roccoschili Chapter 707 Inspecting the Base, Encountering a Spying Feeling Again
Chapter 707 Inspecting the Base, Encountering a Spying Feeling Again
The Martian sun is much stronger than the Earth's; even through the visor of a spacesuit, you can still feel the intense heat.
Zhan Yi drove the Mars sightseeing vehicle, its tires rolling over the red earth plain, kicking up fine dust.
A thin trail of yellow smoke trailed behind the car.
Meng Chuan sat in the passenger seat, Ying Die leaned against the back seat, and none of the three spoke.
The only sounds were the low hum of the sightseeing bus engine and the whooshing of the wind whistling through the rocks outside.
"Coming."
Zhan Yi suddenly spoke, pointing forward.
Meng Chuan looked in the direction he pointed and saw a cluster of gray-black buildings standing on the distant horizon.
It's not a fortress like Qinglian Fort, which is embedded in the rock face.
It was a real steel factory, and there was no smoke coming out of the chimney.
However, pale blue beams of energy occasionally shot out from the roof.
It left a fleeting streak of light across the sky.
"That's the production base?"
Meng Chuan raised an eyebrow.
He had seen many factories on Earth, but seeing such a vast expanse of factory buildings on Mars still gave him a jolt.
"Yes, it's 100 kilometers from here to our Qinglian Fortress."
Zhan nodded and slowed the car down a bit:
"We've built a signal tower here so we can remotely control the robots and robot dogs here."
This place is quite close to the north pole of Mars.
Therefore, the environment here is even harsher.
It is not suitable to build Qinglian Fort here.
However, the supplies here are much more abundant.
Because no one needs to live and reside here long-term.
Therefore, the delivery rooms here do not need to be made like those in Qinglian Fort.
As the car slowly approached, Meng Chuan was able to see the details of the factory building.
The exterior walls are made of dark gray alloy with fine textures.
It looks as if it has been polished by Martian sandstorms, yet there is not a trace of rust.
The factory buildings are connected by conveyor belts, on which robots occasionally carry semi-finished products.
His movements were precise and silent.
There were hardly any people in the entire base, only robots and robot dogs bustling around.
"Most of it is automated."
Zhan Yi seemed to see through Meng Chuan's thoughts and explained:
"There are few people on Mars. Lao Pao leads a few technicians to remotely control this place from Qinglianbao. Usually, these robots do the work."
The car stopped at the base entrance, and the three of them got out.
After taking only two steps, I heard a clanging sound coming from inside the factory, like steel colliding.
Meng Chuan walked to a huge observation window.
Look inside—it's a huge furnace, with blue flames dancing at its core.
A red-hot metal blank was heated until it softened.
The robotic arm next to it nimbly reached out, picked up the metal billet, and fed it into the rolling mill.
With a "snap," the metal billet was rolled into a flat steel plate with smooth edges without a single burr.
"That's quite efficient."
Meng Chuan couldn't help but admire.
"That is."
Zhan Yi's face showed a hint of smugness:
"Old Gun spent three months modifying the furnace, using Martian helium-3 as fuel. The temperature is two hundred degrees higher than an electric arc furnace on Earth. And look at this—"
Zhan Yi pointed to the steel bars that had just been transported out on the conveyor belt:
"Something was mixed into these steel bars."
Meng Chuan looked closer and saw that the surface of the steel bar had a faint silver sheen, unlike ordinary steel bars which were dull.
"It was mined from a vein next to the base. It's a metallic element that doesn't exist on Earth. Old Pao gave it a name: 'Martian Silver'."
Zhan Yi explained:
"Adding this stuff can increase the strength of the steel bars by 30%, and they won't easily crack even in places like Mars with large temperature differences. Last time, when Qinglian Fort reinforced its outer walls, they used this kind of steel bar, and even artillery shells couldn't penetrate it."
Yingdie also came over to look, tapping her fingertip on the observation window:
"Military-grade strength, perfect for building underground fortifications."
Yingdie largely agreed with Meng Chuan's idea.
Hiding might be the best option right now!
If we need to hide underground, the output of this production base will come in handy.
Meng Chuan didn't reply, his gaze sweeping over the storage area in the corner of the factory.
There were many bags of cement piled up there. Meng Chuan walked over, picked up a bag, and weighed it in his hand. It was much lighter than cement on Earth.
Of course, it's not because cement is lightweight.
It's because the gravity is low here.
Here, Meng Chuan can lift 100 kilograms of cement with one hand and throw it dozens of meters.
If this were on Earth, he'd be no different from Superman.
"Was something added to the cement?"
Meng Chuan asked.
"Ok!"
Zhan nodded:
"It's mixed with minerals extracted from underground ice, so it sets twice as fast as ordinary cement and is also more waterproof. Look at the starship landing site outside the base; it's paved with this kind of cement, which is heat-resistant. In the words of the old gunman, if it were poured to a thickness of five meters, even a nuclear bomb might not be able to penetrate it."
Zhan Yi said with some regret:
"Unfortunately, water resources are insufficient. If there were enough water, we could produce more—Old Pao calculated that it could reach a maximum of 500 tons."
Currently, daily production does not exceed 100 tons.
With current production capacity, it should be able to increase fivefold.
"water?"
Meng Chuan grasped the key words and turned to look at Zhan Yi:
Where does the water for production here come from?
Water is the scarcest resource on Mars, so even the water used for daily life in Qinglianbao has to be used sparingly.
With such a large production base, it must require a lot of water.
Zhan Yi pointed north:
“That area is close to the Arctic ice cap, and there is a layer of soil ice fifty meters underground.”
Zhan Yi explained:
"It's the kind of mixture of ice and soil. Although it has many impurities, it's enough for industrial use after a little purification."
He led Meng Chuan to the back of the base, where there was an open space where several robots were working.
Some robots held up drills and drilled into the ground, and the soil they drilled out was mixed with white ice crystals.
Some robots are responsible for transporting the soil ice layer to the purification tower next to it.
A pipe extends from the top of the purification tower, and occasionally steam escapes, condensing into water droplets that flow into the water storage tank through the pipe.
“Every day, robot dogs come to dig ice, and robots bring it back for purification.”
Zhan Yi pointed at the robots:
"The efficiency is a bit low. The ice layer is very hard, and the drill bit has to be changed three times a day. Purification also consumes a lot of energy. This is also why we can't mass-produce it on a large scale—there isn't enough water, so we can't operate the furnace and mixing plant at full capacity."
Meng Chuan remained silent; he could offer no advice on the water resource issue.
The three continued strolling around.
Actually, there's not much to see in an automated factory where everything is produced by robots.
After wandering around for a while, the three of them prepared to return the way they came.
However, just as the three got into the car and Zhan Yi was about to start it...
The three of them froze in place almost simultaneously.
Because that feeling of being spied on came back.
And this time it's even clearer.
This sent a chill down Meng Chuan and his companions' spines.
The three of them looked up at the sky at almost the same time.
Sure enough, it was right above their heads.
A beam of light stopped steadily above their heads.
This time, the light did not disappear.
It was hanging right above their heads...