The nature of the Josiah run was this; KM-Beta was one of the stations responsible for mining metal ore from three local S-Type asteroids, which contain commercial quantities of nickel, iron and magnesium. The ore was abundant in the Kuiper belt, so this part of space had become quite a little hotbed for the mining entrepreneurs. The station had been in operation for fifteen years, but the water required to propel the mining canisters the short distances between the station and the rock faces could not be supplied by the station itself until its hydrogen-oxygen recombiner became operational in three years time. In the mean time most of the station’s water needs to be provided by the nearest Construction Rig, where it is received in larger quantities from other local asteroids. Sometimes Josiah is required to carry parts of the new hydrogen-oxygen recombiner from the Construction Station to aid its completion on KM-Beta. Sometimes it is required to take quantities of the newly mined ore away for refining.
SCHAEFER’S INTEGRITY