by D.J. Sylvis
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Base operations are stable. Power is keeping up with the additional needs, water supplies are steady again. Food stores and miscellaneous supplies are sufficient for the remaining schedule. Helium-3 is at 62%, which we’re aware is below projected levels. There have been … problems.
Personnel have been reallocated as per my previous broadcast. Ashwini and myself have been clearing the backlog in processing and storage; Wilder has continued to expand and supervise the mining … the mechanical aspects. Michell has acted in what has mostly been an … observational capacity.
Nessa … Nessa is … Agriculturalist Nessa Cheong is … no longer an active part of the crew. This is due to an accidental – due to the failure of …
Water supply and distribution falls within the heading of Agriculture and Environmental Services; Nessa was always a backup supervisor for the ice mining operations. As such, they were assigned to complete the decommissioning of those operations, so the equipment could be applied to increased HE-3 mining efforts.
At 10:13 yesterday morning … Nessa and Wilder were clearing out the chamber with our tunnel boring machine, to allow them to turn around equipment more quickly. Nessa had left the control pod to check a mark they’d placed, when the wall beside them cracked and … half the chamber caved in. The debris was … by the time they were pulled out – Michell assisted, they had been observing, nearby – but by the time they were clear, Nessa was …
Everyone was working under appropriate safety protocols. Nessa memorized them before joining the duty roster – they quoted them to the rest of us constantly during changeover. It was completely accidental. It also appears to be unrelated to the quakes we’d experienced recently.
I don’t see any benefit in blaming Wilder. Their cybernetics are the only reason they survived.
Nessa will be … sent down on the next scheduled supply rocket. Please inform their partners and children. A memorial will be planned here for next week, if you would like to have anything read.
I don’t think it’s right what’s been done with them; I was outvoted. Instead of using Nessa’s allocated stasis pod, the … remains have been stored outside the station. I think they hoped out of sight would mean out of mind. However, when you pull up external monitors, you can see just the corner of the … the body bag. The way it sways … it’s hard to stop looking.
I’m told that mining activities will resume tomorrow morning. Supplies should exceed 80% in time for transport.
One final note – Ashwini has predicted an increase in solar flare activity over the next two weeks. This may affect scheduled broadcast times; please refer to the attached report for alternatives.
Personal message to follow, to be directed to family and friends of Agriculturalist … you know who to send this to. I … don’t have words, really. Your loss is our loss. They are … it was … we wouldn’t have any of this without them. I promise, we’ll see them safely home.
Second personal message – Alexandre, love and thoughts to you. I’ll explain next time.
Moonbase Theta, out.
(The episode ends.)
D.J. SYLVIS
Thank you for listening to Moonbase Theta, Out! Leeman Kessler is Roger Bragado-Fischer; the episode was written, edited and produced by D.J. Sylvis.
Theme music is “Star” by the band Ramp – check them out at ramp dash music dot net. Additional credits are in the show notes, and additional show information is on monkeyman productions dot com. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter – we use Twitter a lot – and if you want to be one of the super-moon-heroes who help us make the show possible, support us at Patreon dot com slash monkeymanproductions! We give our backers a lot of extras and
behind-the-scenes info, even special minisodes! And you always have our grateful thanks for listening, sharing the show with friends, joining our Discord to chat with us … all the ways you’re a part of our Mooniverse community. Take care, and we’ll be back soon!
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