We had then to convert this edifice, that some of us had been responsible for planning and building only a few months before, into a home that would meet a new set of criteria resulting from our expected long term incarceration. The necessary upgrades had to be made, within a limited period, so that the residents could have accommodation and facilities acceptable to them.
The individual homes on the habitation floor were based around the west wall of the shelter (fourteen homes). Then there were two blocks one thirty six meters by eight meters butted to the south wall to the east of the previous block with twelve houses on the west side and two on the east making twenty eight units in all. Two of those accommodations, butted to the south wall, were slightly smaller than the rest. Eight of the remaining ten potential homes were set up as homes but seven of these were used as storerooms one side being two meters from the air-vent. This separation allowed sufficient access to all the stores placed on this floor.
The other thirty meters by eight meters for the administration area on the other side of the central air-vent, but directly butted to it, had to be built and organized. On the south side of the staircase we were setting up further storerooms created largely for administration and comfort elements that might be required at short notice; this included special cold weather equipment, towels etc. This store also contained a few low wattage fan heaters to help comfort any returning adventurers or workers if this became necessary. At that time we expected the external situation to remain basically the same for, at least, the first year. Our entire initial plan was based on this assumption.
The basic structure of thirty eight homes had been set up and twenty nine were now arranged and mostly upgraded, by their respective inhabitants, for immediate occupation. These homes had been allocated, mostly, by lottery (A very few, such as the builder, were allocated) long before the impact and the guests had been, in most cases, fully aware of their allocation before their arrival. The families had been asked to pick a number from a box and that was the number of their home when they arrived at the shelter. Some of our guest’s home upgrades were minor works of the designer’s art.
When more than a single four person group, such as the farming group, was allocated accommodation the first element of the group took the allocation and the remaining elements for that group would be allocated. In the event of any incompatibility then alternative arrangements would be made, on request, as availability represented itself. This was not a right but accepted by us as we wanted people to be as content (much more important in our then situation than merely temporarily happy) as possible with their allocation.
To facilitate rapid home occupation the return of beds and bedding, from the lower floor, became a priority when we considered the circumstances would allow this. The setting up of partitions for the hospital, the medical offices, to be used by the vets, the dentist, the doctor, and the pharmacy were initiated immediately. This was to ensure that the facilities would be available to deal with any medical emergencies. Medical stores were arranged by the pharmacist and the storage of items requiring refrigeration was moved from the lower levels of the shelter to, initially, two of our multi powered fridges and a freezer on the residential floor. From here some of our medicines would later, when the external conditions were cold enough, be taken outside to reduce our energy usage.
A fair sized area on the north western habitation floor was allocated as a children’s play area. This facility was set up to the north of the staircase being that area most distant from those requiring quiet. On setting up the habitation floor we immediately started on this facility so that the children could enjoy themselves with the minimum of supervision and risk. The most sophisticated element of this play area was some large plastic tubes for the children to climb and crawl through that we had borrowed from an abandoned hamburger bar. The tube arrangement had to be modified to fit within the limited height of our shelter but we did our best to provide a good product for our users. Another facility that was also well received was a large number of plastic balls within a large netted playpen. This material was similarly “borrowed” from a children’s play facility late in the pre-impact period. The results were well received by both children and parents when they were introduced to the area.
The children’s area also included several small low level swings, slides and seesaws mostly obtained, and where necessary modified due to our height restrictions, from our guests homes. Two large swing seats, also recovered from our guest’s homes, were fixed to the roof to the south of the play area. This allowed adults to comfortably sit and watch the children whilst conversing privately between themselves.
This children’s area floor was covered with the same rubber matting that we had used to protect the oil tanks and batteries. In this case we wished to protect our children against self inflicted, accidental injury. This objective was achieved and no serious injuries occurred, in this area, during our residency.
We opened the main air-vents and removed the primary electric generation facility (Two of our large shelter generators) permanently to their planned position on the upper floor extension area. The installation of the generation facility required little effort as the generator room had been equipped and wired for this during its construction. The small emergency generator and our temporarily installed large shelter generator on the habitation area were returned to their storage areas from where they could, in the future, be reallocated should it prove necessary. The little generator had, realistically, been of little use but it had provided a limited facility, when it had been required. An improvement of the induction and exhaust elements would, no doubt, improve its generation ability.
The resorting of our stored material took considerably longer such was its quantity and diversity. The work took nearly three weeks but proved beneficial in calming the inmates who were now beginning to enjoy themselves and life developed into what we would then have to consider normal. The human is adaptable and we soon got used to our new way of living. I must admit that I obtained real pleasure from our new challenges. We had passed through the period of greatest danger and now had to optimise our shelter to provide the most advantageous environment for us all.
During this period I was more relaxed than I would have previously thought possible. The danger level was now considerably reduced and we had sufficient diversity of material to survive. We even had, in my opinion, a very acceptable level of comfort. In addition and most important, for me, I had many interesting companions and many of us would be allocated work in the shelter extension area which would reduce the apparent congestion in the main shelter.
During this time the outside temperature fell considerably and the maximum daytime external temperature was by then below zero Celsius and falling. It was now important for us to maintain as much energy (in this case heat) within the shelter as was possible. Much of our internally generated energy was supplied by the bodies of the inmates and animals. Each human supplied about one hundred and fifty Watts at rest and considerably more if exercised. The animals added their share and the two animal floors, during our occupation, were always reasonably comfortable and much occupied by the inmates for the purpose of reading and relaxing when not working.
The heat exchanger we had devised for our long term ventilation maintained an acceptable level of comfort on all floors. If it become too cold for our reasonable comfort we had the option of setting up an oil fired central heating unit. The emergency use of such heating was never required though it was very occasionally used for morale purposes or to provide hospital heating, on medical request, in our rare cases of moderately severe illness.
The system’s three oil fired boilers, we had partially installed, were obtained from our guests homes and had been installed near the generator room on the upper extension floor to allow better airflow from and to the outside. Here we installed one of our gas detectors to ensure that when these facilities were used the air quality would not be too degraded.
We intended, at some later
date, to use the wood burning units we had obtained but obtaining sufficient fuel for their use was not then possible. We had recovered some waste wood when we cut down the trees but this was insufficient for any useful application. To use these units we would have to wait until we exited the shelter and obtained sufficient material to make their installation in the house worthwhile.
Our first planned visit to the external environment was arranged to be of short duration about eight weeks after the impact. The devastation we then observed was remarkable. We even had difficulty getting out of the exit tube. The quantity of mud falling into the tube on exiting was much greater than we had anticipated. If we had not included the exits hydraulic damping things might have been very serious. If only a little more material had entered the two men in the tube at the time might have been removed from our number. As it was a considerable expenditure of manual energy was required to remove the accumulated mud within the tube to our farming areas. This material was well received as an unexpected supplement to our ability to produce fresh vegetables.
Once on the surface we saw, in the beams of our powerful battery touches, that the house and outbuildings appeared to have been severely damaged. Initially this appeared to have been inflicted partly by the blast but mainly by the mud flow. The windows and the roofs appeared damaged and a large amount of muddy sludge had been forced against the walls. There was little chance that anyone would be able to use them for living accommodation in that condition.
Having, a little later, made a more careful examination of the damage with the builder we considered that at some future date we could, with only a moderate effort, make some, possibly all, of the buildings habitable for animals or humans. The lack of major structural damage was considered to have been the result of the blast being deflected by the hill behind our residency. Most of the actual damage had been the result of the inundation and resulting mud slide which had looked far worse on my initial examination.
Our first task on our external visit was to open the blocked air vents. Some blockages were caused by mud which we had to carefully remove from the pipes. We then attempted to disguise our work so that it looked as natural as possible to any casual observer in the then current conditions. This disguise was normally achieved by the use of buckets of near frozen sludge which was available in abundance. This material was simply thrown at our work and in the light condition prevailing this hid our efforts quite effectively. At that time we did not want uninvited guests invading our domain hence the effort was considered necessary.
Although we considered the chance of visitors to an area we had chosen partly for its remoteness was low we had concerns. Indeed we considered it prudent to take precautions; especially as the effort required was minimal.
The next external task was the setting up of our presence detectors. The wiring gained access to the shelter via the ducted cables originally set up for the house electricity. One detector was put in the cellar (Our quarantine shelter) to protect us against the unlikely event that someone might enter there unnoticed by our visual systems. We only did this as we had a superfluity of these items
The periscopes were then repaired; in one case a mirror was replaced using a cut down vanity mirror donated by a lady. Once these tasks had been completed our lookout system was probably as good as we could make it. I believed we could feel reasonably secure behind the level of protection provided by these means.
The capabilities of our ordinary periscopes were, initially, restricted due to the lack of natural light. However, it was more than likely that any humans travelling in those conditions would be carrying their own lighting. In this case the darkness would be to our advantage as visitors would be observed at a sufficient distance for us to prepare our defences. We would, of course, welcome any small group seeking assistance as an important attribute to our shelter. We would initially have to prepare such persons, using volunteers who would have to stay with them, for entry into our quarantine shelter. There we would remove any restricted material from their persons.
Fortunately we also had the military periscope which could function in the infra red. We considered this would give us sufficient warning of any visitors, human or, even more unlikely, animal, not observed by other means. From this point onwards private Marco was put in charge of our intruder guard system. This he, and his small team of volunteers, performed diligently if, much to our initial relief, without success. They were given this task so that they would gain experience for the future when we hoped for the friendly visiting survivors.
Our last task during this exit was to take our medicines, which were considered to require only mild refrigeration, out of the shelter. We put these important assets into airtight packaging, some of our recycled Mylar bags, which were then resealed with an iron. These bags were placed inside four of the empty buckets, brought from storage, which would protect this valuable resource from any form of animal predation. These buckets were stored inside one of the house rooms that had been damaged to the point of being partly open to the exterior. They were placed there and covered with material, from that room, to help prevent discover by visitors; animal or human. We still refrigerated those items requiring more secure conditions in the freezer. We returned the now redundant fridge units to the stores further reducing the demand on our energy reserves.
Once our nominated work had been completed we made an effort to remove, as far as was reasonably possible, any evidence of our shelter. To achieve this we had to consider the problems of disguising the exit tube as we expected a considerable hole would remain in the ground after we had re-entered the shelter. We initially thought of putting a cross near the hole to suggest a grave. This idea was rejected as it would merely draw attention to the hole. Instead we developed the plan of pulling as much material as possible into the access hole using a large sack with string pulls. This, we hoped, would look natural after a little snow. In reality this idea would never have worked satisfactorily.
It was at this point that the shelter community initially made the decision that we should arrange to close our shelter for a considerable period. It was planned that this state of isolation would continue until the external risks had been reduced to acceptability. It was then decided, in my opinion rather obtusely, that we would, before shutting that proverbial door, make an effort to bring into the shelter those persons at the other shelter. In view of the conditions I had observed outside I was against such an adventure on practical grounds. However, I considered that the enterprise, though dangerous, could be exciting when compared to our then restricted shelter life.
The shelter residents decided that we should make the attempt as it was thought that we were well past the point of maximum danger; at least those directly related to the impact. In addition more inhabitants, within our domain, would be beneficial if only for their emitted metabolic energy. Our supply situation would allow us to increase our shelter personnel without undue long term risk to our supplies based on our ten year estimate. Therefore it was considered that we should proceed with this mission as soon as possible and for this reason access to the shelter remained unblocked and undisguised.
Whilst the adventurers were away the inmates would try to make part of the house cellar (quarantine area) more acceptable to new guests. To achieve this they would include lighting, some limited cooking facilities and wired telecommunication capabilities between the shelter and quarantine area.
This area would be designed to isolate any new inmates within basic, if acceptable, accommodation until it was thought prudent to allow them into the shelter. This isolation requirement would include any of our inmates who had made contact with those potential new inmates. The cellar would, some time later, become quite comfortable accommodation for any survivors that were willing to join us. Unfortunately on our first usage of the facility this proved not to be the case as many important attributes, such as showers, were missing.
The journey to the rich mans shelter, though only a little over twelve kilometres usi
ng the original paths, would be long and arduous as our team would travel in conditions of almost complete darkness. This would be exacerbated by a very uncomfortably environment that was, in itself, sufficient to endanger life. The best that could be hoped for would be limited vision, even with torches, over a corrupted landscape that could hide many dangers including, though considered unlikely, desperate people (just possible) and dangerous animals (most unlikely).
It was decided that an allowance of four days food and resources would be provided for the four armed volunteers; I was one and the military sergeant, Fabio, another. I volunteered, in spite of my concerns, as I wished to see what had happened to the outside world. In addition it was expected that this external adventure might be the last for a considerable period. It was also considered important that we should have an understanding of the state of the new world. As I was free of constraints, semi military trained and a reasonable fit scientific observer it was thought, by the adventures leader Fabio, that I, as a volunteer, would be a useful team member.
The other two participants were Fernando Martinez, the son of Thomas the university project leader, and Edmondo another of the initial group. We were all reasonably young and as fit as was reasonably possible given our period within a shelter having such limited exercise facilities. We did our best, during the expedition planning phase, to improve our fitness with the available exercise facilities.
We were allowed, by common consent, to take what was considered sufficient food and a small camping stove, with two compatible, small gas bottles, for the comfort of our group. In addition we had a GPS unit with two changes of battery (Though we could not rely on this system in the long term it appeared that with the new satellite automation they would probably operate satisfactorily in the short term (while they had station keeping fuel). In the current darkness it would be very useful, if not essential, if we were to find our way. We also took a compass and a map (The latter being of limited use in the darkness where observing distant reference points would be problematical at best though we used the map for marking GPS coordinates of waypoints). To share between our group of four we took six windup and two battery long beam torches to ensure that we would be able to see where we were going.
Our asteroid survival: A fictitional history of the ten year survival of a large ELE asteroid impact by a small, pre advised, group Page 15