Ark Royal begins its journey, stopping at a number of small logistics centers on its way out to sea, many hours passing as Rosa’s light fades from the empty sky. The most exciting part of their mission is still to come: a visit to one of the most productive open-cast mines still in operation. We learn that the largest and least resource-rich islands on Orus were settled, leaving the innumerable smaller mountains as the prime targets for extraction; however, many of these are beginning to shut down as their resources are exhausted, leaving ASMC in search of new sources and new extraction methods. This particular voyage is carrying tech demos for some of these methods, intended to qualify their use prior to deployment.
Dozens of hours later, as the sky darkens and home grows distant, Noira and the rest of the crew gather on the balconies atop Ark Royal to see the spotlights of the mine appear on the horizon, casting their cold beams into the night air. The anticipation is palpable as Ark Royal approaches, pulling up to the dockside at a servicing platform anchored to the island's steep rocky walls. An enormous chute descends from over the rim of the crater, snaking down the dark mountainside as crews align it with Ark Royal's bulk cargo bays.
While this happens, Noira and other members of the crew not directly associated with mining operations take a service pathway up the mountainside, winding alongside the cargo chute - maybe a light vehicle to make the drive. They're all anxious to get a glimpse inside this historic mine, to see with their own eyes what's only been poorly reproduced in images. Drawing nearer, they can hear the sounds of machinery from within, mingling with a noise Noira can't quite place. As they arrive at the top, they all flock to an overlook platform to see inside...
Robert W. Smith's Inferno is a good representation of what Noira sees.
The mine is an enormous pit - staggeringly high, a vast column bored far below the waterline. The spiralling steps along its walls are themselves vastly high, dwarfing the still-massive mining vehicles trundling along their worn paths. At the floor of the mine lies a terrible colossus, the monstrously large Founder-Processor, breathing laboriously as it rests against the near wall. It's a machine larger than Noira can possibly wrap her head around, its groans and strains echoing nightmarishly up and out of the mine, lost within the dark void above. Those gargantuan mining vehicles are but ants at its feet, bringing their offerings to deposit at its conveyor entrance. Slowly, violently, and eternally, the Founder-Processor melts down and purifies the ores in its dark burning heart, belching waste material down into the sea. It struggles perpetually as it heaves thousands of tons of processed minerals and alloys up the impossibly high pit wall, finally vomiting them over the ridge and down the long chute into Ark Royal's bays. Noira finds herself petrified by the scale; what she sees is horrifying and alien to her.
The whole scene is illuminated by several clusters of spotlights overseeing the operation. Tipped off by one of the visiting officers, a nearby set rotates around to illuminate our crew members, turning night into day as its blinding gaze sweeps over them. Noira feels the spotlights, the eyes of the machine, piercing into her heart; they see into the depths of her soul, into parts of her she herself has not yet discovered. The experience haunts her.
The crew descend down the mountain at their leisure; Noira hurries back to the ship. Others continue to mill about as Ark Royal continues to take on bulk cargo; some old mining equipment and such is also transferred aboard. Noira encounters a few of the crew members she’s gotten familiar with, in particular a woman named Kori. They spend a moment in the night together, mostly making small talk about the voyage and the mine. Kori is looking forward to her return home, her wife and children waiting for her. Noira, by contrast, prefers her life on the ship; she has little at home to go back to. She pretends to relate all the same; Kori is friendly and Noira appreciates the company.
After some time, Ark Royal has taken on all it can from the mine, and its crew board once again for the return journey. They have a few more stops ahead of them, particularly to deploy the experimental equipment they carry, but the crew knows they’re in the home stretch of their voyage. Home is on the horizon, as they enter the deepest, darkest round of the night…
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