Earth Afire (The First Formic War) by Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston Page B
Authors: Orson Scott Card, Aaron Johnston
Ads: Link
thinking him worthy of so great an office, but he couldn’t possibly accept. Nor would he interfere with Lem’s commands. He agreed completely with Lem. Earth came first. If Ukko Jukes fired him for his insubordination, so be it. It was a small price to pay.
It was expertly done. Professional, sincere, and quite touching. Lem even found his eyes misting over, though his relief might have added to the emotion.
He waited an hour before recording his own holo. He humbly thanked Chubs for his selflessness and insisted that Chubs continue as his chief officer. It was a decent take, but he knew he could do better. Might as well get it right before sending it out. On the seventh take he had it. Every pause and breath and word was exactly as it needed to be. He sent it, waited another hour, then returned to the helm.
Chubs was waiting for him at the system chart. “What’s your first unhindered command as captain?”
“Take us closer to the Formics’ trajectory,” said Lem. “Our scanners can’t read much out here. Let’s learn what we can and get back to Luna as soon as possible.”
“You’re the boss,” said Chubs.
Yes, thought Lem. For the first time in two years, I am.
CHAPTER 4
Ukko
The track car sped east through the city of Imbrium, passing dormitories and government buildings and small industrial complexes. Victor sat by the window watching everything zip by, still amazed at the size and immensity of the city. “How do you fill all these domes and connector tunnels with oxygen?” he asked. “Where do you find that much air?”
Yanyu was still sitting opposite him, escorting Victor and Imala to the Juke observatory. “Lunar oxygen mostly comes from excavation,” she said. “Everything you see is what we call the Old City. When people first came to Luna, they built the settlement on the surface. That required them to first build all these airtight domes to contain the oxygen and to protect the settlers from a constant bombardment of space particles. It was very expensive. These days all new construction takes place underground. That’s where most people live now, as a matter of fact.”
“ You live aboveground,” said Victor.
“Only because I’m on a budget and can’t afford to live in the tunnels,” said Yanyu. “But if I had the money I would. It’s safer. You don’t have to worry about bombardments or collision threats. And since there’s no tectonic activity on the Moon, you don’t have to worry about earthquakes either. Plus it’s much quieter. The real benefit, though, is all the raw materials we extract from the excavated rock. Metals for construction of course, but also oxygen.”
Victor looked surprised. “Oxygen from rocks? Is that possible?”
“You’re breathing it,” said Imala.
Victor sat back and shook his head. “Do you have any idea how useful that tech would be out in the Kuiper Belt? All of our O 2 came from mining ice. If we didn’t find ice, we were muerto . Dead. A lot of families were lost that way.”
“It’s much easier to extract oxygen from ice,” said Imala. “That doesn’t take a lot of equipment. Pulling oxygen and nitrogen from rock, on the other hand, takes massive processing facilities. We don’t build ships big enough to carry that tech out to the Deep. Someday perhaps, but not in our lifetime.”
“What about fuel and energy for the tunnels?” asked Victor. “If the heat of the sun doesn’t reach them, they must be freezing.”
“All power on the moon is electric,” said Imala. “It all comes from high-efficiency batteries powered by solar energy. There are solar arrays all over the surface, with the biggest ones in the equatorial area where the collectors lie flat on the ground. There are big ones at the poles, too, where rotating collectors on towers face the sun twenty-four/seven. Believe me, as long as the sun shines, power and heat aren’t an issue.”
Victor nodded, though he didn’t share Imala’s
It was expertly done. Professional, sincere, and quite touching. Lem even found his eyes misting over, though his relief might have added to the emotion.
He waited an hour before recording his own holo. He humbly thanked Chubs for his selflessness and insisted that Chubs continue as his chief officer. It was a decent take, but he knew he could do better. Might as well get it right before sending it out. On the seventh take he had it. Every pause and breath and word was exactly as it needed to be. He sent it, waited another hour, then returned to the helm.
Chubs was waiting for him at the system chart. “What’s your first unhindered command as captain?”
“Take us closer to the Formics’ trajectory,” said Lem. “Our scanners can’t read much out here. Let’s learn what we can and get back to Luna as soon as possible.”
“You’re the boss,” said Chubs.
Yes, thought Lem. For the first time in two years, I am.
CHAPTER 4
Ukko
The track car sped east through the city of Imbrium, passing dormitories and government buildings and small industrial complexes. Victor sat by the window watching everything zip by, still amazed at the size and immensity of the city. “How do you fill all these domes and connector tunnels with oxygen?” he asked. “Where do you find that much air?”
Yanyu was still sitting opposite him, escorting Victor and Imala to the Juke observatory. “Lunar oxygen mostly comes from excavation,” she said. “Everything you see is what we call the Old City. When people first came to Luna, they built the settlement on the surface. That required them to first build all these airtight domes to contain the oxygen and to protect the settlers from a constant bombardment of space particles. It was very expensive. These days all new construction takes place underground. That’s where most people live now, as a matter of fact.”
“ You live aboveground,” said Victor.
“Only because I’m on a budget and can’t afford to live in the tunnels,” said Yanyu. “But if I had the money I would. It’s safer. You don’t have to worry about bombardments or collision threats. And since there’s no tectonic activity on the Moon, you don’t have to worry about earthquakes either. Plus it’s much quieter. The real benefit, though, is all the raw materials we extract from the excavated rock. Metals for construction of course, but also oxygen.”
Victor looked surprised. “Oxygen from rocks? Is that possible?”
“You’re breathing it,” said Imala.
Victor sat back and shook his head. “Do you have any idea how useful that tech would be out in the Kuiper Belt? All of our O 2 came from mining ice. If we didn’t find ice, we were muerto . Dead. A lot of families were lost that way.”
“It’s much easier to extract oxygen from ice,” said Imala. “That doesn’t take a lot of equipment. Pulling oxygen and nitrogen from rock, on the other hand, takes massive processing facilities. We don’t build ships big enough to carry that tech out to the Deep. Someday perhaps, but not in our lifetime.”
“What about fuel and energy for the tunnels?” asked Victor. “If the heat of the sun doesn’t reach them, they must be freezing.”
“All power on the moon is electric,” said Imala. “It all comes from high-efficiency batteries powered by solar energy. There are solar arrays all over the surface, with the biggest ones in the equatorial area where the collectors lie flat on the ground. There are big ones at the poles, too, where rotating collectors on towers face the sun twenty-four/seven. Believe me, as long as the sun shines, power and heat aren’t an issue.”
Victor nodded, though he didn’t share Imala’s
Similar Books
