Second Chances (47 page)

“After the past three seasons we've had, what with the road crews, convoys and farm, I think expanding our fuel capacity is a very good idea,” Mitch said. “I'm going to see if we can throw as much power as we can to make as much fuel as we can now. While we can I mean. While we have surplus power.”

“Understood. That means we'll need the space.”

“Yes, that means we'll need the space,” Mitch replied with a smile. He turned to Brian who was looking thoughtfully at the flat area around the hangars near the river bank. From the direction he was looking, it wasn't at the pool and wheel turbines. Which reminded him, they could use the wheel water turbines as a template! But then it dawned on him what Brian was getting at. “There? Mitch asked.

Brian shrugged. “It's close enough to run the lines to, and still be out of the way. I'd rather it be a lot farther away, but well, can't have everything,” he said, making a face.

Mitch nodded. “Got a plan?”

Brain used his hands to explain. “Well, if we dig out a pit, we could use those bladders you've got or some of the plastics,” Brian said thoughtfully. “Say, line it with gravel, then a layer of plastic. Maybe a double layer if we can swing it. Plastic struts for internal support...I think we've got spare valve assemblies...” He looked up, thoughtful. “Technically, we don't need it in the ground; we could build a tuna can style above ground. Or a series of them. I was just thinking spheres would be better...” He frowned thoughtfully.

Mitch smiled. The teen was becoming something of an engineer, and he was thinking about using as much off-the-shelf parts or material they could easily replace as possible. “Get with Vance and Sam. I'm not sure if you can cut the ground with it being frozen, but look into it. Even just a low spot to give you a head start,” he suggested. Brian nodded. “I'll pull some other people in to help,” Mitch said. Brian and Lisa nodded as he slapped his thigh and then trotted off.

Chapter 26

Teams worked throughout the week on various projects including the rush to get additional tanks set up. They knew they were on borrowed time, and it was only emphasized when Piotr reported activity on the Doppler.

The next morning they woke to a dusting of snow and hard frozen ground once more. That put more emphasis to get all outdoor activity done. Brian turned the tank project over to Sam who was also overseeing the relocation of a quarter of the solar panels to moveable masts.

Months ago Phyllis had brought back the gear from the Amazon Village. Most had been personal affects, but some had been stored for future use. Some had been traded to the other villages, and the stuff they couldn't use had been recycled.

Brian, Lisa and a team dug through the piles of gear. Lisa had done an initial inventory of the surviving vehicles from the village. They went about tearing out the alternators as well as mounting the engines on frames and turning them into generators.

Brian discovered solar panel sets for flood lights. These he rigged on masts to power each of the pumps and electronics for the expanded fuel farm. Sam ran plastic tubes underground from the chemical works to the tanks in the last step, then buried them. “The good news is, we don't have to insulate these,” Brian said, watching the work crews pushing the dirt over the tubes.

“Yes we do,” Mitch said, busy and not looking at him.

“No we don't. Not with winter...I mean they have to be cold remember?”

“And the rest of the year?” Mitch asked. He looked up to the teenager. Brian frowned. “Remember, one hundred degrees in the summer?”

“Shit,” Brian mouthed then sighed. “I forgot about that.”

“I didn't.”

Mitch had shut down most of robots early to conserve power. Since they had a 192 people in the population, the robots were becoming redundant for some tasks. A human could run gear faster and could multitask much better than a bot could. Besides, shutting them down allowed Mitch to stop having to charge them for the winter.

He turned the saved power into four critical projects. One was Lisa's generator project. He wasn't sure if she'd get far with it, but it had the potential for export to the other communities if she used the flex fueled vehicles properly. The second was the factory; the Lings and Summersets had assured him building the fire boxes and steam turbines weren't a problem. They had already used what steel sheets he'd stockpiled to roll cylinders for the first prototype. The third project was the production of fuel. And finally, he turned his 3D printers on to make parts, as well as a production run of batteries to store additional power.

“Can we make fuel cells?” Brian asked.

“We can look into it,” Mitch agreed.

“And a hydrogen or methane burner?” Brian added. Mitch turned to him. Brian shrugged. “Lisa's idea. We've got some gear set up for natural gas, and methane is natural gas. Things like gas barbeques, heaters, and stuff.”

“I think they use propane, but okay, we can look into it,” Mitch said nodding. “We've got all winter,” he said. “First things first,” he said as larger flakes of snow started to fall. He looked up to the sky with a frown.

“Something that occurred to me,” Brian said. Mitch grunted. “The steam turbines, how are they going to get fuel?” Mitch turned to look at him. Brian shrugged. “Other than the hydrogen and methane...we're not exactly set up for wood burning you know. We've got some for the fireplace in the great room, and tons for wood products...but...” He spread his hands.

“But not a lot. Not enough you mean,” Mitch said thoughtfully. Brian was right; he didn't want to burn the wood they'd stockpiled for construction or manufacturing. Most of it was dried and really nice wood. “Damn.” He thought about it. It was too late to get a shipment of wood from Iron Village. There was no way they could get a truck convoy through, and he was pretty sure no point. What Mike had on hand he needed to keep his own people warm all winter.

“Yeah, I know,” Brian replied.

“I'll look into it. When Sam's done get everything and everyone under cover and winterized,” Mitch ordered. He frowned thoughtfully then shrugged. If they were to get wood, they'd have to stay local. He didn't want to, but it would serve in a pinch.

“Where are you going?”

“I planted a grove of trees nearby when we were dropped. I've been saving them, letting them grow. Seems now's the time to do some harvesting,” Mitch said.

------*------

While Sam's crews worked feverishly, Mitch took a hummer and the gunny and went out beyond the outer perimeter to check on the groves of trees he had planted nearby. He'd planted them when he hadn't been certain if the planet had enough trees around, or if they were the right kind to burn or use for wood working. Now, three years later he knew the planet had plenty of wood.

They crested the hill and found the trees he and the robots had planted had grown 10 years of growth in 3 years. Some of the trees were having a hard time with the snow, limbs were snapping off under the load. “So, are we going to cut them down?” Gunny asked, warily climbing out of the truck with his weapon.

“I think so,” Mitch said, checking the wood. The snow had stopped, but he knew it was only a matter of time before they got socked hard. It was now or never. “I'll call it in. Sam and Paul can run the loads. We'll work until dark. Hell, if it's not snowing, I may rig lights and run all night if we have to,” he said.

“You're really serious about this,” Gunny Hodges said. “Are we that low?”

“I don't know. But what's that saying about being prepared again?”

“Right,” the gunny sighed. “Let's get on it then,” he said, shaking his gloves. “Gonna be damn cold,” he muttered. Mitch called it in, then pulled out a can of paint and started marking trees.

They decided to harvest the poplar and half the pine trees and planned to replant new saplings Hejira could grow in the greenhouses in the spring. Removing the stumps and replanting would be tedious, but equipment Mitch had brought along would make it easier. “Besides, that's a problem for spring,” Mitch said. The work crew of improvised lumberjacks and guards nodded.

“We may need the firewood.”

------*------

Just before the second major blizzard of the season, a weary Sam and Brian reported the chemical works were fully online and the new fuel farms were integrated in the system. “We've tested and retested for leaks. We'll have to see how it holds up over the winter,” Sam said. “We're going to be producing hydrogen, methane and ethylene with all our spare power. I also got a crew to clear the solar panels and relocate those we could to masts. We'll see how that works out,” he said, closing his eyes tiredly.

Mitch nodded. He was dragging too, but feeling proud of his people. Forklifts were bringing loads to the kilns to dry the wood out. Loads of dried wood were already piling up near the cliff wall under tarps and shelters. A work crew of teens were busy with the hydraulic wood cutter cutting the logs up into burnable chunks. He was amused, they'd thought it was a cool toy at first. Now they were bored with it.

“Go get some rest,” Mitch said, patting Sam on the shoulder. “You two did good work,” he said, looking to Brian.

“Food,” Brian said. “Janet came out to feed us, but that was hours ago. She said it would be the last time too, since we were too stubborn and stupid and staying out,” he said, shaking his head.

“Well, go eat and warm up,” Mitch urged.

“Don't have to ask me twice,” Brian said, headed to the nearest door. Sam followed as did a trickle of other men and women. Mitch waved them onward and inward just as the snow really started to fall.

“I hope it's enough,” a familiar voice murmured.

“Me too,” he said softly, feeling his fiancé wrap her arm around his. “They ran a systems test, it works. Any excess power will now automatically be used to generate more hydrogen, methane, and ethylene,” Mitch said.

“Good. Now, come on. You're about dead on your feet. Probably ice cold too,” she said, pulling him to the door.

“My feet are just fine thank you,” he said, still reluctant.

She tugged harder. “That may be so, but you have a date with a soup bowl, a hot bath, and bed. With me,” she said firmly.

“Oh really?”

“Yup. An O'Connell always gets her man,” she said smugly. “Better surrender now boy,” she teased.

“Hmmm....” he said, suddenly perking up. “Can we skip the first two and go right for the best part?” he asked.

That got a laugh out of her as they went inside. “Not a chance. You stink and you'll need your energy,” she murmured. He snorted softly.

------*------

The next morning they were definitely cave bound. The blizzard had dropped an estimated foot of snow, and it was still coming down. Mitch, like a lot of people, had a hard time dealing with it. He noted a few people were playing games, watching videos or generally talking. A couple ended up in a heated argument; apparently picking a fight was one way to pass the time.

He turned with a slight grin to the ladies at the table. Sandra wasn't letting him out of her sight after the activities of the past several days. And contrary to her promise, they'd gone to bed but hadn't gotten to any good parts before exhaustion had knocked him out.

“That reminds me,” he said. “Miss bossy britches. Making me go inside,” he mocked. She fluttered her eyes at him. He loved how she was all tucked up in his borrowed shirt and sweater. He teased the girls about being passive aggressive with relationships, topping from the bottom. “You always have to keep us off balance. Keep us guessing. You beat us over our heads with our own mistakes but never admit your own...you like to use mental judo...”

“Careful boy...”

He waved a hand and went on, but his eyes glittered with challenge to her. “You pick fights just to show us guys who's boss...”

“He really is asking for trouble isn't he?” Janet asked Sandra, turning to her. “He's your problem you deal with him.”

Sandra pursed her lips in amusement. “Just let him go. I'll rein him in eventually,” she said.

“In other words give him enough rope?” Janet asked with a laugh.

“It's only the truth,” Mitch said, spreading his hands. “Which is another thing, you hate facing the truth, and you never admit when you are wrong. You 'changed your mind,’” he said. That got a bark of laughter from some of the other guys. That was throttled to chortles and snickers when the girls looked at them.

Sandra looked at Mitch with narrowed eyes. “You are really riding for a fall, you know that?” She asked.

He grinned at her, totally unrepentant. She snorted and shook her head. “See?” he asked. “Can't take the bull by the horns...”

“Oh is it the
horn
you want me to
grab
?” Sandra asked sweetly. Janet snickered when Mitch coughed and had the grace to blush.

“Not what I meant,” he said, recovering weakly. “But if you want something, why all the mental games? You expect us to read your minds, anticipate...we're busy!”

“Wrapped up in your own little worlds...complacent,” Doc said.

“Sometimes,” Mitch said, shrugging. Sandra straddled his lap and then shook her hair out.