Hey honey,
So another month of work has passed here at the Gravis compound and I am getting more and more tired of all the hectic activity while being away from you. It's hard to believe construction has been ongoing for over a year now. I can't wait till it's done so I can come back home.
Hopefully this will be the last update I send before I myself will be on the shuttle back to Earth. Work is wrapping up nicely and since it's really almost done, I've made some pictures to go with my rambling so you can see what I have been overseeing this entire time.
The many revisions by our architect made it possible to turn this into a nice campus with some breathing space between the main 2 facilities, which should keep the employees happy. Of course, to preserve as much heat as we can (especially with this climate), all the buildings are connected so closely that you wouldn't be able to tell from the outside that it is actually 14 different facilities with each their own area of research. I would show you a picture of the entire complex, but my little camera just isn't built for -70 Celsius.
Before the first picture I will say though, that the designer we hired to set us up with lighting and the accompanying electrical engineer got grounded at the space port in the capital because of a big blizzard, so that work is still a bit behind.
Anyway, on to the pictures!
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Now, this first photo shows us the main hall that runs along the bottom of one of the 2 main central towers. Since the towers are pretty much a mirror image of each other, the other one also has one of these. Isn't she a beauty? I imagine the scientists will be able to meet here to have some good brainstorming sessions when they're getting a break from their labwork. Of course, the hallway has been fashioned after the open floor plan of that big animation studio (I can't recall the name now, but they did all those animation movies we both love so much) back on Earth. That main hall of theirs has been such a great asset in what they do.
Moving along...
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This photo I took at the top of that same hall. It's such a nice and connected place, I really think the architect gave us every inch he could without sacrificing integrity or building efficiency. As you can see, the hall is a pretty tall structure, and we'll need to make sure we screen the applicants for a fear of heights.
Sadly, the fact that we ran out of a few materials unexpectedly meant we had to cut back on a few things, so we don't actually have guard rails! It seems like a bit of a weird decision, but you can trust me when I say that some of the more fragile work that will be done in the outer labs need the materials a lot more for things like heat insulation than an open stairwell or 2 will need guard rails.
[screenshot]http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/1769/enjoyouratriumdining2.jpg[/screenshot]
Since I was at the top already I figured I might as well make a picture of the big dome ceiling of the tower. You can see what the outside of the compound looks like through the windows. We had to be pretty spartan about the exterior of the campus because it's just unforgiving to work outside.
Ever since construction on that marvel of a glass and metal ceiling was completed the guys and I have been joking that we should sublet the top floor of each tower so they can be turned into fine dining establishments. Of course science is more important, but a man can dream.
[screenshot]http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/302/ohdearwhathappenedhere2.jpg[/screenshot]
I was on my way back down when I saw what you see on the photograph. I was baffled at first, because the windows we put in everywhere are 5-10 inch thick sheets of bullet-proof (and some even say missile proof, ha!) translucent steel/glass compounds. It took a bit of asking around, but it turned out that the cause was simple enough. One of the construction workers had left his tools lying around and one of his co-workers tripped over a industrial railgun that they use to shoot bolts to secure all the metal plating. Luckily it discharged into the window, which broke, but stopped the bolt dead in its tracks. If that thing had gone ricocheting through the halls we would've been lucky with just one fatality.
Suffice it to say that the owner of the railgun has been severely reprimanded. (a little side note: you know that I am rather compulsive, and seeing the one broken pane I just had to go and correct it for the other tower, as well. Asymmetry is such an ugly thing)
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The last shot is from the central atrium that connects the 2 towers and has corridors off to all the outer labs. We just wrapped up construction of the windowed ceiling (which, again, was a lot of hard work with the weather) and we're pretty much done now with all the construction. Sadly, because of that blizzard that trapped the lighting expert we've stuck to the bare essentials when it came to lighting the place, so it's still pretty dark in there.
It shouldn't be long now before I can come back home. Lighting and the wiring are pretty much the only things left now, and the people we need should be arriving later this week, unless of course the weather doesn't clear up a little. I am counting down the days I have to wear 5 layers of clothing to keep warm.
I love you,
Scott
