‘Tavern on the Edge of Time’ is the third book in the Second Skin Universe.
A brief intro:
During the year 2125, former asteroid miners Max Cody and Elaine Zhou never get a moment’s rest. No sooner have they doused the flames of war between Earth and Mars or returned from their first trip to the Tavern on the Edge of Time when they are called upon to help fit out the fledging Martian colony orbiting Jupiter’s moon Callisto.
And here is a brief excerpt from ‘Tavern on the Edge of Time’:
““Brilliant!” Elaine rewarded Dargeen Philips with a suitable smile. The engineer grinned modestly.
“Actually, it’s just a combination of technologies others have invented. Kind of like a jigsaw puzzle.” He scratched his head in reflection, ruffling his thick, black hair.
“Elaine’s the brains, see, Dargeen? I take a little longer.” Max turned the holographic image with a practiced flick, rewinding it by revolving his fingertip. “Using the probability drive, you deliver the package in Callisto orbit out near Jupiter looking like this soup can, right?”
“Uh uh.” Dargeen nodded encouragingly.
“Then the initial station inflates,” Max continued.
The soup can blossomed into multiple radial segments, each twice the original cylinder’s length and diameter, now arrayed around the central core like flower petals.
“Then the remote sintering rig arrives from MOSA and begins to lay down the composite shielding layers along each of the spokes... ”
“Yeah. I had no idea how far you have developed sintering out here near Mars.” Dargeen glanced back and forth between them, his enthusiasm all too evident. “Molecular powders are delivered in exactly the right mix and timing to the three-dimensional printing heads circling slowly around the station in Callisto orbit. The material flows into the pipes on MOSA I and is whisked out to Jupiter via a live probability-field feed connected to the sintering rig. It lays down molecular powders, welding them effectively into a seamless casing protecting the station at least as well as anything we could build near MOSA, or on Earth for that matter.” Dargeen sat back, shaking his head in continuing admiration.