A shuttle awaited Tom on the edge of the crater.
The pilot blasted the engines at a breakneck speed. As the shuttle approached the enormous structure, Which was built into the base of a steep Hill, Tom could see a robot pacing back and forth in front of a entrance.
The shuttle slowed to a stop and the robot scurried over, opened the door for Tom and extended his jointed hand in greeting.
"Have you been briefed on the situation, Tom Gunn?"
"A little," Tom replied as he got out of the shuttle doors.
"Excellent." said the machine with a digitalized smile. "my name is Rex-Com. I am the mine supervisor. This is a terrible business."
"Then you must know time is of the essence," Tom said.
Rex-Com was a skinny, shaky robot with a miners helmet built into his large head. He had an air of explosive energy, as if he had tapped into one of the electrical conduits that extended from the mine on the roof of the entrance.
"Yes, I understand. Come. I will shed more light on the situation."
Turning briskly, he led the way down the tunnel entrance.
Tom glanced around at the small plain lobby. "Somehow i expected a larger facility."
"Don't be deceived," Rex-Com replied. "this is a portal building. It's used mostly as office space and living quarters. The tunnel itself extends deep into the hillside. Come."
He led the way across the cavern to a tunnel entrance.
Tom's ears picked up a low hum, like the sound of a hundred beehives.
"The noise must be your generator," he said.
"yes, we only have one turbine now, but there are plans to build a second one, along with a steam powered generator as backup in case on fails."
They passed through a door on the far side of the lobby and steppd into a large, brightly lit cavern.
"We took advantage of the natural rock formations to begin the drilling here," Rex-Com said with his voice bouncing off the walls of the cavern. "There are some 50 kilometers of tunnels running under the asteroid."
Tom let out a low whistle. "There are highways down on earth that aren't even that long," Tom said.
"It was a great achievement. The Engineers used a tunnel-boring machine with a diameter of nearly 30 feet. It was a simple matter to drill the research tunnel."
He paused at the door in the tunnel wall. "here we are in the control room."
The plant's nerve center was a sterile chamber about 50 feet square, that looked like the inside of a giant slot machine. Arrange along the walls were panels of blinking lights, valves, gauges, and switches. Rex-com went to a round shaped console that was placed in the center of the room and sat down in front of a large monitor. He motioned form Tom to sit down next to him.
"You know what we do at this mine?"
"In general. I've been told that you tap the ice layers in this asteroid for hydroelectric power."
Rex-com nodded. "The method to do this is relatively uncomplicated. The ice builds up slowly. On our orbit near the sun, the ice melts forming water pockets and ice rivers in the tunnels. Voila! You have electricity. Clean cheap and renewable." Rex-com's routine description could not hide the pride in his voice.
"Simple in theory, but but rather impressive in performance," Tom said as he pictured the system in his mind. "Do you have a large crew?"
"There are only three of us," Rex-com said. "One for each shift. The plant is mostly automated so i could practically run itself."
"I require a digram of the system."
Rex-com's stell hands sped over the keyboard with impossible speed. A diagram appeared on the screen, similar to the display of a traffic control center. The colored lines reminded Tom of the London Underground.
"The blue ones have water in them. The red ones are dry. The turbine is here."
Tom busied himself trying to decipher the diagram. "Which tunnel was flooded?"
Rex-com tapped the screen with his jointed, spindly finger. "This one right here. The main access to the observatory."
"Is there a way you can block off the flow?"
"We tried when we detected water getting into the research tunnel. Apparently the concrete wall between the water and research tunnels have been breached. By diverting the flow, we were able to contain it."
"Who's trapped down under the rock?" asked Tom hastily.
"Four people from the research team and that She-bot from the cargo vessel Thumper.
Tom grabbed the paper version of the tunnel system sitting behind the lamp. Tom turned and faced Rex-com.
"Do you have a torch?" He asked. Rex-com reached into a drawer filled with items.
"We use this in emergencys, But it has only enough power to stay on underground. We never expected a problem of this magnitude."
Tom took the small electrical torch. "It will have to do."
Poll