Day 1, turn 2
Start organising the piles of crap raw materials strewn about, into neat stockpiles. Take an inventory check of what we currently have.
Nix takes up hauling duty, and in a flash of inspiration, uses his multitool to construct a
storage compactor out of some of the loose sandstone! It's really just a two meter-tall cabinet that sits off the ground on four stubby little legs, and looks a little kitschy, but the hardy Duplicants in the chamber care not. Nix begins moving clods of dirt and stone into the compactor, making a list of what he can, which currently looks as thus:
Field rations (food for ~6 days)
Muckroots (100% fresh, supplementary food; eating raw is like eating raw potatoes x_x so not that good)
Dirt (enough for a planter box or two)
Sandstone (tiny supply, barely enough for small objects or stations)
Algae (slowly trickling in from the bottom shaft; useful for producing oxygen and eating CO2)
Bob tries to kill the crab
Bob levels his 'tool at the little skittering crab, and doesn't spare a thought about provoking a creature that can chew apart solid rock before firing a pulse of concussive energy at the creature! The shot, meant to destabilize crystal deposits in rock formations, bowls the surprisingly solid crab-thing over in a deep
thuum that reverberates throughout the chamber.
Pick up the crab and restrain it so it does not hurt anyone and can be pastured easally.
The crab, now thoroughly pissed, hisses and spits like a mad lobster. It gets up, gnashing its teeth, and charges in the general direction of Bob! Cath is quick to act, using her multitool to hold the creature at body's-length in a tractor beam. The eyeless thing thrashes and fights hard, but is unable to reach anyone this turn.
Mumble rushed to protect the crab from Bob. If successful, he builds it a tiny pasture from the metal scraps, and feeds it different kinds of rocks.
Mumble slaps the business end of Bob's multitool down, getting in his face and proclaiming the rights of alien species to crap out whatever they want, even if it's coal. Well, really, he tried, but it mostly came out as a rushed stuttering of incomprehensible noise. Mumble soon turns away from Bob and grabs a nearby hunk of stone in his 'tool's beam, and shunts it over to the crab-thing. The alien creature
immediately seizes and tears into the solid object, biting and thrashing the poor defenseless sandstone in its mouth like a dog with a chew toy.
About half a minute later, the stone is reduced to pebbles. The crab lets out a profound
burrrp. It has calmed down considerably now, and is no longer actively trying to bite anyone or anything but more rocks.
Sgt. Giggles decides to find some way to get food.
Sgt. Giggles is gravely aware of the fact that he and his comrades' food will doubtlessly run out soon, maybe sooner than he thinks; he doesn't yet know their eating habits. Or his own, really, since he was just born minutes ago. But he at least knows that food comes from dirt. And water. Sometimes mixing dirt with water, if you didn't mind mudslop field ration bars. And diarrhea. But this brave little idea called "farming" seemed so much more preferable, and so Sgt. Giggles sets to work with his 'tool, digging alongside his fellows in search of water.
Build another ladder, this time into the hole going down[/b]
Khan nods approvingly at Nix's borderline OCD clean-up protocol, and dutifully takes a selection of stones from the storage compactor that now sits next to the bio-printer. A second ladder, working off Khan's proof of concept, quickly takes shape amid the molecular disassembly and reassembly array of his multitool, running down through the hole in the poor abused floor. With Cath out of the way handling the crab-alien thing, it's quick work, especially when digging through soft
green algae (which Khan lifts out of the hole and deposits in a ring vaguely resembling an anthill).
The ladder will now provide an easy way down to lower levels, though oxygen may become an issue as CO2 pools at lower points in the room due to being a heavier gas than O2; Duplicants can only hold their breath for so long, and Khan's no exception.
Tunnel towards the left chamber.
Dig towards sounds of movement. Make a peakhole to see who it is.
Jobe gets to work on the left-side chamber wall, focusing on carving a hole just big enough for him to get through. The rhythmic up-and-down motions of his multitool and easy pace makes him whistle a little ditty that just happens to cross his mind, but whether it's truly spontaneous or some quirk of genetic memory from his printing, he may never truly know.
Just as the sandstone layer begins to give way to little patches of dirt, with tiny clusters of roots peeking out of the walls and ceiling, Jobe notices another of the strange crab-creatures kicking and scrabbling inside the wall, digging through the dirt like a mad mole. He seems to have disturbed one of its tunnels. The crab disappears after a few seconds of burrowing, leaving behind a number of black carbon pellets to tumble out into the shaft. Jobe risks a peek up the tunnel to track the animal. And he feels... air. Air is coming from the shaft, likely from a connection to another chamber. Nice, gentle oxygen, and high-pressure as well.
He notices all this just before he eats a faceful of dirt and round balls of coal that tumble down the hole. A violent, rhythmic hissing that might be laughter rolls out.
TURN REPORTAverage oxygen density: HIGH
Oxylite availability: HIGH
Average CO2 density: LOW; confined to bottom shaft for now
Author
Topic: Oxygen Not Included - Experiment #001 (Read 2838 times)