Virus-72 Hours to Live (12 page)

H-3 was evident in the moon regolith, or
moon soil, in much higher concentrations than anywhere on Earth. It
had a higher concentration in some areas than others, but it was
everywhere on the surface. Extraction was a simple process, just
collect the moon regolith and heat it to 600 degrees C. The heated
regolith would outgas numerous gases including H-3 and other
valuable gases like He-4, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and carbon
dioxide. The outgassed mix was compressed and stored on the miner
vehicle. On a daily, the vehicles would stop the mining process and
a collection rover would connect automatically and extract the
compressed gas. When the extraction rover was full, it would drive
automatically back to the colony and unload the compressed gasses.
Each site had at least four collection rovers assigned to support
the mobile units.

The complete process hadn't made it to full
efficiency. To properly process and extract the gasses a lot of
electricity was required. With the colonies current design they
barely had enough power to heat the regolith to the required 600
degrees C. To further process the gasses to yield high
concentration of H-3 or liquid H-3 it was necessary to follow a
more detailed and expensive process. So the less efficient gas mix
was launched to Oasis and ultimately to Earth where the finishing
extraction and condensing occurred.

In 2032, the permanent facilities at
Shackleton crater were started and it took 10 years to reach
adequate H-3 production rates. Each of the main financial backers
focused on the H-3 production, but the facility was ideally suited
for additional space research. Any nation could contribute to the
operation and they would receive enough laboratory space to conduct
their research. The consortium was allowed a certain amount of
space, which was exclusively theirs where they could conduct
corporate research. Like Oasis, the additional objectives were
exploration, finding other rare materials, which were not available
on Earth, and developing new techniques for pharmaceutical
production and industrial process development. Many processes were
found to be more effective in space. Some of them could be done
only in space or on the low gravity of the moon.

In 2045, an alternate site was started and
under construction. Remote digging machines were working on
building an underground facility near the equator in a zone where
the H-3 was highly concentrated. Once the tunnels were complete,
the consortium planned to install a fusion reactor so the full H-3
extraction process could be completed on site. While the tunneling
was being done, they should able to mine the large deposits of ice.
The ice was going to be stored in underground chambers and would be
available when the site was functional. The new generation of ice
scrappers was able to mine ice, which could be stored and used for
many years. They were fully automated machines that could find the
ice and return it to the site. They were much more efficient than
the current models and many more were planned so the water supply
wouldn't be a problem.

The Shackleford site had many tunnels, but
they weren't 100% reliable. There were the occasional blowouts,
which made it exciting moving from one habitat to another. There
were a couple of safe rooms for use if they had extended meteor
showers or long radiation storms. The newer tunneling machines
would make the tunnels at the equator much stronger. When the new
site was activated, the tunnels were to be the main part of the
facility for the people to live and work.

Decreasing H-3 extraction, because of the
day's breakdowns, wasn't a crisis if the problem with the extractor
was fixed in a reasonable amount of time. After all, their only
purpose on the moon was to find the helium, package it and send it
back to Oasis. Falling behind on production would only mean they
had to make sure to meet the next H-3 launch, which was due in 10
days.

Beyond acting as the storage and
distribution center for Red Dirt and Desert Beach, Oasis was its
own little factory. There were a couple of medicines, which could
only be produced in a weightless space environment. Some metals and
manufacturing processes would work properly only in the same
weightless environment. The crown and glory of Oasis was its
additive manufacturing facility. It was the most sophisticated 4 D
printing machine in space. The older 3D methods of additive
machining always had its drawbacks, the material granularity wasn't
consistent and the cell density wasn't adequate for any high
strength parts. The complexity of the part was great, but the
materials always had limitations.

The 4D process on Oasis solved all of that.
It entailed adding one layer of material at a time and building a
complex shape in a 4D environment. The advantage of doing it space
allowed a couple of disciplines to come together. The chamber was
filled with a metallic mist and each of the metal grains were
heated by the laser and manipulated by magnetic fields. A massive
computer would marshal each of the metal grains through the
weightless environment while being heated by the laser. Then the
magnetic field would deposit it in the exact position. This allowed
unequaled grain consistency and material strength when compared to
any process on Earth. Any given material manipulated through this
process would yield a strength advantage over the same material
manufactured on Earth by a factor of 2-3. The minimal variation in
the material also meant that its properties were predictable within
.005%, which was unheard of on Earth manufactured material.

The 4-D machine on Oasis was the first
industrial laboratory, functional on the space station. When the
second ring was complete, a second unit would be operational.

Launching compressed gas from the moon to
Oasis was easy and automatic. The external mobile units loaded the
gas containers into a module about the size of a small bus and it
would become the anode for the dual rail system. The module was
placed on skids between the two conductors, with rapidly changing
electrical charges. The charges would cause electric fields to grow
and collapse at very high rates, which shot the anode down the
rails. Once the module reached sufficient velocity, it would use a
rocket engine to continue accelerating. Then it would curve around
the moon until the point in the orbit where it had the velocity to
leave the moon's orbit and coast back to Earth. Upon reaching the
Earth's orbit, a tug would pick it up and ferry it to Oasis where
the load would be moved to a manufacturing location in the station
or repackaged for transport to Earth.

Creating a colony on the moon was the
logical first step when man left Earth. In spite of the fact that
the environment was difficult Earth's growing need for energy and
ultimately Helium-3 as the primary Fusion reactor fuel was the
prime motivator for risking so much for the colony.

The moon had no atmosphere, which made the
surface risky for human occupation, and the lack of a magnetic
field allowed radiation to bombard the surface. The meteorites had
nothing to deflect them or burn them on entry, which added to the
risk on the surface.

Once the initial colonies were able to
survive, going underground was the only logical solution. The
mining machines were effective and after they had removed the moon
regolith, the sides were sprayed with reprocessed materials from
the surface. The tunnel top was sprayed then the tunnel was buried
five feet below the surface. The coating made the tunnels almost
airtight, but they were a key part of the design to reduce the
radiation exposure and risk from meteorites.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Joan Herl's comm unit came alive, "Commander
Herl, the computer onboard DB438 has completed its checks and we're
ready to release it," said the station controller.

"Ok, I'll be there in a minute." There was a
lot going through Joan's mind. Aside from the virus, launching
DB438 was important for the Desert Beach colony on the moon. It had
supplies, which were critical, and regardless of her situation on
Oasis, they needed support.

Joan was down-rotation from the control
center so she could move quickly up-rotation to the center. It took
just a few moments to reach the control center. She always enjoyed
moving in that direction more than going down-rotation and moving
with the rotational forces. That was part of the reason everyone
was anxious to complete the second ring.

Joan entered the CC and said, "Ok Fred, are
we ready to separate and send it on its way?"

"We're all set and the onboard systems are
all checked out."

"Ok, go ahead and release her. Tom once she
is released you're cleared to move in and pick her up with the
tether."

"Roger, preparing for separation, separation
authorized," said Fred and then the station mission computer took
over and released the mechanisms and disconnected the power and
navigation umbilical.

"Separation complete and clear," announced
the station mission computer.

"Separation acknowledge," responded the
DB438 onboard computer.

"Roger, I have control," responded Tom
quickly as he maneuvered the craft further away from the station.
Since a couple of unfortunate incidences early in the station
history, it had become standard procedure for a pilot in a tug to
maneuver any robotic craft within 100 meters of the station.

Once the tethers had grappled the craft and
moved DB438 outside the safe zone, Tom announced, "Safe zone clear,
onboard navigation and thrust controlled authorized."

"Roger, switching to onboard control. Switch
to onboard navigation and thrust on my command; switch," said the
duty officer.

"Acknowledged," said the supply vessel
onboard computer.

Joan sat in the control center for a few
moments until she saw indications that the onboard systems had
indeed taken control. She could relax once the vessel was making
the first actions necessary to move the craft into a higher orbit.
It was programmed to fire its onboard rockets once it reached the
higher orbit, for a relatively short 3-day journey to the moon.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

"Commander Herl, this is Dr. Chevesky."

Joan was in her quarters with Tom and doing
her best to relax, even though, some very scary scenarios were
going through her mind. "Yes Doc," Joan said as Tom realized
something was up. His wife was tight as a wire, and he knew to give
her space so he worked hard concentrating on his tablet.

"I spoke to Dennis and Lloyd and I'm sorry
to say this, but I think Dennis has the Hovarti Virus. I presume he
was one of the spontaneous cases and didn't become infected by
association. Lloyd isn't presenting symptoms yet, but he needs to
stay under observation."

"They came up just three weeks ago. They
roomed together and they're best friends. I suppose that if one had
it, the other would likely get it. Our containment protocol is to
protect us from someone boarding that is ill. We hadn't thought
much about suddenly having to separate everyone because of a
contagious disease."

"Commander if I may suggest, separate them
from your crew. I can send a couple of our crew to their area and
move Dennis into section A12 with us. We can tell him it is best
for them and the rest of the crew. Right now, I have the most
experience on board and I'm the logical one to treat him."

Joan thought for a moment and looked across
her quarters to where her husband Tom was reading and doing his
best not to listen. She was the station commander, but she was also
married and now she started to worry about Tom.

"Dr. I agree that sounds logical, but I
won't move Lloyd until he shows some symptoms. When that happens,
we'll deal with it."

"Your call," said the Doctor.

"Ok, Dr. I'm going to make an announcement
to my crew and tell them what is happening. Then we'll move Dennis
to your area and I'll ask Lloyd to remain in his quarters. I'll
call them and tell them personally."

"Commander I think that is the best plan.
Let me know when we're ready to move him."

"Yes Doctor," was all Joan could say. She
realized she might be committing the entire OS210 crew along with
Dennis to a death sentence. That weighed heavy on her, but she also
had the entire crew of Oasis to worry about.

Joan just sat for a while thinking about the
best way to handle everything. She looked at Tom and he finally got
up and walked towards her. He knew it was serious and the decisions
all fell on his wife. His job was to support her, not to tell her
what to do.

"Tom, this virus thing is getting serious.
That was Dr. Chevesky. One of his crew members came on board ill
and he checked with the med people at SC. They agreed with him, it
looks like this mysterious virus that is sweeping the globe. So
far, the survival numbers are piss poor. As you know, I separated
them in section A12. The bad news is, one of our crew, Dennis
Davis, is also having a hard time. His roommate Lloyd isn't sick
yet, but I'm asking him to stay in his quarters until we know for
sure. Remember they came up, on a supply ship about 3 weeks ago. If
Dennis has the virus, then our entire crew is at risk. I've decided
to move him into section A12 because Chevesky has the most
experience and it will separate him from the rest of the crew.
Given the close quarters we're under, this could go through us like
wildfire."

"Lovely..., what are you going to do?"

"I'm shutting down the station until we have
this under control. I'll have everyone remain in their quarters and
we'll only do emergency work on the station. Most of the different
disciplines are rooming together so if they stay together and don't
socialize then maybe we can keep this under control. If we aren't
able to control it, then we're in trouble. One thing in our favor
is our environmental control system. It's designed to clear the
air, so maybe it will help us to stay on top of this."