Life on Ansaf is constrained by food.

When the food is provided by the government of Sota, walking into the drydark is easy.

They build a roof as they go, in many segments of arch. Each segment has four pieces: two rigid blocks and two thin pieces of shell. All the pieces are light enough to be carried by catfolk, and installed by catfolk too - the blocks interlock with the adjacent blocks and the shell halves slot into the blocks below them, all with no werewolf magic required. The werewolves are mostly stationary, sheltering in the tube, taking the time to fully enervate the source rock and produce a batch of pieces all at once.

Every 25 minutes, a werewolf can produce about ten pieces of one type, which can be installed in about 25 seconds. Keeping a site of assembly continuously supplied, then, requires 50 werewolves. Times 4 sites of assembly, so 200 werewolves, and 200 catfolk... But actually, Kef can spare werewolves more easily than catfolk, keeping the turbines pumping at full power but shorthanding the mines. And the assembly itself, out in the cold, must be done by catfolk, but anyone can pull a cart.

The ground is uneven, but for now, they let it be, only using the most impeding boulders for source rock. It won't be worth delivering food by equartier until they're much deeper into the drydark, and there will be plenty of time to straighten and flatten the path before then. The ground is measured in advance by a mouseling and a boark, and the werewolves adjust each block to fit. The pieces of shell are all identical.

Working in two 15-hour shifts, approaching the crash site at one klick per hour, are: 700 werewolves, 100 catfolk, 10 boarks, 1 mouseling, 1 kappa, 1 elph, 5 gnomunks, 1 wroth, 1 kitsune, 1 vampire, 1 liefling, 5 frogolds, 1 gnoll, 2 stetcaps, 1 human, 1 goatseer, and 1 irontooth.

"...So given the current power readings and the minor miracle your boys pulled off with those wind turbines, Nina... We have just about enough power to run the habitat systems with a little left over."

"Yep. We have a lot more stored, about forty power cells worth, but running our vehicles very hard or building any more modules will drain that really quick. And there's a dozen other concerns I have in the longer term... Ice isn't a great foundation material."

"We have four intact Exploration Rovers and two transports, though I'd only trust one right now- Green Giant snapped two of her eight axles in the landing. We can fix her with time and resources. The rovers are great news, I have plenty of boys and girls who would be down for scouting the, uh, salvage field and looking for useful things."

"People are mostly in survival mode for now. They're thanking their lucky stars for being alive, hugging their families... Or grieving, for a lot of 'em. Losing over a fourth of our people is really not good. In terms of security and morale we don't have much to worry about yet."

"We have some observations of star motion. It's slow but measurable, and some math and estimates place us about four hundred kilometers into the 'dark side' of the planet. I think we should send a scout team there to investigate conditions. It might be better, long term."

"The solar panels would work, if nothing else."

"To return to the power situation, I believe it is imperative that we recover a reactor module."

"Oh come on. The first one gave a dozen people radiation poisoning- So far! Are you braindead, you want to risk the next one being damaged and poisoning us all?"

"Cool it down a notch, Nina. We might have no choice. The hydroponics modules, recyclers, mining modules if we find any ore under all this ice... All that takes a LOT of power."

"I'm well acquainted with the risks, considering I'm the one who has to treat the poor bastards. I'm also aware of the risks of dehydration, malnutrition, and hypothermia. Miss Carver, I urge in the strongest possible term to identify and secure a reactor module. For the future of our unwanted new home."

"Fine! Point taken. How the fuck would we even sink all that heat without melting the foundations we sit on..." Nina mutters.

"We want to find the other reactor modules and confirm their condition either way. So we know our options and if we have to set more exclusion zones. Bass, did you finish the radiation shielding I asked for?"

"Sure did, boss. Thin sheets of steel we can bolt to the rovers and expedition suits. I had the doc look at it and he said it will cut radiation exposure to about half if we follow good decon protocols. Might slow people down or cause a puncture or two but the pressure is okay, it's just cold. I'm planning to give scout teams two days of light work for every day out there, since it's bound to be grueling."

"Fix the other transport. Get me a hydroponics module. Send three rovers to look for a reactor, but catalog anything else they find too. Send one rover to look for a route to the bright side of the planet."

Snow falls over parts of the drydark, for the first time in a very long time, as the boiled ice from the crash site and fires condenses and slowly falls back down. Not that much. Just a light dusting. And only some of it is slightly to moderately radioactive.

The first large piece of debris they find is a bent steel locker door landing far from the rest by some freak coincidence. "T. Cooper" is engraved in it. The lock is fused into slag and the hinges are torn.

"There are bits of ice falling from the sky!"

"It's called 'snow' - the Storms make it sometimes."

"This is from the Storms?"

"There's a theory that there are more Storms deep in the drybright. Maybe there are more Storms deep in the drydark too.

The Storms happen where the air gets colder, as the darkward trade winds pass into the dark - maybe the crash heated the air and now it's cooling off again."

"Oh, that makes sense. This 'snow' can't be normal or there would be more of it."

"And if this much water was always moving from the Storms into the drydark, I think the chartreuse would be shrinking a lot faster."

Why did Lei send a gardener? Just because he speaks Sotalese?

He's not complaining! He's going to be the best double agent with no training on doubling agent who's ever doubled agent.

This is awesome.

She has already thoroughly examined Kef with her sonar - openly! - and sent a report back to Lei by messenger. One mission complete. Everything else that she gets to see now is a bonus.

Oh hey a vampire, you don't see those every cycle. "Hi, I'm Calsa! Where are you from?"