Returning back to the present Ridge was currently once again working on the dome, only this time within it. The completed schematics had been sent to him by Hopi. Clearly, Ryan, who was supposed to have done so, was still busy brainstorming the plant problem. A majority of the engineers were also free from work, so besides Caroline and a few others supervising the tunnel construction, they had joined Yayha and him in finishing the large project, expediting the process.
After two more days passed, the inside looked much more different and less empty. There were not only control consoles and buttons, but also battery systems set up to charge from the crystal generator periodically whenever needed; most of the consoles were connected to a climate control system which kept the environment steady to allow not only the plants to grow healthily, but also the caribs, and finally the rest of the systems set up involved lights and life support.
With natural reproduction, there was also bound to be some mutations here and there that the science team would likely be fascinated by, so some cameras were set up and connected to a separate observation room as well.
Now they just needed to wait on Ryan's plants, and they would hopefully be free of the food issues.
During this waiting period, Ridge had also had the leftover crew of engineers alongside Hopi design a production line, in short, another factory, but this time for the Vats. This project was like most others and would only take another two days. With the encouragement of meat as well, the men would only be more motivated to get it done quickly, so Ridge felt assured that they would handle the project well while he returned to other work.
As mentioned previously, the base also had a need for certain elemental nutrients like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, so Ridge also assigned some of those same engineers and crew members to create some more mining equipment for them. This was more of a side project, so unlike most of the recent work that's been done, it was fine to delay it and take as much time as needed.
'DING'
In the middle of transporting some materials, Ridge looked down and saw that he had gotten a message from Ryan.
Handing off the materials to someone else, he walked a little further from the noise and accessed his panel.
"Commander,
I have a plan for the inside of the dome, though without great soil like back on Stira-1, the first thing we may have to do is take the seeds that we currently have stored in the ship and create within the dome a hydroponic farm, so to speak. Obviously, the farm isn't for us, but rather it could be used to feed the Caribs once they're put in the artificial environment. Given some more time, we can essentially use the animals' manure and, to be honest, even our own, to mix with the asteroid material scraped from its surface after breaking it up a bit and creating a soil-like consistency.
Crushing the hotspots we talked about earlier and transporting it back to the base would most likely be the fastest way for the created soil to quickly become usable. The manure will take some time, and we will also have to manually mix it into the ground constantly within the environment, so we may need a dedicated team for that.
Then eventually we can spread the seeds of the plants growing on the water to the land, and voila, we have a great environment for the Caribs and, so long as it's maintained, an unlimited food supply. At least until we have more people.
That's the update, Ryan out.'
Reading through his detailed explanation, Ridge actually felt a slight glimmer of hope with this plan. Although it would obviously take time, which Ryan seemed to really emphasize, it was good enough in his opinion that they at least had a plan they could implement.
He sent a confirmation message back and redirected some manpower to going over and grabbing the elements they needed at those hotspots within the asteroid. The factory for the vats would likely take a little longer due to this, but that was a fine trade-off.
Another two or three days passed; for Ridge, it was starting to get harder and harder to keep track. Mostly because he had been so busy that he simply repeated the same routine over and over again, not bothering to check on the dates; instead, he checked on the progress.
The tunnel was still being dug, but it was more than eighty percent complete. Meaning soon enough the group could also have unlimited showers, which, while a seemingly insignificant thing, was actually very culturally important for the citizens of the coro federation.
To keep a long story short, from what Ridge learned at a young age, cleaning oneself was not only good for helping prevent diseases and smelling bad, but also cleansing one's spirit to start a new day fresh. Of course, the story behind that wasn't something he felt he was capable of explaining. That was more so the duty of the historians to tell it, none of whom were present. They weren't the spacefaring type.
Shaking his head of stray thoughts, Ridge began thinking once more of the base. Besides the water pipe that was almost done, the two factories for the industrial base of the crew were also completed. Meaning building was becoming easier; this also included not only buildings themselves, but also vehicles, weapons, and other miscellaneous things.
It really was a wonder why they hadn't made these machines back on Stira-1, nonethelss Ridge figured it was best not to question Caroline about it. Perhaps it was just an epiphany on her part. Besides the two manufacturing factories, the factory for the vats, while slower, was also completed much faster than he thought was possible.
Finally, the dome was also filled halfway within its habitat section with water that they had transported over using large metal containers. The ground was also covered in crushed asteroid and mixed with human manure, so Ridge avoided it at all costs after visiting it for the first time. Luckily, he carried his helmet with him at that time, so he quickly put it on before confirming things were progressing.
The days continued to blur together and eventually another full week passed. At this point in time, most projects that needed to be done were already completed, and with the speed and efficiency of the crew, they had already made an extra twenty vats for the caribs, which were already incubating some new ones. The first carib they had created was also put into the dome. The plants, while floating and growing on the water, weren't mature quite yet, and the soil wasn't ready yet, so the crew had to split some of their own rations during this time to make sure it didn't starve, but having been reduced in population, it was a fine trade-off to make for now.
Ryan had permanently moved into the dome as well, in one of the many extra rooms that was to be used primarily for storage. Ridge didn't necessarily care, so he just let him be. Hopi, on the other hand, was already beginning to work on another piece of research. Most of which had to do with the plasma rifles.
She had put it in simple terms for him, but essentially the process she was experimenting on was turning the leftover mining particles and vaporizing them into a gas form. Then she would use some kind of device in the form of a powerful magnetic or laser pulse and ionize said gas into plasma, which of course could be stored and used for packaging and new plasma rifles. It was also very complicated for Ridge, so he just approved it and moved on.
In fact, the two manufacturing factories they had were also able, with the switch of a blueprint, to start producing plasma rifles, so if Hopi could get this done, then the only thing they would have to wait for is the dome project. Then the artificial humans, and finally building new ships to return to the fungi-controlled planet and hopefully purge them.
Of course it would also probably be a good idea to start thinking of building some more homes for the crew. After all, the HQ now closely resembled the early days of Stira-1, everyone all squished into a couple of dorm rooms, with a bunch of bunk beds. Even those beds weren't very soft since they didn't have access to cloth and anything to soften up the insides of the bed.
That meant everyone would have to lie on straight metal. Of course that was its intended purpose, but after Caroline announced the building was complete, only a few members went down from the ship to check things out, and after just one night there, they quickly returned to the furnished rooms they were used to. The others, hearing of their experience, ended up quickly solidifying their own opinions to just stay put.
She didn't seem to be too happy about this, but luckily the tunnel project ended up making her forget about it at that time. Thinking about it now, Ridge could only chuckle.