B.6 An Orbital Experience
Alright so the week was interesting to say the least. I haven’t really had much time to think about it to be honest with you though my twitter followers have been privy to my pain.
The ride up to the orbs last week was uneventful. The launcher (which is what I thought I was taking up) is actually not in operation yet. It will be when humans start moving up to the orbs and when they become a “destination”. I took a shuttle up to the Orbs – but it was a shuttle with new engines and the enhanced thrusters of Ox design – which is a lot slower and less manoeuvrable than a launcher. (Don’t ask me what the real difference is between them because I only know what’s been posted in the news about them).
Anyway when I got here it was 3am local time. I went straight to the guest accommodations on level one of Orb 1. The accommodations were sparse. The room was really just a closet with space enough for a blow up mattress. Still I was able to get a couple of hours of good sleep in until E’lish came and knocked on the door. The Ox are early risers. It was 6am and they had let me sleep in. I suppose I would be a little anxious to get moving in if I’d had to wait 3 years too.
My first day was exhausting even though I spent all my time in one little room. I did do a lot of talking. First thing on the list was all the big things and the Ox have BIG things. The wanted certain fountain sculptures in the parks and some of the shop owners had massive machines that needed to be set up. For the really big things we used the local airlocks, that way they could be moved as much of the distance as possible in zero gravity.
Luckily I wasn’t the only one organizing stuff. E’lish and Romi were acting as coordinators and of course the Ox Master Builder and the new Human Chief Contractor were on hand for any problems we might encounter. By lunch time I was ready for bed but the Ox kept me going until 8pm. It was only when I started to fall asleep at the desk did they let me go to bed.
Day two was better and by Friday most of the big things were moved and I actually got to inspect one of the shops on Level 2.
Perhaps I should explain a bit about the Orbs first. I know that most of you have read about the orbs in the news but have you actually seen the designs? The orbs are built with a large solid core that looks to me like a big hot dog (no bun). This is where the engines to stabilize and rotate the rings are. And there are three rings around the core. They’ve been named levels which is just silly – why not call them rings? But anyway, on each Level there are two… levels – see how confusing this gets?
So level 1A is the top level of Level one. And Level 1b is the bottom one.
Ok. So now that we have that out of the way I’ll explain how each of the levels has been set up since that likely isn’t in the news yet. Level one on each of the orbs has been set aside for earth/alien business. This is where the HRC and any remote alien offices will be set up which will be called districts. The Ox have already chosen their district on Level 1A of Orb 2. Anyway, each district will be as large or as small as required. And the master builder and chief contractor have agreed to make any changes necessary (not that there is much more than walls on level one anyway).
Level two and level three are habitation levels. This is where all the apartments are, the expensive condos, the parks, the gardens, the stores (retail and food shopping, restaurants, and non-HRC businesses who wish to set up on the Orbs) and of course entertainment sections. If you live on Level two or three and don’t work for the HRC you might never have to enter the core elevator or go to another orb. But Level 2 & 3 on Orbs One and Two are just for the Ox. There will only be Ox related businesses entertainment etc on these levels. I doubt if any human business will be allowed to be set up here.
As for us – humans us – we are being allotted Orb 3 and Orb 4 (currently in the planning stage). Orb 3 is where the HRC staff will live even if the district they work in is in another Orb.
But as I was saying before I got sidetracked, I got to go and inspect a store on Level 2A of Orb 1. It’s a small restaurant specializing in Ox home world cuisine. The owner wanted me to take a look and make suggestions to ensure he could promote it as a human friendly establishment – Humans can’t eat some of the things that the Ox can but I’ve never paid attention to that kind of stuff.
The menu was hard to read but once I realize that most of the dishes consisted of dried ground Guinty Root – similar to our potato – I thought it would be fine. Right up until the Chief Contractor (who came with me) tried to eat some of it. He immediately turned red and fell on the ground. In case I forgot to mention earlier there are medicenters on every level – even the sub levels – but the major hospital is on Level 1A of each orb. The medicenter hadn’t been set up yet on Level 2a so we rushed him to the core elevator and brought him up to the hospital. He’s fine, but I don’t think the restaurant is going to get the Human friendly designation. It turns out that most humans are dangerously allergic to Guinty Root. I’ve recommend that someone with a medical background do all the Human Friendly Designations from now on.
After that I was actually given some time off – to do whatever I wanted. Orb One, which is where I’m stationed at the moment, is very large. I suppose the other orbs are just as large but even though I got to see the blue prints I didn’t really know how large they were going to be until I got to explore.
I went back to the restaurant to inform the owner of the contractor’s condition and then took a walk in the park nearby. It’s really big. I walked to the centre of the park and spun around just to take in the sight of all of it. I couldn’t see a single bulk head. It was hard to tell you where even in a space station. The regulated ambient light is set to the time zone to create artificial night and day, and you can’t see the stars until it’s “night” on the orb.
I did notice that some of the condos around the park had lights on so I went to take a look. Turns out that some of the Ox had moved into their homes already even though they don’t have any of their stuff. They’re just sleeping on the floor eating rations they brought with them. They really are a lot like humans. I could see myself doing the same thing after being stuck in a space ship for three years – not to mention how ever long they were in it before they arrived in Earth orbit.
Sometimes I wonder why the Ox would have undertaken such a journey when they didn’t even know if the accommodations we were building would work for them. And why 1/3 of the home world population? What is so bad with living on your own planet? And why here and not on one of the dozens of colony worlds the Ox have? But it’s not my place to ask these questions because we have official responses that are suppose to answer them already regardless of the fact that they are vague and don’t answer anything.
Yesterday I travelled to Orb 2 via the little “scuttles” to over see the placement of some Ox statues – aka stand around for 3 hours doing nothing. Scuttles is what some of the engineers are calling the transport vessels between Orbs, and I think it’s an apt name for something that zips along a metal wire strung between two orbs. It can make the journey in under 45mins. It’ll make life easier when people live up here and have to commute to other orbs. Using a shuttle would take a couple hours just to match orbits and line up right so the hatch will open.
Tomorrow we start moving people (those who haven’t already moved in) and they’re stuff. I’m trying to be discreet about it but I’d like put the stuff for the Ox family I met near the top if the list. They weren’t assigned the condo they were staying in – all they can afford is an apartment but it is near the park – but they were the ones I met when I was in the park the other day. They have since moved into their apartment since the rightful owners of the condo are due to move in tomorrow. I don’t know what it was about them but I want to help them, you know? They are here trying to start a new life and the kids have found a way to combine English and Oxynat in a way that hurts my ears but I can still understand. I think I’ll try and visit them again before I go home.
Speaking of which, two things.
One: I just got an email saying that among other offices deemed essential, the IGL Office is being moved onto the Orbs and, therefore, so am I. In two and half weeks (March 27) I’ll be living up here (well not here on Orb one but on Orb three). I’m going to see if I get to pick my apartment.
Two: When I forwarded the email to my parents they want to have a farewell dinner. This means that everyone I’ve ever known will be there trying to wish me well – and a few people who will try and get me to do sideline work for the Canadian government. How many times must I tell people I’m an Earth Citizen now?
Last thing before bed time – you should really hear some of the conversations here. I would kill for an internal recording unit and I’m going to ask Gary if he’ll agree to have the IGL office foot the bill. I can’t even begin to remember the way some of the conversations went. Sigh – I hope my Dad isn’t right about my dependency on Technology biting me in the butt one day.
Alright bed time. This time change thing is still messing me up.
Over and Out.
