The Unbearable Weight of Heavy Water

Posted on Thu May 22nd, 2025 @ 7:37pm by Ensign Duncan McManus & Lieutenant Andre Rhodes & Ensign David Kipling & Ensign Victoria Jemison & Petty Officer, 3rd Class Kiyara de Vos

Mission: Remnant
Location: Hydroelectric Plant, Planet Surface
Timeline: 409
809 words - 1.6 OF Standard Post Measure

The site itself wasn't that remarkable. A collection of square buildings in a clearing connected by massive pipes up a hill. But what the pipes were connected to was far more impressive - a fast flowing river that fed into a picturesque scene of a waterfall in an overgrown forest. Whoever built this place had made sure to put the buildings out of sight, unlike the massive concrete wall on the Colorado River called "Hoover Dam" back on Earth.

But after the flight in, the team with Andre was left with decaying concrete buildings in a clearing and little else. Except that based on scans, this was a hydroelectric dam that matched an old Earth plant in configuration that made heavy water. Heavy water itself had only a few uses, including being used in the development of old nuclear fission bombs during the Second World War, but it also contained deuterium atoms. The only hope right now was that the facility had some on hand. If they did, that'd be a massive start. If not, it'd be onto Plan...G? H?

Standing at what was probably the remains of the front gate, Andre looked to the rest of the team checking in on this lead - Victoria and Kiyara.

"Well, we're either about to strike it real good here or we're about to strike out hard." Andre said with a slight smile, it was clear which way he was hoping it would go.

"Always the optimist?" Victoria replied matching the slight smile. They were in a desperate situation, but at least they were on planet and had a very real possibility of success. She chose to hold onto that bit of hope. She removed the scanner from it's place on her hip and set it to deuterium.

Kiyara didn't respond. She was more on Andre's side than Victoria's. if one took into account the very real chance that there wouldn't be anything of value to them then it wouldn't be such a huge disappointment when this entire expedition turned out to be a huge waste.

"Alright. Watch your footing in those buildings. Exterior looks pretty sturdy but never can tell about the insides. And also keep an eye out for any local fauna looking for a quick bite to eat." Andre said, patting the phase pistol in its holster at his side. With those warnings out of the way, he led the way into the largest building, assuming it to be the "main" building.

The only light came in through broken windows, requiring the use of flashlights by the team. Nature was slowly reclaiming this structure as vines and grass were slowly growing in patches. For the moment, the floor was solid concrete, though everyone's boots crunched broken glass, discarded metal pieces, standing water from rain that had come through half a dozen ways, and assorted debris.

"So far so good. Any scans on any storage units?" Andre asked, shining a flashlight around slowly.

Moving along the storage units with her scanner, Victoria made note of what it was telling her. The small display on the device clearly showed that they had found a good amount of deuterium oxide. Calling out to her crewmates, the Engineer said, "I've got strong readings for a chemical makeup of two deuterium and one oxygen atoms." Letting a smile and feeling of her own optimism seep into her voice, she turned to the others and explained, "Heavy water. We may be able to do something with this."

Kiyara immediately turned, getting closer to Victoria with her own scanner, "Are there any impurities?"

Andre pulled out his own scanner to confirm the location of the readings. "I really hope this is reading right. Looks like we got some more up ahead. As long as it's not badly contaminated by anything serious, we can refine it as we go. The purer the better, of course, but if it's got some impurities as a result of sitting in storage, we'll just need more of it to offset what we lose in refining." Andre explained as he looked at the tanks.

"Getting it out's going to be another challenge. We should look for some sort of pumping system, see if that's working. Otherwise, we'll have to siphon these tanks one at a time." Andre added.

"On it." Kiyara tapped some commands into their personal scanner and stepped away from the group to try and figure out exactly how the layout of this facility worked. Plumbing should be a relatively easy task, but they'd always found that when dealing with alien tech, potentially ancient ones at that, nothing was simple.

"Sorry, we are late. The Captain sent us on the next transport." McManus called as he joined the group with Kipling in tow. "Been a long time since I have seen such a fast-moving river," he commented.

TRANCATED