The ‘Office’ contained six small work rooms, one for each of the six experts to work in; and the main room where I worked at the computers. They typed their notes and uploaded any photos each day. I retrieved them the next morning, put everything into the proper format, then sent them all off to the NEO head office by email... pretty simple.
In addition to that, there was the greenhouse, otherwise known as the ‘Market.’ All heat and electrical power was supplied by the solar panels that made up the roof of each building. We collected and used rainwater as needed to water the gardens and boiled it for drinking, cooking and personal use.
There was bottled water in 'Supply' but that was designated for emergencies only.
Then Eddie discovered a spring... pure, natural water... bubbling up from the ground at the bottom of the hill. So the men dug out a pool, and lined the sides with large rocks to keep the earth from falling back in. It was just deep enough to submerge a four-litre jar when filling it. A glass of water had never tasted as good as when it was dipped right from that pool. Best of all... the supply was endless.
The setup was comfortable and we were usually too busy to be bored. Work also kept most of the crew physically active and I had a daily walking routine. I also liked to sit on the huge boulders near the shore and just gaze out across the water.
Eddie was studying the shade trees and how they could be moved without destroying them. Bob was in charge of the greenhouse and he’d done a terrific job – everything was growing beautifully. Ben, the technical wizard, was helping Vera locate and mark local fruit and nut-bearing trees, so she could begin her study and experiments on plants with medicinal properties.
Phyllis, the survival expert, was in charge of finding plants that were edible, and then determining which should be cooked and which could be eaten raw. We’d had some tasty dishes as a result of her experiments – and a few disasters! Overall, things seemed to be progressing quite well. The entire venture was beginning to feel more like a working holiday than anything else.
Anyway, my expertise was organization. I was responsible for recording everything, making sure all records were accurate and current. The others took photographs of what they found and their experiments. I was in charge of storing these on the main computer in an organized fashion. Everything was sorted and filed so they could quickly and easily find anything they needed for reference.
Mine was an important job and very time-consuming, because it was the complete record of the work done by the entire team. Sometimes they came in with hundreds of photos for one day’s work, so I often worked long hours to keep up with them. After all, there were six of them creating all this work but only one doing the filing and cataloguing - me - quirky little Nell.
