VII #4
"What are you surprised at? Shit is a source of food for plants. And it's full of bacteria that serve to enrich the soil in which grain is grown. Our shit is a value we mustn't forget and leave unused."
"Are you proposing we start relieving ourselves on the farms? Peeing on the seedlings?" someone tossed out sarcastically. That didn't upset Nika.
"Nothing so drastic. I believe the shelter doesn't have open sewage?" She looked at Ivan and Denis. Ivan spoke up:
"The sewage system is closed, and there are large sewage tanks. There's also an outlet from the tanks that currently isn't connected. There are also movable bins prepared for hauling to another place."
"Hmm…" Nika was thinking, then asked: "Is there a possibility to separate the toilet sewage from the wastewater used in washing hands or showering?"
Ivan looked at her in panic. "No, the whole system is closed-type, and if you mean to separate one from the other…" he almost wailed, "that would be a monumental job of reworking the entire shelter. Unworkable."
That didn't faze Nika, who was in her element.
"All right, then we simply have to come up with some kind of biologically harmless soap. That can be done, but for that we again need our wonderful harvest on the farms."
She paced the room while people moved out of her way.
"Until then, all the liquid waste will have to be filtered and the molecules of soap and detergent broken down. Doable, but it'll require a lot of work."
Nika stopped in the middle of the crowd, realizing she'd been thinking aloud.
She blushed with discomfort. But she immediately collected herself.
"You'll have to use only biological soaps," she announced to the people.
"So, we've solved the farm and food systems," Ana tried to continue the meeting, but Nika interrupted her.
"And just to add, we managed to grow the first mycelium from which button mushrooms grow. In about 30 days we'll have the first mushroom harvests, which solves the protein problem."
"So our farm system is able to provide complete meals for the shelter's population?"
Ana asked Nika, at which she nodded. "Well, that's excellent news."
Ana was delighted. "If we're able to grow food for the shelter's needs, then we're in the saddle. We're literally self-sufficient. All we need is to survive a minimum of one month. Irena, can we do that?"
Irena looked at her papers, then looked at her assistants, who energetically confirmed. Then she turned to everyone and announced:
"As we said, there are supplies for more than thirty days. People won't starve until we produce what's needed ourselves."
The room murmured, but optimism was present in every voice.
Nick thought how something so simple, like a full stomach, awakens hope and positivity in people.
People needed to have the sad thoughts of loss taken out of their heads, not to think about the world above, about the fact that this concrete creation was their home for the rest of their lives.
So they wouldn't feel claustrophobia too early, so they'd stay level-headed.
He assumed that in the future they'd have to fight a host of mental and physical problems, but the priority was to create the conditions for those fights.
You can't fight claustrophobia without a psychiatrist, you can't treat phobias without a psychologist.
Those people require conditions in order to help those who can't help themselves.
Enthusiasm and hope would die down, and then they'd need a lot of security and expertise to grapple with those cases.
The clamor slowly died down. He noticed Ana was letting people vent and waiting to continue the meeting. Finally, she stood in the middle of the room so everyone could see her and, when she felt she had the whole room's eyes on her, spoke:
"You heard it yourselves. The shelter's food project is in full swing, the infrastructure is being built, and we have seeds of food plants. We begin planting certain varieties as early as tomorrow."
Ana calmed the people, who had started talking again, letting them know she wasn't finished.
"Vlasta, how is the clinic progressing? And what are our insulin supplies like?"
Vlasta was the only person who sat in a chair during the meeting, behind whom the enormous figure of Erik had settled in a protective pose. She rubbed her big belly, then announced:
"As for insulin, we stand well there. People donated sufficient amounts and we've currently suspended donations until the supplies are used up. As for medical equipment, we stand poorly there. Actually, very poorly. A few sterile compresses and a few boxes of painkillers are all we have.
There are instruments, but we have no trained people able to perform operations…"
She paused, then quietly added, more to herself: "And childbirths. In short, people, don't get sick."
She finished, and Erik, challengingly, looked at the gathered, blocking any communication with Vlasta.
Silence descended over the oval room full of people. The lack of medicines was an enormous problem. Finally Ana spoke up. She wouldn't allow the just-created hope to abruptly sink and cause needless stress.
"Well, then we won't get sick. This is a closed system with good filtration, and for now we're isolated from viruses. Isn't that so?" She looked at the gathered.
With that sentence she somewhat confused the gathered, and no one contradicted. Ana wouldn't let the meeting slip out of her control, so she quickly continued:
"If we're done with that too, and before we devote ourselves to the dinner our tireless team has prepared…"
she looked gratefully at Mirela, "we have one more piece of news to share. Namely, during the relocation of people to the residential block and after the distribution of communal apartments, I noticed that the members of this council have no proper place where they could deliberate or rest in peace.
"
She took in the gathered faces with her gaze.
"As you can see, we're forced to hold the meeting in front of the shelter's residents, which isn't advisable. Why, you ask? Especially you who are only the escort of the elected guild representatives."
Ana stopped by a few people surrounding Irena.
"It's not that I'm belittling anyone present, but imagine a situation where our ventilation broke down and everyone was threatened with poisoning over the next two days. Would you come out with that information publicly,
or would you try to resolve it without creating the panic that would definitely follow?"
People were silent, and some even showed with a nod that they agreed with the statement. Ana had their attention, so she calmly continued:
"Of course, so that panic could be avoided and the problem resolved within the guild that would be responsible, the council would have to be informed so it could react promptly. So, I decided to fix up this fourth section a bit,
" she stopped by the entrance to the room where the bar and rest rooms were, "to create in this space a place where only council members will have a place to rest, of course if they want it,
and a place for meetings so everyone is reachable and able to react to a problem in the shortest possible time."
Ana spread her arms and headed inside with the words: "Allow me to show you your new quarters."
Having said that, she entered, and people slowly followed her.
Nick was dying to know what Ana had cooked up again, but knowing the girl, he knew it was for the good of all gathered.
So, full of enthusiasm, he followed the others into the room, curiously observing the changes Ana had made to the space in just one day.
The first thing he noticed was that the hallway some ten meters ahead of him was closed off with plastic doors, firmly fastened to the concrete walls on the sides.
The entrances to the former offices, in which Nick had placed beanbags and imagined as a zone where people would rest during the party, were now separated from the hallway by fabric curtains.
When Nick peeked through one, he noticed a few tables and chairs in a modest office.
Ana was energetically explaining to people the idea behind this division:
"First of all," she said as she held back a curtain so everyone could see the makeshift office, "this is intended as an administrative section where messages related to council decisions are passed on via runners. In these offices, at each of the tables,
one member of the corresponding guild will sit, and here the disturbing of council members will be prevented if they're at, say, some meeting."
Ana smiled. "In short, the secretaries will be here."
"And where's the coffee made?" someone tossed out while people laughed. Ana also smiled as she lowered the curtain and opened the door into the space where the large bar had been until then.
Passing through the door, Nick noticed that the makeshift bar was gone and that in its place there now stood an enormous oval table made of several tables dragged from the warehouse.
The natural stone of the cave, which until then had always fascinated Nick, was bordered by electrical cables, and the first thing he noticed was that the room was very well lit.
By the elevator a few small tables with chairs were set up, and Nick assumed someone from security would be in that spot to control newcomers.
He noticed several rugs laid on the room's floor, and on the rock in certain places — to mind the cave's aesthetics — some posters were hung, along with five paintings they'd dug up somewhere in the warehouses.
Somewhere they'd even found a few artificial plants, tastefully placed along the walls.
The whole space felt somehow homey, pleasant to work in and well lit.
You could see that the person who'd done the decorating knew how to create a space that was pleasant to work in, without too much stress.
All in all, you could see Ana had done a good job arranging and setting up the space for administration, as well as isolating the place for meetings and decisions. Ana was explaining: