The next “work cycle” started only 4 hours after crashing out. The interesting thing is that I had no issues waking up or feeling full of energy. As a professional gamer my normal sleep rhythm was something that most people would label as messed up, considering that I would get irregular four to six hours of sleep once every 24 to 36 hours. And that was okay. Although I have to admit that there were definitely times when I struggled to wake up and get going. So me basically jumping out of bed to get back to mining was surprising, especially given the lack of caffeinated beverages.

Instead I had another amazing ration bar and a cup of water and then I stepped out of Rustbucket and made my way to Ralgau’s where I found the big Sorren already suited up and ready to go. I guess the energy was high all around.

Without much conversation we got started on my shelter. Or rather the one that was supposed to be Ralgau’s but would be mine now that he was already in one. No point moving around. About one hour into the process our co-miners crawled out of their spaces.

“Hey Malcolm, Ralgau,” Mrk’s voice came over the vac suit com while he waved over to us.

“Morning all,” I greeted them.

“What’s the plan for this cycle?”

“I would suggest that you guys get started on the container platform and then set the processor up. We have quite a bit of material that needs to go in there and I assume when Ralgau and me are done and the platform is mined in, we will be sitting on roughly 70 or 80 cubic meters.”

“Yes, I think about that as well,” Mrk responded. Did I hear some kind of surprise in his voice? Yeah, I can do math. I prefer to let the computer do it but estimating is something I am pretty decent at. Especially given that I had literally nothing to do but drill holes. So I kept my mind occupied by doing random math or playing games with myself.

I checked the time in my hud. “I believe the containers should arrive in about three standard hours and we should be done here in more or less the same time. Then I would like to get Ralgau and Brelic and set the turrets up.”

“Okay, sounds good to me. Then Krn and I will set the processor up and start feeding with what we have already. And then we can see where we are at.”

“Perfect!”

“Glück Auf!”

I turned to him with my brow furrowed. Which he could obviously not see as my faceplate was not transparent.

“What was that?”

“Traditional Miner’s greeting. Means something along the lines of ‘Have fortune opening up’. Don’t ask me where it comes from. It has been used since forever.”

I shrugged. “In that case Gluckouff to you too.” Yeah, I know. But I heard this one time and I had literally no idea how the hell to pronounce this. Guess I had to look that up at some point. Not now though. Instead I turned back to my work and drilled more holes.

Three hours later we got the com call for the containers and we interrupted our work to help out getting them all squared away. And half an hour later we were also done setting up my shelter. Asteroid Mining was up to 13 and I had a feeling that I would not see level 20 anytime soon, considering that the first shelter had me up from 0 to 11 and the second one only 2 more points.

After a quick trip to Rustbucket for food and drink I opened a com channel: “Hey Brelic, you want to set up the toys?”

“Yes! Let’s put them up. I think we will all feel better when they are running.”

I met Ralgau and Brelic at the processor, which Ygglog was already feeding with the rock we had broken down so far. Mrk and Krn were extending the platform where we planned to stack the full containers that would then be picked up once a week. These guys were like machines.

I had used the time I ate in Rustbucket to get some more complex math done. We would get 1.1 units of Endrite per cubic decimeter. Which translated to 1100 units per cubic meter. We had something like 80 m3 of material lying around already. Which meant roughly 88000 units of Endrite. That was crazy. Yes, we were six people working here but thinking back to how long it took me to fulfill my mining contracts, I was really wondering why not more people went with the claim.

In the end of the week we would have to deliver 7k units to LoGov for the claim. That left 81k units for sale. We had decided to go with the normal LoGov offering because that way we would not have to have a broker and it was all around more convenient. Mrk was planning to get a refinery set up so he could really get to making money but I didn’t even look that far. After only 12 hours we were sitting on a solid 32.4k ICU. And that was from setting up. And only the guaranteed 11% I had surveyed before. Nothing about any other minerals we would get out of that. I was honestly flabbergasted.

“Okay, you guys know more about setting these beauties up. What do you think?”

“Overlapping fields of fire of at least one kilometer and covering the shelters, processor and storage area. It would be good to get the mining area covered as well but that might spread the field of coverage too thin.”

Ralgau nodded to Brelics comment. “Yep, not much more to add to that.”

“Is there any way to use the turrets as both a deterrent and surprise?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, think of it this way: We have one turret very visible, showing anybody that we aren’t defenseless. But the other two are somehow hidden and if somebody gets too close they get their asses fried.”

Ralgau guffawed at that while Brelic made a head scratch gesture. I think he really wanted to scratch his head but the vac suit was in the way.

“You have a devious mind my friend.” Ralgau said and then continued chuckling.

“Hmm… while that would be possible, it would definitely cut down on the protection we can get out of the turrets,” Brelic gave his input. “If we get some Pyzite out of the processor, we could stack it around the turrets which would make them hard to detect on a scanner as the ore would probably override it. However, it would also mess with the turret’s targeting ability. Plus we would have to place one directly between shelters and processor because otherwise anybody with half a brain knows that the placement makes no sense. And that leaves us with less area that is covered doubly or triply.”

“What’s your vote?” I wanted to know.

“While I love your idea, I think a triangle spread with 1k overlap is safer.” Brelic responded.

“Yeah, I think the same. Let’s be honest about having cover and be safer.” Ralgau nodded.

“Okay, send the setup points to my hud.”

Shortly after that faceplate was overlaid with three points and then the firing arcs. “The turrets you got are effective up to five kilometer. I think this triangle would be the ideal setup.”

I checked the overlay and indeed, the turrets would be spread out in a nearly even triangle. They would all cover each other one kilometer outward. Which meant they would also all cover the area we operated in from all sides.

“Okay, let’s set the first up all together.”

“No need. I have set them up before and know the drill.” Ralgau put in.

“Okay, then grab one and Brelic and I will set up the others. After that I am crashing out. But I want to know how these things are set up.”

With that Ralgau headed off with one packed up turret and Brelic and I headed out with the other two. To be honest, the setup process was much simpler than I had assumed. The turret base was a tripod that bolted itself into the rock. After that they were connected wirelessly to a central unit with a random rotating frequency making sure they all were in sync. They also came with their own sensors that provided heat, radar, lidar and what not other sensors that would pick up anything that wasn’t flagged as friendly in the system. Which right now were 6 people and one Rustbucket.

I also set up a com frequency warning approaching craft that there were automated defenses in place and that they needed to get in touch with us before approaching. Then a quick chat with everybody where we discussed shift rotation and work schedules. In the end we decided to run with four hours on and eight hours off with two people per shift. Mrk and Krn were one shift, Brelic and Ygglog the other and I would work with Ralgau.

By the end of that meeting I stifled a yawn, waved to the rest and made my way to my shelter where I crashed out.