Chapter 40: The Oil Shortage
The investigation of the wrecked ship concluded successfully. Although no skeleton crew members or wraiths were found, the five sisters seemed satisfied. That night, they were so excited that they couldn’t sleep, eventually clinging to Commander Eve and receiving a rare scolding from Ringo. It was amusing that Commander Eve was scolded alongside them. (Later, she received a heartfelt apology from Ringo.)
Following this, the wrecked ship was set to be towed to The Tree. It was deemed useful as research material, and there was also the goal of recovering iron resources from the cannons and other equipment on board.
While this was satisfactory regarding the wrecked ship, a separate issue arose that needed consideration.
There was an urgent need to detect any ships that might approach The Tree early on. Based on the anticipated technological level, it could be assumed that if worst came to worst, eliminating any potential threats could keep The Tree’s existence a secret. However, our understanding of this world was almost non-existent.
For instance, the technological system of magic. In this regard, our knowledge was zero. In fact, due to scientific insights, there might even be a negative bias. As of now, information gathered from Port Town Terek indicated that there was no technology similar to long-distance communication. However, it could not be definitively stated that nations with superior technology compared to Terek lacked magical long-distance communication capabilities.
If we were to sink a ship approaching The Tree and it reported the attack back to its home country, it would be disastrous. If recognized as a hostile organization, our movements would become severely restricted. If possible, we wanted to engage in peaceful negotiations.
By the way, “peaceful” here does not mean without the use of force; it means without armed conflict. We intended to actively pursue gunboat diplomacy.
“The investigation of ocean currents should be our top priority. I’m really glad the situation in Port Town Terek has stabilized…”
“Yes, Ma’am. They have roughly established a patrol network. We can judge that it has been stable for several months. Let’s allocate some resources to marine research.”
We decided to reclaim some of the resources previously allocated to the area around Port Town Terek and redirect them to investigate the waters surrounding The Tree. First, we would increase the number of solar-powered reconnaissance aircraft, Swift, while also replacing the observation equipment to study the ocean currents. Ideally, we would like to deploy buoys for a detailed investigation, but for now, we decided to avoid releasing artificial objects. We didn’t want to share even trivial information with other factions.
“As for satellites… that’s still impossible. We can’t even manage to build a launch site, and producing rockets is resource-intensive…”
“Yes, Ma’am. There are also technical issues. We haven’t conducted any investigations since we observed some kind of upward resistance when we exceeded an altitude of 5 kilometers.”
“Now that you mention it, that was a problem too…”
There remained the issue of the abnormal ascent speed observed in the high-altitude plane launched immediately after our transfer. We still had fixed rocket boosters in stock, but additional production was challenging. Moreover, to safely launch a satellite, we would need to conduct multiple test launches. We knew nothing about the space of this world or planet yet. For the time being, we needed to continue observations using the solar-powered reconnaissance aircraft, Swift.
“However, Swift has strict payload limitations…”
“Yes, Ma’am. This is a difficult issue to resolve due to Swift’s structure. Most of the weight is taken up by the motor, battery, and power generation equipment.”
The solar-powered reconnaissance aircraft, Swift, had limitations on the equipment it could carry due to its function of maintaining altitude through solar power. Naturally, heavy equipment could not be loaded, and there were strict limitations on the energy sources for the observation instruments. During the day, the batteries needed to be charged for nighttime flights, and at night, the batteries would be drained to power the propellers. We had to carefully manage the minimal surplus.
“Hmm… I suppose we really need a larger aircraft…”
In that case, a large propeller-driven plane would be preferable. Jet aircraft were not considered due to their poor fuel efficiency. However, larger aircraft required runways, which The Tree currently could not accommodate.
“The design for the flying boat is nearly complete, so shall we allocate resources to that?”
“Yes, let’s adjust our resource plan. We should prioritize testing the flying boat. Also, we need to start seriously considering our fuel situation…”
At present, there was no sign of oil resources. Although we had some reserves, they would dwindle if we continued as we were. If we were to operate more aircraft, the consumption would increase significantly.
“Hmm… Hydrogen has low energy content and is unsuitable for aircraft fuel…”
“There’s a saying that you can’t have your cake and eat it too…”
“True. So, what are the actual prospects?”
Currently, The Tree had surplus energy. We could consider using this for hydrogen production as a substitute for oil fuel.
“Yes. The energy content of hydrogen is about 13 megajoules per standard volume. In comparison, jet fuel has about 37 megajoules per standard volume. Since they are gas and liquid, a simple comparison is difficult, but it’s safe to consider the energy content to be roughly one-third.”
“Simply put, would that mean our operational radius would also be reduced to one-third?”
“Yes, Ma’am. If we get into specifics, it could become complicated, but that understanding is sufficient. Using hydrogen fuel for combustion would indeed result in a smaller operational radius compared to jet fuel. There is also the issue of lower output limits.”
“Are there any alternatives to combustion?”
“Yes, Ma’am. We can use fuel cells to convert the energy.”
As Ringo explained, data was displayed regarding the power output from fuel cells and motor performance. However, Commander Eve’s focus was likely on the manufacturing and maintenance resources.
“The initial costs are high, and the running costs are steep as well…”
“To secure the necessary performance, we use high-function materials for the electrode catalysts, separators, electrolytes, and control devices. These electrodes wear out with use, requiring regular replacements.”
“High-function materials… Rare metals and special compounds. While the compounds can be produced with the molecular printer, this…”
Although it was more efficient than hydrogen gas turbines, the resources (costs) required were challenging to gather in sufficient quantities. It might be better to straightforwardly invest resources in oil field exploration rather than continue this.
“Ships can be equipped with large gas turbine engines, so replacing them with hydrogen fuel is an option, but aircraft face various constraints, making fuel cells the more favorable choice overall.”
“Ugh…”
Rare metals could be recovered from seawater, albeit with low efficiency. However, even just calculating running costs, the current production levels could not cover the expenses. We would have to reduce the number of operational units, which would in turn decrease exploration efficiency.
“…This won’t do. For the time being, let’s continue using oil for aircraft. Is it acceptable to switch the fuel for ships to hydrogen?”
“Yes, Ma’am. If we limit oil use to flying boats, there should be no issues for the time being. We can either continue searching for oil fields or consider other energy sources in parallel.”
We had the ships necessary for trade. From the perspective of range and engine output, all the constructed vessels were equipped with diesel engines, but we decided to replace them with hydrogen gas turbines. The flying boats would continue to be developed based on the currently designed models, focusing on energy efficiency. We would steer towards reducing the consumption of the oil reserves stored at The Tree.
“If we could build large-scale facilities, many issues would be resolved…”
“Building facilities requires a large amount of iron, so we can’t start that yet.”
“If only the ground were stable…”
“Even though it’s shallow, it’s all surrounded by the sea. Just establishing a foundation would be extremely difficult. Given the current situation, our priority should be…”
“…Constructing a platform for underwater mining. Since we can’t find mines on land, we must place our hopes on the seabed.”
“Yes, Ma’am. At this point, it is assumed to have the highest success rate.”