Chapter 12
Foreman stared in the mirror. It wasn't pretty. He had shaving foam all over his ten day beard. He hadn't brushed his hair in a week. His eyes and the rest of his face seemed suddenly much older than his thirty eight years. thirty eight was the new twenty eight, right? Even with the dope he wasn't sleeping too good. Without the razor touching his face, he washed off the foam. It was time to face his demon.
On his way to the communications room, he passed Monkley carrying clean laundry. He took his duties very seriously. It gave him purpose.
'Good morning, Monkley.'
'Morning, Andy.'
'I'm going to try the radio again.'
Monkley seemed to consider the implications of that. He nodded, and then hurried off to Foreman's room. Foreman had barely got seated in front of the radio, when Monkley joined him, jumping up onto the bench.
'I just want you to know, if we can't contact anyone, it isn't the end of the world. Damn. I wish I hadn't said that. No. Foreman. Focus. What I mean is, Monkley, we have to stay positive. I'll keep trying every day until we get somebody. In the meantime, we need to make sure the base is functioning as it should be. For one thing, I noticed the waterfall has slowed down. It could mean clogged filters or something. That's my priority for today. Apart from the radio, that is. Right. Here goes.' He flicked the switch. 'This is Andrew Foreman. This is Andrew Foreman. Is anybody getting this?' He looked at Monkley. 'Now. We don't need to get too concerned if we don't hear back right away. I remember in one of our training sessions, radio contact can prove iffy. What I just sent them can take anywhere between four and twenty one minutes to get there. Then, assuming we have a contact at the other end, it will take at least the same time to hear back.'
'Oooh!'
'Exactly. Now, when we got hold of Farley, it was only a few minutes delay. Assuming things haven't changed that much since then, we still have to wait a little while for the reply. In the meantime, I'll just keep going.'
'Oooh!'
'Andrew Foreman calling Earth. Andrew Foreman calling Earth. Anyone awake down there? Just to let you guys know, the base seems to be performing well. I am here with Monkley the GenMoP, and between us we will do all we can to survive and look after the place. Everything seems to be working well, but I think the waterfall filtration system is becoming clogged. I have no idea where the filters are or how to fix them, so this could be fun. If anyone has any advice, I'd be pleased to hear it.' He repeated the message another three times. Then he stopped and waited.
'Monkley. I'll stay here while you go get me a coffee. Off you go, pal.'
Monkley jumped down and ran out the room, Foreman folded his arms and stared at the radio, willing somebody, anybody, to reply. He was still waiting when Monkley returned with a coffee for him and juice for himself. An hour later, they still hadn't heard back.
'I guess that's it for now. Just remember. No reply doesn't mean the end of...It doesn't mean anything. Come on.'
The waterfall was running at about half the flow-rate it had been when he had first seen it, just two weeks before. At that rate of decline, it would be stopped completely in another two weeks. Although aesthetically designed, it was one of the most functional parts of the base. The continuous circulation of the treated water ensured stagnation didn't set in. If he couldn't fix it, he doubted if they would survive a month.
Cupping his hand, he tasted it, directly from the waterfall. It tasted good. 'Monkley. In the maintenance room, there's a P H meter. We used it the other day. Remember it?'
Monkley scurried off and returned with the meter.
'Good, Monkley.' Foreman turned it on and placed the tip of the probe in the running water. 'Six point seven. Now, I might be just a veterinarian, but I do have some scientific knowledge. Pure water is about seven. The lower the reading, the more acidic it is. Drinking water is okay between, say, six point five and about eight point five. So what we have here, is well within safe limits.'
'Ooooh!'
'Right. What does concern me, is the water flow rate. It has slowed down considerably in the last couple of weeks. This means the system is getting blocked up. Probably a filter somewhere. I have to find the filter, and either replace it, or clean it out.'
Along the wall of the base, starting from the back of the mound of the waterfall, was a pipe made of Luxotral, about the diameter of Foreman's arm. This took a sharp right angled turn behind the jungle. There was a narrow path between the jungle and the wall and Foreman followed the pipe with Monkley behind him. As expected, it continued past the marijuana crop, and took another right turn. Another few yards brought them to the water treatment unit. It was housed in a dedicated three sided structure, with the wall of the base being the fourth wall. The structure was around thirty feet high. There was a warning on the door.
'Caution. Rubberised suits must be worn during maintenance. Incoming water highly acidic.'
'Oooh!'
'We've been warned, pal.' Foreman opened the door and a light came on. On the back wall, a schematic drawing of the plant simplified things. Foreman studied it, glancing at the plan and the plant. 'Right. Inlet water comes through the wall of the base, here. It is then neutralised by adding sodium carbonate. Now, the incoming water is just to top up the reservoir. Every drop is recycled. Most of the water vapour in the air waters the trees and plants. You and I consume around fifty pints a day. At a guess, the treatment plant is topping up at around two hundred pints each day.'
'Oooh!'
See that tank there?'
'Tank.'
'That contains the sodium carbonate. Enough to run the plant when fully occupied for around three years. It has inbuilt P H monitors that control how much sodium carbonate is added to the incoming water. When the water is about seven P H, it is released into the filters to remove the organic and iron stuff. Then it goes through a final filtration unit, where chlorine is added to purify it. Finally, it goes to the main reservoir which is continuously circulating to keep it fresh, topped by treated water from this plant. I hope you are paying attention, Monkley. There'll be a test afterwards. Okay. I think we have two issues to deal with. First of all, the level of sodium carbonate needs tweaking up a bit. That will bring the end product back up to nearer the seven P H it should be.'
He studied the schematics for a moment. 'Water from the reservoir is continuously going through the system. That way, the treatment plant isn't trying to treat just the Martian water. The incoming is being diluted with the fresh stuff, giving the system a fighting chance. Now this pipe here, see, is divided into two. There are two pumps, running off solar energy panels on the roof. There are two pumps to provide backup and also so that the system can keep working, whilst repairs and maintenance are carried out. Each pump works in ten hour cycles.' He touched one pump. 'This one is working, the other one is ready to take over. Each pump has an outlet with a final filter. My guess is that one or both of these filters need either cleaning out, or replacing.'
Returning to the schematic, he studied the instructions. 'Ah!. It says here, they need to be replaced. They cannot be cleaned out.'
In one corner were two storage containers. One marked in green with the words new filter cartridges, and the other in red stating used cartridges only. Opening the container of new ones, he took out two. Taking the 'c' spanner off the wall, he took that and the new filters to the filter housings.
'I'm pretty certain water at this point is just that. Water. The rubber suits are for working on the rest of the plant. However. Just to be on the safe side...'
Hanging up on the wall were two rubber suits. He put one on.
'Does my bum look big in this?'
'Bum big, bum big.'
'Trust you to say that. Okay, pal. You step outside while I do this little job.'
Monkley stepped just outside, watching Foreman at work. Between the pumps and the filter housing were valves. On the pump that wasn't running, he turned the valve clockwise. Then using the 'c' spanner, loosened the retaining nuts either side of the filter housing. Removing the housing, he slipped the filter out. It was impossible to tell if this was the problem or not as the internals of the filter were inside its own sealed unit. The direction of flow was clearly marked with a black arrow. Foreman inserted the new filter and refitted the filter housing using the 'c' spanner. One done, one to go. On the wall was a switch to turn on and off the pumps by overriding the automatic system. He turned on the one he'd been working on and turned the backup unit off. He repeated the procedure on the second pump, turned it all over to automatic, checked for leaks, and took off the rubber suit. Finally, he adjusted the sodium carbonate input by the minimum indicated increase level. Job done.
'Come on, Monkley. Let's go take a look at the waterfall.' When they got there, he nodded, satisfied that the filter changing had served its purpose and the waterfall was running at full capacity. 'Time for a feed.'