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ARKON CH-04 Thrill of a Drill

The following message appeared on All Hands wall screens and commo pods on a Sunday.

One of the things people living on a ship learn to do is help each other. We're all in the same boat, so to speak. So when we have an emergency that requires all hands to help we will sound three loud klaxons or gongs, followed by a statement: 

Now all hands man your pirate stations and standby to repel boarders. This is a drill (or not). Do not cycle the railgun or load ammunition into the anti-aircraft weapons. Break out the small arms for your station and standby. 

When going to your general quarters station you will proceed up and forward on the starboard and down and aft on the port side of your module. In this case forward will be towards the center and aft will be towards the outside periphery. This should prevent collisions and congestion. You should move quickly but do not run.

Secure All Watertight Hatches.

There will be two people assigned to each water tight hatch whose job is to close it when it looks like all Personnel are on station. This will prevent damage from one compartment allowing seawater into another compartment and sinking our ship.

 or

The emergency could be:


All hands man your pirate stations and standby for firefighting.

There will be four special teams that have training in firefighting on board a ship. Most crew will just stay out of the way topside. If you have to go down a smoke-filled passageway and see no flames ahead, you should get down on your hands and knees and breathe the air near the deck, it should be much cleaner. Also try to breathe through your nose. If it feels stuffy, pinch your nose and blow out the soot.

Your individual GQ station will be sent to your wall screen and commo pod in the next 2 hours. Take some time during your off work hours before this Thursday and find your station. If you have time practice how you will get there from work or your cabin. Thursday morning between 0800 and 1100 there will be a drill. There will be monitors with orange armbands to answer questions or point you in the right direction. This exercise will be timed so we can see how we improve for the next one.

"Oh my God," said Tango, "this is not downtown Smallville." "You're on the Arkon now, you're not behind a plow," said Logan, "Let's call Jack and Bonnie and have a meeting on the fantail tonight." Just then their commo pods beeped with an incoming call from Jack and Bonnie.

"So, where's your station?" asked Jack. "I've got a hatch to close on deck 4," said Tango, "Not far from work." "And I'm one of five roveing snipers on the fantail," said Logan, "How about you guys?" "I'm on a corner Rifleman team overlooking the starboard protected Anchorage," said Bonnie. "And I'm on a corner Rifleman team overlooking the port protected Anchorage," said Jack.

"This is what the question on the application regarding, 'Would you shoot someone attacking you?' was all about," said Logan, "Those checking 'NO', are still on the beach waiting for an invitation, heh. "I thought so," said Jack, "That's the way the Jungle Rumbles."


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       NB- I will post Sat (Sun) 8 am EST

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ARKON CH-03 Routine & Rumor

With no free beer and pizza on this cold Saturday night in December, Logan and Tango wandered about the fantail food court and picked up some spicy Mexican food and joined their friends Jack and Bonnie at their table.

"Wow!" exclaimed Bonnie upon sighting Tango's maternity blouse, "Congratulations." "Well, I still have another 6 months." said Tango, "We filed an application with the Personnel Department 4 months ago and they checked our genetic records and said we should be okay. "Also we filed an application for the next vacant cabin one deck higher and 6 by 3 meters,"  said Logan, "since we're going to need more room for the baby crib." "Bonnie and I discussed babies last year," said Jack, "and we decided to adopt a three-year-old from the Arkon nursery."

"I saw on a news clip where the floating city of Babylon arrived on station early 4 weeks ago," said Logan, "and the video tour showed much higher superstructure than ours and the interior looked more like a cruise ship with a lot of casinos." "I saw that too," said Jack, "it looks like it's 1000 km southwest of Monterey Bay." "Well, we do have two malls and two casinos." said Tango, "That's not chopped liver!" "That news clip reminded me of something else," said Logan, "We don't get much news from the interior of America anymore, just the east and west coast occasionally." "You're right." said Jeff, "I was talking to some Honduran crew members who moved to Manila in 2021 and they said drug gang warlords from Mexico had already taken over southern New Mexico and Arizona."

"A friend of mine got an encrypted email from her brother in Vladivostok," said Tango, "He wrote that with all the Chinese shipyards busy the Russians are building a small Fleet of eight steel hull clipper ships to make a cargo loop from Vladivostok to Vancouver, San Fran, LA- Dago, and back to Manila, Japan, China, Korea, then up to Vostok. With eight ships, one should come into Port about every two weeks. He is going to join as a navigator." "Besides the profit potential," said Bonnie, "every Seaport will have some rumors and intelligence from the interior." "I'm sure the captains will talk to each other and after a few loops they will pick some local to be their agent in each Seaport," said Logan, "Maybe some bed and breakfast inn on a main road coming into the seaport from the interior." "I think they might even swing by here if we had one or two 20-foot containers of product," said Jack.

"Aha!" exclaimed Jack, "that might explain something we overheard at an informal reception to the new climatologist and his wife, a marine biologist. They said the Chinese government, which buys alot of our climate and ocean data, was sponsoring a new climate research vessel called the Arkon Star. It wouldn't be as long as some of our modules but it would be wide enough to be stable in a big storm. The plan was to cruise up and down the east coast of North America from the Arctic to Nicaragua in Central America. Besides ocean current velocity and temperature they would observe sea ice conditions and offshore marine ecosystems. I wouldn't be surprised if they also had an agent on an incoming main road to some seaports." "So depending on the season," said Bonnie, "they might swing by here and Shangri-La on their way back to the Gulf of Alaska."

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 ARKON     CH-02        Setting Up

With calm weather forecast for the next week, the joining process began. Module A was designated North, B through F arranged clockwise from there. With teams working around the clock, they finished in five days. Of course they had a big saturday night beer and pizza party to celebrate.

All the openings where the modules were joined were standard 3 by 10 meters. You could imagine them forming a Ring Road about the center of town. The first one on the second deck was about 75 meters from the center. The next connection on the third deck was about 150 meters from the center. The third connection was on the fourth deck about 100 meters from the center.

At the party Saturday night Jack was looking out over the fantail at the Agro- Sembly barge still lit up in the early evening and said, "I heard we got an assembly contract from Beretta to do three shifts work for a year assembling their new 9mm pistol." " I read on a news channel where we have a joint venture also," said Tango, "we're developing a new 7mm compact pistol." "I'm happy with my 5 watt laser pistol," said Logan, "very low recoil, heh." "I'm satisfied to carry my 30 cm wood blade for protection," said Bonnie, "what do you prefer for personal protection Tango?" "When we go out drinking or shopping, I like my little strap on wrist zapper," replied Tango, "How about you Jack?" "I have a low recoil 7 watt laser pistol," replied Jack.

"Now that we're joined together in one big happy City I hear the Council of Elders will hold their first formal meeting," said Logan, "they're going to choose their public spokesperson." "Why is that?" asked Bonnie, "couldn't the Admiral keep running things?" "It's kind of like the American Indian structure," said Jack,  "the Admiral is like the War- Chief and makes decisions about defense and maneuvering the vessel. the Council of Elders is like the Peace- Chief and proposes laws and decisions regarding civil activities. Having a spokesperson as interface to the public is always a good idea to act as a lightning rod for controversial decisions." "They only get paid for 3 hours a day," said Bonnie, "what do they actually do?" "I read where they wander around and keep an eye on things and listen for public comments and propose legislation for problems they see or anticipate," said Tango, "also don't forget all of our legislation gets voted on by ships company and has a sunset time of 1 to 5 years, depending on whether it passed with 55 to 95%." "I can't complain," said Logan, "we only have 15 laws right now. Remember, we are a minarky, minimum government. That is why we have lots of ad hoc volunteer committees that come and go with different projects. And if 1000 citizens sign a petition they can get a law proposed as a referendum."

The next Saturday night was also an all hands party. "So what are we celebrating tonight?," asked Tango. "Well, I understand it's two things this time," replied Jack, "number one, the ship fitters assembled the 600m raised landing strip for STOL aircraft, and number two, we deployed the solar powered desalination plants at every Agro- Sembly barge." "I read where those are unique," said Logan, "they employ an air pump to reduce the pressure over the water and double or triple the evaporation rate." "I rode in an STOL once," said Bonnie, "they are a little bit rough but they only need a clear patch of dirt, maybe 300M, to take off and land. Typically they can carry 6 passengers plus camping equipment and have a range of two or three thousand kilometers."

"During my free time this last week I've been exploring," said Tango, "One of the things I noticed was so many of the crew are light to dark tan and not very tall or bulky. A lot of the scientific staff seem to be at least two meters but they also have nice tans. The other thing I found out is the Tinker town next door is mostly for electronic projects whereas ours is mostly mechanical. I am guessing the third one is maybe a mix of electro-mechanical like robots maybe." "There are several advantages to having a small size crew," said Jack, "even on a spaceship. They can still get the job done and not eat as much, heh. Being stationed on the equator means the sun is really strong and a tan is going to give protection from skin cancer. There are even melanotan injections for normally white skinned people to give them 6 months protection at a time." "I'm glad to hear about the electronic tinkertown," said Bonnie, "I have a little project in mind." "What is that?" asked Jack. "None of your business until I have a prototype," said Bonnie.

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  ARKON   CH-01 Getting on Station

All six modules of ARKON-1 launched on New Year's Day to great fanfare. After 3 weeks of sea trials they hooked up with their Agro- Sembly barges and headed out for their rendezvous station (15 N, 175W), cruising at 7 kph, twice as fast as most ocean currents. February and March being the minimum storm period. When on station they will be carefully bolted and welded together into a large hexagonal floating island, 1000 m across, with protected slot anchorage for cargo and guest boats.

Just as they were finishing their second glass of red wine in their cabin, after dinner in the cafeteria, Logan and Tango were surprised by the blinking of their wall screen and their commo pods laying on the counter. 'Now all hands hear this. In celebration of our passing sea trials there will be a Beer and Pizza Party on the fantail this Saturday night. All hands not on watch or work welcome.' "Wow!" said Tango, "Captain Jensen gets high marks for social awareness." "It is certainly good for morale," said Logan, "Now how about some serious pounding?" "I'm up for that, and it looks like you are too," she giggled.

Their cabin, at 4 by 3 meters, was a little bit compact but they had been living in the same size room on shore at the training compound. Plus the soft requirement that applicants be 1.4 to 1.7 meters height made the 2 meter ceiling height tolerable. It came with a counter and a small sink with a 1.5 cubic foot refrigerator underneath and a hot pot on top. There were two shelves above the counter. On the opposite wall was a bed large enough for two friends with cabinets and drawers underneath. It was not luxurious but allowed them to save money for a baby in the next year. There was no one under the legal age of 16 in the initial crew. There was a park and sporting activities like a jogging track, tennis, indoor shooting range, and gyms to give them an outlet when they needed to unwind from the close space.

At work the next day Logan asked his buddy Jack, "What do you think about the fantail party Saturday night? Are you going?" They were both in the Lectra Powa guild and were stringing some cables for a new bioreactor project. The output of the three new bioreactors would be blended to produce snack bars that are nutritionally balanced and provide 500 calories each. "Yeah, Bonnie and I are going," replied Jack, "She was surprised Captain Jensen was relaxing a little bit. He was always such a stickler for rules and regulations. I told her it must have been his wife's idea. Bonnie is on the noon to 18.00 shift this month so we will probably drop by around 20.00. Why don't you look us up there?" "That sounds like a good idea," said Logan, "Tango and I have the same shift this month and get off at 12.00."

Work schedules on Arkon were arranged in 6 hour shifts from 6 to 12 day shift, noon to 6 afternoon shift, and six to midnight evening shift. There was a seldom scheduled graveyard shift from Midnight to 6 a.m. Sometimes they would change, say from days to evening, on a monthly basis depending on work requirements.

At the party Saturday night Bonnie said, "One of my friends in Lektra Sigs said the idea for the celebration came from  Commodore Kaiser's wife. His designated Flagship is Arkon-A which is leading the flotilla.... I'm glad we're in module D. It's never good to be too close to command central, heh."

"A lady I know working in Hospitality said one of her customers bought shares in a new LA- Dago real estate venture," said Tango, "She said it was going to be a floating crime-free island just off the coast. Open for business this December, called Babylon." "Well, the design is open source," said Logan, "I wonder if they will give us competition?" "I don't think so," said Jack, "it is a big ocean. I wonder if that is related to an email I got from a friend in Hong Kong. He said some Asian 'Garks and Geeks had a new real estate concept to sell shares in. A high-tech luxury condo Island 2000 km Southeast from Japan. It was to be called Shangri-La, ready for business in February next year."

After 65 days of uneventful cruising the Arkon flotilla arrived on station, about 2000 km southwest of Hawaii. This was not by accident because their route had been planned to take them north of the typical typhoon storm tracks. In 2020 the global temperature was about 14 deg C and now it was down to 13.5 due to the quiet sun. This made the equatorial-  polar temperature gradient much bigger creating more powerful storms.

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