NASA Voyager 19 Mission Control Center, Record 2376-07-04

Johnson: "Telemetry checks."

CANE: "Quantum Relay Communication Online."

Kim: "When is the new estimate for the data?" Do we have RDS online?"

Kane: "Let's say 10 minutes, or 15 minutes. The data will be ready. ”

Kim: "Flying, MMACS"

Jonsson: "Let's go."

Kim: "Controller configuration ready, 7 - 17."

Anderson: "Does anyone know the readings for temperature regulation?"

Hallelan: "The readings are green, and the background radiation is low."

Johnson: "Communication has been established. Navigator, are you there?"

Voyager 19: "I'm here, Command Center."

Cheers in the background

Johnson: "How's the trip?"

Voyager 19: "After 78 light years, all I can say is that it's long. I'm at the anomaly now. Ready to download the sensor. ”

Kim: "The download is ongoing. What...... Flying, can we check the telemetry again?"

Johnson: "Telemetry checks."

Halleren: "The temperature is in the red, repeat, the temperature is in the red."

Kane: "QRC is getting nervous. Communication is unstable. ”

Traveler XIX: "-ING (i.)

g) - Ke - Danger - p

OBL - it's over. ”

Johnson: "Can someone clean up that transmission?" Review?"

Kane: "We've lost communication. QRC fell. ”

Halleren: "The temperature reading is black. Task down. Task down. ”

Johnson: "Alright, guys, listen up. Only save all discussions in the recorded DVS loop. No data and phone calls, no signals. Let's take a look at what went wrong. ”

"Field trips! Sakura said in a cheerful voice. All three of us were in the back of an HM3 transport drone, grabbing the high edge of the cargo hold. It's like sitting in the back of a dump truck with our arms held high above our heads, grabbing the edge of the wall. If we were humans, the journey would be painful, like riding the subway and barely reaching the safety railing overhead. To make matters worse, since the drone is suspended to handle a few metric tons of weight in a low-gravity environment. Our weight barely touched the scales, so we were actually riding without any suspension. You might think that on a journey through the carefully built corridors between the rooms, it's not a big deal. But these corridors are heavily trafficked. The hallways are littered with random rocks and debris that have fallen from the tail of the transport drone heading to the refinery, as well as bits and pieces that have suffered a similar fate. This is rumbling by a transport drone as if it did not exist. I know the hallway is cleaned regularly to keep the passage open, but it still keeps us walking around like marionettes.

On top of that, the corridor is crowded with all sorts of drones that are trying to fly from one place to another in the same ten-meter corridor. Each corridor is one-way, providing a 10-meter-wide passage for drones. Incredibly, it has plenty of room for two lanes of traffic, with the occasional impulsive-powered drone flying through the vast expanse above. I haven't seen any dreaded HM2 mining drones pass this road, and it makes sense. They are unlikely to fit.

It can be said that the vehicles are one after the other, and the distance between the drones is only a few inches. The side corridors alternate between turning traffic exits and cross-traffic bridges. The density is amazing. I've seen it on camera, but seeing it with my own eyes, so to speak, is another matter.

"How did you deal with all this?" I asked Sakura.

"I was assigned 6 NI-5s as traffic controllers. The drone hands over control on the main road and gains local control when it leaves. ”

"Is that true of all the roads?" I asked.

"Almost," she said matter-of-factly. "That's why I need a rail system. By centralizing and optimizing shipping, I will be able to reduce transGA by 63%.

YMED traffic, the rail system will be able to handle more than 413% of the cargo capacity. Transports like these will be used for local transportation from a railway hub to a factory, or vice versa from a factory to a railway hub, while utility drones will be able to traverse outposts within the railway at greater speeds and with less power consumption, increasing their operating time and, of course, once on site, their productivity will increase. Fortunately, due to the optimal layout of the factory and the strategic layout of the warehouse, most of the transported goods only take less than a kilometer. ”

In my mind, I took the design of the railway system to second place, right here at Ma, which I am now finalizing

After the design of the k-III. The remaining journey takes less than 30 minutes. As soon as we left the main road, we entered a new corridor with very little traffic. This corridor is lined with rooms of various styles. As we were fast ahead, I even caught a glimpse of three HM2 miners polishing the unprocessed rock from the camera in the hallway.

Finally, we enter a cave space that is completely different from the others. The transport drone stopped, and we climbed out. The space is a cube with a length of 400 meters on each side, with empty metal cradles running along the walls to the ceiling. On the other side of the cube there is another door that leads to the hallway. But in the center of the floor is a large set of blast doors. I know, because I designed this room, the blast door is five meters thick. Behind these doors is a second, thicker blast door. This is the first hangar for attack UAVs.

The cradle on the wall will soon be filled with attack drones, and the first batch of drones has now been completed at the UAV manufacturer. When this is done, there will be 200 assault drones on each wall of this room, and 800 for the entire room. In addition, each drone will be equipped with a drone supply vessel for minor repairs, rearmament and refueling. This is the first one, but while we are staring blankly at this shiny new facility, a dozen more are being dug up around the asteroid. But we're not here to find a vacancy. Waiting for us in the far corner are ten humanoids - our first new internal defense drones. Just as we stood there staring at the room, the entrance to another hallway opened, and just 200 meters below the wall we entered, four more drones walked in and took up their positions at the beginning of the formation.

It can be said that we walked over to inspect the troops. Agrippa stepped forward and began broadcasting to Sakura and me. I was hooked. I was involved in their design, so I was very familiar with their specifications. But there's a huge difference between understanding what parts I'm integrating and why they're important. I'm very dependent on Agrippa for this. My main concern is balancing utility and power consumption.

"Allow me to introduce the Guardian Infantry Drone." He began. "These units are designed for close-quarters combat scenarios, such as Ga

YMED outpost defense, ship-to-ship invasions, and ground combat. There are currently four variants – Infantry, Heavy Infantry, Sniper, and Support. ”

I can only recognize the three in front of us. The drones are all humanoid and based on the framework of Boston Dynamics rather than my own design. This is due to the fact that Boston Dynamics actually produced a similar device for military use, which we used as a template. It wasn't designed for space or asteroid environments, so we made some modifications to figure it out. Each Guardian has two centimeters of composite armor on their arms, head, and legs, and three centimeters on their torso. The core of this composite armor is titanium, on which are several layers of technical ceramics. Ceramics help prevent HEAT bullets from penetrating the titanium layer, which increases the strength and hardness of the armor against ordinary ammunition. The armor gave the units a bulky appearance, and the heavy dome and faceless head gave the impression of bulky shoulders. The armor is dark gray and black, which is an ideal camouflage in space.

"Infantry units have a rifle in each forearm, using 5.7x28 mm bullets with a muzzle velocity of 716 m/s. In Earth's standard gravity, they have an effective range of up to 200 meters. The ammunition is supplied horizontally and each magazine holds 50 rounds. Each unit carries 6 standard reload magazines, 18 reload magazines, and 4 grenades per unit. Support uses the same design, but focuses on logistics and on-site support. They are responsible for basic repairs, ammunition and the restoration of damaged units. ”

I looked at the Guardian that Agrippa pointed out to me, and noticed that there were square rectangles above each forearm and a barrel opening above the wrist. In addition, the radiator protrudes in a wavy shape above the forearm to help dissipate the heat of the weapon.

"On the other hand, heavy infantry units have thicker armor and additional shoulder-mounted heavy machine guns. This short-barreled design fires 12.7x99mm copper-sleeved tungsten carbide with a maximum of 100 rounds per minute in fully automatic mode. Using electromagnetic anchors on the soles of their feet and knees, heavy infantry can anchor themselves and aim and use their heavy artillery with multi-mounts on their shoulders. Finally, the sniper modification uses a longer barrel for increased accuracy and uses a 12.7×99mm high-explosive incendiary / or HEIAP. These bullets have the same energy of 12 kilojoules, have a head to help penetrate heavy armor and explode outward in a 30-degree cone upon entry. These are tank killers. Oh, and one last feature - they have electromagnetic palms, so these units can climb on any metal surface and even hang upside down to fire their main weapon when needed, "Agrippa said in summing up the brief introduction. He skipped the battery system that was spread throughout his body, the complete suite of camera sensors, and the NI-5 cortex on the torso that operated the drone. He skipped the encrypted identification friend or foe system that identified each Guardian, preventing accidental injury.

"Oh, oh, oh!" Sakura said. "I have a question. I thought the gun wouldn't fire in space. ”

"Black powder weapons are just that," Agrippa said. "The modern gunpowder we use actually contains oxidants as well."

"Why don't we use a hypervelocity coil gun?" She asked.

"Actually, we installed a ridge coil gun on the attack drone," I said. The energy cost of firing weapons means that the "Guardian" troops can only fire two or three rounds and need to replace the barrel after nine to ten uses. The attack drone is much larger, so it can have a stronger, thicker barrel and can fire 600 rounds in a row before it needs to be replaced. ”

"I'd love to give them to the heavyweights as well." Agrippa said angrily. "It's a shot, a kill. But the complexity of logistical support is unnecessary. ”

"And the same goes for lasers?" Sakura asked.

"That's right," Agrippa said. "Not to mention, the diffraction of the beam greatly reduces the range, and even with a pulsed laser array with a large aperture, a heavily armed adversary can easily ablate the beam and essentially get rid of it. We do have two four-phase array laser turrets on attack UAVs, but it is mainly used for missile defense, destroying radiator systems, aiming at enemy weapon systems. ”

Behind us, a hallway door opened. We turned around and saw a large unmanned attack aircraft rolling in. I could almost hear Agripba screaming in excitement, even though he didn't say anything. This is our first external defense force. The plane appeared sharp and deadly. It is narrow, like an ancient Earth fighter, but with short and thick wings. The purpose of the wings is not to fly, but to accommodate a huge array of lasers. The fuselage of the LAC was also equipped with a single-coil gun, which ran along its central spine so that the shot would not interfere with the flight trajectory of the LAC. The matte black paint helps to hide the ship and is not easily observed. I was very impressed with its engineering.

"These are our light assault boats, called the Wasp. Each Wasp carries 500 pieces of depleted uranium, steel-sheathed 20 mm coil gun ammunition and a four-phase array laser turret on each wing. They have ion engines to provide thrust, as well as solid rocket afterburners to achieve a sudden transition of δ -v. We coated them with the latest stealth technology, with radar-absorbing paint and optical dispersion angles that make them very difficult for sensors or eyes to detect," Agrippa said, his excitement permeating his narrative.

"Heavy assault boats, when will it be done?" Agrippa asked.

Saku

A confirmed: "The first unit will roll off the assembly line in 3.2 days."

"In three days, the first Scorpion heavy assault boat will roll off the assembly line. Scorpions are the most powerful. Each has a reactive armor coated with ablative fullerene, capable of taking more damage than the Wasp, at the expense of mobility. They installed a 300-mm ridge coil gun with 70 rounds of reloading. They also have twin turrets with 20mm Gatling guns, warhead droppers, not hypervelocity, and an underbelly four-phase laser turret for point defense. Both Scorpions and Wasps can reach out for coolers when needed, but put them away when fighting, as the radiator is the main target. ”

"Sounds remarkable. If the radiator is a big target, why don't we use heat-seeking missiles?" Much of my knowledge of weapons is limited to video games, but they are rooted in reality.

"The cost of fuel for rearmament," Agrippa replied. "On Earth, there is an aircraft carrier with fighters, which after entering and rearming and returning, this model makes little sense in space. Deliberately dumping Delta-V to catch up or slow down to an aircraft carrier, the time of refueling and the cost of re-entering the engagement range mean nothing. "I plan to add missile boats for strategic attacks in the future, but due to production constraints and the need to defend against the deployment of missiles, we will have to wait until next year at the earliest," he said. We need first of all fleet speedboats, ammunition ships and Guardian assault carriers. ”

"None of this will do us any good if they hit us with an asteroid again," Sakura said gloomily.

"Then we'll have to hide in our asteroids, hoping to hide in the dark." I say.

Saku

"I'm building coil gun positions on the ground, but it's progressing slowly," A said. "Since we couldn't change the terrain a lot and wanted the bunker to be camouflaged, the work was slow. Fortunately, the ammunition box and barrel replacement system will be completed before the actual gun. So, when the guns are on the line, they are immediately ready to fire. ”

"A small favor." Agrippa said. "What about the missile launch tubes?"

"Well, the tricky thing is getting the launch system to work. Nikolai's design required a cylinder of a six-gun type, and the missiles were loaded from the missile compartment under the launch tube. But we had trouble with the design of ball bearings on rotary tracks. ”

"Well, we're working out some logistics. But that doesn't solve our 'eggs in one basket' problem," I said.

"Well, it's easy," Sakura said.

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Spread to more asteroids. We now have a decent number of space drones. We'll find the right candidate and we'll work hard. ”

That's a good idea. If I can find a way to safely divide our genetic reserves into multiple parts, we can build one or more secret bases to hide and build. Despite all the construction we have undertaken, our resource reserves are actually increasing faster than we can use them. We're still limited on some things, like volatiles and platinum group metals. In fact......

That's when Agrippa interrupted my train of thought. "I really like the idea. In fact, I'm in favor of Ga

Build a military base around Ymed. If we build bases in concentric circles, we can provide defense in depth, prevent invasions, and layer our offensive capabilities. ”

"There's a question......" I began.

"yes, if someone draws our base and finds out that we have a hidden headquarters, we can't hide." He said. "But if we randomly place a 'center' base throughout the asteroid belt, if we happen to be at a place where two spheres overlap......"

Saku

A said, "I can make an Outpost Starter Pack." "It would be the optimal number of drones and supplies to build a series of hangars and factories, but designed with military production in mind, we could build a batch of drones and supplies in a few months, especially if we could deliver supplies across ships that they couldn't produce."

"We do have surplus material," I said. "The rate at which we mine seems to be faster than the rate at which we are producing."

"It's going to get worse," Sakura said. "Despite the increase in the production of drones, our production speed will begin to surpass that of our factories. I've streamlined my core mining team and started backfilling the labyrinthine corridors with scrap. New grid mining has increased our production of rare earth metals, platinum group metals and silicates. In addition, we capture more volatiles, although we store most of them. We need the atmosphere at some point. ”

"We're not building factories fast enough, are we?" I say. The germ of that thought reappeared in the back of my head.

"Okay, so we can't go anywhere at the same time," I said. "Sakura-chan, even you're limited in your ability to concentrate. Include a data center in your starter pack. You'll need to include plans to have the new NI-19 online to manage each outpost independently. ”

"Oh," Sakura said, a little hurt in her voice. , she thought it was alluding to her, I thought. I made a split-second decision.

"Every new NI-19 has to listen to you, Sakura," I said. "You have the final say on the implementation of the project plan."

Sakura seemed to perk up immediately. What was going on to make her so sensitive to the feeling of being marginalized? Considering she's proven her worth, I don't want to get into trouble. I wondered if there was a way to help her become more independent and be able to make bigger decisions on her own.

"It also provides great redundancy," Agrippa said. "We should do the same with NI-15 to coordinate the defense of each new outpost."

"We're producing new quantum entanglement communication devices, right?" I asked Sakura, mainly to get confirmation.

"Yes," she said. "This is our most advanced manufacturing facility to date."

"Then we'll have instant contact. What is the bandwidth?"

"They're the latest human designs in our database," she said.

"Ahh I pulled up the specs. 16 terabits per second. We will be able to transfer some important data between these locations. That's great. "Let's make sure we include at least a few hundred petabytes of storage. You might as well make a copy of our file. Once the data center comes online, I will be responsible for setting up the data center. ”

As we spoke, the second Wasp had flown into a cradle above the first, very close to the blast door. A series of umbilical cables snake out of the wall and connect to the Wasp. More Guardians are coming in, now one every few minutes. At this rate, we could find hundreds of them in a matter of days.

"I need to start training new Guardians. Saku

A tunnel was dug leading to a series of caves, which I intended to use as 'boot camps'. ”

"Why boot camp?" Don't they already know what to do?" I asked.

"Of course, I can put all the plans in the world into it." Agrippa said. "But knowing and understanding are two different things. You designed these drones, but you didn't understand their value until you saw them, and you didn't really understand what they were for until you saw them in action. Experience trumps book knowledge. These NI-5s require experience, so I'm going to give them experience as much as I can.