Marilyn stood in front of her teammates and took a deep breath.
Naz made a slight clapping gesture to signal support, and Marilyn bowed slightly. Then she began:
“This is our airship, the MMM. As you all know by now, I named it the Mir Mriya Mir, taking words from the biggest languages in the Soviet Union – Uzbek, Ukrainian and Russian. It means the Lord of Dreams and Peace.”
“Are you sure MMM really stands for Mir Mriya Mir?” Angel challenged. “Not Maryam Mirzayeva Mulki?”
“Yes, yes, yes,” Marilyn said. But the expression on her face was inconclusive.
Stacy decided to intervene before anyone got further embarrassed. “Come on, let’s go on, don’t make fun of each other. I fully accept the name as MMM.”
“So do I,” Naz said.
“I do like the name,” Riley said. “Mmmmmm.”
“You know, the shape suggests something that’s really mmmmm,” Naz suggested naughtily.
“Enough, please continue with the presentation!” Stacy intervened to show leadership before the conversation could degenerate further. Besides, a Mentor and a Manager were watching. ZIL had to show it was a serious team.
“All right, let me summarize this manual,” Marilyn said as she waved a folder the thickness of a telephone directory. “The airship manual is also on our computers, but as a collection of PDF files.”
“Saw these,” Riley added. “Our airship manual is divided into lots of files, because the entire manual is just too big.”*
“And you read the whole thing, Marilyn?” Stacy asked with shock. Stacy was used to reading lots of things quickly, but she was surprised that Marilyn could do this also.
Marilyn grinned. “There is a file titled Airship Manual 000 Introduction. I’m just doing an introduction to what I read – the Introduction. As well as an update on equipment.”
Riley was shaking her head. “Never thought I would ever see a collection of PDF files that exceeded 10 gigabytes.”
…
“Firstly and most importantly, this airship has been equipped with the best modern technology. There is a lot of cutting edge and prototype technology at work on the MMM.
Most of its functions are actually automated or remotely controlled. Computers and algorithms make up most of the crew.”
“That was the amazing thing about it,” Naz spoke up. “The Hindenburg had a crew of forty, not counting the service staff like cooks and stewards. But just three of us – Marilyn, Riley and me – are needed to keep the ship running. And we aren’t even needed to do this as a full time job.”
“… because so much is automated, few things require direct human intervention. And things that do, don’t require a fraction as much specialized training as that on board the Hindenburg.”
Stacy reflected that flights on modern jet aircraft actually could be entirely automated also, just that humans are afraid to put everything in the hands of automation. But it seemed that the Benefactors were not afraid to adopt the latest technology. Or maybe they were less worried, since airships are much more stable and don’t need fuel to stay aloft.
Naz raised a hand.
“Question,” she said. “I was on board for only a short time before you brought the airship back to this hanger. But I didn’t see any water boilers or radiators.”
Naz was referring to the heating systems found in nearly three quarters of housing in the ex-Soviet Union. “And I don’t see any ventilation ducts either, so no forced air central heating system. I never sensed any hot air blowing from somewhere. But surely we cannot be like the Graf Zeppelin which was unheated?”
Marilyn was flipping through the index of one of the manual folders. “I know it’s somewhere here,” Marilyn said. “They called it a name I’m not familiar with… ah, hydronic radiant central heating.”
Stacy raised her eyebrows. This was considered one of the best heating systems nowadays, since it heated the floor without having to move air through a ventilation system. Unlike a water radiator system, this also did not heat the air, so it did not lower the humidity. Floor systems were usually considered the most expensive.
Stuff like this was normally found in wealthy countries. Stacy really was not expecting to ever have such a heating system in her living space. But it looked like the Benefactors spared no expense.
And why would Stacy even know about the existence of such an advanced heating system?
After the Chechen war when peace was restored, there was less newsworthy material to cover. Stacy had to write articles on all kinds of topics. Including the lifestyles of the rich and infamous. It wasn’t that emjoyable, but it did help inform the public. And Stacy had learned a few things also.
…
“As a chemical engineer, I can’t help but want to know this,” Angel said. “But how much do we need to rely on a home base? How often do we need to travel back for maintenance and resupply? How do we do refuelling?”
“The MMM is designed such that it will not need to berth very much. It should stay in the air most of the time without descending to ground level.
This is because of one unique and modern innovation – the Hover platform. Hover platforms use a technology much between helicopters and hovercraft. Basically they are flat flying cars. Since they can be deployed to ferry people and cars up and down from the MMM, ZIL members don’t need to spend so much time waiting for their airship to ascend or descend. Hover platforms also can make modest horizontal movements. But due to the low speed of horizontal movement, one would be better off doing a brisk walk at ground level if roads are passable. The Hover platforms are mainly for communicating vertically with the airship, and for crossing rivers.
Since we have this technology, we do not need to bring the airship to ground level for small maintenance and refuelling tasks. We can fly over the outside of the MMM ourselves and resolve minor technical problems. And we have a twin axle, 2000 liter capacity highway tow tank on board. So we can just bring it down in the hover platform, hook it to the Lada to buy aviation fuel, and bring the tow tank back up to the MMM.”
Angel looked as though she would have difficulty believing that.
“A passenger jet going from Moscow to New York goes through 100 tons of fuel easily. How many trips are we going to have to make to refuel our airship?”
Naz turned her head. “No worries, Angel. We don’t need any fuel to stay in the air, and we will be traveling very slowly anyway. Which makes us vastly more fuel efficient than an airship that flies at 100kmh.
The actual fuel consumption will vary, simply because we are also partly dependent on air currents. If we insist on flying against air currents that will drastically increase our fuel consumption. Whereas if we travel with air currents and only use our engines occasionally to adjust our direction, we will consume as little as 0.1 ton of fuel for a 1000km journey. And that even includes all our regular onboard use, such as the power for our instruments and computers.
Multiply that by a factor of 8 if we’re traveling at 10km/h without winds, whether favorable or unfavorable. It’s still very fuel efficient.
So if we buy kerosene at every town or city that we stop at, we will always keep our tanks full. And we might not even need to buy kerosene in quantities that require us to bring over the tow tank. A few jerrycans would be enough.”
When Naz finished saying this, there was a palpable sense of relief all around. Even though the Benefactors were reimbursing fuel costs, nobody wanted to make dozens of hover platform trips to refuel all the time. It was good that fuel consumption was so low to begin with.
Naz didn’t know it, but she had touched on something that Angel found very reassuring. Russia is a big country with many airports, but aviation fuel is something not commonly purchased by a few young women towing a tank. Getting a steady supply of aviation fuel by the ton would be a problem. And it might also draw unneeded attention.
…
Marilyn continued introducing the airship:
The MMM is a 21st century airship with technology appropriate for the era.
The top part of the MMM is totally covered in solar panels. These act as light armor and also absorb an enormous amount of sunlight everyday.
This is a hybrid hydrogen-helium ship. The main airframe is wholly filled with helium. But inside the airframe, there are a vast number of hydrogen air sacs contained within the helium to improve lifting capacity. Not only does this greatly decrease the chance of fire; the helium also insulates the hydrogen from outside oxygen and acts as an extinguisher in case of any leaks.
Unlike its predecessors, the MMM does not vent hydrogen at any point. This makes it a lot safer. The Hindenburg caught fire while hydrogen was being vented in order to correct the trim of the airship. The MMM does not need to do this.
In order to descend, ascend or adjust tilt, the MMM uses a system where internal air sacs are compressed or expanded, which influences the lifting capability. Expanding some air sacs using ordinary air sucked in from the outside will compress the hydrogen, thus reducing the lift and causing the MMM to descend.
The main body of the MMM, where ZIL members live and work, is the gondola. With a total floor space of 2000 square meters, the gondola of the MMM occupies almost as much space as the gondola of the Hindenberg. It is roughly 15m broad, 50m long and encompasses three floors.
Technology has really improved, so the walls of the MMM do not need to be made of duralumin or aluminum. Instead, they are grown out of mycelium. So they are incredibly durable, strong, fireproof yet light.
Technology now allows many things to be made out of foam or especially light gels, making them far lighter than their equivalents on the Hindenberg. This includes bed mattresses, chair cushions, and sofa cushions. There is no space under anybody’s bed, since everybody will be sleeping on a foam mattress that overlays a helium filled inflatable mattress. It’s actually way more comfortable than air furniture half a century ago.
Marilyn looked as though she wanted to talk more about domestic arrangements, then thought better of it. She held up three fingers.
“There are three floors.
First (lowest) floor, is the garage and gym. The garage contains space for up to five cars. Two hover platforms, each with a lift capacity of a little over 3 tons, are also docked here. There are also a few vehicles such as inflatable motorboats and snowmobiles. The garage is 300 square meters in size and includes a well supplied machine shop for Naz.
Considering that this is an airship, the gym is big – some 500 square meters. This allows members to have adequate space for exercise. There are very few real weights in the gym. Most ‘weight training’ involves the use of elastic materials, which reduces the lift needed for the airship.
You can have the best view from the main room or the gym.
Second floor is the main floor, which totals about 700 square meters. This floor is divided into utility, living and working areas. The second floor actually has the same dimensions as the garage and gym, but has less usable floor space because part of it is a double-height overlook of the gym. (This double-height ceiling for a 100 square meter area allows us to play netball or badminton against each other.)
The utility area includes a kitchen, a walk in freezer, and two large fridges set at different temperatures. The pantry has enough food and supplies to last us five members of ZIL for an entire year.”
“This ship is clearly prepared for expeditions or for spending substantial amounts of time in the field without resupply,” Angel commented.
“From that description, it seems our pantry is more well stocked than the average Soviet-era Moscow supermarket,” Stacy said appreciatively.
“There are no windows in the entire utility area, which is located within the ship,” Marilyn continued.
“The living area consists of two wings. Each wing has three bedrooms. One wing has a view of the left side of the MMM, the other wing the right side. So there is actually a spare bedroom for rescuees, guests or refugees.
Each of our bedrooms is over twice the size of a Hindenberg cabin, and we do not have to share it with anyone else in an upper bunk. There is no sink in the bedroom, unlike in the Hindenberg cabins. This reduces the need to run piping, or have to protect water pipes in cold weather. There is a wardrobe, and it says we will get 12 custom made bodysuits each.
The toilets and showers are located at two places in the central part of the ship, basically adjoining the kitchen or freezer in the utility area. Toilets and showers are located in separate cubicles within the same room, so two people can use at the same time.”
“The toilet and shower closest to one side of the MMM should be maintained by those who have cabins on that side,” Angel commented.
“There is no bathtub aboard the MMM due to the cost and weight of heating lots of water. However there is a banya (steam room) in between the two toilet/shower rooms. This allows us to wash ourselves under the showers and enter the banya without exiting into the colder corridors outside.
The working area is just three rooms. One is the control room for airship operations. One is the media room which has an array of large flat screens and a few inflatable sofas, so everyone can watch TV together or pull up data on the screens. One is the shared office with 5 computer terminals and 5 desks where everyone can read and write reports.
The three rooms are separated by foam partition walls which are sound deadening, yet lighter than styrofoam. The partition walls can be dismantled to unite all 3 rooms into one main room.”
While Marilyn was talking, the Manager had been fiddling with a computer projector. Now he projected some floor plans onto the white board.
“This ‘working area’ is three rooms. Control Room, Media Room and Shared Office,” the Mentor clarified. “You can take down the partitions if you want, and call it all the main room or operations room or whatever you like. But because the Media Room also doubles as a meeting room for each of you to communicate with your Benefactors and Mentors at set times, we suggest that you do not take down all partitions. Meetings have to be private.”
Marilyn pointed to a dotted line drawn on the floor of the Media Room.
“The Media Room is quite large, so it can still be subdivided into two smaller rooms with foam partition walls. Sometimes two of us may be meeting remotely with our Benefactors or Mentors at the same time. Hence the need to subdivide.”
“Oh yes, what about the viewing galleries?” Angel asked.
Marilyn turned to Stacy. “We’ve all been on board except you. There are two decent-sized rooms that protrude slightly from the gondola, one on either side of the second floor. Their windows are much bigger so you get a very good view, including beneath your feet. These are apparently viewing galleries. We can use them to spot for fire or polar bears or anything our mission wants us to do.
“We couldn’t see anything last time,” Naz pointed out. “Except for little peeks through the torn places.”
“That’s because they were still new and covered with protective film from the outside. Now that the ship interior is finished, the contractors are supposed to remove all protective film. So we can finally use the viewing galleries.”
“I’ve measured with my feet,” Riley said. “They’re just big enough for us to squeeze inflatable sofas for five in there. So we can sit and comfortably watch the sunrise or sunset if we so desire.”
Marilyn had this huge smile on her face. “Isn’t it incredible? Because so much of our furniture is inflatable, carrying them over will be a breeze!”
“If the weather is good we can even enjoy the outside breeze,” Naz said. “Since there are two open air balconies of sorts on the first floor. These would probably be good for spotting more things or hauling things up by rope. But the balconies are pretty simple designs, so we’ll just have to sit or stand around and you can’t be scared of heights.”
Angel seemed to shudder at that. Stacy noticed some movement, but wasn’t sure because she only noticed it using peripheral vision.
Riley urged everyone to go back on topic. “The third floor was mostly unfinished as of last month, but now it is supposed to be filled with equipment for all of us. Tell us more?”
Marilyn nodded and continued:
“Third floor is smaller as it extends into the body of the airship. These are rooms without windows. Even if there were windows, they could only see the inside of the airship anyway. Third floor includes the secret meeting room or interrogation room, the prison cell, water storage, water treatment plants, the stores which include winter clothing, and the armory which stocks an array of both lethal and nonlethal weapons and ammunition.
The machine shop in the garage is basically Naz’s office. Everybody else’s office is on the third floor.
There is a small chemistry lab for Angel and a small biology lab on the third floor for me. These are compact, but well designed and supported. For instance, my file here says there will be an X-ray diffractometer, which would help Angel analyse mineral samples. There is an ICP spectrometer for analysing the composition of liquids. Despite the additional weight that it adds to the airship, there is an ultra-low temperature freezer. ULT freezers are vital for preserving any biological samples that I – a biologist – may collect.
There is also a small computer room for Riley. There’s various hardware items, and also electrical equipment such as soldering guns.”
“H’m?” Riley mumbled.
“Don’t like it?”
“I’m not too comfortable at the idea of doing soldering in an unventilated area.”
“That should be the least of your concerns,” Marilyn said. “Airship manual says there are professional quality air suctions and ventilation. And it it’s close to – though not exactly – a clean room. So you can take apart hard disks if really needed.”
“And finally, there is an office for our leader Stacy. It’s actually a media room.”
“We already have a media room on the second floor, right?” Stacy asked.
“This media room allows for AM/FM broadcast. It also has a top quality dye sublimination printer. So you can produce professional-quality brochures, reports and flyers if needed.”
Stacy was not that concerned about having top quality desktop publishing available for her. She was wondering about the interrogation room and prison cell mentioned earlier.
“The interrogation room is also lightweight, but secure.
We might need to transport mentally ill or violent people occasionally, the prison cell walls are padded. The size of the cell is a little bigger than a king-sized bed, so two prisoners can lie down, and more can be crammed in at a pinch. There is a small toilet and a sink. We can control the water from the outside, so prisoners cannot flood their cells.
All the showers, toilets, kitchen facilities, water storage and water treatment are located in the center of the ship for a good reason. Northern Eurasia is very cold most of the year. Furthermore an airship often ascends to high altitude, and gets blown by strong cold winds. These can easily lead to frost on the outside of the ship. All the piping and water is located in the ship interior, so that it is easier and more energy efficient to keep the water from freezing.”
Marilyn stopped and looked at her reading material again.
“Oh, Pas-siv-haus. Right.
The MMM has been constructed with the Passivhaus concept in mind, so it is extremely energy efficient and saves a lot of energy in winter.
The gondola is airtight and very well insulated. An excellent heat recovery ventilation system is in place to ensure that fresh air continually flows through the living spaces, with very low thermal loss.”
Naz stirred. “Did they take my feedback?”
“Yes Ms Palavandishvili,” the Manager answered on behalf of Marilyn. “Once your leader confirmed that your team would be staying in Northern Eurasia for long periods, we acted on your feedback.”
What feedback? Stacy, Riley and Angel glanced at each other.
“The garage is a source of heat loss,” Naz explained. “So I asked for a second set of doors.”
Naz didn’t add that she didn’t want to work in freezing conditions. Since a lot of garage offices were very cold in winter.
“Actually, we went even further. A third set of doors was installed,” the Manager smiled.
“Did that take up a lot of space?”
“No. There remains only one set of hard doors for front and back. The second set are made of lightweight foam, albeit securely and permanently fastened so they can resist changes in air pressure. And the third set are actually just two layers of thermal curtains, securely fastened from floor to ceiling. But taken together, these should greatly reduce heat loss from the ship during winter.”
Naz had a pleased expression on her face. One of the worst things about having an office adjoining the garage, was always that it got very cold in winter whenever somebody moved a vehicle.
“You mentioned front and back. So there are two entrances or exits?” Stacy asked.
“Yes.
There is a staircase near the front, and an elevator near the back. The elevator allows for transportation of stretchers and heavier things into the ship interior. The staircase is a simple, compact spiral staircase similar to the Skyship 5000 or Sentinel 5000 designs.
When evacuating injured people, they are expected to enter via the garage and be placed in the gym. If the people in stretchers or wheelchairs need access to the second and third floors, they take the elevator.
The use of two exit/ entrances that are located at opposite ends of the airship are to comply with safety and evacuation requirements.
The elevator can also be operated by a hand crank. This allows it to function even if all power is shut down.”
…
Marilyn turned a page in her manual to jog her memory.
“Ah yes. Lastly, capabilities.
In theory, the MMM can ascend to the height of a standard jetliner at 10-13km altitude. However, this is dangerous in practice. The MMM is only moderately insulated, and it does not have pressurized cabins. This means that we would be at an altitude where there is not enough oxygen content to breathe, and also it would be too cold to maintain normal operations within the ship.
In their wisdom, the Benefactors outfitted the MMM with oxygen bottles. So we can fly at very high altitudes for a while without losing consciousness. There is also an entire room full of winter gear, which we can also wear to survive the cold at very high altitudes. These are also necessary for operations in Northern Eurasia during winter.
The Hindenburg was operated 100-200m from the ground, a relic of times when few manmade structures were more than 10 meters high. In modern times there are so many tall buildings so we should be flying at altitudes above 300m most of the time.
Although this airship is cloaked, cloaking powers are still limited. And we still cast a huge shadow. So we should avoid overflying urban areas where we could be noticed.”
…
Marilyn had finished telling everyone the basics about the MMM. Now it loomed in front of the ZIL members, a vast ship in an even vaster warehouse-like building just that bit smaller than Boeing’s facilities in Washington State.