Trouble on the Red Planet; Aumrill
The Thaw

Later the associated crews had gathered in the large lounge where Donna stood at a podium and announced the upcoming events

“When the Jonathon Swift arrives,” she began, “there will be tour groups assigned to the different dignitary groups visiting our facility.”

While she spoke the holostage lit up behind her projecting an image of an area in the Biocontainment field. She turned to the side and pointed at the images on the stage and continued. “Now, as you’ll notice, the fog has lifted and has formed a continuous cloud in the top of the dome and at the top is a digital display of the current temperature reading, which is forty-seven and rising.” She paused for a roar of applause. “Thank you,” she said, “you certainly have a reason to be excited since it was your hard work and dedication that brought about this early success in the project. Now, without further delay I’m going to have Wanjiku Kimani our Biosystems engineer come up . . .” She was interrupted by a roar of applause and cheers. “Okay, so most of us know her. Jiku, could you come up here and give us the more technical aspects of where we are with the project?”

The crowd erupted with cheers, whistles, and applause.

Jiku raised her hands and said, “Come on, give my ears break. You act as though the queen has arrived.”

“Whoo-hoo,” someone said loudly.

“Now, that’s quite enough,” Jiku said, “now let me get started.” The crowd settled and Jiku continued. She turned toward the stage with a remote control device. “Now, I’m going to switch the cameras to focus on the ice dome itself.” She clicked the remote a number of times and the overall image finally switched over to the ice dome. The ice had take taken on a glossy appearance and large chunks had fallen off. “Now even at this distance we can see that the ice dome has already been affected. Now, I will zoom in and get a closer look.”

At the new zoom setting it was easy to see the drops of water coming down from the top of the dome and running down its walls. There was a sound of rushing water and what resembled rain was forming pools around the fallen chunks. At that moment there was a sound of thunder and a loud crash as another chuck broke-off and hit the ground. And the crowd cheered again. “Now that was a reason to cheer,” Wanjiku said excitedly. “This is what we are striving for and if you will notice the temperature has risen to fifty-two degrees.” At that moment another chunk fell and broke into three pieces. “Later on, after the meeting we will walk around in the containment field wearing our normal attire but, as you can see, it is advisable to remain clear of the ice dome until it is done disintegrating, besides the air around that area is still at thirty-four degrees.” Jiku then clicked the ’remote’ a few more times.

The camera angle had switched around the uppermost part of the inside of the pressure dome. “Does everyone see the cylindrical devises attached to the dome casing?” Jiku inquired. “Some of you may have guessed that these are the pressure release valves that regulate the atmospheric pressure inside the dome. Now that we have successfully caused the ice dome to melt the humidity and condensation inside the pressure dome will have increased and the release valves will engage more often. This won’t be noticed so much inside the dome but outside the released pressure will be more intense. The maintenance crews that service them should be aware of this,” she continued to explain. “Before I leave you to your own devices, I would like remind everyone that our work is not yet finished. We must remember this day and look forward to the wave of the future.” Jiku left the podium in a roar of applause. Donna concluded the meeting by announcing that everyone was off duty and that the Biocontainment Field was open to anyone who wanted roam around, keeping in mind the few restrictions.