Kristiana was trying to clear her head after watching exhibition nude wrestling matches in her honor - the mixed doubles, and some of the holds, took some getting used to. So Kristina looked at her itinerary for the next day just before turning in, just to refocus her mind.
Day 10 - Day Trip to National Service Camp and Food Security Depot - Nimitz River
7:15 - Private Breakfast
8:15 - Leave Residence
8:25 to 8:30 - Presidential Train Departs on Minnesota Fjord Line
9:35 - Arrive at National Service Camp
Tour & Lunch in Mess Hall
16:30 - Depart National Service Camp
17:20 - Arrive Food Security Depot
Tour & Dinner with Staff
20:30 - Depart Food Security Depot
20:55 - Arrive Nye Copenhagen
21:05 - Arrive at Residence
"Ah, another busy day ! Better take a nightcap before turning in."
She sorted through the variety of previously unfamiliar liqueurs and drinks of Antarctica. "Nothing here from the North". So she took one at random and poured herself a stiff shot, then another.
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She has a private breakfast with her staff. She missed her skyr - Antarctica had no dairy cows, hence no milk - and the total absence on any dairy products was beginning to bother her. Butter and cheese were luxuries from Zealand, as was some not very palatable powdered milk. But that was it for dairy.
After breakfast she opted to walk the four blocks to her train, shaking hands as she went. The rest of the Grand Convoy had arrived and that had distracted attention from her - and she welcomed that.
This was her first train ride in the promised Presidential Train. It was supposed to have an observation car. This brought images on the beautiful domed observation cars in Norge and Svei that cruised though the mountains.
She quietly gasped as she saw "her" train car. 1.1 meter gauge limited the width to 2.7 meters as well as the length of railcars. Hers had the front two meters inclosed in panes of tempered glass. The same on the rear with an almost two meter "porch" with seats at the open rear.
Like almost all Antarctic rail cars, it was self propelled and could operate alone or in trains. Each axle was driven, which allowed climbing grades of 8%, many times what locomotive pulled trains of the North could use. Another self propelled rail car was in front of hers and it seemed to be a regular EMU.
After breakfast she opted to walk the four blocks to her train, shaking hands as she went. The rest of the Grand Convoy had arrived and that had distracted attention from her - and she welcomed that.
This was her first train ride in the promised Presidential Train. It was supposed to have an observation car. This brought images on the beautiful domed observation cars in Norge and Svei that cruised though the mountains.
She quietly gasped as she saw "her" train car. 1.1 meter gauge limited the width to 2.7 meters as well as the length of railcars. Hers had the front two meters inclosed in panes of tempered glass. The same on the rear with an almost two meter "porch" with seats at the open rear.
Like almost all Antarctic rail cars, it was self propelled and could operate alone or in trains. Each axle was driven, which allowed climbing grades of 8%, many times what locomotive pulled trains of the North could use. Another self propelled rail car was in front of hers and it seemed to be a regular EMU.
Inside everything was ornate and seemed comfortable. She barely had time to find a seat before the loc pulled out for the Minnesota Fjord Line. For a couple of minutes, she looked out at the odd looking residential areas, and then another minute or so of greenhouses till the train rose on the edge of the mountains. Majestic cliffs on either side gave only glimpses of the mountains beyond. Wind turbines lined the valley floor between the cliffs. They passed through a herd of rose-grey alpacas, one of her favorite colors.
After she settled into the train, her tour guide, the Minister of National Service, began.
"Nye Copenhagen and the nearby lands are the sunniest in Antarctica, lying in the rain shadow of the Ellsworth Mountains. We get far fewer cloudy days. The mountains also shelter us from the periodic volcanic ash falls that afflicts our crops elsewhere. Thus any arable land here is valuable for food security - and we go to great efforts to expand it".
"But doesn't the Minnesota Fjord provide a pass through the Ellsworth Mountains ? I can see the wind turbines spinning here. Doesn't the ash fall follow the same path ?"
"The turbulence in the air flow drops most of the ash out near the western entrance to the fjord. The fjord, and the pass, are only 8 km wide. So very little ash gets this far into the fjord. However, the ash does flow into the Minnesota River headwaters and then downriver."
Nye Copenhagen is in the fjord of the Minnesota River and we want to limit silting in our harbor.
We have built a stair step up several of the eastern rivers as the glaciers retreated into the higher altitudes, catching the sediment from the old ice. One filtering dam after another is built and creates small flat areas of arable land as you will see on our trip up".
"I am a bit confused. I read about this, but it somehow does not make sense to me.
Don't these lands flood every early summer when the winter ice melts? And the melting glaciers of Greenland did not have enough sediment in the ice to build up any land."
Her guide replied: "The new ice is often as pure as distilled water when it melts - unless there was a recent volcanic ash fall. But the old ice has millennium of ash falls imbedded in it, plus the rock it pulverized digging these fjords. The melt water from old ice is usually grey with sediment.
It is true that the sediment settles more or less evenly behind the filtering dams - but the National Service workers will haul out sediment from the center and deposit it on the edges, above the lip of the filtering dam. Hybrid willows are planted near the center, to help stabilize the water channel. Usually edible crops are planted on the higher, drier ground. In more remote areas, we often plant a mixture of haskaps and saskatoons. In more accessible areas, usually potatoes or rye or orchards.
It is difficult to reach many of these created fields, and relatively few people live on the fjord, so we need crops that require little care.
The train approached one filtering dam, perhaps 4 meters tall, built at the first rise of the river. The rock and concrete face went from one wall of the fjord to the other, 8 kilometers, and there were large expanses of cultivated land on either side of the Minnesota River. The train passed a few dozen meters from the spillway of the hydroelectric plant with hybrid cherry trees in bud on the other side.
"This is our largest, and one of the earliest, filtering dams built - and later enlarged several times. We now have 2,240 hectares I think in these fields."
"Please tell me about the hydroelectric plant".
"There is not much water storage here, the water that comes down the Minnesota River either produces power or spills over. All the turbines are 2.84 meter diameter - the largest that we can ship by rail. So with the 6 meter head here, each turbine produces only 2.8 MW. I think there are 16 turbines here - 10 wound for 16.7 HZ and six for 50 Hz.
Why so many 16.7 Hz turbines ? Your railroads are not that busy.
Her guide laughed good naturedly. "Actually, this is most of the 50 Hz power for the capital. We use 16.7 Hz for almost everything except some small motors in tools and so forth and equipment from the North. Like the North, we use 16.7 for our electric locomotives - but 16.7 holds it's sine curve wave form better for longer distances. So we use 16.7 to drive our railroads, lighting, resistance heating and large motors - the big loads. Most powerplants produce only 16.7 Hz power."
"We have a national grid for 16.7 Hz, connected by our electrified rail lines - but each city has their own 50 Hz generation. In smaller settlements, 16.7 motors drive 50 Hz generators to create the small amounts of 50 Hz required. Although 16.7 Hz hydro-generators require more complex wiring, three times as many poles as 50 Hz."
"In the early days, we had few high voltage transformers, so we generate at 9.5 kV or so and then transmit the power at 9.5 kV, minus voltage drop, to our locomotives and large motors. Today we have a couple of higher voltage transmission lines, but many of the electrons still flow at 9.5 kV to the end user or are stepped down with a 230 V transformer".
And you said a 6 meter head - that dam does not look like it is 6 meters tall ?
"It is not. But it is built on a small rise in the valley and we dug out the channel below to create 6 meters of head - except during the summer melt peak. Some water flows all winter long, under the ice, from the storage reservoirs upstream. But not that much water, just enough to run a couple of the 50 Hz turbines,"
I have been so busy since I arrived. I read all the briefing papers on the voyage down, but that is the view from the North. Tell me about the Food Storage depot we are going to see.
"The volcanoes in Antarctica are quite active, especially since the glaciers melted. The climate here varies from year to year. Too many years we have suffered from crop failures. Perhaps few actually died of hunger, but children were stunted and horse, zubron, llama and fish are not the best diet. So we have created stockpiles for not one, but several years of failed crops - coupled with a loss of transportation.
A horse drawn rail wagon can carry food downhill from this depot and a couple of other depots to Nye Copenhagen. Other depots serve other cities and regions - but all will share as needed.
Inside the city, we store wheat and rye, both as flour and seed. Plus some salted and smoked fish, horse, mutton and zubron and canola oil. But other foodstuffs require refrigeration, and a tsunami could wreck the city storage. So we have refrigerated storage at the depot plus simply cool humidity controlled storage.
How long do you store this food ?
It depends upon the food. At minus 40 degrees, almost everything keeps for a long time. And we rotate the food by feeding our National Service workers, or for those that need food assistance.
National Service is for three summers and two winters - correct ?
Yes, Ms. President. Although they can stay a third winter if they like. About half do since much of Antarctica shuts down for the winter.
I can understand the many National Service jobs that need doing during the summer, but what do they do during the winter ?
A number of things. One winter is used for basic military training for some, education for others for one or two of the three winters. Underground excavation is mostly done during the winter - railroad tunnels, hydropower plants, food depots, underground greenhouses for fresh food during the winter. And work in setting up summer greenhouses, - it is cold but not too cold inside.
Antarctica is lagging in technology, could there be a way to use National Service to steer more young people into that area, as well as providing support services ?
The Minister looked quite taken aback "But, but, technology requires highly skilled, educated and experienced people - and National Servicers were children a year before they join. What can they possibly do ?"
She smiled gently. "The most time consuming aspect of technology revival is reading old documents. They need only gain a reading knowledge of English, German, Japanese or Chinese. Something they can get in school beforehand".
"Beyond that, many prototypes require skilled hands as much as skilled minds. And young people can be quite intelligent".
"The Technology Council has assigned two specific projects for Antarctica if you are willing to pursue them. One is reviving, and improving, zeppelins"
"What !?! What are zuplens ?"
She gently laughed. "Hydrogen and other gas filled balloons inside a rigid frame that float in the air. Early 20th Century zeppelins crossed the Atlantic Ocean with passengers before airplanes did. Antarctica could use them for transportation to remore parts of this land, and possibly to visit other nations as well."
"We think that zeppelins could be improved with all that we know now. An important and worthy project for Antarctica".
"And the other project we need for Antarctica is responding to the Alien Invitation, and to further analyze the conversations with Tau Ceti. The star that the invitation came from is high in your sky - direct radio contact is possible from here. And their answers might be timed and focused so that only we hear them. It is, we think, technically possible for the Union to have a private conversation with the 38 Alien civilizations - but only from an Antarctic base."
"This is ... I don't know what to say !"
Think about it - and discuss it with others. There is more to the future of Antarctica, and humanity, than you plan for today".
The conversation turned to the spur rail line heading up to the Food Storage Depot as they passed it by. And then a few minutes later they took the branch line heading up the Nimitz River.
The cliffs around the Nimitz fjord were not as tall, and there were more random boulders scatted around the landscape. They passed a 3 meter or so dam and the river suddenly shrank in volume. She asked about that and was told much of the water upstream had been diverted into a tunnel that ran underground to the dam they just passed. In this way they could get 44 meters of head, powering one of the larger hydroelectric plants in Antarctica.
There were almost no wind turbines in the valley of the Nimitz Fjord. The land was less cultivated, although there were many nut bearing Stone Pines - hybrids of the Swiss and Siberian Stone pines and Chilgoza Pine. She was told that the pines took 45 to 80 years after planting before they started bearing pine nuts. But so many had been planted that they supplied over 3% of the calories, and a higher percentage of the dietary fat and protein, in the Antarctic diet.
The train pulled into the siding for the National Service Camp. Mainly wooden buildings with a few stout stone one story buildings half dug into the hillside. A fenced pasture on one end of the camp for Icelandic horses, and another for llamas on the other end. Fairly obviously a summer occupancy settlement. Several hundred bright and eager young faces waited for her under a variety of signs. She stepped onto the station platform and was handed a loaf of warm bread and salt.
She thanked them, in her best Danish (still did not have the Antarctic accent). She talked loudly to reach everyone in the stiff breeze. She mentioned the heroism of the early Antarctic settlers, and the work they were doing today that would benefit many generations in the future. And the bonds formed in National Service - and the bonds between North and South in the Union.
It all went well enough. They then took her down to the Nimitz River, behind the filtering dam, where she saw horses drag up sediment behind the filtering dam. Then between a small electric conveyor belt and young muscles the muck was taken 700 or 800 meters inland, loaded on more horse drawn wagons and spread across the ground in fallow fields, then seeded with grass and lupine seeds. She then rose a pony up to fjord cliffs, where short rock walls were built on the slopes and then filled with slash (tree branches & bark from the charcoal factories) for a meter or two behind the rock walls.. The idea was that the slash and walls would catch silt and runoff, including some ash fall, behind the rock wall. The slash would decay and provide humus for first grass and then bushes and trees.
She thought "So much work for such small strips of fertile ground. But this helps build the nation."
By then it was time for a late lunch. Another speech and a surprisingly good meal. Although hunger is an excellent spice - and she was hungry. After lunch, she toured the tree nursery, several orchards, berry patches and potato & canola fields. Then it was time to leave - another short speech of thanks and then off to the Strategic Food Storage Depot. She wished now that she had been scheduled to spend the whole day with those enthusiastic young people.
Oh well.
Less than an hour later she was at the Depot. A much smaller and somewhat older crowd awaited her there. And here was a small permanent settlement around what had once been a mine, since much enlarged. She forced a smile and went out to get a small bouquet of blue lupines and other flowers.
A few remarks and then a quick tour of the freezers and cold storage. Then dinner. She was informed that the food was being rotated out of storage. The butter was 40 years (this killed her appetite) and she forgot the rest.
The most interesting part of the tour was after dinner, when she saw the emergency rail cars to get food to Nye Copenhagen, even if a disaster cut power. Built of titanium and aluminum, these rail cars were designed to be drawn by horses (four or six horse teams) with a path on either side of the railroad back, almost all downhill, to Nye Copenhagen. The harness had a large gap in the center to straddle the tracks,
"A six horse team can make two round trips in 16 hours with ten tonnes of food on each trip" the Depot manager boasted. "And these carts are designed to be hauled by people. In tests, ten young men back two trips down and one back in 12 hours, with 8 tonnes of food".
She opened up the liquor cabinet on the way back.
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