After hearing that the geothermal energy project had been progressing smoothly, Calista decided to go take a look for herself.
At Calista's signal, the vehicle eventually stopped at the edge of a relatively open hollow in the mountains.
Beyond that point, vehicles could go no farther. Only a muddy trail, worn down by footsteps and transport carts, wound deeper into the forest.
Calista got out and walked several hundred meters along the trail. After rounding a dense stand of hemlock trees, the view suddenly opened up before her.
The engineering team had cleared a flat stretch of hillside. Near the rock face stood their living quarters and main work shed, made up of several tents and simple prefab cabins.
Not far away, steam drifted upward from a square treatment pool built from concrete and stone. Milky-white hot spring water with a faint sulfur smell bubbled steadily into it, sending clouds of steam into the mountain air.
Heavy valves and filtration equipment had been installed around the pool, but that was only part of it.
Two thick pipelines, already laid and wrapped in heavy insulation, extended from the treatment pool. Following the contours of the hillside, they climbed toward Rock Fortress and Blackberry Ranch.
There were far more people at the site than Calista had expected. At a glance, at least fifty or sixty people were hard at work.
Elena was crouched beside an open toolbox, comparing several blueprints against data displayed on a tablet.
Every so often, she looked up at Ming, who was adjusting a pressure gauge nearby.
"Ming, recalibrate the pressure upstream of valve B2. Make sure it stays within the stabilization range."
Not far away, Benjamin and Aleksei were gathered around a device covered in pipes and gauges. It looked roughly hand-built, with a small turbine rotor at its core.
"The temperature difference still isn't stable enough. Aleksei, check the flow sensor readings at the heat exchanger inlet. See if they're fluctuating."
Anna moved between the monitoring points with a stack of log sheets in her arms, recording temperature and pressure readings from different sections of the pipeline and occasionally reporting to someone in the work shed over the radio.
Farther along the pipeline, Kevin and Ben were working beside a newly welded joint. One used a thickness gauge to inspect the pipe, while the other tested the integrity of the anti-corrosion coating with a potentiometer.
Knox, the oldest member of the team, sat on a folding stool and carefully inspected a shipment of new valves that had just been hauled up from the foot of the mountain.
He measured them with a vernier caliper, occasionally marking them with chalk. A small notebook beside him listed the models and usable quantities.
Beyond this core group of fewer than ten people, the much larger pipeline construction crew was working at full speed.
Dozens of workers had clearly divided responsibilities.
Most were farther along the route, digging pipeline trenches with hand tools and small excavators.
Another group was welding pipe sections. Bright arcs flashed repeatedly, throwing off bursts of crackling sparks.
A separate crew handled transport. Working in pairs or groups of four, they carried heavy insulated pipe sections and welding supplies along the rough mountain trail to their assigned positions.
The whole site was noisy and hectic, but it carried a powerful sense of momentum.
Elena was the first to notice Calista coming down the slope.
She immediately set aside the blueprints, wiped her hands on her work clothes, and hurried over.
"Calista! What brings you all the way up here?"
"Elena, I came to see how far you've gotten." Calista smiled, looking over the steaming treatment pool and the pipelines stretching into the distance. "Looks like you've been busy."
"Busy doesn't begin to cover it!" Elena led Calista toward the treatment pool. "The main well has gone extremely smoothly. The water temperature is holding steady at seventy-two degrees Celsius, and the flow rate has reached our target.
"After initial settling and filtration, we've removed the impurities and most of the sulfides. It can already be used directly for heating. With more thorough treatment, some of it could even be considered for limited domestic use."
Elena paused before adding, "Uh, things like washing tools. I definitely wouldn't recommend drinking it, because... well, there used to be quite a few walkers soaking in here. The smell alone is enough to put you off."
Then she pointed toward the two pipelines.
"Our Phase One target is five kilometers, with an elevation difference of almost a hundred and fifty meters to overcome.
"We've already laid two kilometers of the main pipeline, and the hardest section, where we had to cut through the mountain, is finished!"
Elena pointed toward a distant slope where the pipeline passed through a section carved into the rock.
"Look, Calista. We've installed twelve temperature and pressure monitoring points along the route. So far, every reading is normal, and heat loss is still within design limits."
Benjamin came over at that point.
He pushed his glasses back up from where they had slipped down his nose and spoke excitedly.
"Commander, I've been working on a way to make this generate some electricity while we're at it."
He pointed toward the humming machine.
"By using the temperature difference between the hot spring water and cold mountain-stream water, we can drive this modified engine and the small turbine. In theory, it should produce some power. Aleksei is helping me improve the thermal-cycle efficiency."
Aleksei gave Calista a slightly bashful glance and greeted her, but said little else.
Knox stood up with his notebook in hand and came over.
"Commander, I've run into a small problem.
"We're getting tight on valves and fittings, especially high-temperature, high-pressure bellows and certain sizes of ball valves.
"The base warehouse says the transfer will take some time, but our schedule can't wait. Some of the tests require very specific models."
Calista listened carefully before nodding.
"The valves and expansion joints Knox mentioned, along with the insulation materials you urgently need, will be moved to the top of the procurement list as soon as I get back. I'll have them sent up here as quickly as possible.
"We can't let the project stall over something like this."
She turned back to Elena and Benjamin with an approving smile.
"You're moving faster than I expected. Once we have a stable heat source, the greenhouses at Blackberry Ranch will be able to maintain much higher output through the winter. That's a strategic-level advantage."
Elena and Benjamin, along with Anna, Ming, and the others who had gathered nearby, visibly brightened.
The Commander's approval, backed by real material support, was the best reward they could ask for after working day and night.
Calista then looked toward the workers laying the pipeline.
"Make sure the engineering team's food and basic supplies keep pace with the workload, especially safety equipment. There are still a few walkers scattered around these mountains."
"Don't worry, Commander!" a burly man who appeared to be one of the engineering crew's foremen called back, wiping the sweat from his forehead. "Everyone's fired up! The Defense Force has already swept through the surroundings for walkers over the past few days!"
Good-natured laughter spread across the construction site, and Calista smiled as well.
She stayed for roughly another hour, asking in detail about technical matters and the problems they were facing.
Only then did she turn and head back down the mountain, with Elena and the others watching her leave.
Once she was back in the off-road vehicle, Calista leaned against the seat and closed her eyes.
Even then, the image of those two silver pipelines remained vivid in her mind.
The geothermal engineering project would take several more months.
According to Elena and Benjamin's plan, it would probably not be fully completed until shortly before winter arrived.
For now, it was also Rock Fortress's most urgent specialized project, with manpower and resources being heavily prioritized for it.
But whenever Calista thought about restoring heating before this winter, she felt that every bit of effort would be worth it.
...
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