The other corners had also been finished at roughly the same time. So next, Caroline had them carry over newly smelted metal beams and line them up accordingly so they could begin installing somewhat thick metal panels for walls. Once those got finished, they would utilize a special insulation solution and create another thin metal wall to cover the inside up. Providing nice protection from the dangers of space, besides the lack of breathable air.
The building process took another day; the frame filled in slowly as new panels were getting manufactured, and during this time some of the resources mined were what they needed to create thick glass for the artificial dome, so the stockpile, while losing metal units, was slowly growing its glass reserves. With time and some more effort, the metal reserves would also begin to increase once more.
Although not an engineer, Ryan did have some knowledge of how to build and create blueprints, so he took charge of creating a blueprint for the large dome while Caroline was busy. Other than that, he had also informed Ridge during his time framing and filling in the HQ that the first artificial Carib would be ready to be released from the Vat in roughly two more days.
This was good news, as the very first iteration would give them more than sufficient data that they could use to tweak or modify further iterations down the line; naturally, having already heavily modified the appearance of the caribs, too many changes would just lead to unstable elements being produced and the collapse of the animal altogether, or rather, to put it simply, the death of the animal, whenever they tried to artificially grow one.
All future plans, for now, so Ridge directed the science team, which increased from two to five, to focus on the dome and all related projects to it. Luckily, the apprentices managed to survive during the base attack and had been taught some more of the basics. Now they just needed "real-world experience," as Hopi put it.
With the HQ on track to be completed soon, Ridge only needed to contribute his labor in carrying the metal panels for the walls on the inside. All the wiring and plumbing, while not directly connected to a generator or actual water source yet, would be handled by the engineers. It wasn't something he could just learn on the job safely. Being in space, the danger of an electrical issue is quite alarming, so he'd rather not take that risk.
Amusingly enough, his framing work wasn't finished. Caroline had all her attention on the HQ for now, but that didn't mean other things didn't need to be built.
And after being informed of Ryan's progress, the first thing he was sent was the exterior blueprint for the dome. Of course it wasn't everything that was needed to get it up and running, but the outside was much simpler in terms of building and designing than the inside, which was what Ryan was really focused on perfecting.
Down the line, once the more technical things were figured out, they would be able to simply throw it inside rather than having to wait for the full building to be done.
More work meant more progress, so Ridge honestly wasn't gonna complain. He let Caroline know and took Yayha and a few others to get started.
The current stockpile was sitting on roughly 3,400 metal units, 1,800 wiring units, and a year's worth of water, as well as the remaining food units that'll last them a few months now at most.
The construction all over the asteroid had taken at least five hundred metal units so far and two hundred wiring units; in Ridge's mind, they had more than enough leeway to get started on another project.
Whilst working on the dome with an engineer he borrowed from Caroline, who knew how to weld, he also quickly exchanged plans with Yayha on adding more mining drills and refineries on the surface of the asteroid. They had enough resources to build it, and the machine they brought down from the ship would quicken the process at least two times faster than normal.
Despite having no qualms about using up the stockpiled resources, being cautious in nature, Ridge wanted to make sure they had enough production to keep up with consumption; if he didn't even plan for this, then he could only classify himself as being an incompetent leader.
An hour and a half later, the group took a break for lunch back on the ship. During this time, Ridge wanted to probe Caroline's thoughts on those ideas and so started waving his hand in an attempt to wave her over.
"What's the matter commander," She asked, joining him at his table with her tray of delicious nutritional ration blocks.
"After some discussion with Yayha, I'd like for us to build at least three more mining drills and likewise three more refining machines. Is it doable?" He questioned.
"Mm, I want to say yes, but the problem is, as you know, labor. With the help now of the framing machine, a lot of equipment can be built much quicker so long as we have designs, but things like the automated drills and machines in general still need wiring and some other electronic components within them that the machine just can't create, at least not on its own. An engineer would have to directly interfere and help create those components piece by piece, then assemble them all together. Here's where the tricky part comes in: including me, we still have nine engineers.
Seven of which are helping to build the interior of the HQ building, one other helping you with the framing work on the dome, and the last one is supervising the mining and refining work." She finished, taking another bite.
"Yeah, I get that, but I think we can probably, for now, pull that one engineer off of supervising duty; after all, they're really only there at this point to ensure no one gets hurt rather than running things manually," He replied, watching her eat. Ridge had already finished his own meal, which was why he called her over.
Swallowing, she spoke once more, "That's definitely something we can do; in fact, it's something we should do. We don't need more than one supervisor anyway, so once he's done with that work, he can just continue looking over all eight machines. Not to mention the other regular crew members are there mostly for transport, so they can also act as supervisors if need be."
In agreement, Ridge left her to her meal and told her to contact the engineer when she was finished. He, on the other hand, returned once more to building the dome.
The two days required for the first Carib deadline passed by quickly. At this point, even just a few days of being here, the surface looked much different than its previous state of stillness.
Although not quite bustling, things were constantly on the move now. Four transport vehicles and two repurposed trailblazers with trailers carried over refined metals and materials from the mining sector in the southeast, which was now featuring four new mining machines and a small warehouse containing four new refineries for each material. In the north, the HQ building had been completely finished and was now being powered by the aetherite crystal generator that Hopi brought down after some tinkering. Having some more time to research, she managed to bring the power provided from its initial fifty-five kilowatts to now eighty.
Apparently the design they used was pretty crude, and once she found a better method to harness the energy from the crystal, it jumped up quite a bit in capability. Unfortunately, with its size, it wasn't able to get them the power they had before, but given some time, Ridge was confident they could manufacture something to help with that.
Having the power set up, the extra six buildings that they had built for mining and refining had been connected and were currently utilizing it. Unfortunately, they had no advanced solar panels for those, so they weren't self-sufficient at the moment.
Besides that, the completion of the HQ also meant they could once again breathe without their helmets on inside. The building also utilized one of the leading pieces of technology that the coro federation had spent years upon years researching. A gravity field generator array embedded into the floors and sometimes walls of buildings on low- to no-gravity planets, stations, and of course, asteroid belts.
A long name for sure, but in short, it featured an emitter of some kind embedded into the flooring of whatever surface you want to normalize gravity on, and these emitters almost worked similarly to a magnet, pulling objects down towards them. The only drawback was that, because the research on it was so cutting-edge, for them stranded away from everyone else, the power drawback was quite immense, taking up at least fifty percent of their current power production.
Nonetheless, the only other option would have been to create a rotating ring around the base, but that option would be a bit difficult to implement considering their building on the surface of the asteroid and not in its orbit. Though, of course, given more time, they could perhaps use that method in the future for a space station if they don't have enough power for the emitters.
Regardless of what Ridge thought, though, he could only base it around the words Caroline said to him when they discussed the problem during the design of the HQ.
Another addition to the base that made Ridge glad they could quickly get up and running was the water-purifying station. It was farther out in the northeast of their current zone, which Ridge had created as a concept to keep things organized for the future, and had an extra step or two compared to before.
Long story short, they mined into ice deposits, brought it back to the station, heated those pieces of ice up, and captured the vapors, leaving behind the rock and dust. Then the condensed water from said vapors was filtered and stored in large metal containers. They were currently working on the piping, but it would take some time to connect the base, given that it was a few kilometers away from everything else, or an hour's walk away.
The water problem was once again solved even with this temporary setback, but now they needed to see what they could do with the caribs and their food supply. Fortunately, one was ready to be displayed now, Ridge thought to himself.