This place is a bit of a ghost town outside, too.
Transcript
The vehicle procession continues along the transport rail, passing a dozen empty foundation pits where mining operation buildings used to be.
Talita: Jovians bought the place after it got stripped of most of its rare metals and heavy water. Most of the old infrastructure on the dark side got salvaged ages ago.
Clayton: But not the electrolysis plant?
Talita: Well…
She looks at the huge semi-cylinder shell of the the plant where it sits next to the transport rail. Eight large fluid tanks sit to its right.
Talita: It's not making deuterium fuel anymore... It’s just storing leftover heavy water for wetting down the regolith dust around the worksite…
Clayton: That's some expensive mud.
Talita: Ehh... There's not enough icecap left to turn a profit on export.
They arrive at the slag field. Twisted chunks of metal stick out of the regolith substrate.
Talita: Yao, you’re marking with me. Everyone else, uh, your choice of vehicle.
40 thoughts on “Runaway to the Stars: Page 88”
dokki
“expensive mud” has me chuckling like an old man
Pathfinder
Love seeing the radiator in use on the rover/buggy! It almost looks like a tractor when stored and that makes me happy.
Sen
Such a beautiful vista. And even sitting here in a comfy chair with plenty of air, the last outdoor picture is giving me a bit of the shivers. It is all so huge. If something happens to the vehicles you might not make it back before you run out of air. If something happens to your suit you might not make it back even with a vehicle. I assume each vehicle has additional oxygen for emergencies (or longer salvaging missions) as well as tools and materials to fix a hole in a space suit.
Extreme jobs here on earth (deep sea welder for example) have very strict limits how long they are allowed to work since working in heavy protective gear is very taxing. Is there regulation like that here too? What is the longest they are allowed to be outside? Does it differ per species?
Sorry for the barrage of questions. You made your setting way too interesting ^^
plum grumble
You should send in these questions next chapter end, thats when audience questions get answered
eden
does talitas face ever get tired/give her migraines from straining her eyes open all the time?
zaratustra
Good question. Many migraines come from overloading the delicate muscles around the skull, but do centaurs even have fully enclosed skulls?
Peter Jensen
Well, her main “thinking” brain is down in the mid torso, not her head. And of course, no knowing if centaur biology even has the equivalent of migraines.
Kayjack
Given the lack of atmosphere do bases like this require any sort of active defense system to deal with incoming natural meteorites or errant space junk?
Teod
Those huge holes look terrifying, what the hell. There’s no amount of railings that would be enough around those. But they barely seem to have any.
JoB
… well, they *are* on the other side of the railroad tracks, that should hinder wheeled-vehicle BASE jumping *somewhat* …
(I strongly advise against trying any vacuum spelunking trips to those pits, though!)
evileeyore
OSHA? There is no OSHA here.
This base was built to Imperial standards…
Tyrone the Miner
I got a hunch that one of those vehicles (and riders) are “never to be seen again”
(spoken in deep gravely voice). With a bit of luck it will be Adam
JoB
Saaay, where did Talitas *former peers* vanish to … ?
We know that Calcery used to have the role that Talita fills now (good luck having a server-room-sessile AI check your helmet latches, Dominic) and herself essentially was a Clayton double back then, but as strong as she is, I can’t imagine her keeping an industrial-size smelt well-fed on her lonesome. There are enough lockers in the changing area for a second team, and enough empty parking space on page 83 for another set of vehicles, but:
Teams working in hazardous areas tend to double-serve as each other’s rescue parties. Even if Talita doesn’t feel like radioing a “hi” to her ex-colleagues, she should have informed them that the Beta Bunch is now out in vacuum heading slagwards, shouldn’t she?
Peter Jensen
As I understand it, Calcery used to drive all the equipment when on the clock, and wrote automated routines for them to run when off. Presumably Talita was mostly there to deal with breakdowns and other stuff the equipment couldn’t directly deal with. Now as for rescue backup … well … it’s not like any human or avian could drag her to safety, even in Dirtball’s 0.8 g. So Calcery could probably fulfill the role in much the same way a human would be able to, by using a heavy lifting rig to scoop her up and drive her to safety.
JoB
Hmmm, that *would* explain why, on page 6, Calcery immediately speaks up when Talita so much as ponders entering the Runaway … someone getting stuck or falling unconscious where none of the RC vehicles can get at them must’ve been a long-standing nightmare, if AIs can have such a thing …
eden
I wonder what space-suits look like for bug ferrets and aviens
JoB
https://jayrockin.tumblr.com/post/164696590043/how-does-the-spacesuit-of-the-avians-work
Ruby
Bugferret suits are probably pretty straightforward. Mostly a tube with a helmet and limb attachments.
JoB
And a boatload of force feedback actuators, to support their heavily tactile style of communication? 😛
(Just imagine that, over the evolution of their technology, they had insisted on maintaining the tactile mode of communication, rather than developing a visual variant, and Gillie had to wear one of their suits to “watch” her beloved ferret soap operas …)
Viashino_wizard
I really like how naturally it’s conveyed that Clayton’s the only temp who’s actually done this kind of work before.
hal9000
wonder if any of these temps would be needed to get the plant running again? you’re right in that it seems only he knows anything about this work… hmm
eden
oh I realised i totally messed up my wording when i asked about talitas antlers and helmets the other day. (everybody was super helpful though it was my bad) does she have a helmet for when her antlers are *completely grown in?
Sevoris
Oh look at that, there’s an abandoned fusion fuel production plant. That’s not at all going to be relevant 😀
Jay Eaton
…Surely not…
JoB
Preposterous. As if someone could just magic up a spare power plant or two to have it run on again!
oh6
I guess all those furrows are from the slag piling into the ground?
TotallySomebody
What is heavy water? /Genq
Spinland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_water
oh6
Wikipedia has much more, but in heavy water the hydrogen is a heavier isotope, deuterium. If both hydrogen atoms in a water molecule are deuterium, it’s about 11% more massive.
Greenjoe
That one person looking away from the group with hands on hips… guessing that’s Adam?
Claire
How come everyone gets one light on their helmet, but Talita gets two?
trash
You ever tried to navigate large spaces with a flashlight? It only goes so far and talita is twice our size at least
zaratustra
To be fair, Talita’s array of uncanny alien abilities include a tapetum lucidum for better vision in darkness.
Jay Eaton
Because ears :3
AnaKaye
LOL… I *knew* it! XD
Apollo235
Ah so then is the antenna intentionally reminiscent of a tail? I imagine a homeplanet Centaur would find it rather… garish could be the word
JoB
Hmmm, rod aerials are a thing and both “connect directly to backpack” and “keep out of the upper body’s radio shadow” (that’s why they peek over the shoulder of humans) are reasonable technical requirements …
(If you want “horse tail look”, use random wire and an automated balun instead: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_wire_antenna )
Septemberdale
She has a big head and can fit two on there, so why not?
Michi
Perks of building your own spacesuit.
Gar G
Wow wait I’m first? Wish I had something clever to say