Z
Zack
Queen's Slave, the day after the state of the USO address>
"SO. WATER TOWER?!" Uso asked, looking up from the display table in the main room of the Queen's slave. The ship hadn't changed at all since they had last been there. There were still gun parts that had been disassembled and tossed about the room, and there was a green power armor slumped in one of the chairs against the side walls, its reactor having been removed long ago. Uso herself had her hair pulled back into a bun on the back of her head, a tank top and black pants hugging her body tightly. Datapads and what looked like work spread out infront of her. "Honestly, I'm super-fucking-excited to get some serious running water here. It would be nice to have a shower in someplace besides Nath Tower or my ship."
Vier was dressed in her usual grey, a slim, grey, compression fabric covering her chest, and a similar black covering her lower body. "I believe there are still some engineering issues to work out. I have a design ready for fabrication that will convert one of the nearby mountain-craters into an enclosed storage tank. Pressure regulators will need to be installed along the pipeline leading through the city. Is there anything else you would like to add into the design before we get started Araxie?"
Alex had been sleeping on the queen's slave for some time, despite the fact that he had his own house. It most likely had something to do with the lack of running water in said house. Uso's excited shouting had woken him up. As he stumbled out of his bunk-area, he yawned and then spoke.
"Whas all the noise about?"
"From what I'm seeing here, we won't need very much in terms of modifications. Keeping the pressure from bursting the pipe is less of a problem than the destruction of homes, although yes the main needs to stay stable. The pressure is our main form of distribution, but it easily would become the undoing of everything." Dressed in what has apparently become her usual tight outfit, Araxie took a moment to breathe, her chest and exposed midriff swelling for the time. She was busy pouring over the data, double-checking calculations and the planet's gravity and both the vertical and horizontal lengths of the system.
"Sooounds like we can begin fabrication?" Uso asked slowly, her eyes moving from Araxie, to Vier... then back to Araxie.
"I was thinking that we should have a central area for distribution of water for now, while we work on hooking up the local structures to the water distribution system." Vier added.
Arx seemed to agree, "The closer it is to the center of the city the more easily we wan serve the citizens, blah blah blah, center is good but so is a decent elevation. That's why we chose the mountain... And as long as we keep the pressure up, potability isn't compromised either."
"I think Vier meant like.... a fountain or something? Community pool? Water fountain?" Uso asked.
"A small warehouse type structure, with containers and endpoints for filling them with water." Vier explained.
Alex walked into the room. He coughed loudly. "What're you three up to?"
"More than what you're wearing, for one." The angel looked up to see his significantly-more-exposed torso, smirking for a moment. I guess they are a family of sorts, then... "I'm surprised that you work out, actually Alex. Either that or you were holding back with that handshake a while ago.... WOW it's been so long already!" She coughed once herself, trying to get back on topic of the city, not of the buff guy in the room.
Alex looked down at his chest, which was far more defined than one would expect from one his size and stature.
"Oops."
He went to go put on a shirt, and after he returned he addressed the handshake.
"As for our handshake, I shake hands more gently now, since the last time I shook hands without doing that I hurt someone."
Vier watched, reaction-less.
Uso, on the other hand, looked like she had just eaten something sour, "Kids, We have a city to build..."
Serai continued, "Yes we do. So when it comes to the water, we've mostly had that figured out. Ideally we want to treat it as well, but the further up the mountain we need the water to go the more energy it takes to move." She shifted her weight around, finding a new position to look at the map from.
"So we just crack it with some electricity..." Uso said.
"Such a system may be a bit beyond what the locals would know how to use and maintain. It would be simpler to use filters out infront of the storage tank and then send the filtered water down through the system." Vier said.
"... Since when is steampunk too advanced?" Uso asked, sounding hurt.
"We are building a municipal water system, not a spaceship or submarine..." Vier reminded.
"She's right, in a way. Almost nobody will see the system in action, aside from the workers, and since we are employing the local populace I think technology not lightyears ahead of theirs would be easiest for them to utilize.
"I think the simplest system will be the best. Less things to go wrong, less things to fix."
Araxie gave an approving nod towards the now-clothed Alex, in a way to say he was correct.
"And we get those filters...." Uso's voice drifted off.
"We can manufacture them locally. Junker drones could show the locals how to make them, and how to design the filtering materials using modern software." Vier explained.
"So, what's left then?" Uso asked, "Can I just set you to build and have this thing pop out properly?"
Vier would turn her attention to Araxie, and wait for a response.
It took a few moments, the young one's lips moving silently as she examined figures, taking another round with the planet's gravity, and other nerdy crap before she responded, "It should, unless we happen across an error in the construction itself. But in this sim, everything's checking out. We'll of course need to still modify the intakes of specific homes to keep things viable but aside from that it's good. They'll need a water heater if they wanted it to not be freezing cold however.... And we still need a system for grey water to drain out. A sewer would fit most of our needs but we need a place to take care of it as well."
"Can't the local green-stuff take care of waste treatment?" Uso asked.
"If we want to use the waste water system for anything later, we will need a treatment plant to monitor what is in the waste-release. We could place it at the opposite end of the city from the water storage area, and build the underground infrastructure on an incline. Have all of the liquids moving in the same direction." Vier offered.
The young Seari responded in kind, "That would ease a lot of the strain and management, if flow is getting obstructed checking becomes immediately easier. As long as we aren't destroying a quarter of the ecosystem by dumping we should have a decent beginning... But we will need to find another use after all, otherwise the supply may run out. re-treatment, perhaps?"
Alex piped in. "Why not use the waste products to generate fertilizer for farming on land?"
"That may be a conversation best held another time. We can break apart whatever waste-products arrive at the treatment plant but what to do with those products would be best discussed once we know what we have." Veir replied.
"Plus we'd need to figure out how to farm this place. Probably need to engineer new crops, manufacturer this mushy-sand stuff and pump a ton of nitrates into the ground." Uso added casually, as if she had been farming all her life, "OH! And sunlight... Totally got that part covered. Get a few of those projectors up and we'll be able to blue-red-wavelength the shit out of whatever we want!"
"... Should we discuss farming now them?" Veir asked, "The water could be used for an agricultural system as well."
"Water can be used for almost anything, really. Trying to use it for energy generation is not likely though, because we'd spend more pumping it up than what we would receive from it coming back down." The angel continued, "Using the projectors would help a lot, yes..."
"Vier's got enough reactors in her factories to light up the city for a billion years. I wouldn't worry too much about power. Though minimizing power expenditure does have other benefits." Uso added.
"I budgeted a water tank and humidity capture system for the people in the city. Not for plants as well. We need to consider increasing the size of our water production and storage if we want to maintain an agricultural operation as well."
"So... What's the biggest amount of fresh water we can store and use easily?" Uso asked.
Araxie responded in an elaborate way, "With one reservoir... Storage is actually somewhat of a tricky subject, since the height of the water is the source of the pressure. That's why we have the small offshoot here," The angel stuck her finger inside a small pillar of air/water dug into the mountain that was at an equal elevation to the reservoir, which had been set up as a middleman-style unit between said reservoir and the city itself. "Using the right setup of valves we can keep the pressure regular while the reservoir proper holds most of the remaining."
"No, I mean, like... if we gave you a blank check to do whatever you wanted. What would be the most amount of fresh water you could pump into this system? What would that look like?" Uso asked, "... Like, a giant force-field held ball of water suspended a kilometer above the city?"
"Do not do that...." Vier said.
"I think she meant in a non-literal way. I'd say that, based on the estimated size... This reservoir can hold about a week's worth of running water, if the intakes were turned off for any reason." Arx seemed somewhat worried about something... It was a lot of water, which could mean a disaster if someone tried to sabotage it...
"So we harden the facility. Setup redundancies and extra storage. Can we build like..... three or four of these things? I mean, we don't exactly have a second or third mountain nearby but couldn't we add in like... a water tower? or like, some kind of pump-ship? Something like the Pumpkin Eater could hold a ton of water, and you could just fly it up above the city." Uso offered.
"We're not taking up half the mountain, if that's what you're worried about. Making additional facilities would be pretty easy, not counting the added cost of creation and maintenance."
"In the short term, that added legwork is going to be a positive. Helps get the locals up to speed with modern technology." Uso said.
"Perhaps we should consider a second facility at Nath tower? There are other, similar, towers planned as well, each would be a suitable location for a secondary water treatment/pressure facility." Vier suggested.
"I don't really understand what all of this means. But is there anything I can do to help?" Alex asked, hesitantly.
"Well, a fresh pair of eyes might be useful here. If we had a storage facility here, and another one here, how do you think this might effect the city?"
"I guess... I think it would be fine." Alex said. "I really don't understand why it wouldn't be."
Arx brought one arm forward, using it to inspect the treatment center's location. There was a small ripping sound, but aside from a blush in the girl's face everything seemed alright still. "This is in a valley, which is both good and bad. If it gets flooded somehow the city's sewers will back up. I don't think there's much we can do about that, though..."
"You didn't bring a change of clothing did you?" Uso asked, now that her attention had been drawn to Arx still having on the same shirt she did when Uso first saw her.
"I didn't have any clothes at first either."
"I brought four, including what I wore when we met. None of them actually uhh, fit..." A turn towards Alex, "None at all? I at least brought a few outfits with me but, wow..."
"Well... They found me floating though space in a cargo container with no memory, a mech and a jumpsuit. So no."
"I bought a clothing store and had it moved out here. We could drop by real quick." Uso offered.
"I'm uhh.... Interested but perhaps not at this moment. City first, yes?" Arx's eyes shone a different way that time, although there wasn't a real explanation for it. Pity? Sadness?
"Vier, you can start fabrication on this stuff now right?" Uso asked
Vier would nod, "We will need to re-manufacture the ground along much of the city, as well as start construction of underground utility tunnels. I will not need any additional inputs from you until you are ready to start discussing adding in redundant systems to prevent service disruptions."
"I believe that takes care of it for now, then....?" The angel looked between Uso and Vier a few times as she asked the question.
"For now." Vier replied..
Uso nodded, "So come ooon, lets go get you some local flavor to wear."
"SO. WATER TOWER?!" Uso asked, looking up from the display table in the main room of the Queen's slave. The ship hadn't changed at all since they had last been there. There were still gun parts that had been disassembled and tossed about the room, and there was a green power armor slumped in one of the chairs against the side walls, its reactor having been removed long ago. Uso herself had her hair pulled back into a bun on the back of her head, a tank top and black pants hugging her body tightly. Datapads and what looked like work spread out infront of her. "Honestly, I'm super-fucking-excited to get some serious running water here. It would be nice to have a shower in someplace besides Nath Tower or my ship."
Vier was dressed in her usual grey, a slim, grey, compression fabric covering her chest, and a similar black covering her lower body. "I believe there are still some engineering issues to work out. I have a design ready for fabrication that will convert one of the nearby mountain-craters into an enclosed storage tank. Pressure regulators will need to be installed along the pipeline leading through the city. Is there anything else you would like to add into the design before we get started Araxie?"
Alex had been sleeping on the queen's slave for some time, despite the fact that he had his own house. It most likely had something to do with the lack of running water in said house. Uso's excited shouting had woken him up. As he stumbled out of his bunk-area, he yawned and then spoke.
"Whas all the noise about?"
"From what I'm seeing here, we won't need very much in terms of modifications. Keeping the pressure from bursting the pipe is less of a problem than the destruction of homes, although yes the main needs to stay stable. The pressure is our main form of distribution, but it easily would become the undoing of everything." Dressed in what has apparently become her usual tight outfit, Araxie took a moment to breathe, her chest and exposed midriff swelling for the time. She was busy pouring over the data, double-checking calculations and the planet's gravity and both the vertical and horizontal lengths of the system.
"Sooounds like we can begin fabrication?" Uso asked slowly, her eyes moving from Araxie, to Vier... then back to Araxie.
"I was thinking that we should have a central area for distribution of water for now, while we work on hooking up the local structures to the water distribution system." Vier added.
Arx seemed to agree, "The closer it is to the center of the city the more easily we wan serve the citizens, blah blah blah, center is good but so is a decent elevation. That's why we chose the mountain... And as long as we keep the pressure up, potability isn't compromised either."
"I think Vier meant like.... a fountain or something? Community pool? Water fountain?" Uso asked.
"A small warehouse type structure, with containers and endpoints for filling them with water." Vier explained.
Alex walked into the room. He coughed loudly. "What're you three up to?"
"More than what you're wearing, for one." The angel looked up to see his significantly-more-exposed torso, smirking for a moment. I guess they are a family of sorts, then... "I'm surprised that you work out, actually Alex. Either that or you were holding back with that handshake a while ago.... WOW it's been so long already!" She coughed once herself, trying to get back on topic of the city, not of the buff guy in the room.
Alex looked down at his chest, which was far more defined than one would expect from one his size and stature.
"Oops."
He went to go put on a shirt, and after he returned he addressed the handshake.
"As for our handshake, I shake hands more gently now, since the last time I shook hands without doing that I hurt someone."
Vier watched, reaction-less.
Uso, on the other hand, looked like she had just eaten something sour, "Kids, We have a city to build..."
Serai continued, "Yes we do. So when it comes to the water, we've mostly had that figured out. Ideally we want to treat it as well, but the further up the mountain we need the water to go the more energy it takes to move." She shifted her weight around, finding a new position to look at the map from.
"So we just crack it with some electricity..." Uso said.
"Such a system may be a bit beyond what the locals would know how to use and maintain. It would be simpler to use filters out infront of the storage tank and then send the filtered water down through the system." Vier said.
"... Since when is steampunk too advanced?" Uso asked, sounding hurt.
"We are building a municipal water system, not a spaceship or submarine..." Vier reminded.
"She's right, in a way. Almost nobody will see the system in action, aside from the workers, and since we are employing the local populace I think technology not lightyears ahead of theirs would be easiest for them to utilize.
"I think the simplest system will be the best. Less things to go wrong, less things to fix."
Araxie gave an approving nod towards the now-clothed Alex, in a way to say he was correct.
"And we get those filters...." Uso's voice drifted off.
"We can manufacture them locally. Junker drones could show the locals how to make them, and how to design the filtering materials using modern software." Vier explained.
"So, what's left then?" Uso asked, "Can I just set you to build and have this thing pop out properly?"
Vier would turn her attention to Araxie, and wait for a response.
It took a few moments, the young one's lips moving silently as she examined figures, taking another round with the planet's gravity, and other nerdy crap before she responded, "It should, unless we happen across an error in the construction itself. But in this sim, everything's checking out. We'll of course need to still modify the intakes of specific homes to keep things viable but aside from that it's good. They'll need a water heater if they wanted it to not be freezing cold however.... And we still need a system for grey water to drain out. A sewer would fit most of our needs but we need a place to take care of it as well."
"Can't the local green-stuff take care of waste treatment?" Uso asked.
"If we want to use the waste water system for anything later, we will need a treatment plant to monitor what is in the waste-release. We could place it at the opposite end of the city from the water storage area, and build the underground infrastructure on an incline. Have all of the liquids moving in the same direction." Vier offered.
The young Seari responded in kind, "That would ease a lot of the strain and management, if flow is getting obstructed checking becomes immediately easier. As long as we aren't destroying a quarter of the ecosystem by dumping we should have a decent beginning... But we will need to find another use after all, otherwise the supply may run out. re-treatment, perhaps?"
Alex piped in. "Why not use the waste products to generate fertilizer for farming on land?"
"That may be a conversation best held another time. We can break apart whatever waste-products arrive at the treatment plant but what to do with those products would be best discussed once we know what we have." Veir replied.
"Plus we'd need to figure out how to farm this place. Probably need to engineer new crops, manufacturer this mushy-sand stuff and pump a ton of nitrates into the ground." Uso added casually, as if she had been farming all her life, "OH! And sunlight... Totally got that part covered. Get a few of those projectors up and we'll be able to blue-red-wavelength the shit out of whatever we want!"
"... Should we discuss farming now them?" Veir asked, "The water could be used for an agricultural system as well."
"Water can be used for almost anything, really. Trying to use it for energy generation is not likely though, because we'd spend more pumping it up than what we would receive from it coming back down." The angel continued, "Using the projectors would help a lot, yes..."
"Vier's got enough reactors in her factories to light up the city for a billion years. I wouldn't worry too much about power. Though minimizing power expenditure does have other benefits." Uso added.
"I budgeted a water tank and humidity capture system for the people in the city. Not for plants as well. We need to consider increasing the size of our water production and storage if we want to maintain an agricultural operation as well."
"So... What's the biggest amount of fresh water we can store and use easily?" Uso asked.
Araxie responded in an elaborate way, "With one reservoir... Storage is actually somewhat of a tricky subject, since the height of the water is the source of the pressure. That's why we have the small offshoot here," The angel stuck her finger inside a small pillar of air/water dug into the mountain that was at an equal elevation to the reservoir, which had been set up as a middleman-style unit between said reservoir and the city itself. "Using the right setup of valves we can keep the pressure regular while the reservoir proper holds most of the remaining."
"No, I mean, like... if we gave you a blank check to do whatever you wanted. What would be the most amount of fresh water you could pump into this system? What would that look like?" Uso asked, "... Like, a giant force-field held ball of water suspended a kilometer above the city?"
"Do not do that...." Vier said.
"I think she meant in a non-literal way. I'd say that, based on the estimated size... This reservoir can hold about a week's worth of running water, if the intakes were turned off for any reason." Arx seemed somewhat worried about something... It was a lot of water, which could mean a disaster if someone tried to sabotage it...
"So we harden the facility. Setup redundancies and extra storage. Can we build like..... three or four of these things? I mean, we don't exactly have a second or third mountain nearby but couldn't we add in like... a water tower? or like, some kind of pump-ship? Something like the Pumpkin Eater could hold a ton of water, and you could just fly it up above the city." Uso offered.
"We're not taking up half the mountain, if that's what you're worried about. Making additional facilities would be pretty easy, not counting the added cost of creation and maintenance."
"In the short term, that added legwork is going to be a positive. Helps get the locals up to speed with modern technology." Uso said.
"Perhaps we should consider a second facility at Nath tower? There are other, similar, towers planned as well, each would be a suitable location for a secondary water treatment/pressure facility." Vier suggested.
"I don't really understand what all of this means. But is there anything I can do to help?" Alex asked, hesitantly.
"Well, a fresh pair of eyes might be useful here. If we had a storage facility here, and another one here, how do you think this might effect the city?"
"I guess... I think it would be fine." Alex said. "I really don't understand why it wouldn't be."
Arx brought one arm forward, using it to inspect the treatment center's location. There was a small ripping sound, but aside from a blush in the girl's face everything seemed alright still. "This is in a valley, which is both good and bad. If it gets flooded somehow the city's sewers will back up. I don't think there's much we can do about that, though..."
"You didn't bring a change of clothing did you?" Uso asked, now that her attention had been drawn to Arx still having on the same shirt she did when Uso first saw her.
"I didn't have any clothes at first either."
"I brought four, including what I wore when we met. None of them actually uhh, fit..." A turn towards Alex, "None at all? I at least brought a few outfits with me but, wow..."
"Well... They found me floating though space in a cargo container with no memory, a mech and a jumpsuit. So no."
"I bought a clothing store and had it moved out here. We could drop by real quick." Uso offered.
"I'm uhh.... Interested but perhaps not at this moment. City first, yes?" Arx's eyes shone a different way that time, although there wasn't a real explanation for it. Pity? Sadness?
"Vier, you can start fabrication on this stuff now right?" Uso asked
Vier would nod, "We will need to re-manufacture the ground along much of the city, as well as start construction of underground utility tunnels. I will not need any additional inputs from you until you are ready to start discussing adding in redundant systems to prevent service disruptions."
"I believe that takes care of it for now, then....?" The angel looked between Uso and Vier a few times as she asked the question.
"For now." Vier replied..
Uso nodded, "So come ooon, lets go get you some local flavor to wear."
