Aberrant: Dead Rising - [Fic] Where Wondrous Things Will Grow

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Nov. 2 ... Location: Refuge Curacao Island

There was plenty of what had been park land off the 'Weg nar Westpunt', a main road that was one of he routes into what had once been the university campus at Piscedera, on the outer edge of Willemstad. The soil was great, the growing conditions even better, and there was ample solid bedrock in more than a few spots. Fortunately, Varro in his various inhuman forms could cut and work the volcanic bedrock of the island easily.

Sarah and Dan had helped him pick the spot, solid ground for building and room to expand - since a greenhouse complex like Varro could cut from rock and erect might serve a valuable agricultural purpose if expanded. Right now, he'd be building something about the size of a garden nursery ... about an acre all told. He'd seen documentaries of how Cuba had completely reworked their agri-system, and knew about permaculutre ... this place would benefit from those principles. Plus, he'd been to Cuba, recently, and he knew that all those little organic plots scattered everywhere would be a treasure trove of food and medicinal species ... and all of them should have a chance at growing, if the stories about heirloom crops and the trend with natural plants held out to be the truth.

Greenhouse wasn't exactly accurate except for in a few spots either. The climate was a bit dry, but ideal for growth most of the year. Varro would simply be creating large micro-climates to nurture a wider variety of plants from this and other zones. Thank you high-school biology and thank you to whatever allowed his mind to connect most of anything he'd ever come across into his intimate knowledge of science.

The civil engineering was simple - giant slabs of stone set into simple but functional walls. Often the areas would be roofless. The rock he would start to cut from the ground would be a series of deep and narrow subterranean rooms and/or cisterns covered with more than enough of the metamorphic stone - in thick lintels - to make bases strong enough to build other buildings on. He didn't have the engineering knowledge to gauge what the minimum thickness of such lintels should be, but he knew that making them a few meters thick would be incredible over-engineering. The water management with sectioned cisterns would make ancient Romans proud, but there was no arguing with their way of having done things - those systems were still working well today in some cases, and built with no moving parts out of bare stone. Somehow, Varro had been able to pull the knowledge from his ancient history classes forth for that ... his para-human mind was truly a blessing.

After the morning's conversation with Dan for advice on the fine points, he had sketched out the simple yet precise plans. It looked a little like a labyrinth of walls at various heights ... and he had just been thinking on where they would pile the soil to both store and mix it. There was plenty of natural phosphate on the island, they used to mine it a century or so ago ... back when that sort of thing was profitable ... so enriching this soil and keeping it that way would be easy.

Dan and Sarah had mentioned they might be able to make it out today, and Fox had been quite enthusiastic about the project too - and had suggested he get moving on it as soon as possible. Even though ground had been broken - digging a few pits and cutting some rock for testing - the soil types too would prove useful. Some of the gravel here was rich in minerals useful for glass making. Pure white beech sand and recycled glass from this dilapidated work would complete the equation, and he'd shift into a solar furnace to put on the heat required. He could cast big deck prisms to light the rooms below ground with natural light ... saving Dan the trouble of installing too much lighting. He should even be able to use this volcanic stone to cut nice crucibles for the task.

Varro checked his watch ... he'd busy himself with whittling some simple bowls and pots from the stone as he waited ...

Everyone is invited ...

Come out to the 'barn raisin' style green house build ..

[Anatoly]

When Benedict first got wind of a plan to grow crops, his heart skipped a beat. The crisp mental image of fresh cabbages, delicately plucked cinnamon and oregano, as well as small husbandry leading to a proper meat intake made his mouth water. But for all that to be, there was a lot of work to be done, and he planned to put his broad back to work. He might not be the strongest Super, and he might not have the ability to alter the soil or weather, but he was first and foremost a pragmatic man.

He made a note of the things he'd need. In order to be transported to the "estate" as he'd like to think of it, he was going to need some sturdy metal drums - and he was sure the girls would be able to provide. He sighed a bit inside at the more "acceptable applicability" of their powers - as much as becoming stronger or gigantic worked that way.

It would be an easy job for him to mash up what remained of his kitchen duties and store it this way - after some proper "seasoning", it would make perfect compost for the greens to grow on as well as allow some recycling to be done. He tapped a finger to his chin in thought, trying to work through his mental list of tasks and possibilities. It would be a small thing for him to provide some extra hands for the work with regards to the tilling and planing seeds, perhaps even the harvesting. He'd never really pushed his powers, so he was sure he would be able to provide a few of his Seedlings for the job.

He then shook his head. First he'd have to gauge the others' reactions. Wouldn't want to scare them off right at the bat.

Once he was sure that the first batch of organic trash was packed nice and tight into a wooden crate, he put it outside. He'd have to wait for someone actually capable of going there to take it along...

[Doctor Varroxxian]

Varro had been at it early, not sleeping much these days. The last of the bore holes had been drilled ... and like he feared, not much in the way of aquifers here. What little ground water there was - there was some - was at 47 feet in this location. Plus he would need a pump to get it out ... best to leave it as a reserve supply and just use rain catchment and really large cisterns. His tube-worm form had been very useful in drilling, working even better than when he had first drilled wells in Jamaica because of changes in how he arranged his titanium-strong, diamond-sharp alloy like teeth in concentrically rows ... like shark teeth but able to reciprocate against each other.

The first tiny structure was already complete, thanks to his first-hand efforts ... a small drawing room. Literally, a set of standing stone walls with parallel lintels - set edgewise for strength - covering the very conservative eight foot span. Inside was sturdy table, also cut from stone ... and in each of the double bases of the table pigeon hole shelves carved into the stone.

It was clean, smooth, geometric and detailed ... but not all that different from monolithic construction of over ten thousand years ago. With his ability to alter the size, and tremendous strength of his forms ... placing the blocks had been easy. Modern engineering concepts like tongue and groove fits allowed him to not worry about the need for mortar. The resonance frequencies for a structure like this were very dissimilar to those of earthquakes too, so the locking joints would nicely provide seismic stability in spades since all he had to worry about was slippage - still, he'd been careful to not smooth the contact face too much. Even though those ancient people had been less advanced than modern people, it was very interesting that over one hundred centuries ago they managed to build elegant structures with much of the engineering being just right to last a very very long time, even against nature. It was very, very close to playing with a giant set of LEGO bricks.

He had always liked LEGO as a kid. Now he had begun to build his own Stonehenge, the LEGO edition ... "I wonder if the ancients had para-humans of their own. Is this all cyclical in some way?" he said, musing to himself out loud while carving some slender stone stools that could be tipped up and down for easy rolling, in case people without para-human strength had to move them.

"Maybe I'll call the place Bedrock?" He said aloud, again to himself ... not even to a copy of himself. "I probably shouldn't speak to myself like this ..." ... oh well, back to work ... still early in the morning.