[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.