, Battery 1, Scanners 1. You can upgrade any of the components, add integrated tools, and even a portable version of the deconstruction tool the fabricator has. Although, if you did that, your carrying capacity would also need to be upgraded.
Soldier 1 - Combat focused. Armor and weapons are this suit’s specialties. It is faster than the Scavenger model, but not as fast as either the Scout or Engineer models. If you want something dead or to protect an asset, this is the suit for you. The suit has upgrades for a variety of integrated weapons including lasers, plasma weapons, rockets, and auto-targeting systems.
Scavenger 1 - Focuses on gathering resources and has little combat potential. Heavy and slow but has a carrying capacity that is matched by none. Scanners are specialized to find objects and have sub-programming to find particular resources automatically. The base model has the deconstruction technology needed to harvest and gather a large number of resources.
Scout 1 - The scanners possess the longest range, but sacrifice the engineering suit’s ability to analyze objects and detect life. The suit focuses on increased run time with enhanced movement, life support, and battery capabilities. It lacks the armor of the Soldier suit but does have minimal weapons systems and can upgrade to sniper specialization.
Looking over the list of options, I’m glad I got the engineering suit. It seems to be the best balanced, and with a few upgrades, it can fulfill just about any of the roles of the other suits, though not as well. I sigh. It’s just a matter of getting the materials that I need to make those upgrades. We’ve stripped the inside of the ship of everything we can without compromising any vital systems, but what about outside?
“SAI, does the planet have any resources we can use?”
“I’m afraid that my external sensors were heavily damaged in the crash. If you upgrade them, I could scan for what you’re requesting. Alternatively, I could use the suit’s scanners while you explore the planet. It will take much longer though.”
“Well, I’d rather not use up resources on upgrades if I can do the same job and get out of the ship at the same time. It looks like I’m going for a walk soon to look for resources on this planet.”
Chapter 5
The next morning, I wake up with some rather sore muscles. Tearing apart the ship and dragging all that metal to the fabricator really pushed things for me. Still, a few stretches later, I feel a little better, and I’m up and out of bed, ready to get on with the day.
After checking to make sure my suit has a full charge of electricity and oxygen, I dig into my last ration bar. It’s plain tasting but filling. As I’m chewing it, I run through my task for the day: get a handle on our resources. I need to understand what needs to be spent to maintain the ship and what the costs to fabricate objects are. I need to figure out how to extend the range of my suit and explore this planet to see what is out there. I also add making more ration bars to the list.
“Good morning, John. How are you feeling today?”
“Honestly? A little sore. Beyond that, I had trouble sleeping last night. I kept waking up worried we’d run out of electricity and that the life support systems would shut off. I take it that the solar cells have been working fine since I can still breathe?”
“I’m sorry you didn’t sleep well. If you’d like, tonight I could play music from Snorrtian Orchestra. They’re renowned throughout multiple systems for their ability to put an audience asleep.”
“Sure. We can try that. But about my other question.”
“Yes, the solar cells are working to their specifications. If you’re concerned about our supply of electricity, I can show you the details of our production and the costs of required and optional systems. It may make you feel better if you can see that we have a sustainable system currently.”
I agree with the suggestion, and SAI gives me the details of the ship’s power requirements to show me how often we can use the fabricator.
Ship Details
Ship Batteries, total capacity: 50,000 Amp Hours
Current Charge: 4843 Amp Hours
Required System costs
Life Support cost: 400 Amps/hour
Base Electric Systems: 200 Amps/hour
20-Hour standard cycle: Minimum 12,000 Amps needed per cycle
Optional Costs
Fabricator - Creation: 200-5000 Amps
Fabricator - Deconstruction: 200 Amps
Current Electric Production
Solar Cell (Each 1 m^2): 60 Amps/hour
Current cell count (20): 1200 Amps/hour
Hours of Daylight available: 12
Total daily electricity production: 14,400 Amps
According to the information provided, we’re surviving. It’s amazing how happy that those three words make me. We. Are. Surviving. I smile and do a little dance. Surviving now means that I have a chance to see my wife and kid.
The new solar cells make 14,400 Amps of electricity during the day, but none at night. That’s enough to keep the life support and essential ship functions running, and there’s even an excess of about two-thousand amps per day being stored in the ship’s batteries, though it will take weeks to charge them up to full capacity. Even if the ship’s batteries are fully charged, however, we’ll only have a few days to fix things before everything shuts down if something happens to the solar cells.
Now that it’s daytime again, I can see the batteries charging in real time. Though we’re down to a couple of thousand Amps, it’s enough that I can use the fabricator again without shutting the ship down. Well, assuming I don’t make anything too big.
Current Resources
H (Hydrogen): 243.538 kg, C (Carbon): 208.142 kg, N (Nitrogen): 23.193 kg, Fe (iron): 11.3 kg, Al (Aluminum): 2.72 kg, Cu
(Copper): 432.9 kg, O (Oxygen): 9.856 kg, Si (Silicon): 6.23 kg, S (Sulfur): 0.3 kg, Li (Lithium): 0.552 kg, Ni (Nickel): 0.345 kg, Co (Cobalt): 0.345 kg, P (Phosphorus): 0.184 kg
The first thing I want to fabricate is more food. The rations are made of hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen with negligible amounts of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and sulfur. The rations contain all things the body needs to survive including a ration of water. The major costs of each ration: Hydrogen: 0.126 kg, Carbon: .727 kg, Oxygen: 0.303 kg, and while that doesn’t seem like a lot, SAI reminds me that the oxygen in one ration bar is equal to what I’d breath in an hour. So, I can’t just produce a month's worth of rations, or I’ll use up all the oxygen I need to breathe in the future.
“SAI, my brain already hurts from trying to juggle all these numbers. Can you tell me if I’ll kill myself if I make two weeks’ worth of rations?”
“No, John, you won’t kill yourself if you fabricate fourteen ration bars, but you’ll only have enough oxygen to survive for seven days.”
“And without finding more oxygen, I won’t be around to use all the rations. So, what if I made a week’s worth of rations instead?”