Novel Excerpt

Part of a hard SF novel about the first extra-solar colony. (Yes, I've been working on this for a long time. Hard SF is, indeed, hard.)

"Here's our set of inspection gauge blocks," said Goose, presenting the case and opening it as if it contained someone's crown jewels. "Top quality ceramic, with a guaranteed accuracy of one part in half a million."

"Well, as long as they don't take up too much of your volume and mass allowance."

"Waide, there are several other things I would leave behind before doing without these," said Goose, flatly. "In a very real sense, engineering is measurement. With these and some other tools I'm packing we'll have durable, accurate standards for length, mass, volume, temperature and time." 

"Excellent," said Waide, nodding. As a physicist he certainly understood the need for accurate measurement and good standards. Waide eyed the engineer for a moment, reluctant to ruin his good mood, but he had to settle something important. "You're still over on your mass and volume limit."

"Not any more," said Goose, surprising him with a triumphant smile. "I got Daviess to agree to drop the drill rig. Had help from Sammies, who pointed out that we would be a long time there before needing petroleum and it would be far easier to find water on the ground than to drill for it. I mean, if there wasn't surface water near our landing site we wouldn't land there. That should also save us quite a bit of money and mass."