The First Building That Works
Oakmont-Verona-Plum Development Site, Pennsylvania
May 17, 2440, 11:42 AM
“Another one?”
S’rethi looked at the geological survey display.
“Yes, Mother,” T’ira answered.
“How large?”
“Initial estimate, less than three thousand cubic meters.”
“Wonderful. A small hole.”
T’ira smiled.
“After the one that swallowed eighteen rovers, I thought you’d appreciate it.”
“I do.”
D’vann looked up from his construction workstation.
“Are we measuring Pennsylvania in holes now?”
“Until we have something more useful.”
“I was hoping for buildings.”
“You have eighty thousand square feet of foundation awaiting them.”
“Excellent. Buildings.”
The main display showed the results of the continuing surveys. Across more than forty square kilometers, rovers examined the shattered ground while aerial drones mapped the surface and boats surveyed the Allegheny.
The largest cavity continued receiving approximately one T-24 delivery per hour. Each load carried seventy-two cubic meters of dry components, injected in twenty minutes. At the selected formulation’s expansion ratio of one to two hundred fifty, that became eighteen thousand cubic meters of hardened fill.
“How’s the expansion?” S’rethi asked.
“Within the model,” T’ira said. “Next delivery at twelve.”
“Leave the sequence running.”
D’vann enlarged the industrial compound.
The platform constructed the previous day was ready for the buildings. Ashton Marmaduke had watched most of the operation, and had personally worked with one of the backpack-sprayer crews before the panels were leveled and the bulk fill delivered.
The printer had finished the surface and the prepared foundation trenches. Today the work was above ground.
“Eight frames,” D’vann said. “Forty by a hundred feet each. One row.”
S’rethi examined the layout.
“Still plenty of room in front.”
“Nearly half the platform is open apron, with the rest providing clearances around the buildings. R’alen has been very particular about the traffic arrangements.”
“He has become rather particular about many things.”
“An occupational hazard of being a personnel officer.”
D’vann smiled.
“He’ll have to get used to people being particular with him.”
A notice appeared on the next screen.
The first cargo shuttle was approaching.
12:04 PM
The first cargo T-48 settled into its unloading position. Another was approaching, with a third scheduled behind it.
These were construction-delivery craft, separate from the three T-48s already serving as accommodation shuttles.
Their quarter-section cargo modules carried Wonder Foam components, construction equipment, and supplies in quantities suited to the broader work. Each module had two thousand cubic meters of cargo capacity, internal power, and counter-gravity lifters to move it clear of the shuttle.
S’rethi watched the unloading feed.
“That’s going to make things easier.”
“You like having sufficient material,” D’vann said.
“I like having more than sufficient material.”
A notice announced the approaching construction specialists.
“Eight frames this afternoon,” he said.
“Provided they can get the materials into position.”
“They have a platform and a very large open area.”
“Then they’re doing better than we were yesterday.”
D’vann laughed.
The human crew chief stepped onto the unloading area carrying a tablet.
“K’var?”
“D’vann K’var.”
“I’m handling the frames. You have our foundation?”
“Completed yesterday.”
The man looked out across the enormous pale surface.
“That thing?”
“Yes.”
“You built that yesterday?”
“With considerable assistance.”
The crew chief examined the construction records.
“What’s under it?”
“Fractured limestone over consolidated bedrock. The subsurface problems beneath the platform were identified and treated. The surface was prepared after the geological work.”
“And the foam?”
“The lower foundation uses a formulation that performs the function of limestone. The upper foot is less rigid, more forgiving under surface loads and movement.”
The crew chief enlarged the cross section.
“Same components, different proportions?”
“Precisely.”
“So you’re making rock underneath and something easier to work on above it.”
“For your purposes, yes.”
The man pointed toward the trenches.
“Structural tie-ins?”
“Prepared by the industrial printer. The final connections will be completed after the frames are positioned.”
“So the buildings connect into the foundation.”
“Yes.”
“I can work with that.”
He looked across the platform toward the shattered hills.
“Yesterday this was forest?”
“And considerably higher.”
“Well, I’ll be damned.”
He tapped his tablet.
“Let’s get unloaded.”
12:36 PM
The construction lumber began arriving from Leta.
S’rethi was reviewing the platform work when D’vann returned with the crew chief.
“We have our lumber.”
“And Leta has a little less of it in the way,” the human added.
He showed her photographs of timber awaiting processing or removal around the Missouri development.
“That’s a substantial quantity,” she said.
“That isn’t all of it.”
“Why didn’t His Lordship clear that site the way he cleared this one?”
“Because it’s practically in his backyard. People, houses, utilities. He wasn’t going to pound the ground with kinetic weapons and find out what else shifted.”
D’vann nodded.
“Out here he had room.”
“Exactly. At Leta, they’re removing trees. We need lumber. Marmaduke Logistics gets it where it’s wanted.”
The provenance and processing records accompanied the deliveries. S’rethi checked the material against the construction order.
The lumber was destined for partitions, shelving, workbenches, tables, and other interior fittings. It would allow the workshops and offices to become functional as their shells and services were completed.
“Omaha, Kansas City, St. Louis, and Jefferson City are taking deliveries too,” the crew chief said, examining the schedule.
“Any conflicts with ours?” D’vann asked.
“Nothing that’s stopped us yet.”
“Equipment?”
“Everything competes for equipment. That’s why there’s a schedule.”
The construction site had been receiving shuttle deliveries at roughly hourly intervals. Equipment, Wonder Foam components, lumber, and other supplies arrived through the active freight network.
The traffic moved in both directions. Shuttles bringing new supplies also carried recovered materials away for further processing, storage, or shipment aboard the orbiting V’ren vessels.
Pittsburgh proper had its own larger reclamation operation, powered by a separate T-38. Both plants were installed on stable but temporary Wonder Foam bases.
The Pittsburgh operation’s output included recovered materials in several forms. Some products were ready for use, others were contained as gases, and still others required the more intensive processing available aboard the ships.
One particularly useful product was vitrified material supplied as construction sand.
The Pittsburgh operation was producing approximately five hundred cubic meters of it every six hours.
S’rethi had an immediate use for most of that supply.
Rather than replace enormous areas of fractured stone, she was filling gaps between the broken material to create level surfaces that could receive landscaping soil.
Grin Qwill, the V’ren botanist supervising the landscape crews, was organizing that work.
Her teams were also preparing to preserve mature trees from the remaining local woodland.
The extraction method used a shuttle strap rig to hold each tree upright while high-pressure water was sprayed into the surrounding soil. The soil could be removed without simply dragging the tree out of the ground, leaving the living tree available for relocation.
The trees had not yet been transplanted. The equipment and crews were being prepared.
S’rethi returned the crew chief’s tablet.
“A substantial undertaking.”
“You should see the rest of it. We haven’t even gotten to the resorts.”
“Resorts?”
“The isolated accommodations for the V’ren girls going through their hormonal change. Fountain Grove first. Three more locations selected, off Alaska, off Costa Rica, and in Colorado.”
“That is important work,” S’rethi said.
The crew chief looked at her.
“I understand they need the isolation. Mostly, I see another set of construction orders.”
“The girls will need those buildings as much as we need these.”
“Well, then we’d better get both done.”
1:18 PM
The first Quonset frame rose above the platform.
D’vann stood beside R’alen as the specialists aligned the next structural section and secured it.
“They’re preparing the second position already,” R’alen said.
“Yes.”
“Eight this afternoon?”
“That’s what they promised.”
The crew chief signaled to his workers. Another section moved into place.
D’vann watched the alignment settle.
“I suggest we keep the unloading area clear for the next frames.”
“Already arranged.”
“And the people following the framing crew?”
“Assigned. Frank has enough workers for the shell panels, and Kate has the electricians and plumbers scheduled to follow them.”
“Good.”
The first frame belonged to the kitchen.
Rather than follow the specialists down the row, a separate crew began enclosing it immediately.
The curved shell panels were large, but the work was straightforward. Workers positioned each one and bolted it to the frame. They needed ordinary tools and sufficient care to secure the panels correctly, not advanced training in V’ren technology.
The specialists were already moving to the second frame.
Kate moved between the teams with her tablet.
Frank stopped beside her.
“Kitchen?”
“On schedule.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.”
“Don’t ask me again for ten minutes.”
He laughed.
“Ten minutes?”
“I’m being generous.”
She checked the next assignment.
“And don’t send the framing crew back to help with panels. We have people for that. I want those specialists moving down the row.”
“Agreed.”
The first building stood against the sky, the first clear outline of a permanent working structure amid the broken ground.
Along the river, another crew was installing the compound’s T-38 on its prepared Wonder Foam platform. The bedrock shelf stood thirty feet back from the Allegheny and twenty-two feet above the water.
Its electrical connections would serve the operating compound, including the kitchen, workshops, offices, utility systems, and supporting equipment.
The installation could proceed while the framing specialists continued uphill.
1:47 PM
The waste tanks occupied a shelf twenty-five feet below the main Quonset platform. Another twenty-five feet below them, the small reclamation unit was being connected.
S’rethi examined the utility plan with one of the V’ren plumbers.
“The vertical separation is convenient.”
“Very. Collection above, storage here, processing below.”
The water tower was being positioned beside the huts. Below it, the tanks and reclamation equipment occupied their own shelves without crowding the working platform.
“The T-38 connections?” she asked.
“Being completed. We’ll be ready to receive power when they release it.”
The compound’s small reclamation unit was rated to process approximately 165 cubic meters of wet input per hour, primarily organic solids and water.
Camp wastewater and other waste would join river muck in the processing stream. Its recovered water and usable organic material could support the settlement’s developing utility and landscaping needs.
“The soil will be useful once the landscaping catches up,” the plumber said.
S’rethi nodded.
“Anything holding up your work?”
“The service connections inside the huts. We need the shells and service points in place.”
“The kitchen first?”
“Yes. Frank has made that very clear.”
“Good.”
“Once that’s completed, we can move through the workshops and offices.”
S’rethi smiled.
“Then I’ll leave you to it.”
2:26 PM
Two older human men stood beside a stack of curved shell panels.
One examined the next frame.
“This shouldn’t be too complicated.”
“Famous last words,” his companion said.
D’vann joined them.
“Any problems?”
“Not yet. We’ve got help?”
“Several of our people. The electricians and plumbers will follow as the shells are secured.”
“Fine by me.”
The framing specialists had moved onward. These two and their V’ren coworkers would enclose the buildings, leaving the specialists free to keep erecting frames.
Behind them, the kitchen shell was already enclosed, and its service crews were working inside.
One of the men looked toward the distant boundary of the pulverized ground.
“Quite a place.”
“Large,” D’vann said.
“That’s one word.”
“You said you wanted to hunt here?”
“When we’ve got time.”
“Some of the animals are unfamiliar to us.”
“Some of them are unfamiliar to me.”
“Really?”
“I know what a deer is. Doesn’t mean I’ve spent my life hunting every giant deer somebody’s ancestors decided to clone.”
“Your ancestors reconstructed a remarkable variety.”
“Don’t blame me. I wasn’t there.”
His companion chuckled.
“You’re not getting much hunting done standing here talking about it.”
“Probably not.”
He took hold of the first shell panel.
“Come on. Let’s build the damn huts.”
Beyond them, the open apron was beginning to look less like a construction yard and more like the heart of a working compound.
Vehicles occupied their designated spaces. Drone teams used the marked launch area without interfering with the shell crews. R’alen’s T-24 stood in its assigned parking position, clear of the unloading traffic.
By evening, the tables would occupy part of the open area.
For now, there was still a great deal of work to do.
3:39 PM
The fourth frame was rising when S’rethi returned to the main platform.
The completed Wonder Foam surface had performed as expected under the day’s construction traffic. Anchoring trenches were being finished as frames reached their positions.
She checked the reports and confirmed the remaining positions were released to the framing crew.
On the first hut, the kitchen equipment was being installed and connected. The rest of the crew continued enclosing workshops and offices.
D’vann joined her beside the display.
“Any trouble?” she asked.
“Nothing holding up construction.”
“The tie-ins?”
“Following the frames.”
A power notification appeared.
He opened it, checked the installation report, and passed it to her.
The compound’s T-38 was operating.
It was now supplying electrical power for the compound and its supporting equipment.
Below the platform, the small reclamation unit began its first processing run. Camp waste and river muck were entering the system.
S’rethi watched the intake figures settle.
“Good. We’ll want the soil.”
“We’ll want somewhere to put it,” D’vann said.
“Grin Qwill is seeing to that.”
Frank appeared at the kitchen entrance.
“Kate!”
She looked up from her tablet.
“What?”
“Cooking equipment?”
“Still being checked.”
“Water?”
“Working.”
“Refrigeration?”
“On.”
“Ventilation?”
“They’re finishing that now.”
“Good.”
He turned toward D’vann.
“Think we’ll manage supper.”
“Apparently the question has been troubling everyone.”
Frank grinned.
“Not as much as it would trouble them if we didn’t.”
4:52 PM
The eighth Quonset frame rose into position.
D’vann watched the specialists align the final section and secure it.
Eight forty-by-one-hundred-foot industrial frames in one afternoon.
They stood in a straight row across the rear portion of the enormous platform, with the shared apron stretching out before them.
One building was fully enclosed. Its kitchen installation was nearing completion.
The other seven were at different stages of enclosure. Shells, utilities, and interiors would keep the resident crews occupied after the framing specialists moved on.
On one of the workshops, the two older humans were still bolting panels into place with their V’ren coworkers.
One looked toward the final frame.
“Eight of them!”
“Yep,” his companion said.
“Think we’ll get all those shells done?”
“Not if you stand there admiring them.”
The first man laughed and reached for another panel.
D’vann smiled.
“I like those two.”
S’rethi checked the completed-frame report.
“Then let’s keep them supplied.”
R’alen joined them.
“The framing specialists are accounted for. Everyone else has their assignments for the remainder of the afternoon. I’ve moved the supper setup crew into the open dining area, away from the ongoing construction.”
“Your shuttle?” D’vann asked.
“Parked. I’m not planning to move it until after dinner.”
“Very sensible.”
R’alen looked toward the tables being set up in the apron.
“I’m learning to appreciate a predictable schedule.”
“Then you’re in the wrong occupation,” S’rethi told him.
5:16 PM
“Frank, how much longer?”
“Depends. How hungry are you?”
D’vann looked toward the first Quonset.
“Judging by the number of people asking me about supper, very.”
“Then tell them to quit bothering us. We’re trying to get their kitchen running.”
Kate emerged carrying her tablet.
“Power’s ready. Water’s connected. Ventilation is working. They’re finishing the last equipment checks.”
“What about refrigeration?” Frank asked.
“Already operating.”
“And the service connections?”
“Signed off.”
Frank looked past her into the kitchen.
“Then what’s holding us up?”
“The cooks haven’t accepted it yet.”
“Get them in there.”
“They’re already in there.”
He looked at D’vann.
“See what I have to put up with?”
“Competence?” D’vann suggested.
Kate ignored both men.
Outside, tables were being arranged in the designated dining portion of the apron. Workers had brought over additional chairs, and the grills were already busy.
Nobody particularly wanted to eat inside a Quonset on a pleasant May evening.
They wanted the kitchen under cover, where the cooks had electricity, refrigeration, water, proper working surfaces, and equipment that didn’t need to be loaded back into a shuttle afterward.
The drone launch positions and parking area were kept separate. R’alen had seen to that.
At the entrance, one of the cooks tested the last of the cooking equipment.
He checked the temperature, looked at the service indicators, and nodded.
“We’re good.”
Frank glanced at Kate.
“Everything signed off?”
“Everything needed to operate.”
“Then turn it over to them.”
The cook grinned.
“Finally.”
Food began moving through the doors.
The enormous Megaloceros taken that afternoon had already provided an extraordinary quantity of meat for the grills. Everything else had arrived from Missouri: potatoes, fries, vegetables, salads, beans, bread, desserts, condiments, and beer.
Inside, the cooks could prepare and organize the meal.
Outside, the workforce could enjoy it.
S’rethi joined D’vann near the entrance.
“All that engineering today,” she said, “and this is what everyone is happiest about.”
“We’ve been filling mines, commissioning a fusion plant, reclaiming river muck, and putting up eight buildings.”
“And now they can cook supper.”
“Apparently that’s the important achievement.”
“It’s a very important achievement.”
Frank came out carrying a plate.
“Well?”
D’vann regarded him.
“Well what?”
“First building on the site that’s actually doing what we built it to do.”
“The kitchen.”
“The kitchen.”
“Congratulations.”
“Don’t congratulate me. Go get something to eat.”
D’vann glanced toward the unfinished Quonsets.
“What about the other huts?”
“They’ll be there tomorrow.”
“Some of the crews are still working.”
“They can finish what they’re doing and come eat.”
“And tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow we get the workshops and offices fitted out.”
D’vann smiled.
“A sensible order of priorities.”
“Damn right.”
Someone near the grills announced that the first steaks were ready.
Nearly everybody stopped asking questions about construction.
For the first time since arriving in Pennsylvania, they had a functioning kitchen of their own.
