Belgica Complex

The factory is always sweltering. The heat hangs in the air, drips from your brow, worms its way through partitions and through ventilation shafts. It's supposed to be safe here, but nobody forgets why they're down here in the first place.

The Belgica Complex is a sprawling underground factory built and operated by Thermoset Chemistry, a subsidiary of Dadarejo Robotics. It was originally constructed to produce plastics that were sensitive to temperature shifts by insulating against the heat and cold cycles of the surface. It now serves as refuge for the labourers and their families who still live on Mercury. It has undergone numerous expansions and retrofits over the years to better deal with the situation after the Scorching.
Conditions in Belgica are difficult. The complex is often on the verge of uncomfortably warm, despite efforts to keep heat under control, and the cramped living conditions evoke the early spacefaring age. Material comfort is difficult to come by. Still, people remain. Perhaps it is the connection to the planet, or the certainty of a job and a place to call home.

Sanctuary

When the Scorching began, the Belgica Complex was operating as a normal factory. Hundreds of Mercurians came to the entrance of the factory in search of safety, and the factory workers could not turn them away. The refugees huddled in maintenance accesses and rest areas. The cafeteria's supplies were rationed and given out even as work continued.
Although the company considered abandoning the facility, the advantages of maintaining a manufacturing base on Mercury itself compelled the remnants of Mercurian governance, and later the Interplanetary Solar Defence Council to provide aid to maintain the complex.
The factory was heavily modified with a souped-up HVAC system that could store heat during the day season and expel it in the night season. Warehouses were converted into passable dormitories, and chemical tanks and piping was stripped out in favour of cranes, lathes and presses that could manufacture machine parts critical for the defense effort.

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War Economy

The workers of Belgica are paid wages like normal. Those whose families are off-planet often send most of the money away. Although basic food and board is provided free of charge, everything else must be purchased from the company or requisitioned to arrive with the next supply shipment. Prices are extremely inflated, often twice or three times pre-Scorching prices. The company is forced to lower them periodically when workers start objecting, threatening strikes and resignations, but they inevitably creep up again.
Managing a subterranean bunker of a factory on post-Scorching Mercury would not be economical without external subsidies, but there are advantages as well. For example, the lack of neighbors means potentially toxic waste can be disposed of very cheaply. Twisted piles of garbage and scrap can be seen baking in the sun all around the Belgica rupes.

Heat Management

In the diurnal phase, external conduits are battened down and heat from the complex is pumped into massive heat sinks drilled even deeper than the complex proper. Parts of the complex that are closer to the surface retract bulkheads to leave a vacuum gap between the complex and the surface, akin to a heat-retaining cup. Temperatures rise to the fringe of what is survivable.
In the nocturnal phase, the complex connects to the outside world. Shipments are scheduled to arrive at this time, providing relief. The heat sinks are connected to radiators and dump the stored heat of an entire season, a process likened to exhalation. Although no part of life in Belgica can be called easy, the night season may be the closest it gets.

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See Also

☿ Mercury

History Scorching of Mercury Locations Caduceus · Penumbra · Biomes ( Sunbleached Wastelands ) · Iron Spires ( Hokusai · Hun Kal ) · Enheduanna Characters Blue NM-2 · Eun · Sciah · Roseah · Tray Species Keras ( Mot · Walker ) Politics Ruling ( Mercurian Triumvirate · Interplanetary Solar Defence Council ) · Keystone of Mercury Society Ethnicities ( Refugees of Mercury · Nomads of Mercury ) · Borealis Ice Mining

Parent Location

Mercury