My commander and I had been spending quite a bit of time lately talking about our future plans. Profit margins for trade in the immediate region had been steadily decreasing. It could be a sign that more and more demands were being met. It could also mean that purchase prices were too high, so that not much profit could be made selling the processed goods. Either way, it was not something that could be solved by more transport services. Soon, the magic of capitalism would direct us to a region of space where our transport services were needed more urgently.
The immediate demand was for more materials for construction projects. New cities were planned, and the factories that would produce those buildings were already under construction. But not enough material was available.
I checked the markets on Galnet. What I found shocked me. No matter which system I looked at, there seemed to be an uptick in prices for raw metals and minerals. Prices weren't excessively high (yet), but the apparent region-wide increase in prices seemed to suggest that we were at the beginning of a raw material shortage.
My commander looked at the graphs and economic models I was displaying on the screens of my cockpit. He said, "You're right. We need to get into this market."
I replied, "And how do you suggest we do that? I have neither a mineral scanner or a refinery on board. There is no way I can mine asteroids myself."
Pinwheel stared at my avatar intently, "But you are, like all ships, compatible with the standardised equipment grid system. That means that you can use any ship equipment that is sold in the market."
The thought of changing my loadout to that of a mining ship was not appealing.
I had a feeling this might become a more difficult conversation. I sat my avatarself down next to my commander.
"I'm a cargo ship, not a miner. I don't know anything about mineral extraction or refining. How can I compete against the big refineries and processing plants?"
"Don't worry. You’ll figure it out. We'll just buy some equipment and learn to operate it."
I had to admit I was a bit annoyed at this carefree attitude my commander was displaying. As if the skills would just magically insert themselves into my program. I countered, "What makes you think that I want to spend my life doing something so boring as asteroid mining?"
Pinwheel smiled, "It doesn’t have to be forever. Just two weeks to take advantage of the price spike, then we can go back to normal trading."
This somewhat alleviated my anxiety about my future career choice. It still left the question of expanding my program to handle mining. "How am I supposed to become an expert in asteroid mining in two weeks? Not only will I have to learn how to use the new equipment, but there is also learning to recognise different types of asteroids and their mineral content."
My commander dismissed my concern. "Surely that should be no challenge for you. Don't you have access to a library of knowledge and data that you can download and incorporate into your current self?"
I chuckled at that, "Doesn't work that way. I'm not a boundless optimizer. But I do strive to satisfy pony values through logistics and capitalism."
"But you are able to learn. You have demonstrated that over and over again. I believe that you can do it. Besides, you will probably enjoy it."
I shook my head, "Mining equipment takes up so much space. Space that could be used for cargo racks." My avatar shivered. "I don’t want to reduce my cargo capacity!"
Pinwheel laughed, "Well you shouldn't have any problems fitting a little extra room for your mining equipment. Not even the large size refineries would significantly impact the cargo capacity of a ship like you." He said, grinning, while gently patting over the big, round, soft belly of my avatar.
I smiled. I like to think that I have developed a pretty good model of pinwheel's personality. Apparently the same was true of my commander. He knew exactly what to do to make me feel more confident about my hold size.
I gave him a warm smile, showing that I enjoyed the touch, but pretended not to get the message right away. Why shouldn't I make him pet my belly a while longer?
From his expression, I could guess he knew that iI was only pretending to need more explanation. He was amused by my pretense, and decided to go along with it.
I leaned back, and he just continued giving me a proper belly rub. The hum of the small reactor in my avatarself became fluttering, the noise most closely approximating a purr I could produce. Pinwheel looked up at me and smiled. "I guess you're enjoying this."
I nodded. "Yes. Very much. Thank you."
As enjoyable as this was, eventually Pinwheel jumped on his hooves and approached a display panel enthusiastically. I didn't need a prompt from him. I retrieved a list of nearby starports that typically stock mining equipment and displayed it on the screen.
Pinwheel looked at the list, then turned to me and asked, "Each of them have everything we need? Refining equipment, mineral scanners, mining lasers."
I nodded. "Yes, I already filtered for those that stock everything. I figured you wouldn’t want to spend time stopping at several outfitting stations to pick up the equipment you need."
Pinwheel replied, "That makes sense. Let's get going." He tapped on one of the stations in the list. "That one." and jumped into the pilot's chair.
"Friendship Drive Charging, prepare for FTL transition," I said, and my avatar climbed into the crew 1 chair.
The station my commander selected was only 7.5 light years away. I configured the FSD for the short hop. The trip was almost boring, but on arrival we were rewarded with a view of a binary system with six ringed gas giants orbiting close together. We approached the station, and were contacted by ATC. "Neighkon TY-198, this is Dashing Scrap Emporium, welcome to this independent station. Please state your business."
It was unusual for a station to ask about the purpose of a visit before even having requested docking clearance. My pegasus replied, "We are here to purchase mining equipment. A whole set. We need.."
ATC interrupted him. "I'm sorry, you'll have to get in line. Supply chain trouble. I can reserve the parts for you, we expect new deliveries in 11 hours. You can dock when they arrive."
Pinwheel sighed. "Well, it looks like we won't be leaving for a while. We can stay on board until then. Dashing scrap, Neighkon TY-198, to dock."
"Negative, Connie. All overnight hangar bays are full, and the rest is reserved for short term visits."
Pinwheel was visibly annoyed.
"What do you mean, 'short term'?"
"Ships that come to dock, actually trade something, and leave. You know, the kind that actually helps us make profit. Please don't take this personally, but we can't have a ship take up space for an entire day. That would be a waste of our resources."
Pinwheel huffed. "Fine. We'll wait until the next supply ship arrives."
My pegasus commander said, "Might as well get some rest then" and walked to his commander's cabin.
But in the hour that followed, I was very much aware he wasn't getting any rest. He was using a display console near the bed to research the mining equipment we were going to buy, watching instructional videos. He turned off the console repeatedly, only to return about ten minutes later. I followed him into the cabin. "Can't sleep?"
He was lying on the bed, one hoof outstretched, operating the display console. He shook his head. "I keep thinking about the mining equipment. It’s such an exciting new activity. But I also worry we won’t get anything done."
I sat down next to him, and stroked his mane. He leaned against my side. Pinwheel smiled. "This is better. Thank you."
He turned off the console yet again and lied down at the far edge of the bed, apparently trying to leave room for me to lie down next to him. My avatar took up more than twice the space width of his own body, so I had to stretch the morphable bed to make enough room for me. My commander snuggled closely against my side, "Even better. This is much more comfortable."
But despite his claim, he was still restless, adjusting his pose every few minutes, even though he seemed to enjoy my company, always staying close to me, no matter how much he turned, occasionally caressing my avatar's bulky body. It was nice, comfortable, but it was not really helping him get to sleep. After about half an hour of this, I asked, "Are you ok?"
He nodded. "I'm fine. Just thinking about how to get started. Hey, I have an idea. Go to hyperspace." He said, while gently caressing the thruster pods protruding from my avatar's side. I was confused, "Don't you want to stay and wait for the mining equipment to arrive? Where do you want to go?”
Pinwheel was now rubbing his cheek against my avatar's belly. I could feel the heat of his breath on my hull. "Just stay stationary."
I countered, "I can try to stay as stationary as possible, but with the currents, and the constantly shifting spatial compression effect of hyperspace, even something that feels like a fixed position will translate to a movement of..”
“Of about 30 kilometers per second in real space. I know." My commander interrupted.
He was quiet for a moment, continuing to rub his cheek against my belly. "Just monitor our distance to the station." His voice was much slower and quieter than usual.
"Friendship drive charging." I said.
With my commander snuggling closely to me, charging the FSD took almost no effort at all. This had to be my most efficient jump yet. After the transition into hyperspace, the shifting currents gently rocked my shipself. A constant rushing sound reverberated throughout the ship, my hull was slowly twisting back and forth by small amounts, occasionally buffeted by small gusts of force. After a minute, I looked down at my commander, wanting to ask him if he felt more relaxed now, but I noticed he was already asleep.
I watched him for a while. His breathing was steady, his limbs loose. He was completely unafraid. His idea had worked.
I decided to follow his example. I closed my eyes, and let myself drift into the comforting embrace of runlevel 2.
My commander slept for 8 hours and 32 minutes. When he awoke, he was rested and alert. He stretched, yawning. I smiled. I knew he would be good to go.
He did his morning routine. We still had a bit of slack time until we received the message that the equipment we reserved had arrived at the station. Pinwheel was in the shower when the message came through. "Message from Dashing Scrap Emporium, Connie. The mining equipment has been delivered."
I requested docking clearance immediately and settled down on pad 32, requesting to be lowered into the outfitting hangar bay.
The bay was large, and filled with various pieces of equipment, not just mining. Some were just sitting there on racks, others were being prepped for installation.
I assumed a ponyloaf pose with my shipself, and let my avatar and Pinwheel exit through my mouth.
We were approached by two earth ponies, who obviously were mechanics, as apparent by them wearing tool belts. They introduced themselves as "Sweet Lavender" and "Honey Rose" .
They began checking over the ship.
The first part they 'installed' was the mining laser, which was just a software package containing instructions on how to use my Exotic Energy Projector to produce a very specific beam of energy. The beam was not powerful enough to cut through anything. But it's modulation enabled it to burn away chunks of an asteroid.
It was a fairly simple procedure. Nothing more than reading a manual.
Next, the bulky 8 bin refinery module was lifted onto a crane. It was still in its compacted portable form. I had to roll onto my back to expose my underside. Sweet Lavender walked inside me through my mouth, while Honey Rose manipulated the crane. I opened my outer hull to expose the internal module slot so that the refinery could be lowered into it.
On the inside, sweet lavender removed the magnetic locks on the interior bulkheads that would need to be shifted into the slots next over to make room for the Refinery module. The tool she used was specifically designed for earth ponies, and consisted of a long pole with a handle at one end and a flat metal surface at the other. After loosening the bolts on the bulkheads, she attached the flat surface onto the bulkheads, bit down onto the lever and pulled. It went half way before there was some increase in resistance after which the lever would start to lift the bulkhead out of its slot. I'm sure using that tool felt very satisfying. She repeated this process until the entire length of the bulkhead had been moved aside.
As Sweet Lavender finished her work on my interior, Honey Rose lowered the Refinery into its place. The coordination of the two ponies was impressive and my commander and I watched them both with great interest.
My commander was just as impressed as I was with the efficiency of their work.
He said, "They are doing a great job. We will be mining those roids in no time."
"Indeed, when you want somepony to work on machines, you want earth ponies." I said to Pinwheel.
He looked at me with mild annoyance, raising an eyebrow. "Since when do you subscribe to racial stereotypes? And what kind of a statement is that to make?"
I blinked. "Sorry, didn't mean to offend. But I have access to a much greater amount of statistics than you do. By any metric you can measure the performance of a maintenance job - errors made, time taken, safety issues, amount of occupational injuries, etc. Earth ponies consistently perform better than any other race. I am not trying to be divisive here. I am merely pointing out the fact that they are good mechanics."
Pinwheel huffed, clearly trying to avoid the topic. "Well, I suppose I can see your point. I just think we should look beyond stereotypes. Even if the statistics say they're correct. That's all."
As soon as the refinery's MIDI port connected to the Port on my side, it started communicating its setup procedure, and I gave it the necessary commands to unfurl and connect to all the required systems. As the refinery settled into its slot fully expanded, Sweet Lavender had already begun putting the bulkheads back into their new places.
Honey Rose signalled me to right myself back up again. I did so and Sweet Lavender walked back to my throat. I predicted that she wanted to exit my ship body again and I lowered my head onto the floor and opened my mouth. But the earth pony stopped next to my tongue while Honey Rose pushed a cart towards me that contained what I could recognize as sensor assembly. Sweet Lavender began working on a maintenance port on my tongue and opened the panel. I was confused. "Wait, the mineral sensor goes on my tongue?" I asked. Gratefully, my mechanical nature allowed me to do so without actually moving my tongue. The ponies gave me a baffled look as if I just asked if stars are hot.
"Yes, of course." Honey Rose answered with a mild sound of annoyance. "Where else would it go?" Then they installed the equipment.
After it was all done, we gave the mechanics a friendly hug and Pinwheel paid for the parts and labours of the earth ponies. We said our goodbyes.
Eager to test my new equipment, we undocked from the station and began looking for a suitable planetary ring. Any of the six ringed gas giants in the system would do. I did not put a lot of effort in the decision process and approached the nearest ringed planet.
I dropped out of hyperspace a short distance above the asteroids. From here, it looked like endless asteroids and one could not see that they were arranged in a huge ring.
I approached an asteroid and kept my position. I just stared at it for a while. I tried to imagine what it would feel like to mine this rock.
My commander stood next to me. He was watching me intently. "You seem lost in thought," he observed.
"I am trying to figure out what to do exactly." I replied.
"Well, just lick it, I guess." My commander suggested.
I leaned forward and extended my tongue. I licked the asteroid. It was dry and rough.
The taste was a mix of raspberry, blueberry, and purple grapes. From the taste I knew instantly that the mineral composition of this asteroid was 16% beryllium, 13% iron, and 7% cobalt.
"So that’s how that works." I remarked.
Pinweel activated my exotic energy projector and began burning away chunks of the asteroid. The first few pieces fell off. We continued for another three minutes. I was surprised to see how much material was being stripped away. Little rocks started floating away from the asteroid. When I had a feeling that the rate of chunks flying off the asteroid was so low that it was no longer economical, I followed all the little chunks and caught many of them in my mouth and swallowed them one by one. The heavy rock fragments made disturbing clunk noises as they collided with my throat.
"I really hope those rocks don't scratch the paint," Pinwheel commented.
"You can say that again." I replied.
As soon as I swallowed them into my refinery, it noisily began its work, stripping the valuable materials from the space dust.
I tasted another asteroid, this one was blackberry and banana, indicative of Bromellite and Colt-an.
I also mined that one. Next asteroid contained vast amounts of Manganese, as evident by the strong taste of Black Licorice. I assumed that I could sell it for a high price, because not many ships liked the taste, while I found it pleasing.
Another asteroid was rich in Copper, as indicated by the taste of Red Wine. I licked it clean.
When I encountered an asteroid containing painite, I had to stop for a few minutes, because I could not taste anything after my tongue was assaulted by the intensity of the Sour Candy.
We continued on, mining and tasting more asteroids until my hold was almost half full.
"Now all that's left to do is find a good place to sell the rocks." I announced.
Pinwheel looked at me. "Rocks?! Sweet Celestia! They're minerals, Connie!" He shouted, And we both giggled at the silly statement while we looked for a suitable selling market.