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Mining the Moon - Pt. VI Author: David Organ ( Staiduk )
Those eggheads back on Earth are supposed to be smart.
At least; that's what their diplomas say.
Whatever - apparently; they're totally clueless when it comes to identifying likely iridium strikes.
An hour and a bit after lifting off from Target Site 1; I arrived at
Site 2. Another old, old crater. Still right on the dawn line - this one about 10 degrees farther westward so its even darker than the first.
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This time; it's dark enough that safety is a real issue, so before leaving the spacecraft I deploy the long-range antenna and set up
an uplink relay from my suit to the S&R offices in Brighton. If I run into trouble; they'll have a ship on its way within minutes - but that's still a distance of several thousand kilometers.
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This area's no better than the first - not even traces of iridium found. At least there's not as much dust.
Even still; I take a dull day to survey the area. That's the thing about iridium - the Moon doesn't have the forces of erosion and tectonics to move minerals around like the Earth does; so you
could search for days without finding a scrap; then ten meters to the side find an enormous strike. That's what happened on the Flying Turtle claim - my last big one; and the one that paid for
Japan. Literally - I was checking a cliff base for iridium - nothing, zilch, nada. Then I turned around a corner to look into a crevice and whammo!! Money time! So there's no way to tell - you just
have to keep looking. Even if the area - like this one - is so obviously not iridium material.
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Oh, well. By this time; fuel's starting to become a bit of a concern - I've been out for almost a week and the APU's been running constantly. I've enough for several more days; but there's little
point. The best thing is to return to Heinlein and wait for a few more days until it gets a little brighter - few of my remaining target sites are eastward of this position.
Besides - I've managed to spend a couple of dinners with Amanda; who knows? Might be able to spend a few more.
(In retrospect; if it wasn't for that; I'd have probably stayed out prospecting at random to the east.)
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Mining the Moon Pt. VII
You will need the following add-ons to run this mission for yourself.
- DGIII and skins - Moon Base Alpha
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