18

Professor Li takes tiny, controlled steps into the bridge. Marcel Temaru bounds with long stumbling strides. As they join you and the others, the two scientists are already in a heated conversation.

"I thought we agreed—" says Professor Li, in a clipped tone. Her voice is always loud and clear, a skill from her prior life as a corporate lecturer.

"You know we agreed no such thing," Marcel interrupts. Ordinarily good-natured and forbearing, the big man is struggling to hold in his annoyance.

"President," says Professor Li, "can you confirm for us that the first module of the colony will be the lab? We won't be able to profit from our findings unless we have one."

"It needs to be the sub bay," says Marcel. "There'll be nothing to study if we can't get to the ocean in the first place."

Sungura Kikwete looks unsettled and carefully smooths out a wrinkle in their robes. "I was under the impression it would be the ice garden? To act as a central hub for the colony?" they say. "We only get one chance not to make a sprawling mess of this."

Kosmo chimes in with a bell ring sound from his electric voicebox to cut through, "Just to muddy things further, President, but I think everyone would appreciate proper quarters sooner rather than later."

"I agree with Kosmo," says Virginia Rein. "I'd personally love the observatory to come first, especially as it'll double as a communications center and we could keep in touch with Earth much more easily. But my wife is asking for our own bedroom…."

"We'll build the laboratory first."

"It has to be the submarine bay first."

"I won't get another chance to make a grand central hub, so it's got to be the ice garden."

"Everyone wants to stop hotbunking in the ship. Let's put in some quarters."

"Let's start with the observatory and communication center."

Next

Giving everyone their own bedroom will be a popular decision. You set in motion for the ice to be dug out into a warren of thickly insulated quarters, with shared living space between.

Next

After a hectic first day, you head to your bunk to sleep. You're unpacking your bedding for the hotbunk when you hear someone walk in behind you. It's Marcel Temaru.

"My apologies, President, for catching you before bedtime. I just wanted to say something short."

"I'm listening."

[lie] "I literally cannot spare the time right now."

"Take it up in my formal office hours."

Next

Marcel rolls his eyes. "Very well, Your Presidentliness. I can see you're busy. I'll not bother you."

He leaves and he doesn't approach you in the days to come about whatever the matter was.

Next

The first few days of the colony pass with much the same routine as you had while traveling through space. But instead of planning and training, you are overseeing the construction of the quarters.

The first rooms will be dug out of the ice shelf beyond the antechamber which is now fully insulated. The ice on Europa is unlike Earth ice: as a result of radiation from Jupiter, it's highly amorphous. Structurally it's more like glass: the H2O molecules are randomly organized instead of forming expected patterns. All this means that when large quantities of it are melted and refrozen, the fresh ice compacts into a smaller space than it occupied before. This means that the ice can be tunneled from within. The process still generates more water than you need, so the first order of business is to drill a narrow shaft to the surface to pipe out the excess.

Your decision to prioritize building the quarters has drawn support from all the colonists, most especially the support workers who are keen to live a comfortable life in Europa's ice crust.

Next

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***