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(Click here to read the Prologue / Beginning of this story)
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| I awake from my slumber coccoon a little disoriented, but eager to get to my new job! |
I'm up and out of bed quickly this morning, despite staying up late to read those technical manuals. The cold air of my dwelling hits me full force and I hop around blowing into my hands and jogging in place to warm up.
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| "I'm going to help in the medical lab... I hope we find a cure for the devastating virus!" |
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| Gobbling down some instant oatmeal |
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While eating breakfast, I realize I hadn't finished looking over all my paperwork and how to get to the Medical lab for work, so I shuffle through the pile of papers again and my eye is caught by the 'Regulations' list. I'd better read this so I'll know what to expect outside and around the station.
As I read through the rules, my heart begins to sink as the realization of how dire the situation here is and how my survival would not be easy despite making it here alive in the first place.
The first regulation stated the conditions of food rationing. Due to supply lines being cut and cargo shipments being few and far between, food was strictly rationed to 1 single meal a day! This was going to be difficult! I look down at my now empty bowl, and realize I'll get no more until tonight, midnight!
Secondly, the 'lockdown' status of the compound was so strictly enforced to prevent more virus risk that there were absolutely no places to go for socialization, nor were civilians allowed out on the streets unless boarding the work shuttle bus to and from their housing bunkers. Curfew to be indoors was 6pm, no exceptions as the temperatures prevented being outside once the sun went down.
The third regulation really made my jaw drop:
"Water is strictly rationed for drinking and minor cleaning only. No bathing, no swimming, no amounts larger than a small cleaning bucket allowed. Meters for the single sink in each bunker will report water useage. Anyone found wasting more than their single allotted amount will be removed from independent housing and put into barracks with 24/7 monitoring."
Oh, wow. This was getting worse by the minute.
The rest of the regulations seemed less dire, but nonetheless still very grim. There was no library or school, and the only books available were skill manuals like I'd been issued. Electricity was at a minimum, reserved for the main military and work compounds. Only basic, rationed oil heating and lamps were to be provided as well as battery operated radios and cellphones. It was like camping, but ...permanent!
One curious rule made me ponder... no visitors allowed in your private living quarters, period. Why would they care if you visited other citizens? I read on and blushed at the answer: Intimacy was forbidden due to lack of medication, birth control and limited housing for couples. Marriages and pregnancies must therefore be strictly forbidden as well until such time as military restrictions are lifted.
Well... that was that. It looked like things were going to be pretty boring around here!
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| Trying to be clean, with only a sink is difficult! |
Now I really do wish I had a shower... so I could warm up in the hot water and be clean for my first day on the job! It would not do to be smelly and dirty for a job in a hospital, would it? With little other choice... I quickly dress and brush my teeth for my first day, consciously using as little water as possible.
I do allow myself the luxury of listening to the crappy radio they gave me. The music is nearly drowned out by static and the station feed is just a bunch of old song recordings, but its better than cold silence. The situation does indeed seem hopeless, but I'm determined to survive and help others survive too...
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| Already hungry again by the time I run from the shuttle bus to the Medical and Science Facility |
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| The airlock entrance to the Medical and Science Facility |
The Science and Medical Facility entrance is small and unimpressive. The inside of a giant dome can be seen next to it, but it looks to be under construction.
I head through more airlocks and down several flights of stairs and more airlock doors. This leads me down yet another long corridor just like the one we'd been herded through for our in-processing, but from the other end - so the two must connect underground.
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| Finally I reach the doors indicated on my report orders ... my new job awaits! |
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I use the access card given to me with my work orders to go inside this 'restricted' area designated "RESEARCH LAB" on my card. Inside is a huge, dark room filled with supply crates, strange looking equipment, a couple computers, and a few tables covered with medical tools. Only one single light on the wall near a table shows me where to go. I'm really confused by the lack of other sims around and wonder if I'm in the wrong place. I notice a datapad on the table with my name on it...
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| Where is everyone? How am I supposed to do anything here?!... |
The datapad informs me that my boss, Doctor Lilystone, is up topside in the military compound's hospital, "up to her ears in blood and guts" as she put it bluntly, tending to injured soldiers. She apologizes for being unable to see me personally but she's included files I'm to read on the computer as well as more manuals. This will apparently give me the background on the lab's status as well as my duties.
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| Looks like I've got a ton of reading ahead of me... |
My first day passes mostly absorbed in the fascinating files of the research lab's computer. I learn that Medical is one of the only departments authorized to use state of the art waterless hygiene pods which we no longer had technology access to reproduce.
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| "Should I try it out...?" |
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The strange 'pod' next to my computer and the medical bed was apparently this device and though I was a bit hesitant at first, I decided to go for it. I closed myself in and took a waterless 'shower' that somehow ionized all body odor and dirt! I felt so refreshed - Amazing!
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| I stepped out feeling totally refreshed and recharged. I could think clearly now! |
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Next I was directed to do some measurements and bone samples from the skeleton of a long deceased (and hopefully sterilized) sim corpse for analyzation of the cells after the virus destroyed them. Hmmm... now this would be interesting...
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| The preserved sim corpse is apparently somewhere in these mysterious storage devices |
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| "Ugh, this is creepy! Help!" |
I wheeled the skeletal remains to an examination table. It was very strange to be working on deceased sim bones, but I picked up the sampling tools and set to my task with grim determination ...
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| Recording my results of the samples taken... |
Before I knew it, my cell phone alarm beeps to let me know my first work day is over! I head up and out of the underground compound and take a quick peek into the 'dome' area I'd seen from outside.
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| Not much to see up here other than some solar panels, drainage grates and giant water pipes. |
The dome is still under construction and still snowy and cold, but looks like someone's been trying to start some experimental plants... Who knows what this will all become one day once we've got the resources and a cure for the virus!
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| Suddenly feeling a little overwhelmed, lonely... and... hungry! |
I finally head back down through the dome airlocks and outside to the shuttle stop, where I finally meet the doctor who had left me the notes and instructions. She's beautiful and confident looking.
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| My 'boss' - Dr. Lia Lilystone |
Doctor Lilystone assures me that survival here was top priority and that with my help and a lot of hard work, we would make Chitmar Ice Station habitable and healthy! This helped me feel a lot less stressed out and hopeless and I headed back to my bunker, tired and hungry but once again determined to keep going.
My first day of work in what will hopefully be a successful medical career is done.
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(Click here to read WEEK 1 - DAY 3!)
Awesome lab you built. I hope you're still playing this. =]
ReplyDeleteHey Rflong, thanks for checking out my blog! I've played this 'story' up through Ariane's career goals and meeting the perfect guy, but then I stopped to play a medieval world I downloaded and got distracted haha. I have a hard time concentrating on one sim. This challenge is supposed to keep me focused but so far I'm still not. I need to document more of this story and finish it or scrap it I guess! I definitely love Ice Station and want to develop it via this simpocalypse story. I also am playing around with Lunar Lakes. I don't think I'll get Showtime for awhile yet - not that interested in that genre.
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