Our asteroid survival: A fictitional history of the ten year survival of a large ELE asteroid impact by a small, pre advised, group

by Lionel Woodhead

  Though I was a reasonable amateur mechanic of pre-electronic/processor classic cars my practical knowledge of the piston steam engine was, in the beginning, almost non existent. It was with great interest that I received some instruction in the basic principles of the proposed engine which would probably become one of the primary power sources of our medium term future.

  The engine being developed was a double-acting steam engine where a valve allowed high-pressure steam to act alternately on both faces of a piston. This was a basic, though reasonably efficient, engine and would be part of our medium term energy supply. This would continue until we could develop more efficient systems which we all supposed would be turbine based. The early problem for this latter solution was the manufacture of the turbine body and blades which would require considerable energy and a quality lathe. A greater long term problem would be the manufacture of bearings. Initially we used bearings from cars, for example wheel bearings, but that supply would not be inexhaustible.

  The manufacture of new clothes was another project. At this time it required the recycling of cloth into different forms of thread that could be re-manufactured into cloth. This material could then be used to create clothes. When everything had to be done by hand this was a time consuming low production task that was in some ways beneficial to our society.

  Due to lack of energy and space we would be unable to manufacture machines for this task until we left the shelter. The machines would be designed by those who then understood the recovery of thread and the manufacturing of cloth. The initial manual work would be educational and these people would later be able to use their expertise to assist in the design of machines to assist them in their work. When we left the shelter many additional tasks would require manpower hence the machines they developed would, hopefully, release volunteers from hand production to more interesting and productive tasks.

  There were also work rooms for the chemist, mechanics and metalwork experts. These rooms were about the size of our homes and were considered sufficient in the early days though later some were enlarged as our stores were used up releasing additional space for other purposes. Later, as will be explained, some of this released space had to be returned to receive a large number of additional personnel.

  Everyone worked. Even certain specialists such as the vets and doctors were allocated associated tasks as it was considered, and accepted by those personnel, that their primary specialism would not, initially, require a full time work allocation. Of course where their specialism was required over their allocated work time they would continue within their specialism until that requirement was completed. Their alternative allocation, such as lecturing and teaching, was allocated so that it would allow this flexibility. Some of the work, outside of their specialism, was to educate themselves in other tasks or educate other persons in their specialism.

  Where possible the personnel work periods were set within fixed periods to allow individuals to plan the beneficial use of their free time. This allowed the majority of personnel to attend other activities to their personnel pleasure and benefit.

  The school was attended by nearly all those under sixteen. The attendees being those that had not been allocated to a special task based on the acceptance of a student of a specialist’s request or on the acceptance of the student’s request from a specialist. The school was normally open at fixed hours allowing attendees to integrate with other inmates and participate in the arranged entertainments if they wished.

  The school also had students of a more advanced age who either wanted to learn a particular subject or had been advised or they thought that it would be a useful course of study related to their assigned task or even, rarely during work periods, a personnel interest subject that could be justified. Sometimes lessons were arranged after the working period to give those that were working fixed hours the ability to attend specific classes. The school also used specialists to present an outline of their work to different levels of student capabilities. This arrangement helped encourage students to take up what would have been described, in previous times, as a career.

  The library area was an important place of entertainment. There was limited space allocated to this facility being limited to the space between the swimming pool gardens on the upper animal floor. To optimize the use of this limited space there were benches with small folding tables made by the carpenter. For one half hour every morning, before the standard allocated work period, the lighting in this area was enhanced as it was believed this would have a beneficial psychological effect on the inmates. The inmates were encouraged to attend the area during this period, if it were possible, and most did as it appeared to help ones state of mind. This might appear a little vague but I truly believe it helped me at that time.

  During this period the ultraviolet lighting was switched off as, though at its normal level it was not dangerous, it reduced the additional energy expenditure required for the increased lighting. At the end of the day, after the evening meal, there would be a film presentation which was always well attended in those early days. It was fortunate that we had a great many films available, on old fashioned DVDs and pins together with modern quantum packages, as this reduced the number of required repeats. During this entertainment the lighting, in the entertainment area, was turned off and the lighting allocation, not required by the entertainment, was available for use by alternative entertainment options such as in the children play area.

  The children’s play area had been allocated a portion of the habitation floor. It was also in this area that we tried to organize a weekly party to include dancing to several different styles of music. These parties were usually a successful attempt at bringing people together in a relaxed atmosphere. They were only allowed when the hospital was not being used as otherwise it might have annoyed those being cared for. The parties were very much looked forward to by the regular participants as a break from unavoidable routine and we would use a small portion of our alcohol reserve to improve the atmosphere though without encouraging drunkenness. This usage was, by common consent, only sanctioned sparingly but remained sufficient to facilitate both the creation of a relaxed atmosphere and, by limiting the quantity available, maintaining our future supply of this wonderful material.

  This play area was also used to present live performances of an assortment of types. Some musical instruments had been found in the material we had received from homes and some of our inmates could play reasonably well. In addition we had a few singers and amateur actors who enjoyed presenting their skills on a small dismountable stage; again created by the carpenter. These shows were always well attended and provided good entertainment; especially when presenting low brow comedies. I believe these were popular as they presented a humorous examination of our old life that would not return in our lifetimes.

  On the animal floors many of the inmates liked to relax and watch the antics of the animals in their enclosures. It seemed that those participating in this pastime maintained an unaccountable ability to relax in this environment probably because of its differences. This was in spite of the fact that entry into the animal enclosures themselves was rarely allowed; except by the experts. Looking over the goat wall was normally the limit of the exciting activity though those animals were, in reality, quite safe for human association and I believed that general access, by a limited number, to the goat area should have been allowed.

  The small number of animals in the cow area meant this was of limited interest and the presence of the bull did not encourage entry into his regime; except by the vet and other animal experts. The children were allowed, under the supervision of an accepted animal expert, to collect the eggs from the goat enclosure. Access to this activity was in high demand. It was normally allowed as a reward for some exceptional effort on a child’s part. To watch the children participating in this activity took me back to my childhood which I have no doubt further assisted me psychologically.

  Others enjoyed watching the fish and as they grew
I found this form of relaxation therapeutic. How I would have loved to have fished with a rod and line but this was, for good reasons, not allowed. Classical fishing with a rod and line would have to wait upon our exit from our then home and after some recovery, if this was possible, of the external fish-stocks.

  The feeding of the fish became more interesting as they grew in size and a ringside (poolside) place became difficult to obtain; unless one arrived early. The younger children were always given preferential access to the poolside which they gave every indication of enjoying.

  A simple gymnasium was set up in the upper animal floor extension area and was always well used. This was one of the few areas where exercise routines, other than walking up and down the stairs during the normal day, could be reasonable performed. Use of this area was encouraged especially as, where possible, the exercise machines had been modified to provide the capability of charging some batteries used for additional recreational activities. We could not waste any source of energy as it was such a valuable commodity and the batteries were available.

  Because of the limited usefulness of my profession, experience and expertise the acquisition of a basic military education became one of my assigned tasks. This was because I was one of that small, lucky group allocated to adventurous activities some distance from the shelter. I studied under the quartermaster officer; Pablo. Though I had been, in our previous existence, a reasonable shot with both a rifle and shotgun and had enjoyed hunting my ability up to that point was pretty much natural and untrained.

  Within the limited environment of the shelter I learned breathing control and supporting the weapon from prone, to kneeling, to standing. Practical information was received regarding the loading and operation of the various weapons we had available but we were unable to fire such weapons in the confines of the shelter. I was shown the principles of a floating barrel and how this prevented any detrimental effect on the natural vibration of the tuned, heavy barrel of a true sniper rifle.

  In this limited environment I learned techniques for distance analysis (we had two scopes fitted with a distance measuring laser but we would try never to rely on them as they were a previous technology), using a telescope, understanding wind-age (the effects of wind on a bullet and the adjustment required over a distance) and basic camouflage (Pablo told me this was his primary failure on his sniper course). My course was hardly a full sniper course but it gave me a better insight into surviving against a lesser trained individual. I learned of men like Tony Chives, Chris Kyle, Hesketh Prichard and Carlos Hathcock who were a few of the famous exponents of the art in a bygone age.

  Though I believe Pablo considerably improved my potential ability with a rifle he advised me that, unless absolutely necessary, we should limit our shooting at even large, man sized, targets to four hundred meters. This was because although our ammunition stocks appeared considerable it had to be considered unsustainable and could not be wasted. Though it was true that we had boxes of different types of ammunition this was all we would get until we could manufacture new constant grade ammunition. This was probable going to be some time in the future.

  Whenever we had to shoot, which was very rare, we made great efforts to recover the casings; this being both a good defensive policy but in our circumstances it was mainly due to the fact that the units could then be recharged and reissued. Unfortunately reloading to a consistent load and the manufacture of a satisfactory explosive cap proved problematical into the middle term.

  Our original alternative explosive (Actually heat generator) was black powder which resulted in a much lower muzzle velocity and produced a considerable amount of smoke. Such smoke would not only foul the barrel but would inevitably give away our position. Slowing the muzzle velocity, resulting from our home produced ammunition, was, however, potentially beneficial as we would also be unable to coat lead bullets for some time.

  Our manufactured lead bullets, in those early days, were versions of Minnie, hollow center projectiles to allow better fitting to the rifling. These would probably have been illegal as war ammunition but it was the best we could do. I do not, however, believe that any legal convention would apply during this period of use.

  Hopefully by not allowing political elites with their incredibly dangerous egos and limited technical understanding we would be able to prevent future wars. Whatever happens we would ensure that those who started wars would be participants. They would be allowed no secure bolt hole to retreat to or special privileges regarding rations. War for any warmonger would, we hoped, ensure the destruction of the warmongers to the long term benefit of the people. The problem was that warmongers had been political elites who believed their hides were important and arranged to protect themselves from any of the effects of wars they had been responsible for.

  In the shelter some passed their spare time on the non electronic, manual, games machines we had available. We would have liked, due to demand, to have had several more footballin tables but we were unable to obtain (Steal not to put too fine a point on it) more from the local bars when their owners had left. The bar billiard tables were similarly obtained and were also very much in demand requiring future booking of two game slots. Chess and drafts were popular (we had plenty of boards and pieces) as was modified versions of trivial pursuits and scrabble. Card games were a distraction and a bridge club lasted the whole period of our incarceration. I believe this club is still ongoing now.

  Poker, whist and patience games were popular though gambling was technically forbidden to avoid arrangements as to losses. Inevitably, due to human nature, some indulged for the excitement if not the potential profit. I never found out what was put in the pot; then again I never looked and was never advised as fortunately such arrangements never came before me. Whilst it caused no problems it was best to ignore the deceit as it was human nature and, I hoped, allowed the participants some form of relaxation.

  Sex was a popular pastime but we had to be careful to encourage a reasonable family planning regime. At this time it was decided that we did not have the resources to look after babies so strict precautions, even to the point of an embargo of unprotected sex, had to be taken in the early period. Participation in this pastime was encouraged to a degree but we had to be careful of the potential problem of jealousy within such a small group in such a confined area. As there were considerably more women than men care had to be taken to ensure that all who wished could participate. It is a pleasure for me to record that we had few problems with this form of exercise. Anything that was mutually agreed, between adults, was allowed. The only enforced rule was that everything should be conducted in private for the sake of the children.

  A potential problem was graffiti and delinquency brought on by boredom within the younger population. With respect to the former we encouraged work, by “accepted artists”, on the habitation floor. An “accepted artist” was he, or she, who had studied art with one of the two competent art teachers and whose work was judged to be acceptable for presentation. The “accepted artists” and their presentations were permitted in the play area where some good work was produced. Any unauthorized graffiti was punished and those caught were made to clean their efforts and any similar efforts produced by uncaught artists. This cleaning was enforced during their free time. Actually there was very little problem with respect to this problem as a sufficient period of privacy in any public place was a rarity.

  Most understood that the environment was very important to the psychological wellbeing of the inmates and should therefore be protected. In addition there were limited materials suitable for this activity outside of our protected stores. That which was initially available to the artiste rapidly ran out due to use. With respect to delinquency we had few incidences and I believe all but one was accidental due to youthful high spirits.

  Two young boys were guilty of this single incidence. They were playing with a football, how they obtained this item remains a mystery, against part of the main ventilation system. They did not fully unde
rstand the implications of what they were doing though considerable intentional damage was the result of their target practice. Their efforts required considerable additional energy being allocated to the ventilation systems for two days. As the two gentlemen could see the result of their stupidity and they were suitably regretful no direct action was taken. The two idiots were punished, none physically, by the people as they became aware of the youngsters part in the incident. The result of their punishment was that they never caused any further intentional damage.

  The problem with punishment allocation was grave as we had no prison or judiciary and we had to be careful not to be either too lenient or, conversely, too severe. I believe we ended up balancing, rather well, the potential for punishments extremes by setting up a committee of four allocated persons to allocate any judicial action to be taken. This judiciary was not made up of volunteers but by perceived capabilities; one of those selected had been a local judge. These persons could take action against anyone in the shelter and from the judicial point of view they were above any executives as far as how the law was applied.

  By the end of the first eighteen months our community had settled into surroundings that they had become comfortable with and accepted. To say that everything was acceptable to all would not be strictly true but most minor disagreements were settled by negotiation between dissenting parties. On rare occasions if some persons were then unable to accept my arbitration the problem was passed to the judicial committee. If there was still no agreement it would be studied by all inmates over sixteen years of age. Their decision would be final in all cases. Fortunately, for many reasons, this final resort was never required in practice.