Light's Rage

Reality

Entry-

Our first major injury. A miner was exploring a crawl space tunnel. There was some sort of underground quake. He panicked, and while moving back, his coat and shirt lifted above his pants and his exposed skin touched the tunnel wall... and froze to it. They had to yank him free.

He's in the tents now. I went in to visit him. His friends stood by his side, covered in black soot.

How bad is it down there? Admittedly, I don't know much about mining; especially coal mining. I asked Jacob if we should expect more of this. He said its pretty likely.

Entry-

We have 10 days. Ten days before a -80 degree storm bears down on us. This is a city ender. I asked them why there's a storm that's suddenly twice as bad as what we faced on the way here.

Luck.

Luck that the former Emma offed herself. Luck that I grabbed the ticket. Luck that we managed to get here with 10 days to spare. ...luck that the sun went away.

There are times I remember events here as if the sun was shining. We're about to get nailed by a 'civilization ending' storm, and this is what I'm thinking about.

I brought all the team leads in to hear the news. I want to be transparent about this, and they need to provide input on what to expect.

Marty said we should anticipate widespread frostbite cases. The cold will render the personal lamps ineffective.

The spire / generator engineers (they're insisting I call it a 'generator' now), say they can have the spire clear of ice in the next few hours.

Jacob reported that the temperatures in the mines are bad enough as they are. When the storm hits, there's no telling how bad it will be. I asked the obvious question about whether or not they're running the heaters. Of course the answer was yes.

The engineers said they can expand the heaters' fuel capacity and heat output, but it will take time to figure out. It would be helpful to have assistance. The thought of pulling more laborers away from what they're doing now is pretty much out of the question.

"What about the kids? Filthy little buggers are freeloading." Jacob suggested.

I hadn't even thought of that... though, 'freeloading' seemed like an awfully strong word to apply to children.

The engineers even seemed to latch onto that idea; going so far as to point out the kids would get an education, which meant more engineers in the future. Oh yeah... the future. Why I feel like this choice is going to have a ripple effect? ...assuming we live.

The doctors pointed out in the worst case scenario, there isn't enough of them to treat everyone should the whole colony get sick. The engineers pointed out there are pre-fabricated parts here that appear to be for a steam core powered hospital that was never built.

To that, I looked at Jason. "Between here and the northern docks is a lost steam core shipment. Can you find it?" I think I had more reservations about the request than he did. He said yes, and is prepping a team as I write this.

Out of everyone, I trust him the most... and he's also the one I'm sending away. Goddamnit! Be safe.

Jacob asked me to create a book of laws. I asked him why. He said "If there's one book, then there's one truth." He doesn't trust me. Fine, whatever. I grabbed a spare journal from the workshop.

Law 1: We authorize the creation of soup to stretch out food supplies.

Banned: Non-food additives