Y2156.12.08 Ellie’s Place (East of Brulantfort) [Hol & Tut]

[atpollard]

Y2156.12.08:morning Ellie’s Place (East of Brulantfort) [Hol & Tut]

Hol and Tut remained behind at the SHIP. Hol spent the morning with the AI while Tut unpacked a few of the DRONES to get them up and operational (slaving them to the AI Robots you already owned). Shouts from Hol attracted Tut’s attention and lured him into the Cockpit.

Hol: “ You gotta check this out”

Once Hol had abandoned “small talk” with the AI and focused on more technical matters, he made several breakthroughs in rapid succession and wanted to share the discovery with Tut to get his input.

The ship’s computer was smarter and faster than it had been last week. Hol had been playing with the Pilot interface. He knew what a Navy Computer could do. Last week, the computer felt like SOTA for TL 10 Navy … about equal to most of the Confederation Warships … but now it felt more like SOTA for TL 11 … Like the cutting edge Beau Strike Craft.

Tut used his COMP-2 to run a few benchmark tests … Hol was right. The Ship’s AI was running faster and handling significantly more data than when you first found it … more than just a few days ago. Hol and Tut began discussing the DRONES, the Repairs and the ship’s capabilities and the AI casually informed you that it was currently capable of controlling six DRONES at Skill-2. It projected that capability would expand to ten drones by Y2156.12.14 and fifteen drones by Y2156.12.18. It also suggested that, as an alternative, it could operate up to four times as many drones at skill-0 … 24 Drones at present … to assist you in searching the “Boneyard” more efficiently or for Cargo Handling.

The examination of the AI was interrupted, mid-morning, by a COMM message. A delivery truck was waiting with supplies at the Main Road. Taking the Grav Pickup to collect the shipment (and pay the Cr 18,000 C.O.D. charge), Hol and Tut took possession of twelve cylinders weighing 10 kg each. They resembled the standard canisters for a Starship Life Support System in size and shape. As you loaded them in the back of the pickup, six were marked “liquefied gas [Krypton, Xenon, Radon]” and six were marked “Silicon based lubricant” with a radioactive hazard label attached.

You paid the driver and returned to the ship with another 6 weeks of “Life Support” for the Ship’s Computer … thru Y2157.02.21 (10 weeks) … with the next delivery scheduled for around Y2157.01.21 (6 weeks from now).

[ateno]

Tut will load the supplies as needed and continue with tests of the computer and prepare the use of the drones.

Tut

[gurusql]

Hol

Hol will help handle supplies and will be happy with his drone purchase.

[atpollard]

Y2156.12.08:afternoon Hydrogen Generation [Mick, DJ Hol & Tut]

Throughout the day, in and among other activities, the issue of creating Liquid Hydrogen for your fleet of droids was explored.

Mick had purchased a small Hydrogen Generator for his Pickup and hoped to simply acquire a larger one to meet the Company Needs. Almost immediately, he was assaulted by a wall of paperwork and an army of suspicion. Mick quickly discovered two great truths. First, Hydrogen Gas occupied 1000 times the volume of Liquid hydrogen, thus a small lab might need even 1000 liters of hydrogen gas, bit that was only 1/1000 of a tonne of Liquid Hydrogen. Thus the creation of 1000 liters (1 dTon) of LH2 was equivalent to a million liters of Hydrogen Gas … and the government CARED about people with that sort of capability. So Mick was fine with a system that generated a liter per hour of LH2, but larger systems required special industrial licenses. The second fact was only Montsoliel had Industrial scale systems.

DJ calmly accepted this information and decided to casually inquire about INDUSTRIAL Hydrogen production systems at Montsoliel. It was a “good news and bad news” situation. Good news was they had them. Bad news was that Montsoliel Spaceport had a monopoly on producing LH2 in commercial quantities on Beau. Thus the systems could only be installed on Spacecraft for use OFF-WORLD.

The rest of the Company followed the exchanges over the secured COMMs. The Ship’s AI suggested to Hol and Tut that this might be an opportunity to test the DRONE-0 scavenging plan in the Boneyard. Perhaps they could FIND what they could not purchase.

Thus it came to pass that Hol, Tut and 24 Drones under the control of the ship’s AI began to scour the Boneyard for parts. Although there were no Fuel Purifiers just laying around, the AI produced a shopping list of parts that might be repurposed to create one. This commenced the Great Scavenger Hunt. The DRONES began carting parts back to the transport and loading them aboard. A part from this system and a sub-assembly from that system and a controller from another completely unrelated system.

Once back at the ship, most of the drones shut down as Tut worked alongside an army of Engineering and Mechanical workers as good as he was to modify the parts and assemble them according to the Master Plan. In the end, a small plant powered a well that extracted groundwater, filtered it, converted it into Unrefined LH2 Fuel and pumped it along a hose into the ship’s fuel tank for storage. It was crude, 6.5 tonnes and only produced 13 tonnes of fuel per hour [compared to 22 tonnes of Refined LH2 per hour for a small Starship Purifier from Montsoliel] … but it was all yours and nobody knew about it. Free Fuel for vehicles, robots and small craft … just don’t try to Jump.

[ateno]

"I was happy to do it, like I was in the asteroids again, working with what's at hand. Only there was more available and better conditions. Good thing it can run all the time. I'm gonna fab a fuel tank next, but I'm gonna hide it so satellites can't see it."

Tut puts the parameters into the search for the drones, either one that's already made and needs transport and burial or metal that we can repurpose and fab.

"You had to do something like this in the Navy, I'm sure Hol?"

Tut

[gurusql]

Hol

"In the Navy, I hardly got off the ships. The life of a pilot. We should keep going, I cannot wait to take this baby up. Still a long way to go of course."

[atpollard]

Y2156.12.08:evening Ellie’s Place (East of Brulantfort) [Hol & Tut]

Hol and Tut located several Starship Fuel Tanks that would serve as underground fuel storage tanks. At 10 dTon capacity each, they weighed 1 tonne empty but were “bulky” at 140 cubic meters (140,000 Liters) each. Hol flew one under the Medium Transport using a makeshift sling that Tut had rigged. Excavating the hole to bury it would take a while, but the DRONES worked on through the night.

Task = [6] … easy
Roll = [12] … extreme success

[ateno]

"Yeah, its a lot of work, but thats the ticket. We should look forward to you girlfriend, she would want this for her after we leave. Something to think about.

Tut makes sure the feed lines are the best the drones can find and pressure tests and picks the best tank for the job.

Tut

[gurusql]

Hol

"With all the heat these days she may want to get off this rock. Who knows?"

[atpollard]

With the sun setting, the group returned to Camp.

[Continued in DAY 9]