WebNovelEnol69.00%

69

The first few days of the colony pass with much the same routine as you had while traveling through space. But instead of planning and training, you are overseeing the construction of the quarters.

The first rooms will be dug out of the ice shelf beyond the antechamber which is now fully insulated. The ice on Europa is unlike Earth ice: as a result of radiation from Jupiter, it's highly amorphous. Structurally it's more like glass: the H2O molecules are randomly organized instead of forming expected patterns. All this means that when large quantities of it are melted and refrozen, the fresh ice compacts into a smaller space than it occupied before. This means that the ice can be tunneled from within. The process still generates more water than you need, so the first order of business is to drill a narrow shaft to the surface to pipe out the excess.

Your decision to prioritize building the quarters has drawn support from all the colonists, most especially the support workers who are keen to live a comfortable life in Europa's ice crust.

Next