ENTRY 022: Butterfly Avernus
A community oxygen bar in the Progress habitat on Deimos,
the Butterfly Avernus is all sun lamps and green growing mosses with tiny
colored flowers contrasting against stark industrial benches and chairs. Aside
from the enhanced oxygen levels and carbon dioxide scrubbing, patrons at
Butterfly Avernus partake from bottles containing nanobiological plants that
produce gaseous cocktails to suit every biomorph’s palate—from the straight
elemental oxygen/carbon dioxide/nitrogen mixtures of Old Earth to the
alcohol-vapor infused Sunset Flower. Groups use a hookah-like setup using
larger bottles that are almost small biomes in themselves.
Nominally organized by a directing committee that buys raw
materials, tracks usage, and directs the planting and pollination cycles,
Butterfly Avernus subsists on donations of work, materials, and credits. Many
Progress locals volunteer their time tending to the garden of plants, changing
out nutrient packs, and checking gas mixtures. The whole thing is on the honor
system without any formal track of donations, but word gets around about
substantial contributors and their rep goes up accordingly.
The name of the oxygen bar comes from the pollination
season, when swarms of tiny robotic butterflies with clingy-fiber
multichromatic wings flood the bar to help pollinate the exposed plants. The
cheap ’bots are a tourist attraction during the two weeks or so they’re
deployed, and often attract small celebrities and press in roughly equal
numbers to get swarmed by the mostly mindless flying nuisances while the locals
stay at home and measure pollination coverage from free apps.
Seeds
- Morphs at the bar are usually trusted to know their own biological limits when it comes to what their systems can and cannot take; poisonous consumption isn’t unheard of but remains rare. However, when a hypercorp rep from Qing Long accidentally sucks down gaseous arsenic, Fa Jing orders the bar closed. Any outsiders that can prove the rep was assassinated rather than died because of something the bar did would earn a heavy rep fast.
- Butterfly Avernus is also the front for a small group of dealers in prohibited narcotics and nanobiologicals, which are concealed within certain “special orders.” Fa Jing risks losing the support of the locals if the hypercorp actively moves against the bar and its volunteers, but if some outsiders were to snoop around and provide evidence to the identities and methods of the criminal ring, the hypercorp reps would be very grateful.
Hope you don't mind me pointing out typos. But last line of the second Seed "hypercrop" is supposed to be "hypercorp" I assume. :)
ReplyDeleteFixed, and keep 'em coming mate, I appreciate it. I'm pushing these out a bit fast so a few typos is to be expected.
DeleteNot a problem. I'm compiling them all in word (With the intention of printing them as a PDF at the end of the year) so I have its help in the double checking).
DeleteIf you want them to look nice, it would be worth your time to put them into something like LaTeX (its free!) and typeset them properly: I'd be more then happy to help with this.
DeleteAh, LaTeX...it has been quite some time since I mucked with that, and never on a blog. I'm not against the idea, mind you, I just haven't tried to do it. If you're serious, send me an email at ancient0history@gmail.com and we can talk about it.
Delete