Guardian Stone 1: Stone Genesis (9 page)

Station 1 in Earth Orbit –

October 10 – C Day 41

The recruiting efforts were continuing but it was apparent that they somehow had to expand. They had identified quite a number of military veterans who were entranced by the idea of working and living in space. Many of these were happy to have purpose again. The habitat surroundings coupled with no expenses and the enhancements particularly those related to health and longevity helped immensely.

Joe and June Carson were positively glowing. Hank had offered them command level enhancements and they decided to accept. They were making use of the learning machines and the command enhancements would start the next day. He did not know it yet but he was being primed as a station commander, probably for Station 2 or Station 3. In the meantime he was helping Josh get the chain of command established.

They had four other planets on which to seek further manpower support. It did not appear to be overly promising. The advisors had developed plans assisted by Joann's understanding of each society. The planets and their populations and stage of development were:

It had been decided that Saark was still several centuries away from outside contact. At the current state of their development, contact would be detrimental to their survival as a distinct society.

Frote, on the other hand was probably the best candidate for next contact. They had a single world government that operated under a constitutional monarchy. Its resemblance to Great Britain and its governing approach was notable. The drawback for recruiting purposes however was that they had no military structure. The closest point of comparison was their police agency. The planet was just starting its efforts at manned exploration of the planets in its system.

Gella had four geopolitical divisions that occasionally engaged in conflicts. Each had a standing military. Service was generally by conscription. They had a technology level very similar to that of Earth. Their computer technology was almost exactly on par with Earth but had no yet attempted to enter space. There were some preliminary programs underway that would have them launching satellites in the next two or three years.

Nintam was the most advanced technologically of the five planets but appeared to be stagnating. It was a dictatorship with a very Orwellian structure. The governing class consisted of less than 10,000 persons. There was very little likelihood that recruiting could be successful there. There were clear indications that a revolution was brewing. If that were to happen, then it was possible that the potential might change but not in time to assist in defense against the Glarin.

Blint was the most likely to produce viable recruits. The planet did not have as many geopolitical subdivisions as Earth but the similarities suggested that they would be likely candidates for an effort following Frote.

Further refinements to the scans of the second group of Glarin indicated that there were seven ships in the group. This was determined by sending out two Type 2 stations, Stations #142 and #162, as close as one light day from the group. This also resulted in more refined data. An interesting side note was that during the initial scans from a distance of about one light year out, the stations found seven objects trailing the seven Glarin vessels. These objects are each about one quarter mile in length and appear to be unmanned and traveling at the same speed as the Glarin vessels. They are also pretty clearly of Glarin origin. Beyond that a battle group was being prepared as planned to go out and meet them. Stations #142 and #162 would be moving to within 10 miles of the group and its trailing objects in a few hours to conduct high detail scans of each ship to provide additional intel before attempting contact. The advantages, it was felt, far outweighed any perceived disadvantages.

Outer Hull.

The outer hull area runs from RM 26 to RM 30. This outer four miles of the station houses the water supply, power generators and computer cores for the station Artificial Intelligence (AI) and is maintained in a weightless or zero G condition. It is not directly accessible by the inhabitants of the station but is constantly monitored by the resident AI such as Barana. All of the "empty" space not allocated to power generation, computer cells and storage or water is filled with poured shielding that resemble rock but is very dense. The water tanks are centered at RM 27 and extend to within three miles of either end of the station. The tanks are multilayered and baffled. Water is constantly aerated and circulated. The water tanks, like many other features in the station, have a capacity in excess of any conceivable need.

Outer Hull Features

This does not include water in the open lakes and recreational facilities found in the habitat areas. Any individual tank can be isolated and bypassed if that ever becomes necessary. The water is maintained in liquid form at a temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Adjacent to the water tanks is a system of small access tunnels in the event the water tanks require service. An army of automated machines provides any service, maintenance or repair required for the tanks. The tunnels are too small for humans and so the machines were built to perform any maintenance or repair task. Nothing of substance has been required since construction of the prototype station and the system is constantly monitored and tested. To put this amount of water into perspective, the United States with a 2014 population of 319.8 million persons used 408 billion gallons of water per day for all uses including public, domestic, farming, industrial, livestock, mining and power. The Outer Hull chart above indicates the supply available if the stations were to use water at the same rate without considering recovery or recycling of the water.

Each station has power generation tubes and has a fuel supply for these tubes sufficient to operate all tubes for 500 years. Each of the tubes contains multiple singularities traveling within the tubes in opposite directions. The passage of these singularities generates immense power output and is used to power all functions of the station as well as weapons and flight capability. The quantity of tubes on each station provide at least a triple redundancy for generating its power needs including those for offensive and defensive capability as well as flight. During superlight speed, the weapons systems can be used. The power can be used to generate a disruption or destructive beam. The disruption beam will cause the vessels with certain types of power storage capacitors at which it is aimed to drop out of Faster Than Light (FTL) drive.

Each station is operated by it's sentient Artificial Intelligence (AI). The memory and "brain" of the AI is the computer cores located in the outer hull area. No AI needs more than a small fraction of its core availability. The cores are so large that no expansion appears to be warranted for the foreseeable future. No AI is currently using more that 5% of a single core capacity except Barana who provides backup for all other stations. Even this requires the use of only the use of about 40% of a single core since redundancies are removed.  There is also a memory storage backup facility at Tau Ceti for the same purpose.

The outer hull also has energy projector cannons placed about a mile apart that cover the entire surface of the station except at the flight deck portals. Projectors are also in place to guard the core area and flight deck portals. These are placed at half-mile intervals at RM 5 on each the end of the station.

Raw Material Storage

The raw material storage area for a station is the same for every type of station and is the same size. Access to this part of the station is strictly limited. Placement and retrieval of materials is automated.

Since the Stations were built for the potential of long duration voyages, the storage of sufficient materials to operate the vessel for long periods of time was a need. Availability of a variety of different supplies could not be assumed. In addition, surplus fuel for the power plant needs had to be stored and available. The storage capacity exceeds expected needs. The station has an expected inventory designed by the AI to meet all conceivable eventualities. Every known mineral and element is safely stored here to some extent.

The storage sectors are fully automated, so locating necessary materials is rapid. When the inventory on a particular material drops to 75%, a warning is posted. At 50%, a mining ship will be dispatched to search for, mine, refine and replenish the supply of that material. Supply needs for all ships are shared so that resupply efforts are not duplicative.

Excess storage space is also utilized for additional storage of foodstuffs. The station expects to routinely perform humanitarian services and the ability to provide and distribute food is an important element of that service.

Farms and Food Processing

Each station is fully self-sustaining. Each produces food sufficient to maintain its own population and to provide for humanitarian aid when needed. The farms are fully automated. Since contamination of the food source is a critical concern so generally access is restricted. Several decks adjacent to main transportation corridors do have viewing areas designed to prevent direct contact with the active farm but allow viewers to observe farm operations. Each station has at least one deck set aside and isolated as community gardens for those wishing to partake in that activity.

The farming sectors on the Type 1 stations each have more acres in food production than the United States. In the case of the Type 1 stations it is 300% greater. The US acreage includes growing food for cattle and livestock and that will not be necessary on the stations. Further, farming on station is in a tightly controlled environment that is not subject to weather or seasonal impediments. The result is a food production capability that is easily more than double that of the United States for comparable populations. Station farms also grow crops requiring a tropical or subtropical climate thus providing a greater variety than can be grown in the United States. Several decks are utilized for the raising of poultry under humane conditions for eggs and meat. No other meat sources are indigenous to the station but the diet is sufficiently varied that no issues are anticipated.

The crops also provide for oxygen generation along with the plants, trees and grasses growing in the Habitat Sectors. The number of decks required for food production and processing varies by the population of the station.

Transportation within the Station

The station's primary longitudinal transportation system is located between RM25 and RM26, and between RM15 and RM16. Both of these corridors run the full length of every station. An additional transportation corridor is located between RM5 and RM6, however this corridor does not enter the ship recovery deck at either end of the station.. Each of the partition walls between sectors also contains transportation corridors. These all consist of numerous tubes in which personnel carriers with various capacities operate. The carriers can carry up to four, ten, twenty or 50 persons and can be called to any call point in the station. They are quiet and quick. For longer distance trips, there were a number of high-speed lines and routing connections that assure any destination in the station can be reached in less than 30 minutes. Generally, a carrier arrives at the pickup point within a minute of summons. For short distances, there are also fixed walkways and moving walkways available but these are generally above "ground," i.e. above the transportation corridors and in the open. These are also available on the various flight decks. In addition there are cycling/exercise paths throughout the habitat area. For more urgent and instantaneous travel, the station AI operates a teleport system that is FTL. It is not practicable to use that that system for everyone when the station has a large population.

Gravity

Gravity throughout the station is artificial and is generally maintained at 1G. It has been found that this tends to avoid health issues that arise in a lesser gravity over time. There are sections where a lesser gravity is maintained such as the shipyards at the core, certain manufacturing facilities adjacent to the core and the material storage areas. Variable gravity settings are used in some of the military training areas for training purposes.

Air Supply

People living in space are always concerned about the maintenance of a breathable atmosphere. On the stations, direct access to the station is through airlocks in the core area and through the flight deck hatches. The latter are very large because they have to admit large vessels. Antorans have very advanced shielding capabilities that can effectively contain an atmosphere even where a large door is open to vacuum. Inhabitants wear a subcutaneous implant that is their space suit. This can be operated manually or automatically. When the implant senses an air pressure drop, it immediately "shields" the wearer with a field that is effectively a "spacesuit" but does not have the appearance of same such as we are used to. The shield can be opaque from the neck down in case the individual was naked when the shield was activated. The shield also acts as insulation for the radiation, cold or heat in space. The same device is utilized to alert the instantaneous transport system when an individual has suffered a life-threatening event.

External shielding is always in operation and is based on projected force fields. These can be varied to permit a vessel or person egress or admittance. Except for the direct openings to space there are no large airlocks to contend with. Everything is force field based. Air does not escape, it is contained.

Nanotechnology

Every person on the station is provided with self-replicating nanites that effectively eliminate bacterial and viral diseases and disorders. These nanites also perform injury repair to maintain the body at optimal functionality. This same technology is utilized to repair station structures and to eliminate pests, blights, disease, etc. that might find its way on board. It is also found extensively in the farm and food processing areas. It is also utilized to purify the water supply and recycle water and waste.

Exodus Conversion

The Antorans realized that their plan to man their ships with sufficient numbers of trained military personnel and effectively meet the Glarin invasion might not mature in time to meet the threat. As a contingency, they determined to convert all of their stations to Exodus Class stations. The Exodus Class conversion is found in the habitat areas.

The dwelling unit structure as previously noted is one mile wide with the actual dwelling units facing the mountains in the habitat. The 80 feet closest to the sector wall also has a framework similar to that of the dwelling portion of the structure with similar unit separation and count. However instead of a 60' by 112' space containing a dwelling, it is a 60' by 80' bay containing 80 stasis units. There are 4 rows stasis units that are 4'W by 3'H by 10'L with a personal storage unit under the stasis unit that measures 4'W by 4'H by 10'L. There is a 6' corridor at the wall of each bay with an 8 ' wall down the middle. The result is that each station is capable of sustaining a large number of transportees in stasis. The Type 1A can sustain 8.76 billion individuals in stasis; the Type 1B can sustain 5.84 billion individuals in stasis; and, the Type 2 can sustain 1.84 billion individuals in stasis, more than sufficient units than needed for any planet population protected by the Antoran fleet. This capability is also expected to be used to aid in the event of solar catastrophe such as a nove scale event.