Ell Donsaii 12: Impact! Read Online Free
Author: Laurence E Dahners
to Shan and snuggled up to him. “Guess what?”
Shan’s eyes strayed away from where they’d been studying something on his contact’s HUD, "You find me irresistible?"
She raised an eyebrow, “Well that's usually true. But when you say something pompous like that…"
He grinned, "Self-confidence in a man is simply irresistible isn’t it?"
"Not! Well, unless they’re incredibly handsome." She drew back to look at him, “Hmmm…" She cocked an eyebrow, "perhaps in your case it might be?" She laid her head on his shoulder, "But first I have to tell you my little bit of news."
"Okay, I'll bite. What's new?”
"Well, Allan tells me that the next place south of ‘Ell Donsaii’s’ little farm is for sale. It has 7 acres with a big old house, and it's practically on top of the big tunnel down here to Pittsboro."
"Oh, so that would be close enough for the security team to move back into their old houses in the neighborhood to the west of the farm, wouldn't it?"
"Yup. We’d only have to cut a short tunnel from its basement to the big tunnel. Otherwise we could use the tunnels that already exist."
"What's the bed rock like? Is it hard enough for you to just cut tunnels with your one ended port digger? Or will it need to be reinforced so that you’ll have to bring in your miner friend from West Virginia?"
"Allan says there isn’t enough geological data to know. There are a lot of different types of rock in the Piedmont. We'll have to actually dig a little bit to find out."
Shan shrugged, "Either way, it can be worked out, so it sounds like a good plan to me."
"Me too. Maybe we can go look at it tomorrow?”
"Sure,” he grinned at her, “if you still have the energy after tonight?"
“Hah!” she said, rolling on top of him. "You mean, if you have the energy…"
***
Phil checked Carol’s Mars suit and then she checked his. They walked down the tunnel that would take them to the ledge at the top of the Valles Marineres. Phil glanced up at one of the safety balloons glued in the top of the tunnel. In case of a failure of the three balloons that sealed the habitat’s tunnel and served as an airlock, the safety balloons could be inflated by the colony’s AI to prevent decompression of the remainder of the habitat. Considering how tough the graphene balloons were, it seemed unlikely in the extreme that the safety balloon would ever be needed. However, considering the harshness of the Martian environment, excessive safety precautions seemed completely reasonable to him. More of the safety balloons were scattered around the rest of the habitat, so that if any part of it lost pressure to some kind of rock fault, that section could be sealed off to protect the remainder of the tunnels. Emergency decompression suits were available in each of the sections that might be sealed off so, barring a catastrophic and nearly instantaneous decompression, anyone caught in a sealed off area could get into an emergency suit and wait for rescue. Since there were a lot of earth-connected ports in each section that would start bringing in air as soon as the pressure dropped, it was really hard to imagine it getting that desperate, but they were playing it safe.
He and Carol stopped at the first of the airlock balloons and waited for it to deflate. They stepped past it, and once it had re-inflated, the second of the three airlock balloons began to go down. Finally they were in front of the last one. It deflated a little bit to let Phil and Carol check the integrity of their Mars suits one more time at a low pressure. As the pressure dropped in that last chamber, Phil felt his suit swelling around him. He moved his arms and legs around to be sure that the active system which deflated chambers on one side of a joint and inflated chambers on the other side—thus allowing the joint to be bent without extreme effort—was functioning correctly. Carol did the same and they both checked suit integrity by turning off the
Shan’s eyes strayed away from where they’d been studying something on his contact’s HUD, "You find me irresistible?"
She raised an eyebrow, “Well that's usually true. But when you say something pompous like that…"
He grinned, "Self-confidence in a man is simply irresistible isn’t it?"
"Not! Well, unless they’re incredibly handsome." She drew back to look at him, “Hmmm…" She cocked an eyebrow, "perhaps in your case it might be?" She laid her head on his shoulder, "But first I have to tell you my little bit of news."
"Okay, I'll bite. What's new?”
"Well, Allan tells me that the next place south of ‘Ell Donsaii’s’ little farm is for sale. It has 7 acres with a big old house, and it's practically on top of the big tunnel down here to Pittsboro."
"Oh, so that would be close enough for the security team to move back into their old houses in the neighborhood to the west of the farm, wouldn't it?"
"Yup. We’d only have to cut a short tunnel from its basement to the big tunnel. Otherwise we could use the tunnels that already exist."
"What's the bed rock like? Is it hard enough for you to just cut tunnels with your one ended port digger? Or will it need to be reinforced so that you’ll have to bring in your miner friend from West Virginia?"
"Allan says there isn’t enough geological data to know. There are a lot of different types of rock in the Piedmont. We'll have to actually dig a little bit to find out."
Shan shrugged, "Either way, it can be worked out, so it sounds like a good plan to me."
"Me too. Maybe we can go look at it tomorrow?”
"Sure,” he grinned at her, “if you still have the energy after tonight?"
“Hah!” she said, rolling on top of him. "You mean, if you have the energy…"
***
Phil checked Carol’s Mars suit and then she checked his. They walked down the tunnel that would take them to the ledge at the top of the Valles Marineres. Phil glanced up at one of the safety balloons glued in the top of the tunnel. In case of a failure of the three balloons that sealed the habitat’s tunnel and served as an airlock, the safety balloons could be inflated by the colony’s AI to prevent decompression of the remainder of the habitat. Considering how tough the graphene balloons were, it seemed unlikely in the extreme that the safety balloon would ever be needed. However, considering the harshness of the Martian environment, excessive safety precautions seemed completely reasonable to him. More of the safety balloons were scattered around the rest of the habitat, so that if any part of it lost pressure to some kind of rock fault, that section could be sealed off to protect the remainder of the tunnels. Emergency decompression suits were available in each of the sections that might be sealed off so, barring a catastrophic and nearly instantaneous decompression, anyone caught in a sealed off area could get into an emergency suit and wait for rescue. Since there were a lot of earth-connected ports in each section that would start bringing in air as soon as the pressure dropped, it was really hard to imagine it getting that desperate, but they were playing it safe.
He and Carol stopped at the first of the airlock balloons and waited for it to deflate. They stepped past it, and once it had re-inflated, the second of the three airlock balloons began to go down. Finally they were in front of the last one. It deflated a little bit to let Phil and Carol check the integrity of their Mars suits one more time at a low pressure. As the pressure dropped in that last chamber, Phil felt his suit swelling around him. He moved his arms and legs around to be sure that the active system which deflated chambers on one side of a joint and inflated chambers on the other side—thus allowing the joint to be bent without extreme effort—was functioning correctly. Carol did the same and they both checked suit integrity by turning off the
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