The special bond was Harbor One.
The prototype for Ocean Deep, it was emplaced on steel pillars eighty feet above the seabed, and the inverted bowl design had a diameter of one hundred feet. The lowest deck of three decks within the bowl contained engineering spaces, including the highly important electrolysis components which extracted oxygen from sea water for the atmosphere. Chemical filters cleaned the air, and a very efficient distilling plant provided pure drinking water.
The atmospheric and water generation units, in addition to the turbine farm on the seabed which produced electricity from ocean currents, made the sea laboratory nearly self sufficient, which was Brande’s eventual goal. He had shunned the thought of bringing electrical power from the mainland to the station via cable.
As it was, even with the recent installation of an additional turbine generator, the electrical heat tapes applied around the dome only kept the temperature at sixty five degrees. It was never comfortably warm, and the silica gel filters and high pressure of the atmosphere could not quite cope with the interior moisture.
Polodka did not mind. The whole concept was too fascinating to worry about the mundane details.
In the drive toward the eventual self sufficiency of Harbor One, as well as toward developing new products to ease world demands for food and energy, two smaller domes had been constructed to the northwest, both within a quarter mile. The mining project and the agricultural project domes were linked to Harbor One by Kevlar shielded cables and tubing providing them with electrical power and communications. Each of the dependent domes did have their own atmospheric and water distillation plants.
On the engineering deck in the main dome were a dozen doorless cubicles in which resident or visiting MVU staff members worked, and where Polodka and Robert Mayberry now worked at side by side computers.
There was also a large reception chamber on the main deck which doubled as a workshop, with tools and benches lining two of the fiberglass walls. An airlock large enough to accept a mini sub or the larger robots was also located in the reception chamber.
“Damn!” Mayberry said.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“We’ve almost missed our coffee break, Svet. Come on, let’s get a move on.”
Robert Mayberry, who was Director of Electronic Technology, uncoiled from his armless castered chair. He was over six feet tall and so thin that Dokey called him, “Shadowless.” His ash blond hair was unruly, and unnoticed, as far as Mayberry was concerned.
They left the lab they were using and climbed the spiral staircase to the second deck where the residential, recreational, sanitary, and eating facilities were located. The aluminum railing felt cool and sweaty under her hand.
“Tea or coffee?” Mayberry asked as they stepped into the self serve kitchen.
“Hot chocolate, please, Robert.”
Polodka had been working in the United States for over six years now, and she was still not accustomed to the largesse in foodstuffs. In Russia, she had never had to watch her weight; here, she was almost grateful that she feared blossoming into a 150 pound gorilla. But she adored chocolate.
They went back to the stairs and climbed to the top deck. It was an open space laboratory, with dozens of experiments underway in hydroponic tanks, pressure chambers, and controlled sea water chambers. Sensors and computers monitored biological, psychological, engineering, and oceanographic projects. Seventeen people, supported by federal and state funding through universities around the United States, were currently in residence. Additionally, seven full time MVU people maintained the dome and conducted company-sponsored probes into undersea life.
The top deck, some twenty feet below the highest point of the dome, was a working environment rather than a tourist attraction, but Polodka always enjoyed it anyway. The view was almost unobstructed for 360 degrees. Only the rib and crossbar structural members of the curved clear acrylic dome detracted from the sensation that the viewer was one with the sea.
Little of the exterior could be seen at the moment since the exterior lights were extinguished and the interior lights were at full brilliance. Above, through the bluish gray light, she could see Charlie, the bluefin tuna that had adopted the colony, making his rounds.
To the south, she saw the anchor point and thick umbilical of the Kevlar shielded fiber optic cable that rose to the buoy on the surface. She had designed the computer interfaces for the fiber optics, an achievement that gave her some pride.
In the very center of the deck was a large round conference table surrounded by a dozen castered chairs. It was used for the impromptu scientific debriefings when the experts in residence shared their progress, failures, and successes with their colleagues.
Andy Colgate, who had taken over as Director of Harbor One when Kaylene Thomas became president of the company, was already there, nursing a big mug of coffee.
Mayberry pulled out chairs for them and they sat down. Charlie stopped his pacing and took up a station where he could keep an eye on them.
“Have you found my problem yet?” Colgate asked.
“We’ve narrowed it down,” Mayberry said. “It’s somewhere between the antenna buoy and the engineering deck.”
“Gee, thanks, Bob. You’re a big help.”
“Do not look so crestfallen, Andy,” she said. “We have also determined that the fiber optic system is not at fault.”
“You’re only saying that because it’s your system,” Mayberry said.
“I am not.”
“Don’t be so literal, Svet. I’m teasing.”
“It is difficult to tell with you, Robert.”
“Actually, Andy,” Mayberry said, “our best guess right now is the secondary data relay. I’ll open it up in a little while and take a look for salt.”
“The damned maintenance is going to overwhelm us,” Colgate said.
Mechanical and electrical systems subjected to the sea environment, whether on the surface or below it, were always sensitive to moisture and salt. Though every primary component was normally contained within a sealed compartment, the insidious fingers of the sea seemed to find their way within, depositing corrosive elements which eventually brought on system failures.
Because of it, and because of Dane Brande’s almost obsessive insistence on safety, all communication and life support systems had redundancy built in. Additionally, most systems had monitoring devices of some kind. In the current problem, a backup system for transferring data between the mainland and the dome had begun to act up, occasionally spitting out gibberish.
“The more complicated we get,” Mayberry said, “the more likely we’ll have a failure now and then. I don’t think we’re going to get around the maintenance chore, Andy.”
“If you two were any kind of engineers at all, you’d make the systems simpler,” Colgate said. “Fewer components, fewer problems.”
“That is funny,” Polodka said. “My psychic consultant said I should make my life simpler.”
“Your what!” Mayberry said. His mouth had dropped in total surprise.
“My consultant,” she backed off.
“Yeah, I heard that part. What kind of consultant?”
“Uh, psychic.”
“Where’d you find him?”
“Her.”
“Where’d you find her?”
“I called this eight hundred number….”
“Svet, my love. You and I have to have a long talk.”
“After you fix my data relay,” Colgate said.
“Talk about what?” she asked.
“About consultants.”
“Why? It helps to talk sometimes.”
“Sure, but have you seen your telephone bill yet?”