24 Chapter 23

Jacob got to work on bringing the panels and items to the roof of the facility. They waited for 6 solar panels to be made, to set up the initial array and attach them to five batteries.

The rest were added to the printer station downstairs.

Sophia was creating the lengths of wire needed to hook up the facilities to the 10 floors. They decided to not wire the entire building. Just send a cable down from the roof. There were many ports for wiring and piping in the storage facility. Once that was done, they would fasten the cable to the wall and create junction boxes for each floor. This project wouldn't take too long as they could get help with securing the cable while they set up the solar panels and solar converter.

Jacob watched carefully again as Sophia did her thing with the welding laser, connecting the wires to the converter and the batteries.

While the AI could show him, it could not show live techniques on actual matter, only holo's. A real human example from a professional was always better, as you could see what the materials did and how they reacted in real life.

As they worked on the facility's power. The colony was once again a hive of activity. Many of the colonists were on the outskirts. Pushing the tree line back. Revealing a brown and green forest floor. Full of fungus, it was unclear if it would all die off without its normal dark habitat.

The carpenters had made a stage for the square on the back of the fence, facing the storage facility. And created a few gates where there had just been gaps. Now Akiko could stand at the stage and hopefully be more professional looking when she was greeting new colonists rather than looking like she was standing on the back of a fence post.

The gates made it more secure, with the unfortunate side effect of making it look like they were herding cattle, not humans.

The wall around the colony was growing larger. Ingred had been very good at pushing for more work. Now they had 5 more electric graphene saws thanks to Jacob.

This sped up the felling of the trees. There were over 2000 people helping with the woodcutting and wall-making.

On earth it would have been chaos, thankfully the AI orbs could share data and ensure that work was given efficiently. Everyone simply followed their holo's to the task they were assigned and copied what was shown.

Others would come up and take the goods or drop off other items, their AI knowing the best route to find the cuts and items needed for their deliveries and the best route to the recipient.

This also made the work much more boring. Many people finding themselves tired of the repetition, not the work. The AI had made it so efficient that people often didn't get physically tired, having to not work at a rapid pace. Everything got done at a steady, efficient rate.

There was a saying back on earth. 'Work smart, not hard'. The AI took this to the next level.

The farm land was being tilled by hand, people using tools to rotate the earth and plant more seeds. They had some work done yesterday, however they planted nothing until today when they had actual plots made out. This was because they did not till any dirt until the full plot was lined out and rocks/roots cleared.

There were many bathrooms showing up in town as well. The welders had gotten the hang of creating the graphene boxes, while the carpenters would put up the bathrooms structure.

On earth, this would have taken days or weeks. But the AI again changed this. They could calculate the materials needed. So, as the workers built up the bathrooms, they would get deliveries of the exact things they needed to continue construction. Their AIs having sent out the work orders before the structure was even started. Even if something broke by accident. There would be a delivery in a few minutes to replace it, unless the printers were needed. In which case, it would take longer due to them being constantly needed to produce a multitude of tools and construction material.

Things like hinges and nails were not exempt from these work orders. Everything was recorded, even broken nails and their failure rates. This helped the AI improve deliveries as people worked.

Even without heavy machinery, and thanks to things like graphene super-material being used for woodcutting. They could build many things much faster than they could on earth. AI had made things extremely streamlined and thoughtless.

****

A couple hours past afternoon, Jacob and Sophia were working on the diodes for LEDs… Well, Sophia was designing them and Jacob was watching her do it while asking questions.

They had some welders set up the panels as they printed out. The second solar array was almost full, and they were about to connect everything else to the roof.

The scouts returned with their findings of their first exploratory search toward the mountains. Sam looked extremely proud as he gave the rocks to Sophia.

After Jacob thanked them and they had left, he looked back at Sophia.

She could not hold back her excitement as she studied this strange rock, which the scanner called Gravitalodium.

Based on its name, Sophia was hopeful it interacted with gravity. Which would explain why the rocks are so light even though they contain large percentages of limestone as confirmed by the scanner. She kept the scanner with her until the scouts left for the next day.

Jacob knew that could take a long time to research these things. They didn't even have lab equipment. He was curious what she might purchase with her own points.

"Sophia, let me know if you need any help with items for research. And don't forget, we still have to make the lights." Jacob said.

"Oh! no problem! I think I could make a few myself with what we have available. I'm not going to sleep tonight very much!" She was still beyond happy to discover something new. Completely ignoring Jacob's second sentence.

"Well, grab something to eat before you forget." Diego said as he walked in with two bowls of food. Clearly delivering them to Sophia and Jacob.

"Thanks Diego! How are things going? Have you had any issues today?" Jacob asked as he took the food.

"No issues, however, I would like to have a cafeteria made. That way we can better prepare meals. Right now, it's rather unsightly and not the healthiest." Diego responded. But then added in. "We have a few people experimenting with the fish and meat from the Swiftstalker's. It's rather barbaric, but many of them are happy to get extra rations. Some are foodies who enjoy experimenting anyway, happy to eat something other than our vegetarian stew." Diego said the last part with a shrug.

Jacob nodded. "Well, send a request out to the carpenters of the colony. See if anyone will help you design a cookhouse or cafeteria type building. There's lots of wood!… If the meat is successful and fish, offer to pay the people who make the building for you extra rations. I want people to earn rewards for work. I just wish we could give it to everyone right now." He sighed.

"Your good, it will work out. We will make it! Akiko has been amazing, keeping everyone happy around here. Don't worry, Jacob, we will set up a proper system and people will get their rewards." Diego said with a smile as he waved and turned around. Getting back to work.

Jacob noticed Diego seemed rather passionate about Akiko, always spending time together, or him talking about her with a smile just now. Shaking his head, he turned around to Sophia, realizing she had forgotten what they were doing in the first place.

"Hey Sophia, I know it's exciting and all for you. But until you help finish these first few LEDs, I can't do anything. It won't take long, I'm sure!" Jacob said to the distracted Sophia.

She looked at him with a frown. "You know, normally I'd say you're a slave driver. But I would like some LEDs for my research. No offence Silver." Sophia said, looking at Silver's light.

"None taken ma'am." Silver responded.

From there, Sophia and Jacob got to work finishing up the diodes in the metal printer.

The type of LEDs they were making were square and flat. The diode needs to be covered by the Graphene for some protection or else the diode will rapidly decay because of the elements in the air.

Jacob continued to ask questions, many things involving circuits and why this connects to that. How electricity is converted to photons and where the process occurs.

Sophia patiently explained each question in detail. While also showing him during the production process.

They spent 30 minutes of Sophia fine tuning the blueprint of the LED to work properly, having made several duds. They were so tiny it took the printer seconds to make them. And it could create strips at high rates once the design was completed. LEDs were a modern miracle with their low resource costs, high functionality and near perfect efficiency back on earth.

Sophia grabbed it from the graphene printer and brought it to a crate near the batteries. Finally, after connecting the newest test light to a small wire which was connected to a box to control wattage, the light lit up brightly!

"Success! That's amazing! I wish I went to school for these things back on earth… I was just too lazy." Jacob said while feeling huge amounts of satisfaction from knowing they were about to produce LEDs!

"It's nothing. I made some back for my junior high projects. It's simply a matter of figuring out how to make the printers print the materials in the proper sequence. And don't worry! You're a great learner, the best time is now to start anything! And you did that, it's the first step to success in any activity in life. Even getting out of bed, you won't do it until you do!" While the design was easy for her, Sophia still clearly felt happy with her success. Knowing she could finally have normal lighting for research and work.

"The graphene also has made things much easier. I can make a tiny electrical converter which would take huge amounts of copper on earth. That's why these lights will work with most power sources! Unless you pump an entire lighting strike into one… Cool, right!?"

Jacob nodded and gave her a thumbs up. "It is amazing!" He noticed she was beginning to walk away. "But! Help me make a few strips first. I'm afraid, ill break them moving from the printer to printer. Once I get comfortable, ill take over and you can start your research."

She rolled her eyes and came back to help him. Jacob spent the rest of the day making LEDs. After a small pile built up, Sophia would come over and begin hooking them up to each floor. Starting first with the medical area on the 2nd floor. They had over 20 people staying up there, due to work injuries and the injuries from the riots. There were no beds, but there were a few doctors and nurses being led by Dr. Amrit.

Jacob was feeling happy about their progress today. Finally, parts of the building were lit up. The AI orbs finally turning off their lights. It really highlighted how important something so taken for granted on earth was. Jacob was worried about the challenges they might have to get the other modern necessities set up.

However, he was more concerned with the time. The sun was getting closer to setting; they had spent the whole day on the LEDs and wiring.

The night was approaching, which means they would likely have to deal with another attack. If the last 2 evenings were any sign, tonight might put the colony through hell.