Red Rock Syndrome

[Sniperwhere]

This is a starting work of progress for me. I plan on adding a lot to this and hope it doesn't become one of my usual lost projects. Considering I have a lot of ideas for this, I doubt it will be.

 

It's another zombie like story with a bit more of a scientific twist to it. :P This all may change. I kinda went to town on the background info but I really want to get my mental image through as clearly as possible.

 

 

 

Red Rock Syndrome. That's the name they gave to it. It's what results from over exposure to the martian surface. One wouldn't think that a planet so close to earth, studied so thoroughly could contain something so malicious on it. But then again, who could argue with the scientists? "The rock is red due to the excess of iron in the minerals" No. They couldn't have been more wrong. And the damage has been done.

 

I suppose some background is in order. I'm Douglas Warner. Shift manager of the Rorrin Water Mines. What is a water mine? Well, it's no secret that the surface of mars is dry. But recent scans show that hidden underground is a huge current. A subterranean river that branches a good portion of mars below the surface. Every so often the water hits a pocket where it collects into a buried lake. Water mines are built at the level of water to collect, and purify the water for the colonies. These pockets though are very rarely single units. generally it's like a sponge(or swiss cheese). Hundreds of tiny bubbles spread out around the general area. Most of them close enough together that small openings connect them, Leaving some completely under water, others half filled and the rest dry. Water purifiers are usually built in the half filled but sometimes under water if need be. To make water distribution easier, all colonies are established at the location of a water mine. With that being said, The Rorrin Water Mines is the mine for the Rorrin Canyon Colony. This is one of the largest colonies established on Mars, being that the Rorrin region has the most filled "bubbles". It houses a population of roughly 300,000 miners and, well, "civilians" if that's what you wanna call them.

 

My job is simple. I manage the shifts of miners operating the C-8 Drill Rigs we use to dig. These monster machines use magnetic energy to rotate twin drills approximately 2 tons in weight. it was during one of the shifts that we realized that the rock isn't red due to iron content. From what I saw earth side, the C-8's were in constant need of maintenance when drilling into iron rich rocks. Due to the drills using magnetic energy, iron dust residue from drilling would start to stick to the inside of the drills since iron is a magnetic conductor. These would start grinding away at the gears and jamming up the drill over time. But on mars, it was different. The drills stayed clean. The dust did not stick to it save fore very small traces. At the time we didn't think to much into it. Heck, we'd been mining these tunnels for over 20 years without incident. Life in the mines went on as usual.

 

It wasn't until a year later did strange things start happening...

 

To be continued at a time that isn't 4:30 AM.

[Herculine]

Excellent. Reminds me a little of my favorite old game, Doom.