Mars Alpha Options

[FuelDrop]

As you open your eyes you see frost. You feel cold, deep and penetrating, tingling through your every extremity. An orange light fills the tight, claustrophobic environment and suddenly warmth surrounds you, thawing the chill.

The frost on the glass in front of you dissipates, and beyond you see a metal room filled with cryopods like the one you're in. A troll wanders the rows, checking that the thaw cycle is proceeding correctly. As feeling returns to your fingers you realize you can move again, and moments later the lid cracks open with the hiss of exchanging atmosphere. The glare of the flat, artificial light stings at first, but your eyes quickly adapt. Fighting off residual numbness you struggle out of your pod as around you others do the same.

"New arrivals proceed to administration for processing." The voice is female. Probably an elf, but it's hard to tell with the computer 'enhancement' decided upon by some analysts in a boardroom a decade ago.

You file along with the crowd, waiting patiently in line until you reach the desk.

"Name?" asks the receptionist, a male dwarf with a thick black mustache.

You answer his questions, wondering why he's even bothering. The company already has all your details on file.

"Right. You've been assigned to alpha complex. Head on down to the quartermaster to pick up your work gear then take a monorail car over there. Your luggage will be waiting for you in your quarters when you arrive."
As he speaks an icon dings into being in the upper left corner of your vision. You activate it, revealing a map of Mars City with a route marked out for you.



As you walk down the corridors of Mars City you take in your surroundings. The walls are heavy gauge steel, painted Military Grey. The doors are built to a code unlike any normal structure, each one doubling as an emergency bulkhead in the event of a hull breach. The air tastes slightly stale as you breathe it in, tinged with the faintest hint of ozone. People occasionally pass you in the corridors, all wearing EVO HEL suits with colored tabs indicating their jobs, at least in the real world. In AR, people wear whatever they like, though the fashion seems to be about a year out of date by your reckoning. At one point you pass by a maintenance drone patiently repainting the hall, the bucket of paint labeled 'Ocean Grey'.

You arrive in the quartermaster's office in time to catch the tail end of an argument.
"... a shipment of chainsaws anyway?!? What did they think we were going to do, cut down the great forests of Mars? Just stick them in storage room 208C, it's not being used for anything at the moment."
A beleaguered looking assistant scuttles away, and the quartermaster turns to look at you. He's an Orc, maybe 35 years old, who looks like the kind of man who drinks just a bit more than is good for him.
Ah, you're one of the new recruits? Heading over to Alpha Lab? You'll find your gear in that rack over there. Just grab the bag with your name on it. If you want to get changed, there's some changing rooms over there." he gestures towards the back of the workspace.

Now changed into your shiny new HEL suit, you follow the navigation markers to the monorail and take a seat. As the door closes with a hiss behind you the female voice from earlier sounds in the carriage.
"Welcome to Mars."