A seagull flew over the shop and dropped its load in front of him of the concrete pad. Edwin looked up as it flew out towards the bay. The sky was cloudless. It seemed a shame to go back inside but his cigarette was finished and he had a lot more work to complete before the day was over. He threw the butt in the 50 gallon drum by the door that served as a trash can and went back inside.
The huge assembly shop was dark despite the numerous overhead floodlights. No amount of electric light could compete with the power of the sun on a clear day. Edwin paused a moment, took off his sunglasses and put them in the inside pocket of his welding jacket. In front of him stood the massive structure he was working on. Two cylinders of aluminum nearly forty feet high with domed tops and bottoms stood a few feet apart in a massive assembly jig. Between them were two tubular tunnels. The top tunnel had been tack welded in place by Edwin earlier in the morning. The bottom one was held in place by its jig.
Edwin walked up to the lower tunnel and checked the fit. The machinists had done a nice job making the flange ends to the tunnels. They fitted the main cylinders perfectly. He ran his finger over the welds that held the flanges to the tunnel sections. The work was nice. Someone with some talent had done them. He pulled a magnifying glass from his pocket and looked closer. The weld was very regular. No undercut. About the right shape and no signs of pits or inclusions. Nice work. He could have done it himself.
Edwin looked at the area where the flange on the tunnel met the cylinder. His apprentice had cleaned it well. All the surface oxide was gone and the bare aluminum shone brightly in the overhead lights. It was a pleasure to weld when the preparation was done properly. He’d taken a lot of time with his apprentice explaining how the weld was affected when the oxide on the surface wasn’t removed completely. The kid was patient and didn’t seem to mind the grunt work of doing the cleaning. He was also showing signs of becoming a good welder himself. He had the right temperament and a good interest in what was going on in the metal.
One of the tasks Edwin had given over to his apprentice was the sample testing that had to be done when new jobs arrived. Aluminum came in a lot of different alloys and it was important to know which one he was working with before welding it. The alloy dictated the type of filler rod he needed and sometimes affected the choice of shield gas, although that was mostly just argon or helium, depending on whether he was welding down or overhead. The argon was denser than air and floated down. The helium floated up and was better for overhead jobs. The apprentice was responsible for identifying the alloy and getting the right filler rod from the stores. Edwin checked his work less often now. The kid was always spot on and it pleased Edwin that he had quality help. What he didn’t know was that his apprentice had made a simple mistake on this job. He had tested the material from the main cylinder parts but not from the tunnels. He had assumed it was all the same. But the tunnels had been made at a different plant and the alloy was not the same.
Edwin snapped his jacket closed, put on his helmet and picked up his gloves, then climbed up the jig to the top of the tunnel. His TIG torch was hung over a rail on the jig ready for him next to his boom box which was held to the same rail with a bungee cord. Edwin turned on the boom box and Springsteen filled the air. He knelt down, put on his gloves, checked the gas flow from the torch, picked up a piece of filler rod and began the first tack weld, singing along to Born in the USA.
First Dive
(100 ft)
The dive group were assembled in the circular moon pool room in the bottom of the ops cylinder. The scientists stood on one side, Duncan, White and Perez on the other. Between them the circular exit to the ocean looked black and slightly forbidding. The sea swelled up and down through the exit as the habitat moved up and down slightly in response to movements of the surface barge from which it was suspended. Everyone was in their dive suits. Dive tanks were in the racks behind them and each person held a face mask and a pair of fins.
Duncan scanned the five scientists again. He’d had serious reservations about taking amateur divers on an expedition like this, but during training in Maine they had shown a level of professionalism he hadn’t expected. They had asked a lot of questions. Mostly about the equipment. They’d also told him a lot about the marine environment that he hadn’t really understood despite a career as a Navy diver. After several training dives he’d become comfortable with them.
“Everyone ready?” Duncan asked and they nodded. Chas gave him an OK.
“Before we get into the water I’m going to go over the dive plan again, but before we do that we need to do a comm check. Ms Young?”.
Megan held up her full-face dive mask. “Everyone please put on your masks now and make sure your ear buds are in place. We’ll check sound levels.”
She slipped on her own mask and walked to the end of the group of scientists so she could see them all. One by one she addressed them over the communications system and each responded. Chas gave her an OK with his hand.
“No Chas, I need you to talk to me so I can hear you.
“Sorry he said” and gave her another OK.
Megan looked at the Navy guys. She knew they were all long ex-navy but she still thought of them as the Navy guys. They sounded off in order.
The communications equipment they were using was similar to that used by commercial divers but had been fitted to a new mask design which was supposed to be more comfortable during long dives. The masks were custom fitted to the user’s face by a chemical enzyme process which temporarily softened the plastic of the mask and made it flow over the user’s skin. After a minute or two the plastic became more solid again leaving a perfect seal. The idea had come from a research lab at MIT where it had been used to create exact fitting prosthetics. One of the technicians in the lab was a diver and had come up with the idea of using it to form dive masks.
Duncan had been a little doubtful about the idea of having plastic moulded to his face but compared to the navy issue masks his felt like it wasn’t there. There was no way he was ever going back to the old gear — provided it held up. He had many hours on his now and so far it seemed durable enough.
Duncan addressed the divers. “Ok, one at a time. Tanks and masks on, then down the ladder. You can put your fins on up here or once you are in the water. Once you are ready with your fins on, drop down to the bottom of the weight stack. We’ll gather there, then set off with me in front and White at the rear. Remember please, nobody in front of me. We aren’t too concerned about depth here but try to keep at about the same depth I am. White will bring up the rear. Perez will stay here in case anyone needs to come back. Exit procedure is the reverse. Come up through the bottom of the weight stack to the moon pool ladder. Come up to the surface, establish positive buoyancy then pull your fins off one at a time and hand them to Perez. Don’t drop your fins. It’s about 5,000 feet to the bottom and my free diving skills aren’t quite that good.”
Duncan put on his gear and jumped through the small exit, fins clutched to his chest. Two seconds later he was below the ladder holding on to the weight stack .
Perez checked everyone had tanks and masks on. “Final buddy check please, then into the water”.
Boris went first, and the scientists followed with Ramirez at the end. When Ramirez was in the water, White put his own gear on quickly and followed him down.