Mining Deck

The Mining Deck was the largest section of the USG Ishimura and the heart of its planet cracking work. It was where asteroids and planet fragments were broken apart and smelted for the valuable minerals the Concordance Extraction Corporation sought, and it occupied the bottom portion of the ship across four separate subdecks. Drifting asteroids were drawn in and held by gravity tethers, then sent through stages of extraction, processing and storage. One of the last areas to be overrun during the 2508 outbreak, it was also where Isaac Clarke, under the influence of the Marker, first met the figure of Nicole Brennan since she had left for the ship.

Function and layout#

The Mining Deck sat on the bottom of the Ishimura and served as the working core of the planet cracker. Asteroids and planet fragments were broken apart and smelted within it, and because the operation required so much space it was by far the largest deck on the ship. Drifting asteroids were brought in through an entrance on the third level and held in place by gravity tethers, where they would then be sent on for harvesting or smelting. Like the rest of the ship it was served by a Tram Station, which shared its location with the Engineering Deck Tram Station so that the ship's computer reminded passengers to check their stop before leaving the tram.

The first level handled preparation. Arriving miners changed into their gear, synchronized their RIGs with the Mining Deck systems and made ready for work on the lower levels, and the level included a Mining Operations room holding processed minerals and alloys ready to be moved to the Cargo Bay, along with a large RIG Room of locker rooms and showers. The second level was devoted to processing, where extracted minerals were refined through the Processing Chamber and monitored from Mineral Processing Control.

The third level was where the mining itself took place, holding an enormous Mining Bay, an Extraction Room and a Mining Control station used to monitor the systems and launch beacons, along with an Ore Storage room for ore and other metals waiting to be transported away. The fourth and lowest level housed the deck's maintenance facilities, including Secure Storage, a Repair Room and various equipment and utility rooms.

During the outbreak#

The Mining Deck was one of the last sections of the Ishimura to be overrun. Because it remained secure for so long, it is possible that a number of survivors were still sheltering there when the USG Kellion crashed aboard the ship's Flight Deck. Even so, the infection and the madness it brought reached the deck. In the Ore Storage room the crazed colonist Brant Harris, sent down to steal materials for Dr. Challus Mercer's experiments, was caught by a miner and used the room's store as a death trap to kill him, raving that the man would not laugh at him as others had on the Aegis VII Colony.

For Isaac Clarke the Mining Deck held a more personal significance, as it was here that he first encountered the figure of Nicole Brennan since her departure for the Ishimura, one of the early apparitions through which the Marker worked upon his mind. The deck appeared again only briefly in later years, glimpsed as a flashback to the lost ship during the events on the Sprawl.