B.3 Designation and Orb Status
Major update from my last post: The Chief Contractor got fired.
Personally, I don’t think he should have but the HRC needed someone to pay for the coolant leak. One of the Environment Analysts from the Environmental Protection Agency confirmed that none of the coolant made it to the surface. So really the contractor did what he was supposed to: Build an orbiting space station that could support the lives of the Ox who wish to live closer to our home world (meaning that they work). What I want to know is if the job was really a joint effort how come the Ox Master Builder didn’t get more than a slap on the hand?
The Orbs do work now. Orbs 1 and 2 have been up and running with full life support for almost 24 hours. Orb 3 had a bit of a shaky start. One of the coupler manifolds on the docking rim blew up (that’s the easiest way to put it). It ripped a hole right through the exterior and into the viewing deck inside the docking rim. It’s going to take a few more days before that can be fixed but all other systems have checked out.
Because of the explosion, the HRC is recommending that the Ox wait another couple weeks before moving into the Orbs – to make sure they are safe. The Ox are complaining of course. I mean wouldn’t you? Just because they are very sympathetic to our race, doesn’t mean they aren’t entitled to proper accommodations. They are still formal allies.
I don’t if you are aware or not, but the Orbs aren’t just homes for the Ox. The end goal was always to have a major base of operations in orbit around Earth. Sure we had the international space station and we were planning to build stations similar to the Mars Stations, but when compared to the design specifications and materials the Ox offered to build the Orbs with, all of the other stations look small and old. The Orbs are where we plan on hosting all kinds of Allies, rather than forcing them to land on our planet. It’s also where the HRC wants to move most of the essential operations. I’m pretty sure the IGL’s (Intergalactic Liaison’s) are considered essential but I haven’t heard anything concrete yet. Even if I was going to move up there – which would be awesome – you know how slow government moves. It’ll probably be years before it happens.
Anyway, other than the Contractor getting fired the week has been great. E’lish and Romi have designated me as their official Liaison yesterday. We knew it was only a matter of time before the Ox picked someone, and I knew it was going to be either myself or another IGL named Peter. I’m pretty excited that they chose me. This means that I’ll get consulted on anything to do with the Ox and I’ve already been cleared for extended periods contact with them. Apparently there are a few people in the department who are xenophobes, if you can believe it. I’ll admit that they annoy me some time, especially Romi’s accent, but I think of the Ox like tall thin – and yet really strong – humans with solid blue egg shaped eyes.
I also went to my last Human Colony Board meeting today. Since I’ll be the Official Oxynat Liaison, non-designated IGL’s will take care of the general diplomatic relations. If you don’t know what the HCB does, here is a brief example.
The meeting today consisted of three items. One and two were standard issues. A build status report from the Venus Space Station (not yet technically a colony until they can financially support themselves) was tabled for review and approval, and a complaint was registered from the Titan Space Station saying that the OOC (Outer Orbit Control) is abusing the right to use the station as an interim prison for law breakers before they are sent to Earth for sentencing. This might sound bad to you, but trust me Titan complains a lot about everything. I think they do it so that we remember that they are there.
The third item on the agenda was interesting. The Mars High Council wants to increase the importation of ice, oxygen and ammonium from the Main Belt Territory to its terraforming conglomerate Terra2. Normally, no problem. A request like this wouldn’t even make it to the board except for the formal “blessing”. But there was a lovely little fine print clause that said “including by other means”. The Council debated for an hour what this meant before they called up the President of the Mars High Council to ask. He said that they wouldn’t be violating any of the trade agreements with the mining stations in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. However, they would increase the frequency that their own mining ships would head out into the unclaimed portions of the Belt when mining stations were out of range.
The request was approved but a notice has gone out to the OOC to be aware of the increased traffic from Mars to the Main Belt Territory. They’re the only ones equipped to enforce the laws space-side anyway. Not bad for my last meeting.
Now on to more Oxynat related activities. I’m in the process of writing a letter on behalf of E’lish to the Deputy Minister about speeding up the process so the Ox can move into the Orbs. It’s kind of hard writing a letter on behalf of someone else to someone that you ultimately work for. Some times it hurts my head.
Over and Out.
