Oakmont–Verona–Plum Development Site, Pennsylvania
May 18, 2440, 6:18 AM
The first forming panels were being positioned along the northern boundary when D’vann opened the construction display.
Beyond that boundary stood the compound’s T-38 fusion plant.
The plant was the reason for the barrier. The foundation material could expand beyond its intended limits in other directions without creating much trouble. Letting it spread across another patch of prepared ground would not matter. Letting it spread around the fusion plant would.
S’rethi checked the line against the plant’s surveyed position.
“That’s where I want the containment.”
R’alen highlighted the forming crew’s progress.
“They’re starting from the section nearest the plant.”
“Good. The other work can proceed as the forms are accepted.”
D’vann brought up the regional site plan.
Three proposed sitios appeared within the larger Pennsylvania development area. Each measured three kilometers on a side.
The first had been released for construction.
Its planned street elevation was 840 feet.
The second sitio lay to the south and somewhat southeast, fifteen meters higher. The third stood another twenty meters above the second, farther east and north of it.
D’vann selected the elevation overlay.
“Thirty-five meters between the first and third.”
“At their street datums,” S’rethi said. “Not across one continuous slope.”
“I know.”
“Then we need to consider what happens to the cold air between them.”
T’ira brought up the terrain contours.
The graded land retained depressions, slopes, and lower corridors between the proposed settlements. Even where the finished streets would be level, the surrounding land would not be.
S’rethi highlighted several lower areas.
“Those are potential frost pockets. Cold air will settle in the low ground when conditions are right, particularly where it has nowhere to drain.”
D’vann examined the contours.
“Then we don’t want orchards in those hollows.”
“Not without knowing what they will experience. The gardens will need the same consideration.”
T’ira added a cold-air drainage overlay to the landscape planning model.
The elevation differences offered opportunities to direct cold air away from sensitive planting areas, but the engineers would have to preserve suitable routes rather than enclosing every depression behind landscaping or embankments.
“And the higher sitio?” D’vann asked.
“Higher doesn’t automatically mean free of frost pockets,” S’rethi answered. “A depression at the third sitio can still collect colder air than the surrounding ground.”
D’vann nodded.
“We’ll need the planting areas reviewed before they’re finalized.”
“Exactly.”
He brought up Matthew’s original elevation preference.
“Nine hundred feet.”
The first sitio’s street datum was sixty feet below that preference. The second was closer, while the third was higher.
D’vann considered the figures.
“We should send him the revised elevations.”
“With the reasons for choosing them,” S’rethi said. “There’s no benefit in forcing the settlements to nine hundred feet when the terrain gives us workable locations at different elevations.”
T’ira attached the contour studies to the report.
D’vann returned to the first sitio.
The map showed twenty-five blocks east to west and twenty-five north to south, 625 blocks occupying nine square kilometers.
It was only a portion of the roughly eighty-square-kilometer project.
About forty-five square kilometers had already been cleared, while geological surveys, stabilization, reclamation, and other work continued across the larger territory.
Much of the eastern and southern activity was outside the first sitio entirely.
D’vann enlarged the first settlement.
Its colors identified the principal uses.
Brown marked light industrial land. The northern industrial frontage extended the full three kilometers. Green parkland separated it from the first housing blocks and the apartment development.
Yellow identified the house blocks.
The apartments, marked in orange, formed a column down the middle of the sitio.
Other green spaces divided the residential areas and provided room for landscaping and engineered watercourses.
The industrial areas along the southern and eastern edges were not required to end in perfectly straight lines. They could extend onto suitable flatter ground beyond the regular grid, incorporating the existing drainage patterns into the larger development.
S’rethi examined the parkland again.
“Those spaces also give us some flexibility with the cold-air drainage.”
T’ira nodded.
“We can examine the likely collection areas without changing the block dimensions.”
“Good. Keep the potential frost pockets identified in the landscape model. We can decide what belongs in them when we have the planting plans.”
D’vann selected the central apartment column.
“Those are the sections that need the careful forming.”
The apartments occupied ten designated blocks along the centerline. Their garage foundations required accurate levels, aligned walls, and correctly positioned access.
The surrounding residential foundation would not be built by enclosing each block in a separate set of forms.
Once placed on prepared ground, the Wonder Foam would spread, level, expand, and harden according to the selected formulation.
Forming every exterior edge simply to prevent harmless excess would waste time and equipment.
The northern barrier was an exception because of the T-38.
The apartment garages were another because of their structural requirements.
D’vann opened the cross section.
“Street datum?”
“Eight hundred forty feet,” R’alen answered.
“And the lower garage floors?”
“Approximately eight hundred fourteen.”
The ground assigned to the central apartment column was already about eight meters below the planned street elevation.
Two garage levels could be constructed beneath the apartments without excavating the entire depth from the surrounding grade.
At Boonville, the apartment excavations had required human earthmovers and heavy-duty V’ren equipment to dig approximately thirty feet in one day.
Pennsylvania’s existing depression spared much of that work.
“The first garage floors can begin today,” R’alen said. “The wall panels and bracing follow.”
D’vann enlarged the forming sequence.
Floors would be sprayed, the wall panels set and braced, and Wonder Foam applied to fill the forms.
The printers would then continue raising the garage walls toward street datum.
“Electrical equipment?” D’vann asked.
“Lowered into the basements tomorrow, once the walls reach the required elevation. The electricians from Leta arrive on the twentieth for the connections.”
D’vann checked the access routes.
The garage entrances were positioned on the southern sides of the apartment blocks.
Each used a six-meter-wide ramp, taking only a modest portion of the ground-floor commercial space.
“Keep those approaches available throughout construction,” he said.
“They’re in the equipment sequence,” R’alen answered.
“Good.”
S’rethi changed the display to the streets.
Every block, regardless of its designated use, followed the same exterior geometry.
The block measured 120 meters on each side.
The outer five meters formed a slightly cambered road. Inside that was a two-meter sidewalk, set twenty-five centimeters above the center of the road.
That left an interior measuring 106 meters from side to side.
House blocks incorporated six-meter-wide east-west alleys.
The apartment blocks used their southern ramp entrances.
The parks had no alleys. Instead, each side had a six-meter-wide opening at its center, allowing water to pass through the park system rather than forcing it around the blocks.
Those openings would accommodate runoff, existing streams where appropriate, and engineered creek channels.
S’rethi examined the drainage overlay.
“Leave these connections open.”
R’alen checked the park plans.
“They’re reserved.”
“The water has to get through the development. And where the terrain allows, we don’t want to trap cold air behind the landscaping either.”
T’ira marked the additional requirement.
The water routes and cold-air drainage would not necessarily follow identical paths, but both had to be considered before the parks and planting areas were finalized.
Beyond the regular grid, the industrial areas offered more freedom to connect the drainage system to the surrounding landscape.
D’vann closed the regional view.
“Then we can concentrate on getting the first foundation down.”
6:43 AM
Frank Bakkal joined the construction review while Kate Red Hawk continued coordinating his crews.
“Are you going to need any of my people for the garages?” Frank asked.
“Only those already assigned,” R’alen answered. “The forming and foundation equipment have their crews.”
“Good. I’ve got plenty happening at the compound.”
Frank examined the morning schedule.
One Quonset was being fitted out as a cabinetmaking shop. The maintenance workshop was approaching usable condition, while the remaining buildings progressed through their service connections and interior finishing.
“How’s the cabinet shop?” D’vann asked.
“Getting set up. We’ve got enough lumber to keep it working for weeks.”
“Any shortage of material?”
Frank shook his head.
“Eight thousand cubic meters of beautiful wood, eight thousand of structural lumber, and another full load of each coming today. We’ll have thirty-two thousand cubic meters once those are received.”
“Quite a stock.”
“Better than ordering it every time somebody needs a cabinet.”
Frank checked another message.
“Kate’s got the initial production list organized. Maintenance benches and shelving first, then office fittings and the other things we need.”
D’vann nodded.
Frank glanced at the apartment plan.
“You’re really starting the garages today?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’d better keep my crews out of your way.”
“Much appreciated,” R’alen answered.
Frank went back to his own work.
7:02 AM
The apartment crews began setting out the lower garage floors.
Survey references fixed the floor elevations and wall positions. The panels and braces were being positioned for permanent construction.
At the north end of the sitio, the barrier crew continued erecting its forms near the fusion plant.
Elsewhere, the foundation equipment prepared to place Wonder Foam over the released ground without enclosing every block in its own perimeter.
R’alen checked the equipment routes.
Crews working on the northern barrier would have access without crossing the central garage construction.
T’ira reviewed the communications assignments.
The construction recordings would be shared with James and Ashton.
James had already seen the apartment method used at Boonville and would be part of the Rolla team. Ashton had enjoyed participating in the industrial-platform work on the sixteenth.
Neither required a special assignment to receive the footage.
T’ira returned to the site reports.
9:16 AM
S’rethi reviewed the geological releases as the forming work continued.
Farther east and south, crews were still surveying ground that had not been released for permanent construction.
The underground cavity that had swallowed eighteen survey rovers remained under treatment. Wonder Foam deliveries continued to the stabilization sites, with measurements tracking how the material filled the damaged subsurface.
She left the affected restrictions in place.
T’ira brought up the updated terrain model.
“The survey team has finished the first cold-air drainage assessment.”
S’rethi examined it.
Several low areas between the proposed settlements had been marked for further study. The higher ground surrounding them could shelter the depressions from wind, allowing cold air to accumulate on clear, calm nights.
D’vann studied one of the marked locations.
“That could be a pleasant park.”
“It could,” S’rethi answered. “But I’d be cautious about putting an orchard there.”
“General parkland, then?”
“Possibly. We haven’t established how severe the temperature difference will be.”
T’ira selected the third sitio.
The location stood twenty meters above the second site’s street elevation, but its surrounding terrain still contained local depressions.
“We’ll have to examine each site’s planting areas separately.”
“Yes,” S’rethi said. “And preserve the useful cold-air drainage routes before landscaping closes them.”
D’vann looked toward the housing plans.
“Would any of this delay the foundations?”
“No. It affects where we place sensitive vegetation and how we finish the surrounding ground. The structural releases remain valid.”
“Good.”
S’rethi returned to the garage construction.
The crews had begun establishing the first floor surfaces. Wall panels were being assembled and checked against the building drawings.
The apartment construction would continue while the surrounding foundation advanced later in the day.
D’vann examined the measurements.
“Those alignments are much better than the platform.”
“They need to be,” S’rethi answered.
The apartment garages would eventually carry occupied residential buildings, and their structural tolerances reflected that requirement.
12:18 PM
The first general foundation placement began.
R’alen checked the accepted survey references, material allocations, and equipment clearances.
S’rethi approved the released sections.
The machines began depositing Wonder Foam onto the prepared ground.
There was no elaborate sequence of enclosing one 120-meter block, finishing it, dismantling the forms, and starting the next.
The material was placed where the engineering model required it and allowed to spread and harden.
Along the north, the barrier prevented the expanding material from reaching the fusion plant.
Elsewhere, minor excess beyond the planned edges was not a concern.
Within the central apartment column, work continued under a different set of constraints.
The lower garage floors were being formed, the first wall panels braced, and Wonder Foam applied within the forms.
The garage walls would rise toward the 840-foot street datum as the printers advanced.
D’vann watched the measurements.
“Any trouble at the north boundary?”
“No,” R’alen said. “The barrier is containing it.”
“And the garages?”
“Floor placement is proceeding. First wall sections are being checked.”
S’rethi reviewed the foundation readings.
“Within tolerance.”
D’vann nodded.
“Continue.”
4:56 PM
The first sitio’s foundation had advanced across the released sections throughout the afternoon.
The northern barrier was keeping the expanding material clear of the T-38, and the central apartment crews had begun forming the lower garage floors and walls.
R’alen checked the next construction sequence.
“The garage printers continue overnight. Electrical installation follows tomorrow once the required wall heights are reached.”
“And the general foundation?” D’vann asked.
“Continues through the approved sections.”
S’rethi finished checking the geological reports.
“No new restrictions in the released work.”
“Good,” D’vann said.
T’ira approached with the updated regional plan.
“The elevations and preliminary frost-pocket assessment are attached to the report for His Lordship.”
D’vann opened it.
The three sites retained their proposed street elevations: 840 feet for the first, fifteen meters higher for the second, and another twenty meters higher for the third.
The report identified the areas requiring further cold-air drainage assessment before the orchard, garden, and parkland planting plans were finalized.
“Send it,” D’vann said.
T’ira transmitted the report.
S’rethi glanced at her husband.
“He may ask why we didn’t use his preferred elevation.”
“Then we’ll explain.”
“And if he wants us to move the sites?”
D’vann considered the model.
“We’ll give him the engineering reasons for keeping them where they are.”
S’rethi nodded.
There was no need to settle the matter before Matthew had reviewed the proposal.
D’vann returned to the construction display.
One camera showed newly hardened foundation. Another showed the apartment crews working around the garage forms.
The first sitio was expected to be fully operational on June fourth, with the third settlement scheduled for completion by July twenty-first.
For now, the day’s work had met its requirements.
“Good progress,” D’vann said.
S’rethi nodded.
“Yes.”
They returned to the evening schedule.
