by S. H. Jucha
Descartes sent.
The conference was filled with Talusian laughter.
The revivalist sister sent,
The Omnians felt the links drop. There was another pause, and then Suntred said, “We’ll be ready to depart tomorrow morning. This evening we’ll meet with the president to discuss his directives for our participation in the conclave. He does have one request.”
Descartes politely tipped his head.
“You discussed Mickey Brandon’s efforts with the Messinant domes,” Suntred said. “If it is at all possible, President Sargut wishes Toral to possess one of these domes. He’d like it connected to a human world, preferably Omnia.”
“While I can’t speak for our leaders,” Étienne said, “I believe that’s their intention. They want a base in the federacy to facilitate the growth of cooperation, and Talus is their choice.”
“Your car is waiting below to return you to your traveler,” Suntred said, rising. Her wings unfurled completely. “Your visit has been most welcome, and Miriamette and I look forward to sailing with your command.”
As the pair exited, Étienne received a query from Miriamette. She sent,
16: Cut It Up?
The five mining captains and the SADE stood at the rim of the huge hole that had been excavated on the ridge mere hundreds of meters from the Re-Gen dome.
The site was terraced to allow the installation of each lower level. Working in reverse, the upper platform deck would be added last.
“Minimalist, we’ve been thinking,” Captain Gurtride said over the captains’ conference channel. “You’ve got to cut up the dome from the top to the bottom. Then you’ve got to reassemble it in this pit from the bottom up.”
“We’ve got a lot of experience moving equipment in airless environments. Perhaps, you could use some additional help?” Gurtride proposed.
Minimalist sent.
“That was true then,” Captain Postilano chimed in, “but opinions have changed.”
“More like egos were hurt,” Captain Horner admitted.
“The crews found out four humans were working in the connecting dome, and they’d solved the mystery of how to power down a dome,” Horner replied. “In addition, they learned that one of the humans was Kasie Cinders. When these crews see another Cinders taking risks for the lot of us, it makes them feel a little awkward about running for home when they could have been of help.”
“Accepted,” the five captains said in unison.
“What’s the plan?” Captain Yolandra asked.
The captains contacted their crew chiefs and senior engineers. Their directives were to hustle to the dome and work with Luther.
As Captain Derry put it to his crew chief, “We’ve got more time under contract. Help the SADE, Luther, and the big Crocians figure how best to cut up the dome. Suggest ideas. Don’t dictate. Am I understood?”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” the crew chief replied. Then he tapped two engineers to follow him.
Seventeen Pyreans joined the host of Crocians inside the dome. They crawled over every centimeter of the installation, searching for joints and the means by which sections could be separated.
At the end of the second day, Luther and Minimalist gathered the entire collection of Crocians and Pyreans.
“How are you moving the levels, and where are you temporarily putting them?” Captain Gurtride inquired.
With the start of the day, the miners and the Crocians discovered three Tridents had arrived. Now, their travelers had joined the carrier’s four that floated above the moon’s surface.
The Crocians rumbled at the idea of suspending the first and second dome levels under ships, until the lowest level was removed.
Luther and Minimalist cooperated in assigning work crews. Pyreans were always placed with Crocian engineers.
SADEs, except for Luther and Minimalist, carefully tagged every item. Their kernels recorded the item, the tag, its position, and the order in which the piece was to be removed.
Previously, the SADEs and the Crocians had examined the translucent tubes that connected platforms to the power supply. There was no obvious means of removing the tubing from beneath the platforms. However, the SADEs considered this was the place to start the disassembly.
Several attempts were made to disconnect the first tube from the platform with simple twists or a pull. None were successful.
At one point, a Crocian engineer, who had examined many intersections of equipment carefully, asked,
SADEs examined the holes. Their eyes determined the spacing evident on several components. The distances were determined to be exactly the same. Quickly, they reviewed the various devices they’d inventoried in the storage room. A match was found, and a SADE was sent to recover the case.
Luther removed one of thirty little tools. Each device was no more than a pair of half-centimeter spikes connected by a curved rod. A switch was mounted in the middle of the arch.
The Crocian who had helped brace the tubing rumbled deeply. He w
aved off the two SADEs who had also gripped the tubing. Then he kept the long length of Messinant material aloft by gripping the open end with two fingers.
The Crocian’s actions elicited laughter and rumblings from the audience.
Minimalist sent privately to Luther.
A new search was conducted. Everyone adopted various contortions to review the entire construct. Crocians used instruments to examine the upper reaches, their heads bent back at awkward angles. Pyreans crawled on their hands and knees or lay on their backs to eye the attachments of platforms, console, deck, and the myriad pieces that were housed below.
Everywhere that was searched, individuals found the tiny telltale paired indentations.
One Pyrean crew chief commented to her captain, “This place is built like a child’s assembly set. It completely comes apart. I don’t think there’s a single weld in the entire assembly.”
Derry had replied, “The SADE told us to think like engineers of an advanced technological race. I guess this is what you would create, if you were that smart.”
The SADEs revamped their plan on how to move the dome, and Luther and Minimalist were congratulated by Mickey on retaining the services of the Pyrean miners. The dome would require an enormous amount of effort to break down the structure and move the thousands of pieces.
“What I wouldn’t give to have an annual with a group of Messinant engineers,” Mickey commented to Miriam.
“That’s supposing that the Messinants would deign to speak to you, or that you would understand their concepts and applications,” Miriam retorted.
Mickey narrowed an eye at Miriam. As the SADE turned to leave the engineering lab, Mickey yelled, “One can hope.”
At the dome, the SADEs and the Crocians tried to determine how they could make use of the tunnels and the dorm rooms as storage for parts, but that would necessitate the ramp being dropped. To do that, the dome had to be powered. That led to questions about how to coordinate the closing of the ramp with shutting down the dome again.
During the course of the next two weeks, individuals collaborated to uncouple the myriad pieces of the Messinant dome and transport the parts to the waiting ships.
What were thought to be single constructs, such as the platform deck, came apart in more than a hundred pieces. The outer ring separated into six sections. The platforms uncoupled. The console was lifted from its sliding mechanism. After the ramp was detached, the deck itself was removed in wedges.
There seemed to be nothing that had appeared to be a solid construct that couldn’t be broken down into smaller components. It was only a matter of locating the pairs of tiny holes.
However, there were no holes to be found on the power plant, which was expected. Unlike the rest of the dome, it was decided to leave the power generator on the surface. With care, it was lifted from the lower deck by a traveler and set on a temporary surface nearby. It was now exposed to space.
When the lower deck was clear of equipment and parts, all that remained was the decking itself.
A Pyrean crew chief, who was on his hands and knees uttered, “Uh oh.” He stood up, looked around, ran to another section of the deck, bent over, and muttered again. His actions were repeated four more times, while others examined the area the chief had studied.
“Any time, Chief,” Yolandra commented drily.
“Don’t like the look of this, Captain,” the chief replied. “If I were to guess, I’d say these six hexagonal grooves in the deck indicated posts or struts beneath the deck.”
SADEs and Crocians reviewed the spots the chief indicated.
Minimalist sent privately to Luther.
Minimalist replied. The SADE signaled the captains to his side. Then he walked to the deck’s edge.
“How deep?” Postilano inquired.
Postilano directed his crew chief to organize a party and begin the excavation.
“Listen, you bunch of ore chasers,” the chief said sternly to the crew he’d assembled. “I don’t want to see a tool strike this deck. Dig carefully. We don’t know what’s down there, and you know the captain and I don’t like surprises.”
The process proceeded painstakingly slow. No doubt, the chief standing at the edge of the deck next to the hole that was being dug did much to enforce his directives.
The first horizontal exploratory shaft touched something solid. The coring bit was replaced with a soft head and sent in again.
Minimalist placed his hand on the hexagonal plate and signaled the crew member on the drill. The SADE could feel the vibrations. He signaled Luther that his assumption was correct.
“Someone should tell the SADEs,” a Pyrean said to his companion.
“Tell the chief,” the companion urged.
“Chief,” the first spacer called over the comm, “you should take a look at the dig.”
“What?” the chief asked, as he lay down on the deck.
The spacer kicked at the regolith face toward the horizontal core. The regolith had been compressed by the dome’s weight. Nonetheless, the spacer’s boot knocked some of it loose. Then he motioned the others aside, picked up a drill bit extension, and smacked the regolith at his feet. If there had been air to carry the sound, the impact would have rung the drill’s metal.
“Minimalist,” the chief said, “the material about a meter and a half down is fused.”
While the SADEs, the Crocians, the Pyrean engineers, and Mickey considered options, Bortoth and Daktora leaned to peer into the hole. They’d been instrumental in developing versions of the shadows that the tiny Pims had employed. The latest versions were employed by the Resistance troops.
The Crocians explained their idea to the SADEs and Mickey. They proposed excavating five more holes to the same depth. Furthermore, the regolith between the holes and the posts must be removed, completely exposing the posts.
Minimalist leapt into the hole. He landed neatly between two spacers, with centimeters to spare. From behind helmet faceplates, wide eyes blinked at him.
The SADE used a drill tool to smack the fused material. He broke off a tiny chip, which he examined with various aspects of his avatar.
Mickey exhaled slowly. They had made so much progress only to be stopped by a technique that they couldn’t easily reverse.
While the test was being prepared, the Crocians, the Pyreans, and most SADEs were evacuated.
Minimalist and Luther stood on the ramp of a traveler, when Minimalist signaled the firing of the plasma rifle. Nearly a metric ton of crystalized minerals shot into the air.
The pilot dropped rapidly to the deck, and the SADEs lightly leapt off.
The deck was covered with chunks, shards, and minute pieces of fused material.
Minimalist jumped into the hole, crawled under the deck, and examined the results.
In quick order, five more holes were excavated with shafts that exposed the posts. Then five more plasma rifles were set on tripods and trained at the fused material next to the posts.
Six SADEs, not including Luther and Minimalist, stayed on the surface, standing near the new dig site.
Minimalist triggered each plasma rifle, allowing five seconds between blasts. Then the additional SADEs leapt into the holes and reset the rifles.
Eventually, tripods and plasma rifles were replaced, as the blasts damaged them.
