"BM" Journal sketches

"BM" Journal sketches

Postby ChaosSong » Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:23 pm

[Brackets indicate where names are needed]

[Senior Miner]'s Journal:

October 3rd, 2007- The Guild of Maintainers have finished construction of my rig design, and all is proceeding apace. What an expense, but what promise! The gasses indigenous to [this age] are like nothing we've encounterd before, scores of practical applications are reportedly possible and the new Guild of Chemists are all a-twiter. They will be sending three of their finest to join us, in about a week, while [my associate] and I ensure that the extraction is functioning. We have a large checklist to run through before we are ready to deploy the primary drill, but today I think I will just admire the view as I unpack.

It seems that we are on a giant, irregular, glass bead, hurtling through space. It's just big enough to hold a breatheable atmosphere and riddled with imperfections and "bubbles" which contain a variety of these improbabile gasses. Our task is to drill into these "bubbles" and pump out the gas, containing them without letting them mix. We will be using a system of cannisters to keep the lines clean, this makes the work slow, but secure.

October 5th, 2007- Primary Drill deployed and working within parameters. The way it reduced all that "earth" and glass into sand in seconds was trully impressive. We cut down about three-quarters of a mile then pulled it back up to get a good spot to deploy the secondary miners. A Messenger arrived with loads of the Chemists's equipment. Apparently, it's mostly restored D'ni machinery which means all the math is all in base 25. Of course it's my responsibility to install all this junk so it's ready for them; God forbid they stain their lab coats with grease!

Well it's all hooked up now with [my associate]'s help, wont be able to test it until they get here though. I'm sure they'll find fault somewhere and blame us.

The next few days will be spent deploying the secondary miners that come out of the main drill, the trick is to get just the right angle to tap into serepate pockets for each of the twelve lines. When those "bubbles" are drained, we'll drill lower and start the process again. These substances are so uniquely practical, that the whole venture should be paid for with the first mining stage.

October 9th, 2007- Gas extraction and containment is tested and my board shows all green lights. We discovered at least four varieties of gasses in the twelve pockets we were able to tap, probably more, but I'm only allowed to observe density and refraction differences. For the moment, we are using all twelve containment units for the contents of each bubble. We may be able to consolidate when we have the go ahead from chem. They are scheduled to move in tomorrow, the youngest, [young chem], linked in for a bit to check out the quarters, but didn't stay very long, he seemed a bit underwhelmed; I don't blame him. I wasn't designing a hotel for this semi-hostile age.
Last edited by ChaosSong on Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: "BM" Journal sketches

Postby Chacal » Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:10 pm

Hard to see italics in this font. I suggest using tags such as [my associate].
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Re: "BM" Journal sketches

Postby ChaosSong » Thu Nov 29, 2007 9:17 pm

[Junior Miner]'s Journal

October 3rd, 2007- Finally, a chance to be one of the first in a new age! Quite a desolate age at that, but there is life here; I have seen a scrubby grass growing in divots, and even saw a hard shelled insect. I could have heard birdsong, but it must have been the wind...

[Senior] had me run though the inventory checklists and reports and all the other paperwork this monster generates, while he "got us unpacked and settled". He's obviously under the impression that engineering is a real job, and palentology is a hobby. A notion I'll quickly disabuse him of if we can find fossilized DNA. I've captured one of the insects, I'll have to test out the buggy tomorrow to get some grass for him.

October 4th, 2007- Took the buggy out this morning to investigate the grass I saw... at the end there, my progress resembled falling down a slope more than driving.

The "grass" turned out to be more like a tuber with an incredibly long and tough root. Like a carrot, it has a slight bulb at the top and a single long root; unlike a carrot, this root is tough as salted leather and extends for several meters below the surface. This is not something I can easily transplant into Oscar's tetrarium - the bug's name is Oscar by the way... Anyways, I ended up pulling up several handfulls of the stuff for him to crawl about in.

Under the microscope the tuber is facinating, highly specialized cell structures in the "blades" collect solar energy, and feed it down into the root. The root itself is more mysterious... It's not absorbing anything from the soil, it's just digging down, my best guess is that it functions as a conduit for whatever's at the bottom, like a throat that implys a mouth.

October 7th, 2007- Oscar's dead, or at least not moving... He didn't seem interested in any of the various foodstuffs I left out for him, an autopsy is clearly indicated...

October 8th, 2007- Well Well Well! I found out why he wasn't eating, he doesn't have a single digestive organ, just a lung and a nose! The lung apparently doubles as a heart, pushing "blood" to the legs. I must admit that I'm overwhlemed by the questions this oddity raises: How did he develop a hard shell and juicy insides without eating? I didn't find anything I could identify as nervous system much less a brain, but he was obviously using something along those lines; I've seen him change directions and react to external movements... I'll have to get more of them and send some home for a look under a real microscope.
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Re: "BM" Journal sketches

Postby ChaosSong » Thu Jan 03, 2008 10:32 pm

[Young Chemist]'s Journal

October 9th, 2007- Not only do I have to be saddled as [senior chem]'s pack-horse, I've been banished to the most horrible place imagineable! I just had to sneak into the new book room to glimpse my doom... the place stinks to high heaven! I can't imagine how those miner guys can stand it! I had to shower for two hours and still felt stinky!

Note to self: pack a mask and some oxygen tanks

October 10th, 2007- Day One, and everybody hates me... typical. Apparently, I'm the only person here capabile of detecting the vicious rank odor that eminates from everything in this pit. I found some nose drops that will kill my sence of smell, so I don't have to wear the [explative deleted] gas-mask all the time. Apparently, my role in this mission is to be everybody's gopher. As soon as anyone here needs something fetched, delivered, sorted, filed, or disposed of, everyone will just stare at me until I do it. [Senior chem] won't even let me look at the new instruments we brought... I came here to be a Chemist not a Cleric you jerks!
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