The research outpost is at heart a large drill, mounted on a stable platform, excavating a tunnel straight down. The tunnel itself is just short of a kilometer deep, but they want to drill much deeper to reach a pocket of interest, an old magma chamber that has emptied. It is the only one of its sort, and that is why they chose this location. Reaching it they hope to find clues about what happened from the minerals and gases that were encapsulated in that chamber.
Drilling down is more challenging than it seems. One expects a thermal gradient as the borehole gets deeper, but here the geothermal gradient is far from ordinary, with local temperatures much in excess of what one could expect. Well, what one would expect on a world where some dynamic equilibrium has settled in - the current state of this planet is clearly far from equilibrated.
In addition to the occasional lava chamber, there are are layers of high plasticity - meaning the surrounding rock can flow a bit. Not like water, but more like a river of thick paste that closes up any cracks and holes by itself and pushes anything in its way. The force of such flows can bend the tunnel walls or push it slowly away from verticality.
To go down the tunnel I had to wear the thermal suit again, and go partly with shaky elevators, partly on ladders, while all sort of wiring and tubes were hanging around, attempting to shuttle the heat and materials back up, and transfer cap down to the bottom where the boring equipment is at work. The tunnel is about five meters in diameter, and we go down only in the central part. The wall itself is metal plate with cooling fins and equipment, and still it is searing hot and glowing in some spots - as if it is ready to burst.
All these difficulties are compounded by a more mundane difficulty: the lack of proper funding - materials exist that are better suited for this enviroment. Active hardeners against thermal damage, such as the one we use on ships, and special armor plates to reinforce the walls. These cost a lot, and need a lot of energy.
That is why they were enthusiast to see me. I am a capsuleer, and it is easy for me to buy thermal hardeners and cap boosts and armor plating and armor repair modules that they can adapt for the tunnel.
I agreed to help them and buy the materials they need.
