Tunnel construction and ledge maintenance — first generation, age 51
He talks less than he did before the fourth year, when a ceiling fall in the lower tunnel left him with a wrecked left knee and six weeks of enforced stillness in which he concluded he thought too much. He is careful with structural honesty the way some people are careful with money — giving it only when asked and only in the amount required, because he has seen what happens when people know more than they can act on. He is not a cheerful man but he is a steady one, and in Kolhavn these are often the same thing.
He trained in underground civil engineering through the colony-simulation program the Shoulder ran during the crossing — a specialty that did not exist before the mission and has not been needed anywhere since. He built most of the tunnel sections in years one through four, nearly alone, before the knee injury limited him to maintenance and inspection. He keeps a private notebook recording the progression of every stress fracture in every ledge cut; the entries have not been going well.
His notebook shows that the tunnel section running beneath the cook shelf is failing faster than he predicted and will require reinforcement the settlement currently lacks the materials and the labor to complete before the next storm season.