Installment #7

Chapter 13

". . . the most probable scenario is that the storm caused a weakness in the shell of the station, and while the restart team was inside, there was a catastrophic loss of pressure killing them instantly," Snyder continued. "The simulation sets that as a 17.3% possibility. The next most probable scenario is that the team is still alive (or at least some of them are) but they have been unable communicate with the outside world. That was set at 12.1%. From there the percentages drop significantly. It is possible that a group of space pirates came in just slightly ahead or behind the storm – when our ability to detect them was severely impaired by interference by the storm. That is always a danger, considering the amount of valuable equipment sitting unguarded at the station. If they came before the storm, they could have loaded their ship with loot and sat tight until the storm subsided, making their escape before the restart team arrived. A similar scenario also involves space pirates who were still at the station when the restart team arrived and killed the team before making their escape either in their own ship or the restart team's ship. It is also possible that the space pirates were stranded at the station due to problems with their ship and may still be there. The remaining scenarios are so remote that they can be disregarded."

"Whew," Adrian responded, somewhat sarcastically. "The computers must have been working overtime to come up with that list."

"You may scoff, Mr. Masters, but we want to have as much information as possible before we go in. We are prepared for every one of those scenarios," Snyder responded, waiving his arm toward the mass of equipment still sitting on the dock.

Adrian saw Maria approached, and turned toward her. Snyder did the same. "Maria, I would like to introduce you to Lt. Colonel James Snyder. He's been briefing me on what we might expect to encounter once we get to Site 209."

"Very pleased to meet you, Lt. Colonel," Maria said, looking Snyder up and down. "It looks like we will be in capable hands."

Snyder stiffened, as if responding to an "attention" command from a superior. "Yes, ma'am, you will be." There was an awkward silence.

"Maria is a crackerjack structural engineer. If there are any problems with the facility's infrastructure, she's the one to take care of it," Adrian interjected. "We have had the pleasure of working on a rescue mission before, and her advice was invaluable in the success of that mission." Adrian didn't tell him that only 6 of the 22 miners were recovered alive. But that little detail didn't seem necessary or relevant to the matter at hand.

"Oh, Adrian, you are too kind," she said, as sweetly as she could muster. His voice brought back all of the bad feelings she had suppressed. Her stomach was churning, and she could feel a bit of vomit in her throat. Damn, she thought to herself, I can't let him affect he this way.

"I need to check out the gear I requisitioned for the trip," she said, looking deep into Snyder's eyes, "do you think you could help me find my crates?"

"Certainly, ma'am," Snyder responded. The two of them walked toward the dwindling pile of crates just to the left of the gangway.

Adrian thought Snyder was full of crap. Those scenarios were absurd. Based upon his years of experience as a wildcatter, he could think of a half dozen possibilities that were significantly more probable than anything Snyder's computers had come up with. That concerned him. But Snyder and his men were just there to provide security. Adrian was ultimately in charge of the mission. So, Snyder could spend his time looking for space pirates, or little green men for all Adrian cared, as long as Snyder did what he was told.

It was always hard to bring military men on a civilian mission. They always wanted to turn it into a battleground, rather than a simple rescue. He would need to take Snyder aside during the trip to Site 209 to make sure Snyder understood his role in this scenario.

Chapter 14

Michael Strong, the computer whiz, was pacing back and forth in front of the gangway. Adrian walked over to him. "Your first trip to Site 209, Mr. Strong."

Strong looked up at him. Adrian could see from his eyes that he was scared. "Yes. In fact, this is my first trip to any mining site. I usually do my work from my computer lab at Juno's headquarters on Earth. I don't like to travel. And I certainly don't like to go somewhere where there might be danger."

"So, why did you agree to come?"

"Because my partner was with the restart team. We have been together for over a decade – both professionally and personally. I love him and would be devastated if anything happened to him. Besides, Mr. Campbell asked me to come. There were obviously some problems with the communications from the site, and that means that JENNI might have been damaged in the storm. JENNI is essential to the safe operation of the station, and my partner and I know JENNI better than anyone. If there is anything wrong with her, we are the ones most capable of fixing her."

"You speak of JENNI as if she is a person. I find that a bit odd," Adrian said.

"Well, I've worked on JENNI and her progeny most of my career. She was the first totally self-contained system ever placed in a mining station. She had to be because of the storm that was known to be inevitable when the station was opened a decade ago. The smooth running and low maintenance characteristics of JENNI lead Juno Mining to adopt the system for all of its subsequent mining facilities, even though none of them faced the same storm situation as Site 209. JENNI has been my companion; some even call her my 'mistress', for all of those years. So I guess I do think of her as a 'person'. She has a female voice, and some claim she has a female temperament, although I don't see it. She is a computer system, no more and no less. She does what she was programmed to do. And she does it efficiently and without error."

"Tell me more about JENNI's role on Site 209," Adrian asked.

"Well . . .," Strong began, collecting his thoughts. "Let me give you an overview of the facility and how JENNI controls every aspect of it. JENNI is much more than simply a computer. She is a neural network tied into every facet of the facility. She automatically controls the entire environment in which the workers operate. She controls the heating, cooling, atmosphere, fire suppression systems and all of the mining equipment. She monitors every aspect of the facility to make sure there are no problems. The facility is operating in a very harsh environment. On a calm day the outside winds are blowing upwards of 100 miles per hour, with gusts up to 250 miles per hour. The outside temperature is at least -200 centigrade and often lower, and the atmosphere blanketing the facility consists of a caustic chemical soup pressing down on the surface of the station at more than 5000 psi."

"The station is located approximately 10,000 miles under what we see as the 'surface' of Jupiter. As you know from your elementary astronomy class in high school, Jupiter is a giant ball of gases. There is no solid, rocky surface like on the inner planets like Earth and Mars. However, because of the enormous pressure and cold temperatures associated with the giant gas cloud that makes up Jupiter, there is a boundary line where the gases are compressed to form a frozen mass. The facility was built at that boundary."

"While the frozen surface is quite thick, it not all that strong and could not support the enormous weight of the mining facility. If the facility had been built directly on the frozen surface, it would have sunk beneath the surface and its weight would have caused it to sink slowly toward the center of the planet. So the facility was designed to float slightly above the frozen surface. There are a dozen anchors securely embedded in the frozen surface and connected to the facility by super-strong composite cables. The station itself is aerodynamically designed to hover just above the surface. There are small 'wings' over which the constant winds blow, creating lift and keeping the facility from actually touching the frozen surface. JENNI constantly monitors the elevation and adjusts these wings to keep the station between one and four centimeters above the surface. If JENNI ever stops operating, the station will either pull away from the anchors and tumble across the frozen surface or sink through the surface and disappear forever – or both."

"As Ms. Winchester indicated, JENNI also controls a small army of robots that maintain the facility. While the main purpose of the robots was to keep the station in tact and operational during the storm, it made sense to have them do the maintenance all the time. There are robots of all sizes and all types operational at the facility. The largest ones are those that you saw in the video from the transport. Those big boys weigh 30-50 tons each. They move slowly across the roof of the facility, testing, prodding and repairing any holes or cracks that might endanger the facility. When the winds get about 250 miles per hour they will go to cocoons built into the roof where they can hunker down and wait for the winds to die down. During those times there are smaller robots on the inside of the station that check the ceilings for any problems. They can't make big repairs, but can make small emergency repairs until the big boys can come out of hiding."

"Inside the station there are a variety of robots that do everything from maintaining the pipes and wiring, to cooking the crew's food, painting, unclogging toilets and even providing entertainment for the crew. All under the control of JENNI."

"And what if JENNI should crash? Or lose power?," Adrian asked.

"Well," Strong continued, "JENNI is actually identical twins. There is an identical backup system that simply monitors what the main system is doing, ready to step in at any time in case the main system has a problem. It's like a relief pitcher in baseball."

"Yeah," Adrian retorted, "but if the relief pitcher has a bad arm, people generally don't die."

Michael Strong laughed, a geeky, wheezy sort of laugh – if you could actually call it a laugh. "True, Mr. Masters. Thankfully, we have never had an instance where the main system has gone down on any of our JENNI's, so we haven't had to test the backup system in actual use. Of course, we have tested it extensively in the lab, and have switched over to the back up JENNI's on occasion when it has been necessary to do routine maintenance on the main unit. But since both units are identical, and perform identically, the back up unit is not likely to have a 'bad day' like your hypothetical pitcher. And there is no indication that the main JENNI on Site 209 has had any problems – ever."

"But," Adrian chimed in, "we don't really know what is going on right now, do we?"

"True. We don't. But not because there is anything wrong with JENNI, but because the antenna does not seem to be working properly – probably due to the storm – and as a result we can't communicate with JENNI. But I'll be able to take care of that as soon as we get to the facility. I have a new antenna in one of the crates onboard the transport. I can plug it into an auxiliary jack once we are inside the facility, and voila, we will have communications with the outside world again."

[Word count this installment = 2,025]
[Total word count = 12,903]