Working the Loki margin without cooking the crew

Io is the most dangerous place the Guild works. Jupiter's radiation belts are fierce at Io's orbit, and an unshielded person on the surface would take a lifetime dose in hours. Yet the Loki Margin Scandium Crust, registered claim FV-0703, is too valuable to ignore: scandium at 160 g/t and vanadium at 900 g/t, in a crust only 2 to 35 metres thick. My job is to make sure we mine it without hurting anyone.

The rules are strict. Nobody works a surface shift longer than ninety minutes. Every suit carries a live dosimeter that reports to the station, and anyone who passes their daily limit is recalled immediately, no arguments. Crews rotate off Io every six weeks to a sheltered base on Callisto.

Equipment choices follow from that. We avoid any tool that needs a person standing next to it. The Spectra Assay Lance fires from 12 metres away, so assayers can stay in a shielded crawler and shoot through a port. The Sieve Ore-Sorting Rig at the Io Scandium Works runs almost entirely under remote control, with technicians entering only for maintenance.

Machines suffer too. Radiation degrades electronics, and Io's sulfur dust gets into everything. The sorter's sensors are rebuilt every four months instead of every two years, and we shield every control box with tantalum.

Since these rules came in, no Guild member on Io has exceeded their annual dose limit. I intend to keep it that way. If you are assigned to Io, attend the radiation briefing before you leave Ceres. It is not optional.