by Bob Blanton
“I think an elevator would be nice,” Leslie gulped.
“You’re lucky we installed one then,” Samantha said.
“You mean you’ve done that leap?” Leslie asked.
“Yes, it’s not as bad as it looks,” Samantha said. “Some people actually show off and do it without the line.”
“Crazy people, you mean,” Leslie said.
“Young people,” Samantha countered.
“How does this elevator work?” Leslie asked. Becky kept the camera rolling, but nodded her head aggressively to show she would like to know also.
“There are elevator slots along that wall,” Catie said, pointing to the wall opposite the one the worker had gone into. “They’re curved so that the slot accelerates the elevator car gradually as it goes down. When you get to the bottom, you’re going the same speed as the floor, so you don’t stumble. At that point things should feel normal.”
“If you say so,” Leslie said. “You have tested this, right?”
“Hundreds of times,” Catie said.
“How do you get back up?” Leslie asked.
“The elevator slides over beneath a slot that curves the opposite way. You get pulled up, and the slot lets you slow down as you rise. By the time you get to the top, it’s not moving, and the elevator pops out. There’s a small jolt at the start and stop, but not much worse than you get in some skyscrapers,” Catie said. “It’s all magnetically coupled, so no wires to get tangled.”
“That was easy,” Leslie said as the elevator came to a stop. “And it’s nice to be able to tell which way is up.”
“This is twenty percent of Earth’s gravity,” Catie said. “You need to be careful, it’s a bit awkward walking. You kind of bounce a bit. So, take small steps. We’re only a little way from the ring elevator.”
Catie led them down the hallway to another set of elevators, “These only go to the rings, so only four stops, this one and one for each ring.”
“Okay, so what should we expect?” Leslie asked.
“You’re going to feel heavier as we move outward. When we stop, you’ll feel the same as you do on Earth,” Catie said.
“No funny stepping or bouncing?” Leslie asked.
“There is a difference, but you probably won’t notice. It’s really only apparent when you’re running,” Catie said. “Here we go.” Catie pushed the button, and the elevator took them down to the third ring.
“Well, that’s the fastest I’ve ever gained weight,” Leslie said as the elevator came to a stop.
“Don’t worry, you’ll lose it all on the way back up to the hub,” Samantha said.
“Be careful,” Catie said as they stepped from the elevator. “We have to take a few steps down to the floor. This will be the subbasement where all the utilities will be. There’s no real floor, just the inside of the station’s hull. Step over this beam, and we can take the golf cart to where the guys are working.”
“This place is huge,” Leslie said as she followed Catie. “Why is it so empty?”
“We’re just now putting in the hull reinforcing beams,” Catie explained. “Once they finish that, they’ll start putting the frame and decking in for the floors.”
“How many floors is it going to have?” Leslie asked.
“It will have six and a half floors plus the subbasement,” Catie answered. “We say the top floor is half a floor because only half of it is really usable due to the hull curvature.”
“Just seven floors?” Leslie wondered as she looked up at the ceiling.
“It’s thirty meters to the ceiling; the floors are four meters each, but that includes the subfloor where the utilities run, so when it’s finished you have ten-foot ceilings in the living space,” Catie explained.
“Wow, that’s better than my apartment,” Becky said.
“Because people will already feel claustrophobic up here, we’re making the space big, so they’ll feel less confined. It should lead to better mental health,” Samantha explained.
“Hold on, we have to go over a beam,” Catie said. Then she drove the golf cart up and over a beam using a set of ramps the workers had placed for that purpose. Then a few meters farther along, she drove over a second beam.
“That was fun,” Samantha said. “A little roller coaster ride thrown in for free.”
“I’m glad you liked it,” Catie said. “We have two more sets before we get there.”
Soon they came to the construction area. Two people were working on some scaffolding while a plasma torch device was crawling along the floor, extruding a beam.
Samantha stepped out of the cart and walked over to the crew while Catie and Natalia helped Becky and Leslie get out.
“I think you’ve already told me, but how wide is this thing?” Leslie asked.
“It’s fifty meters wide,” Catie said. “It’s an ellipsoid, which gives it a lot of strength, but causes a few problems since everything is curved.”
Samantha came back, leading one of the construction workers. “Everybody, this is Nolan Bishop, the foreman for the construction going on here.”
“Hello, ladies,” Nolan said. “A safety tip before we start: your specs will automatically adjust to the plasma beam’s brightness to protect your eyes. But be careful, they take some time to adjust back, so you’ll be blind for a second when you turn away from the beam.”
“Thank you,” Leslie said as she shook Nolan’s hand. “Can you explain to everyone what you’re doing here?”
“Sure can,” Nolan said. “Essentially, we’re putting in the station’s ribs. The hull is extremely strong, but we’re adding these ribs to strengthen it and to provide something to hook onto when we start building the units.”
“Why are these spaced so much closer than the last ones we went over?” Leslie asked.
“Let me explain how we did all this, then it will make sense,” Nolan said. “First thing we did was make the hull, it’s a huge donut. It was made in four sections at the same time. When one section was finishing, it kinda joined right into the other section, so we had a complete donut when it was all over.”
“I see,” Leslie said. “That must have been quite an undertaking.”
“Yep, it took a whole month to make the entire donut,” Nolan said.
“It only took one month to make this whole thing? That’s unbelievable!” Leslie exclaimed.
“It kinda is, isn’t it?” Nolan said. “Some real smart person figured out we could go faster if we extruded it. Made everything we’re doing go quicker.” Nolan looked at Catie as he said that since he knew that extruding the hull had been her idea.
“Extrude?” Leslie questioned.
“Here, let me show you,” Nolan said. “This here machine is extruding the beam; it’s a bit backward since the machine is moving instead of the beam, but it’s the same thing. It forms a little bit of the beam, then moves along, forming more as it goes; the form only allows the polysteel to be deposited inside it, so you get the beam coming out all finished. We have to put these disks into the machine so that the beam has holes in it; that actually makes the beam stronger, and uses less material. This machine is going to crawl along the hull here, following these frames put here to guide it. It’ll keep going up following the curve of the hull until it gets to that beam on the roof way up there.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” Leslie said. “We can’t see it from here.”
“Oh, it’s there alright,” Nolan said. “That was a lot of work to put that one in. We had to build scaffolding all along the way. And we had to stay in front of that little extrusion bot. The team that made the bot stop had to buy dinner for the entire crew, besides having to do all the work to get the bot started up again.”
“Does that mean it never stopped?” Leslie asked.
“Darn right it never stopped,” Nolan said. “We got to practice on the one we put on the floor here first, so we knew what to do. We just had to do it upside down and thirty meters over our heads,” he said with
a laugh.
“How long did that take?” Leslie asked.
“It took one day to set up, and then we had twenty-one days of that little bot chasing us around the ring before it joined the start of the beam. Then we had to do it again up there,” Nolan said. “It sure was exciting.”
“Again, only twenty-one days?” Leslie asked.
“We had crews working twenty-four hours a day,” Nolan said. “Had to keep that bot fed and running the whole time. It seems like a long time when you’re doing it. That thing crawls along real slow. Of course, once it got going, we got right to work behind it, putting up the scaffolding for the ceiling beam. And once we had the ceiling beam going, we went right behind it, taking down the scaffolding. And we even put in those ribs you saw. One set at each of the spokes that attach the ring to the station, which is what you passed over on the way here.”
“That does sound like a lot of work,” Leslie said. “So, you were extruding the ceiling beam while you were still extruding the floor beam?”
“Yep, and by the end, we were adding ribs while they were both still being formed,” Nolan said. He was obviously proud of the work his team had done. “We got the whole thing done in one month, and I won a bet with the crew; they had to buy me a steak dinner.”
“Well, I would have thought your boss would have bought you a steak dinner,” Leslie said.
“Oh, he buys me a steak dinner every week,” Nolan said. “Yep, the whole crew gets a steak dinner any week we go without an accident.”
“Doesn’t that encourage you guys to cover up any accidents?” Leslie asked.
“Nope, can’t do it,” Nolan said, pointing to his specs. “These record everything, so the crew focuses on being extra careful, don’t we, Val?” he asked the second member of his crew as she walked over to the group.
“We sure do,” she said. “We like those steak dinners, and the boss buys real nice wines to go with them, too.”
“Hello,” Leslie said. “How long have you been working with the crew here?”
“I started back at the beginning with Nolan,” Val said. “We worked on the city, and then the airport. Couldn’t believe it when they asked us if we were willing to work up here in space.”
“After you finish this, what’s next?” Leslie asked.
“Well, once we finish putting in all these ribs, we’ll come back and put the decking down on top of them. Then we’ll just start building like you would on the ground. We try to do everything balanced, so whatever we do on one side of the ring, we have to do on the opposite side,” Nolan said. “Right now, there’s a team working directly opposite us doing the same thing we are. That way, the station is always balanced.”
“I think we’ve learned enough about construction,” Leslie said. “Now, you were going to show us one of the completed units where people live.”
◆ ◆ ◆
“This is Liz’s and my cabin,” Catie said as they arrived at their door.
“You share a cabin?” Leslie asked.
“Yes, we require everyone to share a cabin,” Catie replied.
“Even the Heir to the Realm?” Leslie joked.
“I tried that on Daddy,” Catie said as she opened the door and motioned for everyone to enter. “He told me we have to set an example.”
“So even he shares a cabin?” Leslie asked.
“Yes, no exceptions,” Catie said. “Of course, right now with people working both here and in Delphi City, you get the cabin to yourself a lot of the time.”
“This is a nice apartment,” Leslie said. “A nice sectional sofa, a huge TV display. And I assume those are also displays?” Leslie asked as she pointed to the two window-looking displays.
“Of course,” Catie said. “That one shows the beach on Manuae, and the other one shows the reef that is just offshore.”
“Okay, so this is where you hang out,” Leslie said. “And this would be your dining area, a simple table and four chairs. My, that is an amazing kitchen. Can you describe the appliances?”
“We have an induction cooktop; we discourage any fire hazards, so only induction cooking. This is a GE Advantium oven; it’s a combo microwave, halogen, and convection oven. And that is a regular oven. We have a warming drawer, a refrigerator, and a separate freezer; double sinks for washing up, and a small dishwasher,” Catie explained.
“Do you cook?” Leslie asked.
“I’m learning. Liz is a good cook, and between her, my mother, and Sam, I’m learning,” Catie said. “But honestly, we eat out most of the time.”
“Why aren’t you living with your father?” Leslie asked.
“He’s right next door, so I pretty much am,” Catie said.
“Convenient,” Leslie said. “Can you describe the floor?”
“It’s polysteel covered with a very thin layer of non-slip tile. We make the tile up here,” Catie said.
“What about this rug?” Leslie asked.
“That is a Persian carpet,” Catie said. “I brought it up on one of the early flights. Back then, we were making so many flights up that it was almost free to ship the weight up here.”
“This is my bedroom,” Catie said as she opened a door on one side of the dining area.
“Where do you sleep?” Leslie asked.
“Oh, all the units have Murphy Beds,” Catie said. “The table here in the middle collapses down to the floor, and the bed folds down—a more efficient use of space. That’s my desk along the wall. I don’t keep a separate office up here like I have in Delphi City.”
“Why would you need an office?” Leslie asked. “If I recall right, you’re fourteen.”
“Yes, but I have school work, I do lots of design projects for MacKenzie Discoveries, and I have meetings with the people who are working on projects that I manage,” Catie said. “We have a shared office near Daddy’s office. You can just reserve it when you want to hold a meeting.”
“Your bedroom is nice; it has a private bath. A Persian rug for the floor in here, as well,” Leslie said. “I assume that’s Ms. Farmer’s room across the dining room.”
“Yes,” Catie said.
“A powder room, laundry, and what’s this?” Leslie asked.
“Storage,” Catie said.
Leslie opened the door to the storage; it was actually a flex room, but Catie had commandeered it for storage. “What are these?” Leslie asked.
“Persian rugs,” Catie said. “I figured I might as well bring up as many as I could when the cargo was almost free; that way, I can give them to my friends who can’t afford the weight allowance.”
“You’re going to have lots of friends,” Leslie said. “So, how big is this cabin?”
“Most of the cabins are two-bedroom units, and they are one hundred four square meters, that’s a bit over eleven hundred square feet,” Catie said. “The three-bedroom units are one hundred sixty square meters or seventeen hundred square feet.”
“This one is bigger than my apartment,” Becky said.
“We spend a lot of time in our cabins,” Catie said. “We don’t want people to get claustrophobic.”
“I guess not. You have nice tall ceilings,” Leslie said.
“Yes, they’re three meters, that’s just under ten feet,” Catie said.
“Okay, I guess we’re done here,” Leslie said. “A quick stop at the manufacturing facilities on our way out.”
“Sure, then we’ll take you home,” Catie said.
Chapter 4
Humble Pie
“Catie, we’ve got a new class of pilots moving from simulator to real Foxes. Are you coming to the ceremony?” Blake asked.
“You want me to?” Catie answered.
“We’ve got an especially needy candidate in this class,” Blake said. “I think he could use your help.”
“When is it?”
“Tomorrow morning at oh-nine-hundred, airport flight hangar as usual.”
“Okay, I’ll be there.”
“Wear your flight suit,” B
lake said.
“He’s that needy?” Catie asked.
“He sure is,” Blake said. “I think only you can help.”
“I’ll be there.”
◆ ◆ ◆
The next morning Catie slid into the conference room in the hangar. She was late, but she’d heard all the rah-rah speeches before. Besides, she knew her part didn’t come until the end. Blake was in front of the class giving his speech.
“This class has bitched more about the simulators than any class we’ve held,” Blake said. “Simulators are the way we preserve our pilots and our planes while you learn not to crash them.”
There was a polite chuckle from most of the pilots, and some grumbling from the rear group.
“Now, one would think that with so much grumbling about the simulators, you guys would have better scores on them. But the best in your class is only ninety-five percent. And in simulated pilot-to-pilot encounters, your best-in-class score is only ninety percent,” Blake said.
“Who’s done better,” someone in the back of the class shouted. Catie assumed it was the one who needed a little help.
“I can think of two off the top of my head,” Blake said. “In pilot-to-simulator combat, I’ve only lost once. And in pilot-to-pilot simulator combat, I’ve only lost to one pilot.”
“See, nobody’s perfect,” the voice in the back shouted out again.
“But someone is,” Blake shot back. “The pilot I lost to is perfect in pilot-to-simulator combat and in pilot-to-pilot simulations. I’ve lost to her, and I’ve lost to her every time I’ve gone up against her. I’d like to introduce my niece, Catie McCormack.”
Catie stood up and walked to the front of the stage.
“Your niece, you probably didn’t want to hurt her feelings,” the pilot in the back shouted.
“That might have been right the first five times I lost to her,” Blake said. “But the next fifty times I lost, I can assure you I was out for blood. As were the other twenty pilots who have lost to her in multiple tries.”
