Martian Meltdown, Part 1
Virgo Station appeared as a hologram above the obsidian conference table. Everyone sitting around it could see the manufactured city of interconnected domes and towering solar panels situated within the Martian crater.
Christover Barbet gestured towards it with his infamous showmanship and a dazzling smile.
"Gentlemen, Virgo Station is the dawn of humanity's multi-planetary future. And we are here today to discuss the engine of that dawn, the heart of that dawn."
Minister Mathis, of the Crimean Republic, inclined his head but didn't say anything.
Dario, Christover's younger brother, looked uneasy. Mathis had a crisp tailored suit and his silver hair slicked back carefully. He was not giving an indication what his thoughts were.
"The Crimean Republic is honored to contribute to your historic endeavor. After all, we are a nation who shares our wealth with the world."
The Crimeans were not their first choice. Other nations had turned them away though, leaving them as the last resort.
"Our Olympus reactor is our nation's finest achievement," Mathis continued. "Our compact fission unit will be capable of meeting all your projected energy demands and go far beyond that."
"Compact, power-dense, and available," Christover beamed. "NASA and the ESA are occupied with tiny squabbles. Fusion is perpetually a decade away. SMRs are the now."
"Minister Mathis," Dario coughed and took a sip of water, his throat dry because of how nervous he was. "We tooked at the technical specifications your minister sent us on the Olympus reactor. It was comprehensive in a few... most... areas. The output power looks perfect. But there doesn't seem to be much in the way of testing, like its resilience against long-term stress and tremors."
Christover gave Dario a sharp glare for a moment before returning his attention to the minister.
"My brother, the genius engineer," he exclaimed sardonically. "He lives for the minutiae. But what I think Dario is trying to say is that he's eager to get his hands on your brilliant technology."
"Dr. Barbet, you diligence is commendable. But let me assure you that the Olympus reactor is a mature technology, able to run robustly off-world. Certain elements are still considered proprietary, undertaken during an era of focused nationalist innovation. But let me reassure you, it has a strong heart," the minister tapped his chest lightly with his fist.
"I know that sometimes people will use 'mature technology' as a euphemism," Dario pressed, ignoring the pain in his shin from Christover's kick. "We have noted the reactor shares similar design principles to earlier models in your region which have not had the best record on safety. In particular, the coolant subsystem seems to be a carbon copy. But I haven't been able to cross-check these with independent verification."
The minister leaned back and crossed his hands. "Dr. Barbet, the Crimean Republic stands by its engineering. It has been designed specifically for the Martian environment by our leading scientists and authorities. We provide power, and we are offering you the keys to that power, although we are not going to be able to walk you through a whole degree in nuclear engineering. Though of course, our technicians will be able to support your systems integration."
"Exactly, a partnership!" Christover seized the opportunity to shut out his brother and get the deal back on track. "Look, the risk assessments seem good enough. But the output of your reactor will shorten our colony establishment by several years, an order of magnitude improvement to our plans which is a win-win. We'll be able to bootstrap critical operations all in the first week. That's the path to self-sufficiency."
Dario looked from his brother's fervent face to the minister's polite, unreadable mask. Despite his brother's enthusiasm, there still seemed to be too many unknowns. The reactor was powerful, and he had no doubt about that, but it was still a black box. On Mars, unknown variables could be lethal.
"In the event of a cascade failure in the coolant system, there could be extensive damage to the entire habitat," Dario stated, silently pleading for caution.
Christover just waved a dismissive hand. "All reactors consider worst-case scenarios. That's why you're here to make sure they remain theoretical. The Olympus system has safety redundancies I assume."
"Indeed," the minister affirmed. "Safety is paramount. The Crimean Republic stands by our engineering."
Christover extended his hand. "Then we have a deal, Minister. Your Olympus reactor will light the way for humanity on Mars."
Minister Mathis rose and shook Christover's hand. "To Virgo Station, and to the vast grandness of space."
Three years passed. Three Martian years of hard work, iterative progress, and a grinding fight for survival. Virgo Station clung to the dusty plains at the foot of Eos Chasma. Inside its interconnected domes, hydroponic bays glowed and atmospheric processors ran frantically in order to establish a baseline routine for the two hundred people inhabiting it.
Victor wiped the dust off his face as he tightened a seismic anchor on a new atmospheric sensor mast. Below him he could see the twinkling lights of the main habitat.
"If there was one more degree in this array's lean we could see Phobos," Vic muttered to Rose through their EVA comms.
"Just secure it, Vic. Mr. Barbet expects planetary coverage before the reactor ramps up to the yellow. Engineering wants all non-essential external systems double-checked first."
Vic grunted and torqued the final bolt. The Olympus reactor, situated a kilometer away in a heavily shielded burrow, was their primary source of power, even if it gave some of the colonists uneasiness. The Virgo Corporation was not very transparent with the details, although it did boast its abundance of power.
Today was the day they would push the Olympus to its sustained peak design output, which would immediately be turned into a big milestone and press event.
"Coolant flow seems stable. Both primary and secondary loops look good," Kiera reported over the comms. She worked in the main hab's laboratory with the rest of the technicians, reporting directly to the corporation's head of engineering.
"The sensors should be operational now," Victor reported.
"Yes, I see that. Seismic data looks nominal. Vibrational dampeners are nominal."
"Vic, let's head back," Rose suggested.
"Our mission is meant to last a full hour. We don't need to go back."
"We should just get back to the hub."
"You're always rushing to the next job. I'm going to stay for a little bit. Take advantage of the break."
"Okay, good luck with that. I'm not staying out here any longer than I need to."
She took the express elevator upwards back to the engineering hub, where dozens of technicians were busy checking data from their vast network of sensors and beginning operations to increase the system power. Dr. Dario sat in a chair on a small platform on the second floor, able to watch them like a hawk watched fieldmice.
"Neutron absorption rates are slightly elevated in quadrant three. Still within expected parameters," Kiera noted.
Rose took her places at her console. She opened up her system console, her fingerprints against the keyboard authorizing the computer under her name. She started to type in queries to load reactor data.
"Slightly elevated is still elevated," Dario said in his usual critical tone. He never let them get away with anything. Everyone had to be as discliplined as him. "Run a spectral analysis on the off-gassing from heat exchange subsystems. I want to know if we're detecting any unexpected isotopes."
"We're approaching ninety-five percent of total capacity," Kiera announced.
Rose plugged her headphones into the console. It gave her a direct audio feed of the noise around the reactor. She could hear a soft hum, almost melodic.
Then she saw a flicker of light. A small amber light appeared on his board amidst a sea of green. She read the label: Pressure Overload: Coolant Loop 5.
"Hold the ramp-up," Dario snapped, seeing the same warning. "Kiera, give me direct pressure readings on PCL-5."
"I'm seeing a pressure drop. It's dropping really fast!"
On Vic's helmet display, a small alert blinked.
Power fluctuation: Grid integrity warning
"Hey Rose, are you there?" he asked into the comms. "Are you seeing this?"
As he waited for an answer, he felt a small quake under his boots. He saw the sensor mast sway precariously. He quickly ran back to held it upright.
"There are multiple alarms now!" Kiera cried out, her voice rising. "Containment pressure is dropping entirely in multiple coolant loops. Five, six, two. All failing."
"Vic, I hope you're on your way back now," Rose spoke in a hushed tone into her console. "There's a coolant breach. A major breach."
Red lights began to strobe across the hub. Klaxons started blaring, a sound designed to scare even the most hardened of colonists. They were rapidly approaching the worst-case scenario.
"I'm initializing the emergency shutdown. Insert all the control rods! Flood the core with neutron inhibitors!"
He slammed his hand on the master shutdown. The indicator light flickered on for a brief moment before going dark.
"Damn, the control rods are not responding at all. The heat must've already seized them."
Vic, still clinging to the mast, saw a bright unnatural light in the direction of the reactor. Smoke and vapor seemed to be erupting from a pressure relief conduit he didn't know was there.
"Rose, the reactor seems to be venting something!" he called out.
"Vic, get back to the rover! This is an emergency recall. There's a radiation alert. Highest priority. Your EVA suit isn't strong enough to handle it," Rose exclaimed, her voice full of terror.
"Where is the radiation?" Even as he asked, he started to hear a rapid chirping coming from his suit's Geiger counter. The reading seemed to be dangerously high.
Rose turned her head to see Dario's face now a pale white. The core temperature in two sectors was hitting the upper bounds of the sensors, far higher than any simulation had expected.
"It's going critical," he whispered, his voice echoing through the otherwise silent hub. "The graphite is igniting... The whole thing is melting down."
On Rose's screen, just like every other screen, the schematic of the Olympus reactor had been replaced by a large dialog box with urgent crimson-level alerts.
CORE INTEGRITY FAILURE IMMINENT
RADIATION LEVELS EXCEEDING ALL SENSOR RANGES
EVACUATE VIRGO HUB.
The lights in the hub pulsed brighter and dimmer before suddenly dying, pluging them into the dim red lights of the backup system. The main power grid had just failed. Who knew how long the backup would last?
"Dario, what the hell is happening over there! My entire board just lit up like a Christmas tree!" A video message from Christover Barbet arrived, twenty minutes after the crisis began. He must've gotten the data ten minutes earlier and just sent a video response.
Dario grabbed his console camera.
"Christover, the Olympus reactor is... well, it had a full meltdown. It's gone. And it's still venting. We can't get over there right now. The radiation levels are still rising. We will try to hold out here on emergency power."
The message was sent, but there was nothing Christover could do on Earth except for worry. Meanwhile, Rose knew they had to buckle down if they wanted to get through this crisis somehow.
Outside, Vic ran towards the rover. He looked out at the horizon, which had turned into an ugly black and gray with everything originating from the rector. All kinds of unknown poisons were filling the thin Martian air. The dream of Virgo station had lost its brightness. The red planet now seemed like it could live up to its name.