Chapter 10: Tractor
The steam generator and the steel-smelting blast furnace were complete, but they couldn’t be put into use just yet.
This was because the high-capacity thermal generator required a much larger fuel supply.
The current mining team was already stretched to its limit just supporting the two existing generators. A new generator that demanded several times more fuel than the other two combined would be impossible to supply, even if the Clones worked themselves to death.
Even adding the five new Clones to the mining team wouldn’t be enough.
The mining team’s current method was to drive a planetary rover, use its power supply for an electric heating device to cut the Solid Oxygen and Solid Tolin, and then load the chunks into its cargo bed to haul back.
The planetary rover wasn’t originally designed for mining, so its capacity and cutting power were limited. Furthermore, even on Ceres, with its extremely low gravity, repeatedly hauling Solid Oxygen and Solid Tolin for long periods was exhausting work. The Clones’ transport efficiency was very low.
Throwing more manpower at mining was unrealistic. For one, he didn’t have enough people. For another, even if he did, it would be a waste of labor.
Li Qingsong had a better idea.
’Then... I’ll just build a tractor!’
With a tractor built specifically for transport, his current predicament would be solved in one fell swoop. Both the transport of iron ore and the fuel demand for the high-power generator could be met.
The question now was how to build this tractor.
The two Clones stationed on the Deep Space Spaceship once again began a period of intense study.
After they finished learning the basic principles, the 22 minds he now controlled began to think in unison, rapidly producing blueprints with an efficiency that far surpassed an ordinary person’s.
The refining and processing equipment started up again, churning out a steady stream of parts that were then carefully assembled by the Clones.
At first, it was impossible to tell what the Clones were assembling just by looking at it.
It looked like a large iron can, covered in irregular protrusions and connection ports.
But as time passed and more and more components were produced, it gradually began to take shape.
Finally, a relatively small steam engine appeared before the Clones.
That’s right. This tractor wasn’t powered by an internal combustion engine, let alone an electric one like the planetary rover. It was steam-powered.
Other than a steam engine, Li Qingsong couldn’t find any other power source at this stage.
With the tractor’s "heart" complete, the remaining components were much easier to make. Finally, after more than a month, the tractor unit was finished.
Li Qingsong looked at the crude tractor unit before him. It had four steel wheels and was about 1.5 meters high, 2 meters wide, and 2.2 meters long. After more than two months of hard work, he could finally breathe a sigh of relief.
’It’s finally finished...’
This was a tractor unit with a completely mechanical structure, devoid of any electrical systems.
Its internal systems for power transmission, fuel regulation, and so on were entirely mechanical. It was the very definition of big, clunky, and crude—primitive to the extreme.
A contraption like this would belong in a museum if it were on Earth.
But for Li Qingsong, it was incredibly useful.
After an initial burst of heat was supplied to melt the Solid Oxygen and Solid Tolin for the tractor’s steam engine, it finally started up.
Li Qingsong waited patiently for the water ice to melt and generate steam.
The process took more than ten minutes. Finally, a faint vibration ran through the chassis, indicating the power was ready.
Indeed, every time it was started, the tractor took over ten minutes. It couldn’t be cold-started and required an external heat source to get going.
If it broke down out in the field, it would be unable to restart on its own and would have to wait for external rescue.
A Clone climbed aboard, grabbed the gear stick, and shifted into gear. The steam’s power was immediately transmitted to two of the four wheels, which in turn set all four rolling. The chassis began to move slowly forward.
As the steam engine’s power increased, the tractor’s speed picked up. Finally, with the engine running at full capacity, the tractor unit reached its top speed of about ten kilometers per hour—roughly the pace of a person jogging.
’This speed will do.’
Li Qingsong immediately began the next experiment.
The tractor’s cargo trailer was already built. It was a steel container two meters wide, four meters long, and half a meter deep.
It had a connection port on the front, allowing it to be hitched directly to the tractor unit and pulled along.
Li Qingsong directed the Clones to load large chunks of Tolin Ore and Oxygen Ore into the cargo trailer. They piled up a total of seven to eight cubic meters, with a mass of about six to seven tons. Then, the tractor unit was started once more.
This time, the tractor unit clearly struggled under the load.
Thick plumes of black smoke billowed from the smokestack, rapidly dissipating into the vacuum of Ceres’s surface before falling as black snow in the distance.
The tractor unit trembled, its four steel wheels straining as they rolled, dragging the heavy cargo trailer slowly forward. Its top speed was now only six or seven kilometers per hour.
Li Qingsong watched it intently until the Clone controlling it had driven a kilometer or two down the canyon and turned back.
A group of Clones immediately stepped forward to carefully inspect the tractor unit’s condition. Only after they confirmed it was in good shape and had no malfunctions did his heart truly relax.
After the inspection was complete, the tractor was immediately put into service.
Following a gentle slope leading out of the canyon to the surface, the tractor trembled, its engine roaring silently as it drove out onto the desolate, dead landscape of Ceres.
It took over an hour, navigating around ravines and hills and traveling more than ten kilometers, to finally arrive at a previously scouted site rich in Oxygen Ore.
On the surface of Ceres, Tolin Ore was everywhere and could be sourced locally. Oxygen Ore was relatively scarce, requiring some travel to find.
Two Clones hopped down from the tractor unit, each taking out a heat pipe. One end of the pipe was connected to the steam engine, allowing it to double as a heating and cutting device.
Below the surface, the pale blue Oxygen Ore glittered with a strange light under the distant, dim Sun and their mining lamps.
Under the heat of the pipes, large amounts of Solid Oxygen rapidly sublimated and vanished. In no time, a huge chunk of Oxygen Ore was cut free, lifted directly by the Clones, and placed into the cargo trailer.
It didn’t take long to fill the trailer, which now held seven or eight tons. The tractor roared to life again, slowly making its way back to Base One at an even slower pace than before.
The previously sparse fuel dump was instantly filled to capacity.
Looking at the overflowing piles of fuel, Li Qingsong let out a long, deep breath.
’This is perfect,’ he thought. ’With this tractor, not only does the mining team not need more hands, but I can actually reduce it from five members to two. That frees up three Clones for other tasks.’