'City of Fresno'

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

City of Fresno #112

The Engineers' 'Glean Team', led by Joe McDonald, announced they would soon begin building a second 'Front End' Pod. Although a 'Gas Diving' Tug could easily manage two pairs of big tanks rather than one, such was too risky. Beyond the tragedy of losing a Tug crew, losing that irreplaceable Tug and those four tanks would be catastrophic, seriously constraining future options. Similarly, without a spare 'Front End', a multitude of Murphy mishaps lay in wait...

Enough folk had now completed Catering 'Hygiene', 'Barista' and/or 'Wash-Up' training that I was no longer 'valuable' in the Diner. As the passage of time brought the majority of those obscured 'Inner System' objects into clear view, it progressively shrank the error-bars of our many, many 'Preliminary' orbit determinations. Re-acquiring, identifying temporarily sub-threshold objects was now routine. So, the pace of mapping had steadily eased. And, despite several false-positives, there was only that single 'Mini-Mars'. All the rest were much, much smaller. Must be said, a quorum of those 'possibles' displayed 'Anomalous Albedo' and 'Ambiguous Spectra'. Intermittently brighter than their neighbours, they had seemed larger, were now warily short-listed for a closer look...

So, yes, I was co-opted to the Engineers' project. Upside, we had a proven design for this second 'Front End'. We knew its quirks and foibles. We knew its tolerances and margins. In fact, clever Joe had managed to 'significantly' simplify some stages, which would 'usefully' improve through-put. And, this time, we could get 'Good Enough' by stripping just one (1) 'Evac Pod'. After some discussion, the decision was made to also build a third 'Front End', to be sure, to be sure.

Our work-force consisted of four contrasting groups. Joe and several Engineers led. I was in the team who'd done much 'Evac Pod' stripping, then assembly of the first 'Front End' and its 'Main Plant'. Ms. Betrys headed up a half-dozen 'Tugger' youngsters, all scary-bright and focussed like so many comm-lasers. To no-one's surprise, Cadet Collins was 'seconded' as her 'Crew Liaison'. Pete Prentice brought a squad of 'D&D' teens. Most had helped with the earlier 'Evac Pod' strips and assembly. Some now did 'HVAC' maintenance and basic 'Ponics. All would be logging valuable 'Experience Points', augmenting both 'Real' and 'In-Game' skill levels. Their canny 'Dungeon Masters' had directed that 'Tugger' youngsters should be considered 'Honorary Hobbits', afforded appropriate respect...

Unspoken was these youngsters were, excepting a very, very few 'Last Minute' leavers' precious infants, toddlers and pre-schoolers, the only sub-teens aboard 'Fresno'. And, given we could face a possible decade of wary, near-nomadic travel before gaining enough security, enough confidence, to risk significant population growth, we faced a scary generational gap. Even before that, should our trek approach five or six years, we must begin ship-wide 'Bio-Banking', cryo-preservation of eggs and sperm before quality degraded with age...

At least, this time around, we lacked the first build's hyper-hectic, near-manic scramble. Work on the two new 'Front End' Pods was reasonably paced. It allowed us a genuine 'Teaching Opportunity', with many 'hands-on' tutorials. Better, it let us ask, 'How *else* could we do this or that ?'

There was scant room aboard a 'Rock Tug' for more than a minimal workshop. Even so, crews were remarkably adept at 'boot-strapping' that limited provision. Home-docked, both their 'Habs' carried respectable Mill / Drill / Lathes, sheet-benders and their ilk, catering to a wide range of 'Tug-sized' tasks. The Engineers had their nice 'Boutique / Bistro' facilities. Thanks to my Uncle Jack, I was familiar with several oft-disconcerting 'retro' approaches, such as spin-shaping and explosive hydro-forming. While a 'Rock Hopper', I'd improvised two unorthodox, but essential repairs. Okay, neither were to full 'Dock Workshop' standard, but the 'restricted' rating of that Stir-Welded 'Mantis Grapple' boom and my 'significant' Eddy Current annealing of a stricken flange's micro-fractures sufficed...

[Nik_SpeakerToCats]

City of Fresno #113

Building on the 'live' process data acquired by 'Cwm Fahr', the 'Cooberra' Tuggers filled their main tanks almost a day faster. Then, they focussed on filling the side-stream tankage. This was carefully timed for Kieffer's rapid rotation to bring them to a convenient 'sling-shot' angle to speed the return leg.

With 'Front End' and laden 'Tankage' Pods safely delivered, with Tug again docked to their 'Home Hab', the Tuggers had a party. I don't know if it was officially a youngster's early or late birthday, or a family anniversary, but every-one knew it was to celebrate the successful glean.

'Front End' construction was paused while the rest of us crawled all over that first Pod. We checked sensor calibrations, flanges' and mountings' bolt torques. We dismantled valves and pumps, checked for deposits, seal distortion or worse. We sought the spoor of subtle leaks and other woes using visible and ultra-violet lights, both as-is and polarised, plus eddy-current scans to detect micro-fractures.

Happily, we found nothing beyond a very, very welcome lack of anomalies. Still, this survey established a valuable 'Trig Point', a baseline for future comparison.

After a week, 'Cwm Fahr' loaded up a fresh pair of empty 'City' tanks, the 'side-stream' nest and the 'Front End' Pod, set off for 'Kieffer'.

'Front End' construction duly resumed. We'd just about completed the pair's assembly, had begun commissioning tests, when Lt. Svenson contacted me to summarise the latest 'Inner System' findings' status. Very little had changed beyond further error-bar shrinkage. Stacking umpteen spectral scans confirmed the 'Mini-Mars' might yet have some 'interesting' geology, but certainly lacked volatiles. Though easily big enough to settle to 'round', its surface lacked ice-caps, was thoroughly degassed. The kindest estimate was 'More So Than Mars'. Those smaller objects with 'Anomalous Albedo' remained persistently 'Un-characterised', their official, banal flag for 'WTF ??'

On a more cheerful note, Lt. 'Logistics' Baxter had been heard to express 'satisfaction' at the pace of 'Gas Diver' gleaning. 'City of Tulsa' had hauled away the last sections of Chaparral system's gas-stations, so 'Fresno' carried 'extra' tanks for our 'Last Train' run. 'Fresno' also had two pair of 'Empty Stock Movement (ESM)' tanks. Intended for the small gas-station circling 'Griffon', Xanadu System's sub-Saturnian, they were now ours. Given the circumstances, they were very, very welcome, and would be brim-filled...