Post by papaof2 on Mar 26, 2020 16:42:37 GMT -6
Another sample from the book of short stories I'm working on. This one is a short-short at about 1300 words.
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Chapter 1
"Jack? Are you crazy? Lighting that ancient carbide lantern when we're almost out of oxygen?"
"Tom, this small maintenance port on the dome is located where it is because there's a glacier of frozen oxygen on the other side. Every liter of 20% oxygen the lamp uses as it burns produces enough heat to release three liters of pure oxygen from the glacier. Once the lamp gets into a pure oxygen environment, the output goes up to 30 liters of pure oxygen released by the heat from each liter of pure oxygen used. When the oxygen level in the maintenance area is back up, I'll try to start the secondary sublimation unit and go check the primary unit. They both burn oxygen and methane at a much lower rate to thaw enough oxygen and methane to keep up with current usage."
"Why don't other mining operations do this? Nearly all of the asteroids with good mines have some amount of frozen oxygen."
"It's not the 'standard' mining camp configuration. It needs new equipment - you can't just move some 20-year-old camp lock, stock and barrel. The sublimation units cost more initially than the standard liquid oxygen storage tanks. People must be trained to use something new. That 'ancient' carbide lamp is made of the latest high temperature alloys so it can withstand burning acetylene and oxygen that long at metal-cutting temperatures. In simplest terms, 'it costs too much'…"
"But you're a little mining operation. How can you afford it?"
"It's cheaper than sending out a call for an emergency delivery of liquid oxygen by space freighter and not knowing if it will arrive in time."
"How much cheaper?"
"Factored over the estimated 10 million liter lifetime of the sublimation units, they're about seven per cent of the cost of the same amount of liquid oxygen and shipping. And the glacier is free - it's just overburden that needs to be removed. Because the 'carbide lamp' is more effective and has a longer life than the standard per-dome backup oxygen tanks, it could be worth a premium but it's about 50 per cent of the cost of the standard backup."
"No wonder the Intergalactic Securities and Exchange Commission didn't believe your first year's profit and loss statements. Question about the boring machine you've been working on. Is that a gasoline engine?"
"Modified to run on methane and fed oxygen from the hopper that has a small scoop of the glacier in it. The initial start requires using tanks of methane and oxygen to feed the burners that thin the oil in the crankcase and start the thaw of the frozen methane and oxygen. Once started, the heat from the engine continues to thaw enough frozen methane and oxygen to keep it running."
"So how many months can you mine here?"
"The official survey lists the glaciers as 'adequate for current level for consumption for more than 200 years' but that's the biggest number the official survey documents ever show. By my measurements, we have about 2,000 years of oxygen and methane in those glaciers at the rate we're using it now - including heating and lighting the hydroponics sheds for food production and that includes some small pigs and chickens from the Callisto system. They're very efficient at converting vegetable and fruit foliage to meat."
"You mean the bacon and eggs this morning…"
"Were real, not 'the best replicator food you've ever had'."
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Chapter 2
"What else do I not know about your operation here, Jack?"
"Joe Decker, head of R&D for Airco on Callisto, designed the sublimation unit because he knows the number of asteroids that are prime for mining and that have frozen oxygen and methane. The double unit here, with what should have been automatic switchover, is a research project. I got the units for half price if I agreed to some conditions. First, that I use them to test the switchover feature which they've triggered several times by causing some failure in the operating unit. Second, that I continue to use the units past their 10 million liter rated life so Airco can learn how long they last in actual service on a barren rock in empty space. He also sold me a third unit for that price when I told him I wanted to ensure we could operate if the switchgear failed and neither of those units could operate. I got my money's worth today when neither of the sublimation units on the switchgear could be restarted and the errors were coming from the switchgear. I notified Joe by subspace page and we'll have company in 18 hours or so. Joe will be bringing a couple of engineers and the three techs that assembled and tested the sublimators and the switchgear."
"Where will they sleep?"
"On the Airco FTL vessel. It's very well appointed. They'll also be getting most of their meals there - at least until Joe discovers I have real bacon."
"I've heard they have bacon at the Emperor's summer castle but that's about the only place you can find mention of the real stuff. Is that old paper book accurate? It has people raising their own pigs, chickens, goats and cows and feeding them from what they grew on their land. How rich did they have to be to have that much land?"
"In the day, they were considered poor because they lived on a small farm, maybe only ten acres…"
"Ten acres? That's the size of a small city! Wasn't that poor use of the land?"
"No. Most people were aware of the limits of food production and transport in the days before massive hydroponics and maglev so they got enough land to feed a family with what they could grow. If the tomatoes or beans produced more than they could use, they would barter with their neighbors for squash or corn or whatever for variety in the diets of both families."
"But they used so much land! And the houses were so big!"
"And Earth's population wasn't in the tens of billions. You've seen the layout here. How much space is used for the animals and for growing fresh food?"
"Several acres… but it's just barren rock and no one wants to live here!"
"The land then was often wooded and had to be cleared to be useful for raising animals or crops. That land was no more desirable to city dwellers than this rock is now. Only those serious about providing for themselves worked that hard."
"You said that pig was 50 kilos?"
"Yes. Something most planet-dwellers would consider required a powered lifting device of some type."
"Of course it does on the planets - they have real gravity, not the microgravity you have here."
"Turn off the gravity compensation on your exoskeleton."
"OK."
"Lift that bag of feed."
"Ungh! Umph! I can't! How much does this weigh?"
"Fifty kilos. What's the setting on my exoskeleton?"
"It's Off."
"Watch."
"You just moved and stacked six of those bags! How?"
"I live and mostly work in an environment of 0.9 to 1.1 Earth gravity. It means I don't need time to adapt when I go to most of the other planets for supplies or meetings and it's only on Jupiter that I need an exoskeleton for normal things. It also means I'm physically strong enough to do the work needed here. Mining has always been hard work. Working in low gravity requires less effort for some things but the mass of big objects doesn't change - once you set an ore cart in motion, it takes at least as much braking force as it would on Earth. If it's a hand cart, I must provide that force. Thus I keep the living and most of the working areas near 1G."
---
--------
Chapter 1
"Jack? Are you crazy? Lighting that ancient carbide lantern when we're almost out of oxygen?"
"Tom, this small maintenance port on the dome is located where it is because there's a glacier of frozen oxygen on the other side. Every liter of 20% oxygen the lamp uses as it burns produces enough heat to release three liters of pure oxygen from the glacier. Once the lamp gets into a pure oxygen environment, the output goes up to 30 liters of pure oxygen released by the heat from each liter of pure oxygen used. When the oxygen level in the maintenance area is back up, I'll try to start the secondary sublimation unit and go check the primary unit. They both burn oxygen and methane at a much lower rate to thaw enough oxygen and methane to keep up with current usage."
"Why don't other mining operations do this? Nearly all of the asteroids with good mines have some amount of frozen oxygen."
"It's not the 'standard' mining camp configuration. It needs new equipment - you can't just move some 20-year-old camp lock, stock and barrel. The sublimation units cost more initially than the standard liquid oxygen storage tanks. People must be trained to use something new. That 'ancient' carbide lamp is made of the latest high temperature alloys so it can withstand burning acetylene and oxygen that long at metal-cutting temperatures. In simplest terms, 'it costs too much'…"
"But you're a little mining operation. How can you afford it?"
"It's cheaper than sending out a call for an emergency delivery of liquid oxygen by space freighter and not knowing if it will arrive in time."
"How much cheaper?"
"Factored over the estimated 10 million liter lifetime of the sublimation units, they're about seven per cent of the cost of the same amount of liquid oxygen and shipping. And the glacier is free - it's just overburden that needs to be removed. Because the 'carbide lamp' is more effective and has a longer life than the standard per-dome backup oxygen tanks, it could be worth a premium but it's about 50 per cent of the cost of the standard backup."
"No wonder the Intergalactic Securities and Exchange Commission didn't believe your first year's profit and loss statements. Question about the boring machine you've been working on. Is that a gasoline engine?"
"Modified to run on methane and fed oxygen from the hopper that has a small scoop of the glacier in it. The initial start requires using tanks of methane and oxygen to feed the burners that thin the oil in the crankcase and start the thaw of the frozen methane and oxygen. Once started, the heat from the engine continues to thaw enough frozen methane and oxygen to keep it running."
"So how many months can you mine here?"
"The official survey lists the glaciers as 'adequate for current level for consumption for more than 200 years' but that's the biggest number the official survey documents ever show. By my measurements, we have about 2,000 years of oxygen and methane in those glaciers at the rate we're using it now - including heating and lighting the hydroponics sheds for food production and that includes some small pigs and chickens from the Callisto system. They're very efficient at converting vegetable and fruit foliage to meat."
"You mean the bacon and eggs this morning…"
"Were real, not 'the best replicator food you've ever had'."
---
Chapter 2
"What else do I not know about your operation here, Jack?"
"Joe Decker, head of R&D for Airco on Callisto, designed the sublimation unit because he knows the number of asteroids that are prime for mining and that have frozen oxygen and methane. The double unit here, with what should have been automatic switchover, is a research project. I got the units for half price if I agreed to some conditions. First, that I use them to test the switchover feature which they've triggered several times by causing some failure in the operating unit. Second, that I continue to use the units past their 10 million liter rated life so Airco can learn how long they last in actual service on a barren rock in empty space. He also sold me a third unit for that price when I told him I wanted to ensure we could operate if the switchgear failed and neither of those units could operate. I got my money's worth today when neither of the sublimation units on the switchgear could be restarted and the errors were coming from the switchgear. I notified Joe by subspace page and we'll have company in 18 hours or so. Joe will be bringing a couple of engineers and the three techs that assembled and tested the sublimators and the switchgear."
"Where will they sleep?"
"On the Airco FTL vessel. It's very well appointed. They'll also be getting most of their meals there - at least until Joe discovers I have real bacon."
"I've heard they have bacon at the Emperor's summer castle but that's about the only place you can find mention of the real stuff. Is that old paper book accurate? It has people raising their own pigs, chickens, goats and cows and feeding them from what they grew on their land. How rich did they have to be to have that much land?"
"In the day, they were considered poor because they lived on a small farm, maybe only ten acres…"
"Ten acres? That's the size of a small city! Wasn't that poor use of the land?"
"No. Most people were aware of the limits of food production and transport in the days before massive hydroponics and maglev so they got enough land to feed a family with what they could grow. If the tomatoes or beans produced more than they could use, they would barter with their neighbors for squash or corn or whatever for variety in the diets of both families."
"But they used so much land! And the houses were so big!"
"And Earth's population wasn't in the tens of billions. You've seen the layout here. How much space is used for the animals and for growing fresh food?"
"Several acres… but it's just barren rock and no one wants to live here!"
"The land then was often wooded and had to be cleared to be useful for raising animals or crops. That land was no more desirable to city dwellers than this rock is now. Only those serious about providing for themselves worked that hard."
"You said that pig was 50 kilos?"
"Yes. Something most planet-dwellers would consider required a powered lifting device of some type."
"Of course it does on the planets - they have real gravity, not the microgravity you have here."
"Turn off the gravity compensation on your exoskeleton."
"OK."
"Lift that bag of feed."
"Ungh! Umph! I can't! How much does this weigh?"
"Fifty kilos. What's the setting on my exoskeleton?"
"It's Off."
"Watch."
"You just moved and stacked six of those bags! How?"
"I live and mostly work in an environment of 0.9 to 1.1 Earth gravity. It means I don't need time to adapt when I go to most of the other planets for supplies or meetings and it's only on Jupiter that I need an exoskeleton for normal things. It also means I'm physically strong enough to do the work needed here. Mining has always been hard work. Working in low gravity requires less effort for some things but the mass of big objects doesn't change - once you set an ore cart in motion, it takes at least as much braking force as it would on Earth. If it's a hand cart, I must provide that force. Thus I keep the living and most of the working areas near 1G."
---
