Chapter 13: The First Dome

~~ May - Weeks 18 & 19 ~~

The surveying crew came back excited.

Gavin had located, iron, zinc, quartz, rutile, clay, limestone, bauxite and a small coal deposit. The mineral scanners indicated the other deposits were significant. Gavin said with the mineralised sands added in, they could produce Ozlium sheeting to replace the material they had lost with the accident.

They had pretty much everything they needed for building a settlement from scratch. The only main minerals that he hadn’t located in any quantities yet and that would be really useful was lead and copper, but they would keep looking.

He knew there was a big deposit much further down the east coast and he had gotten some faint readings in the next set of hills to the West. Sean told him not to worry about for now. They can find some later if their needs got critical. “What about where to build?” Sean wanted to know.

“Oh, that is easy,” said DT. “We worked that out in the first half-hour.”

He waved his hand for them to come, and they mounted up in the lingers. They went south down the valley about a klick passed the extinct volcano. They crossed the river and travelled towards the western range. DT pointed out the area in front of the old volcano’s inner southern wall.

“See that wide and fairly flat plateau, it’s perfect. Over in the west corner about 3km away is the lake. A creek cuts down behind the plateau on this northern side and goes out to the lake directing the runoff from the hills, so it doesn’t flood the plateau.”

“The lake then overflows back to the main river about four klicks to the south of us, so it goes around the plateau. That area is lush fields so it should be great for planting crops in.”

“The plateau shows no signs of flooding and is at least 4m higher than the current riverbank. It also gives us a good view of the rest of the valley. Pretty much everything we want to mine is within the valley further up the western range,” DT said as he pointed to the western range.

“I recommend we build the double dome set-up to start with, on the north-western edge near the old volcano wall and about halfway to the lake. If we put the second entrances for the domes facing south, later on, we can build a couple of sets of units to attach to the domes, so we can spread out. We can still use the main domes, as the central area for labs, dining and socialising. What do you think?”

Everyone could visualise exactly what he wanted, and they all agreed it was very doable, even in a short time. Now they had materials on the ground and didn’t have to rely on the finite resources of the ship. They could even restock the ship. Water being one commodity that needed to go up as soon as they could arrange it.

“See that spot over there,” said Lee. “Do you think it would make a good area for the butchery and dairy for the animals and some pens?”

Gavin waved his hands to come. They walked back around the bend more to find the entrance to a hidden valley around the corner. It was a 4m wide, roundish lava hole, which ran for about 10m, widening as it went. It then opened into a huge cavern that was concaved into the hill. The cavern opened to about a 30m wide by long area before you entered the open valley created by the old volcano centre.

“The aerial shots couldn’t pick this up. We thought it was totally enclosed. If we put a fence across the opening here, it will shut off the valley. We could build a holding pen fence across the cave entrance. You could build the butchery here against the wall,” Gavin said, pointing.

Gavin told them that it was an old extinct volcano basin. The inner walls either side of them were between 50m to 300m high and sheer for the lower 20m or higher. The wall they had walked through ran along the river then led back to join up with the northern side of the plateau about 1.5km away, getting higher as it went.

The range then rolled around to form the east-west wall of their valley on the seaside. The northern and western sides of the hidden valley reached peaks of 600m to 1200m in places.

They were looking at about 380 acres of lush green grass and small shrubs inside the steep walls that even the goats would not be able to climb. A very pretty waterfall splashed down into a deep pool of water on the south-western cliffs.

The pool had a mini forest of tall trees surrounding it, providing a cool shady spot. Several smaller clumps of trees scattered across the valley floor along with the shrubs and grasses and the occasional rocky outcrop.

“See that short-range to the north, it blocks the back of the valley and will keep the worst of the weather out as well. The pool actually drains back down into the hill to the lake on our side, so this valley doesn’t flood, as far as I can tell. The moss suggests the pool always has water in it. Is that what you want?” he asked smugly.

Lee decided it was perfect for their animals. They could rotate the ships animals down here. Lee tipped her head. “Do we have anything we can use to block this entrance off with, now?” she asked the group in general.

TD replied, “Yes, there are some meshed fence panels. I was going to use them if we caught anything interesting, why?”

Lee grinned at him, “I think we caught something interesting.” She pointed down the paddock to a clump of bushes. A boar, two sows and ten piglets of various sizes were all happily rooting around them.

DT stuck his helmet back on and zoomed in. They were a little larger and a little shaggier than their pigs, but they weren’t the large-sized pigs you can find on Earth. They were definitely of the domesticated pig status. DT took his helmet back off.

“Dave is going to love them,” he said with a big grin.

Lee nodded. While she could eat bacon and ham, if they were mixed in the meal, she still couldn’t eat a pork chop or cut the meat off a leg of cooked pork even though she still loved the smell. It didn’t bother her that other people were able to eat pork either, just herself.

Gary and DT shot off to grab the loaders and fence panels while the others guarded the valley entrance and enjoyed the antics of the pigs and the sheer beauty of the protected dell.

Sean said at Gavin, “You guys have only been surveying for a day. How long until you think we can start ferrying things down?”

“I’d like Juanita to stay with me as there are a couple of other sites I had earmarked for further investigation. But I see no reason why DT and Gary can’t get the plateau levelled. Then you guys can get the dome panel’s coming down here and water going up. I actually can’t think of a better site for us to settle at this stage.”

“This Valley is very stable. The closest fault line in the area I could see on the scans is out in the ocean about 200 klicks offshore. If it causes small tidal waves the cliffs along the east with Sparky’s forest on it and the offshore islands will protect our valley. Plus, Lee said the place was safe, so I can’t argue against her powers,” he said with a big grin.

Sean chuckled. Yes, their danger barometer was happy, so it was all good as Kyle would say. He agreed the large plateau would be easy to clear, especial once he and Gary had the big loaders assembled. It had no trees on it, only grass and shallow-rooted scrubby bushes.

It wasn’t too far from the transporter location either. Sean decided that he would have the transporter keep coming down where it had been. As long as bad weather didn’t settle in, they could cross the river in the lingers easily enough.

If they can get started now rather than in another week, it will make a lot of people happy. They could have the first dome up by the end of the second week. It would still need fully fitting out though.

Sean commed both the Captain and Philip to give a status report. He wanted to know if Sung and Ellen could pilot the second transporter? So once Terry landed on the ship they can take off. That way they complied with the one transporter always being on the ship, but they could get the gear and work teams down here quicker.

He gave them the coordinates for the site. The Captain and Philip looked at the satellite pictures, and both agreed it looked like a good choice. He also told them of the minerals Gavin had located and the plan to build the units off to the side of the habitat domes later.

They agreed with that plan as well. They both agreed the crews would be happy to spread out a little after being confined on the ship for months. Sean also mentioned the capturing of the local pigs and the raptor. He said he would send the ‘delightful little fellow’, back for them to study, as it was quite dead.

Sean asked if Dave could send some pigs and goats down for him and told them to zoom in on the little valley in the old volcano. He explained they were currently putting up the fence to protect the valley and the pigs that were in it.

The Captain was impressed with the progress and said he would talk to Sung and Ellen. He would get the other transporter loaded for them in the morning with the extra loader, the crane platforms and the base panels for the first Dome and workers.

In the meantime, Lee commed Dave, “Hi Dave, Lee here.”

“Let me guess, the damn pig is with you?” he said in exasperation.

Lee giggled, “Sorry, it was a last-minute thing. Sparky wouldn’t leave her behind. Poor Miss Piggy had a bit of a scare with a raptor today, but she is okay now.”

“A what?” Dave squawked.

“Sparky calls them whippers because of their tails, but they were textbook velociraptors, feathers and all. Kyle is sending the one he killed up to you as a present.”

“Unfucking believable,” Dave said back.

“Anyway, what I wanted to know is. Would a very much alive 60cm high pink and brown splotched boar in his prime, with two sows and ten piglets of varying ages interest you?”

“Can I come and get him now? I have three females in season right now,” he said excitedly, forgetting all about the whipper.

Lee sniggered at Dave’s enthusiasm. “How about, you and the girls come to visit him and his girls? Sean is trying to set it up with the Captain. I also have about 380 acres of lush, grass and scrub country with a waterfall in a protected valley to entice you?”

Dave answered unbelievingly, “You are not pissing with me, are you?”

“Sean is teeing it up so as soon as Terry turns up on the ship, Sung, you and the girls can come and visit us in the morning. You may want to bring your worming stuff and inoculations for these guys too.”

“I’ll see you in the morning, got a go,” and he was gone.

Lee laughed and told Sean and the crew of her conversation with Dave. They all had to laugh too. Dave was very passionate about his animals and his breeding program.

Gary and DT stuck the post-hole digger onto the multi-function loader, and they dropped in a couple of posts and instant cemented them in place. They bolted on the fence panels and put up the gates to seal the opening to the valley.

The fence was 2m high, and hopeful the raptors at 80cm couldn’t get over it. The stuck a camera on the top of the 3m high gate post. Kyle also put a laser eye across the entrance that would send them an alarm if anything came too close to the fence.

They all went and enjoyed a hot meal that Juanita had cooked out on an open fire. It was a pleasant night, and the skies were clear.

Everyone, even those on guard duty, got a good night’s sleep.

Juanita had drawn the short straw and got the dawn shift.