Watchtower

[have_no_mercy]

When they leave Milliways, Tess and Jim enter what looks very much like an elevator. That's because it is. Steel all around with a camera up in one corner.

Smile, Jim, you're on TessTV!

She presses the button for the top floor and then waits.

Comments

[just_cant_lose]

'You have to understand that you need a regolith thickness of least 2.5 meters to protect the human body to a safe background level of radiation - I know I know, aliens, but you're going to be up there sometimes, and you said I could come and visit once. I may be dead, but I don't want cancer at the same time.'

Plus, burns.

'So no, you can't just use the stuff we have down here. And it'll need to be massively energy efficient, because of the cold. And are your aliens using their skills to build, or tools - because without air acting as a buffer on things like drills and mining equipment, the heat build-up will be insane, and break everything. It'll all just fuse together, and you'll get nowhere. If they use explosives - or I don't know, laser eyes - then any loose debris will be like bullets shooting around, and will break into any equipment or supplies or people you might have lying around. So I get that you don't want to tell me how they're doing their jobs, but at least tell me they're aware of this stuff or are prepared to learn about it.'

Because if they're not, woe betide any human who tries to live in whatever they make up there.

[have_no_mercy]

See, this is why she needs you, Jim.

"If we're going underground doesn't that take care of the regolith thickness? And I was thinking they'd do a lot of the work here and then just take the pieces up to assemble it."

She glances at him, having the distinct feeling he's going to shoot that down.

"They'll use whatever is best for the job and yes, they're willing to learn. They've never done this before, either."

[just_cant_lose]

'The thing being underground, yeah. But if it's going to be solar powered - which makes sense, obviously - there are other things to take into consideration. Your surface panels will have to be protected, because if they're not the whole habitat fails when they'll inevitably be hit by rocks, and high energy cosmic rays and solar wind particles will create a cumulative abrasion effect on anything you have on the surface. You'll need a back-up emergency power source...a generator will do well enough, but then you have to consider that there's a lot of outward force from pressurised environments, and materials get brittle at very low temperatures. Your computer system will need to be constantly - and I do mean constantly - monitoring this stuff. You should probably tell your friend to factor that into her programming.'

Jim drops into a chair, wishing he just had full control of the whole thing. There's a lot to plan, and it would be fun. He loves puzzles with a thousand different pieces to coordinate.

'You didn't answer my question about budget, but the reason you might want to mine up there rather than bring stuff from here is that transport costs will be insane. Unless your aliens are just going to carry it all up there by hand. Also, having a simple air lock won't be able enough to get all the dust off spacesuits, so it'll be ingested - dust will be static up there, like I said - and you don't know what the effect of that will be on people. I'll have to come up with a proper way for you to have everyone decontaminate before going in.'

[have_no_mercy]

She sighs.

"Watchtower, Richard Brook access level Executive."

"Access level upgraded."

She waves a hand at him. Go play.

"Don't make me regret this. The budget, we're hoping to keep it under a billion, but we'll go higher if we absolutely have to."

[just_cant_lose]

He's on his feet way before she's finished talking, a smile plastered all over his face.

'That's more like it.'

Hello lovely new system, how are you? Very nice to meet you...Jim types without pause for a straight five minutes, taking over most of the screens in the place one by one, rifling through the system like a thousand starving children let loose in a sweetshop after being told they're allowed to ransack the place.

She may come to regret it later, but for now, he's just happy to see what she's got. And he knows he's about to sink without trace for a while, so he glances up at her with eyes already far away, and says, 'you might as well just leave me for a bit.'

A few hours, probably. At least. The longer she leaves him, the more likely it is the system will be unrecognisable when she gets back, but he's not actively looking to cause damage!

[have_no_mercy]

"Just do you know, anything moved, copied, cloned or deleted will sound an alarm. And I can pull your access at any time."

Then she will leave him alone, pulling out a laptop from a drawer in her desk and starting on some work of her own.

[just_cant_lose]

'Mmm. Just so you know, I'm going to copy everything I need that's relevant to this project. You can look at the file list when I'm done.'

Because he needs information to be able to work, obviously. Alarms be damned.

And then he shuts up, and doesn't move, and doesn't stop typing, reading, scrolling, pushing pages around different screens. Occasionally there's a laugh, or he mutters under his breath, or says, 'no no no,' or more often, 'stupid, stupid' - and sometimes there's even a slight exclamation of surprise, or agreement.

But it's all minimal. Mostly he just sits and works, with absolute focus and no indication that the world outside of what he's making in his head even exists.

[have_no_mercy]

Hooray, Jim and the computers are getting along okay. As if there was ever a doubt. Tess is still watching him carefully, even working on her own things. She does have a Watchtower feed on this laptop. Her only real concern is what if Chloe is on her own?

She'll deal with it if that happens, like she always deals with things. She's wary of letting Jim run along like this, but they want the moonbase and by God she's going to give them one. A last present before she leaves them for good.

[just_cant_lose]

Being wary of Jim just shows she has sense, but he's not giving any cause for alarm at the moment. For one thing, he spent a while just familiarising himself with everything and comparing it to what he knows from his own world. And after that he was actually working. The trouble may come when he's done with the work, but it's a big project and he's happily engrossed in it for a long while.

He's forced to cease by something completely annoying. He's lost track of the afternoon, and he hasn't stopped typing for a looooong time now, as he streams thoughts out without pause. But it's been a while since he sat at a computer for this long, and he's pulled up short by a sudden cramp in his wrist. It's sharp enough to derail his train of thought, and make him hiss over his teeth, pulling his hand back to massage irritably at tingling fingers.

'Fuck.'

Annoying. The moment he stops, he becomes aware of just how uncomfortable everything else is.

'Have you got any food?'

Is she still there? He assumes so.

[have_no_mercy]

She's still there, mainly getting ready for end of month reports from Luthorcorp that will need to be gone over. She's taken a few phone calls in a hushed tone, sent some e-mails and messages and generally kept herself busy. She won't just leave him.

"Not so much, but I can go get you something."

[just_cant_lose]

'Yes. Please.'

He stands up and rolls his shoulders out, wincing at the ache and then stumbling off in the direction of the restroom.

'And a drink.'

Lots of drinks, perhaps.

[have_no_mercy]

"Anything in particular?"

She calls after him. And then suspends his access so he can't fool around with her gone.

[just_cant_lose]

'No, anything.'

He comes back out a minute later, ready to go back to work...and can't.

For God's sake.

OH WELL. He picks up the bow, because shooting a few arrows will help him stretch back out again. What he said to Oliver was mostly a lie; he has shot before, but only a time or two. It's not that hard to pick up though, is it?

He's aiming for the door so, y'know Tess, careful when you come back in.

[have_no_mercy]

'Anything' will translate to the local burger joint, where she orders for herself as well. If Jim is industrious enough, he'll find the wet bar in Watchtower all by himself. He can help himself to that.

So long as she doesn't come back in to an arrow next to her head - or in it - the annoyance will be minimal.

[just_cant_lose]

How about a few in the door, a few around the door, and some random holes where he didn't land them solidly enough and they fell out.

He hasn't found the wet bar because he became engrossed in trying to shoot better, and he doesn't put an arrow in her head. Or next to it. It goes next to her shoulder instead.

'You've been ages.'

[have_no_mercy]

"I've been ten minutes, tops."

But she forgets he's basically a child at heart and it feels like it's been longer.

"Here, food. And the wet bar's over behind the sofa."

[just_cant_lose]

'Oh.'

He could have looked around and seen that, fine. He drops his bow on the floor and goes to get...water, actually, and then vodka for after.

'Thank you. Do you want one?'

[have_no_mercy]

She sets the bag of food down, then lifts a quarter full glass from her desk.

"You were in another world. I could have done that strip tease with a full band accompaniment and you wouldn't have noticed."

[just_cant_lose]

'Yes. Well. Don't take it personally.'

Work is more interesting than people. Most people. He does raise an eyebrow at her as he pours vodka, though.

'Seeing as I'm on a break, you could do a striptease now if you like.'

[have_no_mercy]

Getting lost in your work is something she can understand. All in all, it was sort of cute to watch him be so engrossed in something. That doesn't mean he's charming her any more than usual.

"I'm on a break, too, and I have a very strict rule: No stripteases while on break."

She slides a burger and fries toward him.

"Eat. It's been hours."

[just_cant_lose]

But he usually charms her just fine! To a point, at least.

'Fiiiiiine.'

He is so hard-done-by. There's a brief pout - and a pause while he locates the inevitable tomato, and disposes of it - but he is hungry, so he gets over that soon enough and has a bite of burger.

'So, when do you want this done by?'

[have_no_mercy]

He does!

"There's no real deadline. We know this is first time project and that things may go wrong along the way. Ultimately, we're looking to have it be functional for the start of 2018."

That gives you a year, Jim. Think you can do it?

[just_cant_lose]

Jim stares at her.

'The start of 2018?'



'Well, I'm taking the rest of the night off, then.'

[have_no_mercy]

"What, you'd rather it be tomorrow?"

If he can get it done earlier, good, but since they're doing everything literally below board and themselves, they've given the project a modest timeline.

"You never know, World War III might break out and we'll have to shelf the whole thing."

[just_cant_lose]

He stares at her some more.

'If I design you a beautiful moonbase and you don't even use it, so help me-'

Grr. Annoying. He bites into his burger, annoyed.

'You see, the beautiful thing about me doing this for you - beautiful for me, that is - is that I don't have to do anything boring. If I were at home and someone had paid that kind of service, I'd have to procure all the manpower, and the materials, and buy and organise the transport blah blah-'

The dull bits are not his favourite.

'But here, all I have to do is tell you what you need and how to build it, give you the plans and all the pertinent information, et cetera. And of course I'll be around the bar for you to consult with if you need to. But all the time-consuming stuff, that's all you. I don't need until 2018 to do this, Tess. I might not even need until the end of the month.'

When Jim's on a big job, he'll just focus entirely on that until it's done. That's a lot of hours, with a brain that works really fast, and is already familiar with the theory of all of this. Working out a design will not take a year.