We have some free time between installs, so we can do a little extra credit work. Even though a lot of the country’s power comes from renewables like the wind installations they have here in the delta and the dams we’ll be seeing upstream, they still import and burn a pretty significant amount of oil and coal. The towns that line the sides of the river are easy targets for cutting back the fossil fuels they use here.
The dense foliage along the river banks makes our old ground-based solar installations unworkable here, but the devs think that they figured out a solution that should be effective. Time to give it a shot.
BUILD(POWER_POLE)
I feel my bots putting together a pole that extends deep into the ground near the shoreline and stretches up above the trees. It blends into the scenery at ground level but darkens and thickens as it reaches above the treeline. The surface of the pole up above the treetops should collect heat from the sun and ambient heat from the air. The guts inside the thing uses thermoelectric generation to produce power from the heat differential between the cold deep underground and the warmer pole-top and store it in the batteries that make up the core of the pole. Simple, no moving parts, doesn’t take up a lot of space, and provides a pretty reliable source of electricity. All the people need to do is connect it to their house or anything else on the grid and they’ll cut their reliance on external power significantly. We’ll have representatives coming through here and doing demonstrations and training sessions at each nearby town over the next few days so they’ll know how to tap their new free resource.
The best part is that we can build these with locally available materials without ever leaving the boats. They build fast enough that even the Geologists with their smaller clouds can get one done in the time it takes to pass a point on the shore. So, when we don’t have anything else going on, we should just be able to pop these guys up every few meters all along the shore.
Evan sees what I’m doing, and gives me a nod. He recruits Andrea, Louise, Marc, and the Geologist girls to start building too. Everyone piles across the walkways between the cats onto the deck of our boat, bringing chairs along with them. Some locals on a small fishing boat near the shoreline who clearly haven’t heard of us look at us with confusion, pointing as they see us all sitting and staring at the shorelines while the poles grow up from the ground. Hmm, maybe we didn’t do enough local outreach. We should get the trainers in here sooner than later. I’ll talk to Alan about it.
It’s nice sitting on the shaded deck with a drink in my hand and my favorite siblings around me, letting my bots improve the world as we float on by. I’m really enjoying the break from the Chad issues. I know we’ll have to deal with them when we link back up, but for now there’s a little relief in knowing there’s nothing I can do about it until then. This is more like how I envisioned this trip going.
Marc starts telling us about the time that he and Andrea wanted a snack late at night and broke into the cafeteria kitchen. They got freaked out when the alarm went off and decided to hide inside the walk-in freezer. Fortunately, the security crew found them before they got too cold. I look and find the story already in my index, but my special brain means that it was still as funny hearing it again as it was the first time.
Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!
The weather and scenery are absolutely gorgeous here. The air has cooled a little as we’ve moved inland, and the humidity doesn’t seem so bad at all anymore. We haven’t seen any rain since that one little storm. This trip is starting to feel like a nice vacation even with the work we’re doing.
Lisa grabs her tablet and a pair of speakers from her cat and puts on some music. We’re just enjoying the sunset and the tunes when Mai comes back with dinner. The warm soup is perfect for dinner. We all sit around slurping up the rice noodles from the broth in our cups, taking turns building poles, talking, and laughing.
I really like the Geologist class girls, I’m glad we got them on the split. Jen and Becky took a while to get comfortable and start talking in front of me, but since they got going they’ve been total chatterboxes. Lisa is getting a tutorial on the musical potential of bots from Andrea as they augment the music with some additional beats and an ethereal descant. Steph, Evan, Louise, and Valerie are deep into a conversation about whether medical bots could be stored indefinitely in the bloodstream for emergency self-healing. Sounds like a cool idea. I’ve barely played with the medical bots at all. Getting more practice with those would be worthwhile if we keep having free time like this. I create a task to remind myself to get Evan and Louise to give me some medical bot training.
We go on like this for another couple of hours before it’s time to start gathering for the next filter build. We clear off the deck and build another one of our technological marvels, dropping it in the river when it’s done.
“Question for you, sister,” I say to Louise when we settle back into our chairs on the deck. “You’ve seen Chad drinking, right? I don’t think Father ever did, at least not that I ever wrote down. Was that just him? Or was he worried about mixing booze and bots?”
She takes a sip of her soda before answering.
“I think that was just him,” she says. “From what I’ve heard, he was a lifelong teetotaler. I’m not too worried about interactions with alcohol and the bots unless Chad starts getting totally sloshed, but he seems like he just has a beer or two. Should be fine if he keeps it to that level.”
I nod and build another power pole.
“I guess Chad with a couple of drinks in him isn’t all that much worse than standard Chad,” I say.
“But we probably should keep an eye on him, make sure he stays away from anything harder than beer, and that he doesn't get hammered. Even just being standard drunk is a problem when you have superpowers. Honestly, not sure why he bothers. Wouldn’t be hard to put together a brain chemistry trigger that gives you the same effect.”
“Speaking of that, you still hit the old dopamine trigger these days?”
She shakes her head. “I found other ways of coping. You?”
“Not since I decided to take that midnight swim.”
She puts a hand on my arm. “You seem like you’re doing better since then.”
“I am better. Or at least I’m trying to be. I talk to my Mom sometimes. Or write to her, in the console. Seems to help a lot. Does that make me crazy?”
“Crazy is as crazy does, right? If it’s working, and it seems to be, go with it. Your long-distance crush seems to have something to do with your improvement too, or am I reading that wrong?”
She lifts her hand and puts up another power pole.
“No, you’re right,” I tell her. “I know it’s not your typical relationship, but at the very least she gives me something to look forward to every day. Maybe more. Hopefully more.”
“I wish you all the best with it,” she says. “And if she breaks your heart, I can always put that tumor back.”
I laugh and put up another pole.