A Visitor to the Future - 57 - Built to Last
The two figures at the bottom of the site were an interesting pair - one sported a large white, wiry beard, which covered the lower part of his face and neck, otherwise he was completely bald, his pale head flecked with spots of mud. He seemed to be wearing some kind of overalls and rugged boots and his frame was stocky and well-built. The second was a tall woman with dark brown skin. She had close-cropped dark hair with a v-necked jumper - revealing that her neck was entirely covered in black line-art tattoos of concentric patterns. They seemed completely absorbed in what they were doing, looking at some sort of screen provided by a hovering drone. It was only when we got within ten metres that they noticed us.
"Oh," said the overall-wearing one in a soft north American accent, an odd amalgamation of several different regions to my mind. He seemed suddenly flustered and patted his own overall pockets for a moment, "Is that the time? Thank you for coming and finding me - my, we completely lost track of time."
"We?" said the woman, tone a little critical, "You didn't tell me you had an appointment."
"I, then. I admit it! I lost track of time. I really need the Consortium to start announcing my appointments. In fact, Consortium, please give me a ten-minute reminder before anything I've got scheduled from now on. This won't happen again."
Sarkona laughed, "That's quite alright, I think we enjoyed looking around the site."
"Oh, what did you think? Especially you? Sarkona explained you're new in their message," he asked me.
"It's interesting," I said, "I'm surprised at how many walking machines you use here - that's all still very new to me."
"Oh, wait," said the bearded man, "Where are our manners? My name is Malcolm and this is Waiola - good to meet you both!" He raised one hand and gave a short wave, which we returned. "We do use tracked and wheeled vehicles too, but walkers have the advantage of being able to move heavy loads even across terrain that isn't level. Though we have drones for most long-distance movement, if we have something really heavy we either have to break it apart or move it over the ground."
"You talk like you've never seen a walker before," said Waiola, "Are you from offworld?"
"No," I said, "I was born on Earth, I guess is what you'd say these days. I was recently cryocontained."
"Interesting," said Waiola, and nothing else.
"Anyway," said Malcolm, "Once again, thanks for bearing with me. I was very interested in this site from the get-go but this area in particular is very interesting - would you like to take a look?" He indicated towards the screen.
The screen was showing a cross-section of the wall in front of us, providing a sort of X-ray vision. "Ground penetrating radar," said Waiola by way of an explanation. The screen was dominated by a large concrete pillar, surrounded by the earth around it. The display was not colour-accurate, however, instead using a colour scheme to denote some features of the earth around the pillar.
"What makes this special," said Malcolm, "Is this is an original pile. Do you both know much about traditional construction?"
We shook our heads. I only knew the basics, and evidently it had never been an interest for Sarkona even in their long life.
"Well, if you want a building to be stable in the long term you'll need to make sure your foundations are solid. Deep foundations are those foundations that are set - you guessed it - deep into the earth. That's different to shallow foundations - like rafts, that you might see in traditional American housing. So, you take a damn big pole of concrete - a pile - and drive it into the Earth. Following me so far?"
We nodded.
"Right, so what makes this particular pile special is that it's an original. Depending on the building, piles and foundations as a whole are rated for a number of years. For a typical American house constructed in this era, your foundations might last seventy-five to one-hundred years. That sort of lifespan was good enough to ensure that several generations of families would live in the building before it needed to be replaced. For taller, functional and industrial buildings like this one, you might try for a life-span of two-hundred years or so. This site was built in 2416. The Consortium took over maintenance not far into the 2600s - which means this particular pile is six-hundred and five years old." He gave a whistle at that. "Which is just damn impressive for a part of the foundations rated for about two-hundred years of use."
"Any idea why it lasted so long?" asked Sarkona.
"That is what we're trying to figure out," said Waiola, "We think it is a combination of the unusually stable soil here - and the fact that the piles that the Consortium replaced or added additional supports to over the years took the extra burden. The Consortium saw no reason to have to replace this particular part of the structure."
"If I could build something like this, that lasts three times its life expectancy? I would be a very happy man," said Malcolm, "Seems like almost a shame to be digging it up, but that's what we do in the ERP."
"Can I ask - what is this place? It looks very industrial, like you said."
"I'm all over the place today for sure - probably should have told you that earlier," said Malcolm, scratching his beard, "This is the former Mosmos Corporation Plant 106 - a Thorium breeder reactor."