Chapter 1204: 1204
At this moment, New York was also enshrouded in an incessant torrential rain .
Anyone who stayed outdoors for more than ten seconds was guaranteed to end up completely drenched from head to toe .
The rain was so heavy that it was painful when it slapped on one's face, a dull pain . It was also icy cold, and like the fingers of the dead, it strived to take away all warmth from the living .
But it was in such weather that every inhabitant of the temporary base, from the young to the old, had poured outside and congregated on a large open area, packing the area full . They looked towards a huge platform in front of them with complicated gazes .
Hundreds of thick pipes surrounded the platform, meandering like giant snakes and twisting about like blood vessels . They were connected to some ugly large folds in the middle of the platform . A dull roar rose from the machines under the ground, and the earth shook . The pipes also began to wriggle like they had lives of their own . A large amount of gas started to be pumped in .
The air being pumped was not helium, that was normally used in airships, but an inert gas called mirium, which Dr . Octopus had developed recently . Not only could this inert gas provide three times the buoyancy of helium and was non-combustible, it's production cost was just one fifth that of helium .
The biggest problem with this gas was that the pollution from its preparation process was very troublesome to deal with . The pollution would cause the carcinogenic rate of local residents to increase by 7,000% and would take at least several decades to remove under normal conditions, but considering the current circumstances, it was no longer a problem .
A behemoth of an object gradually took shape as mirium was rapidly pumped into the balloon . The airship was an astonishing 318 meters in length, 60 meters in diameter, 300 tons in weight, and 300,000 cubic meters in volume . This meant that it was more than three times the length of a Boeing 747 and more than six times the diameter . The interior of the balloon was further divided into 128 sub-airbags, an intricate design .
Soon, the enormous lifting force produced by the balloon stretched the steel cables of the airship taut . According to experimental data, the actual lifting force of the airship was 921 tons, 10% higher than the design objective . There was no abnormalities with the steel cables connecting the balloon to the carriage compartment . All the experimental result was quite normal .
People were now allowed to go into the airship to inspect it . They found that the accommodation inside the airship were divided into two types . The first kind was a simple and wide room akin to a barrack .
In order to reduce weight, the bunk beds inside were specially designed and assembled . To put it bluntly, the bunk beds were just two pieces of rubber boards, one on top and one below, fixed on the bulkhead and supported by rubber pillars . One could sleep after laying clothes or something on them .
Each barrack-like room could accommodate thirty people and had its own bathroom . The excrements were directly poured out of the airship without much thought for the environment . Drinking water and food were supplied by the airship management in limited amounts . Electricity use was also restricted to two hours a day . As for water for domestic use, the water tank in the toilet will be filled at noon every day . There would only be one tank of water per day .
The second kind of accommodation was similar to the rooms of a humble inn . Each room could accommodate four people, and there was no restriction on domestic water and electricity usage . The inhabitants could also make orders and shop in the restaurant on the airship . But, they need to pay or make contributions to the airship .
Basically, all those present were almost certain to live in the second type of accommodation .
Of course, the so-called payment was not made in currencies like dollars or euros, but a kind of token issued within the alliance . They could not find the relevant machinery to make coins in such short notice, so they just made some simple changes to the machinery that made Coke bottle caps to produce the tokens . That's why the tokens were also known as "caps" .
There were two ways to obtain tokens . First, there were specially prepared exchange points on the airship where people could trade in hard currencies like gold and diamonds for the tokens . Second, those who made contributions to the airship would get wages or rewards in the form of "caps" .
Next, various different tests were carried out . First, the airship's cabin was filled with a large amount of soil to simulate the airship's full load or even mild overload . The numbers reflected that its performance was satisfactory, without any abnormalities .
The last test was the damage resistant test, mainly testing for the airship's performance after sustaining permanent damage . The airship was subjected to a relentless collaborative attack from the vampires and the X-Men . When the destruction of the airship balloon while it ascended reached 20%, it could still maintain 90% of its transport capacity, but when the destruction reached the critical point of 50%, the airship's transport capacity declined rapidly . Despite that, the airship still persisted for 10 minutes before it started crashing down . The quality could be considered to be very high .
The solid and lightweight cabin of the airship could easily float on water, which was a security measure in case of an emergency landing .
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