Welcome To Your New Home In Space!

Hello, and welcome to your new home in space! Depending on your position, corporation, and assignment, you may have a wide range of tasks and duties you are expected to perform on a daily basis, many of which include hazards that you will need to be prepared for. Company-provided literature will detail the nature of your work assignment for new employees and provide a refresher course for those returning to active duty, while this pamphlet will attempt to provide guidance for those unfamiliar with the general work environments of outer space.

If you are reading this for the first time, as the first thing you've read, congratulations! You are a vat-born artificial organic lifeform, and your ability to interpret this text means that your cognitive language functions have been programmed correctly. Depending on your vat training, you should have the skills necessary to perform one of the various tasks required for crewmembers aboard one of NovusCorp's NARVs, or NovusCorp Astronautical Research Vessel. These platforms allow NovusCorp to conduct mobile research operations throughout the known universe, stretching the bounds of knowledge in the name of science.

Most of your fellow crewmembers are grown through the wonder of NovusCorp's thriving Genegineering division, or are programmed by NovusCorp's equally thriving Neuroprogramming division. Together, you are tasked with operating a NARV in order to represent the interests of NovusCorp throughout the known universe, discover new technologies and scientific discoveries, and turn a profit. Some individuals will have been actively developing intelligence and personality over years of sentience, while others will have just exited the bioroid accelerated training vats for the first time. Newly created bioroids will be assigned a position by the benevolent management of NovusCorp based on their in-vat training program, or assigned based on a ship's current needs.

A bioroid is an artificially engineered organic intelligence designed to carry out the various rigorous tasks required of a research vessel while being more durable and rugged than baseline humanity. This means that you are specially designed for a life of space exploration and research! Most of your memories are either cultivated during your vat-training cycle, for new bioroids, or stored during brainscans for future replay into a new body, allowing your memories and personality to exist long after your initial body's demise.

NovusCorp believes that the secret to unlocking the mysteries of the universe requires biological and mechanical intelligences to work actively on the problem. You are here to figure out these fundamental mysteries, and to explore the universe in search of answers. Perhaps you will discover a new branch of science, or develop a machine that can perform the impossible! Perhaps you will keep things running smoothly so that others can do these things, secure in the knowledge that your role is no less necessary.

While your vat-training should have prepared you for basics of interstellar life, like handling biological needs, reading, and communicating with others, a refresher course is always useful to ensure your Augmented Reality routines are effectively communicating with you. Likewise, some things that are intuitive to spacers after a short time may be entirely unfamiliar to those who just emerged from the Vat, as it were, and sometimes restoring clone backups results in forgetfulness. As such, this pamphlet hopes to bring you back up to speed on the typical life of a spacer, and on explaining how you see the world. Let's get started!

NovusCorp makes life easier for its various spacers by including a tactical augmented-reality overlay implant that provides information directly through the visual cortex, allowing the user to interpret this information in real time without relying on instinct and feeling. (Please note that if you are a mechanical entity reading this pamphlet, your visible display may differ; we recommend that you refer to the appropriate technical manual for information relevant to your design.)

Assuming your biomonitor implant is working, you should see a series of meters on one corner of your AR display that represent your personal needs and conditions.

• Health allows you to determine the extent of your physical injuries in a concrete form - when your health meter is empty it is strongly recommended that you seek medical treatment immediately before you suffer premature biological shutdown (commonly known as death!)
• Nutrition covers your need for food. Food is the stuff of life, and the stuff your body needs to keep moving. Don't neglect it, as it's awkward to suffer PBS because you failed to maintain your physical body.
• Hydration covers your need for water. Water is necessary for many bodily functions, and thirst can be crippling or even deadly given time.
• Hygiene is your personal level of cleanliness. While it is an approximation, it should be noted that poor personal hygiene is known to increase your risk of catching or spreading diseases, not to mention your risk of offending others.
• Bladder is your waste elimination reflex; as you consume food and drink, the materials you can't absorb convert into waste which must be eliminated in the appropriate receptacle. Toilets are provided for proper elimination, and are designed to reclaim useful materials thus excreted for the good of the ship.
• Restfulness is your body's general state of fatigue. Exhaustion may cause dangerous distractions while on duty that might result in disaster, so don't forget to sleep when you are tired. Failure to do so can be deadly!
• Happiness is your personal state of mind, as estimated by NovusCorp using your mind's production of chemicals to provide estimates. While these are approximations at best, it is known by NovusCorp Psychological Operations that a happy worker is a productive worker.

This section provides alerts if the biomonitor detects unsafe or harmful environments affecting you.

• O2: Short for oxygen, this is vital for ongoing functionality. You can survive for a short time without oxygen, but you will rapidly begin to suffer problems if you go without for long periods, or if you breathe in toxic or harmful materials. If the O2 icon is green, you are breathing normally. If the icon is red, the air is too hot – you will burn your lungs if you breathe too long! If the icon is blue, the air is too cold – you will freeze your lungs! If the icon is black, there is not enough air to breathe, or you are currently not breathing – which is an obvious problem! If the icon is flashing yellow, the air is toxic or harmful in some other way - check an atmospheric analyzer for more information. You can voluntarily hold your breath, which will stop you from breathing in harmful gases but also cause you to not take in necessary oxygen. Most individuals can hold their breath until they pass out, at which point autonomous breathing reflexes take over and force the person to breathe. Those with appropriate implantations may have internal oxygen supplies that let them hold their breath longer.
• Temp: The current temperature as a measure of normal, too hot or too cold. The typical icon is green, meaning that the temperature is comfortable. The vacuum of space is incredibly cold, and the engines are incredibly hot, so extremes of temperature aren't too hard to find on a space ship. If the icon turns red or blue, it means the room is warm or cold. If it begins flashing between a lighter and darker version of the color, the room is warm or cold enough to be uncomfortable. If it begins flashing between the color and black or yellow, the room is at a sufficient temperature to steadily cause harm. Note that appropriate clothing will affect the rate at which temperature affects you.
• PSI: Current environmental pressure. If this indicator is green, you are in a safe environment. Blue environments are low on pressure and as such may not be sufficient to breathe; black indicators mean there is no pressure detected (space), which is generally bad. Yellow indicator means a high pressure area; red means pressure high enough to actively cause harm. If PSI is not green, you need to get protection or get out of there immediately!
• Rad: Biomonitors include a basic radiation detector; this is black when no radiation is detected, and increases up the color spectrum (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple) depending on the rate of radiation intake. Any color is bad, but yellow and higher are actively dangerous as they will cause harm enough in short order to debilitate or kill.
• Heart: This is your heartbeat. When it is green, all is well. When it is yellow, your heart-rate is accelerated, when it is blue your heart-rate is slowed, when it is red your heart-rate is critically fast, and when it is black your heart has stopped or is missing - either of which is bad, as you should expect to cease functioning in short order if not already receiving medical treatment.

In general, much like outer space itself, life inside a space station or spaceship is filled with long stretches of mundanity interspersed with exciting discoveries, dangerous hazards, and the occasional disaster or attack. In order to ensure that NovusCorp workers are prepared for anything, we have assembled this handy guide to some occurrences reported by our brethren among the stars, including how to determine one is occurring and what to do if you notice one happening.

Space is devoid of atmosphere, for the most part, and does not have currents or patterns that could form climatological conditions. So what is space wind? Space wind is the colloquial term for the event that occurs during a hull breach or other incident that causes gas pressure to attempt to equalize (typically between the pressurized spacecraft and the completely unpressurized vacuum of space). The result is a rush of air pushing through the hole, and potentially pulling items along with it as it does so. In null-gravity environments, this can pull unsecured items easily outwards and offwards into space. While space wind is not, technically, harmful by itself, it is important to note that when you feel a breeze inside a spaceship, especially if the vents aren't currently running, it probably means a hull breach is occurring!

In the event of a hull breach, the compartment with the breach will depressurize as gas escapes, taking with it heat, pressure, and breathable air. The best thing to do if trapped in a compartment with a hull breach is to:

• Alert your fellow station personnel that there is a hull breach in the compartment in question via headset if you are wearing one.
• Don a protective pressure suit or hardsuit -quickly- if one is available. This will protect you from pressure and temperature changes.
• Attach emergency oxygen internals or suit oxygen. This will allow you to breathe!
• Activate magnetic boots if available to prevent yourself from being pulled by 'space wind'.

Once you have completed these steps, your next priority will be sealing the hull breach or evacuating the compartment.

If you are not a member of Engineering Staff, you may quite sensibly prefer to evacuate the compartment. If so:

• Use the exit furthest away from the breach that is within your security clearance if possible, as this will minimize the loss of atmosphere to other sections of the craft.
• Security doors are equipped with a Emergency Override Request interface that will allow you to open a door after 30 seconds in emergency situations when the power is active. Please note that this will trigger a security alarm and you will be required to explain your actions to Security, so this should only be done in emergencies!
• In the event of a hull breach due to meteor impact or other major craft damage, the power to the doors may not be responding. If this is the case, you need to perform a manual override. A standard pry-bar will open the door swiftly and efficiently, or you can open the door by hand using the manual override levers. Note that certain high-security doors, blast doors, and fire doors do not have manual override interfaces!
• Remember to close the door behind you, especially if you used a manual override, or else you will simply be spreading the problem!
• If the only accessible door leads to an area above your security clearance that you cannot access with your ID card, or if your only exit has no manual override interface, or if no safe exit route exists, remain calm and request assistance from Engineering or your AI module if your craft is equipped with one. They will assist you in exiting your current location safely.

If you have none of these options available and help is not going to arrive in time, if you have a wrench or a pry-bar you may be able to dislodge walls in order to pass through them. Note that you will be leaving behind a hole that will endanger the compartment beyond until you secure it again, so this is not recommended unless you have no other options.

• Wrenches can remove retaining bolts, including those that secure machinery and walls in place.
• Pry-bars can be inserted to move items that are otherwise not movable by hand.
• Dismantling a wall requires removing the retaining bolts that secure the wall to the floor, followed by prying the wall out of its space. You may also need to remove bolts from girders in order to dislodge them.
• Note that this will depressurize the chamber beyond, so this should only be done if there is no other option available!

If, however, you are a member of Engineering, are properly equipped and trained to handle hull breaches, or are trapped without a high probability of rescue, you may wish to fix the problem instead. While members of Engineering receive full training in hull repair, if you are not trained in hull repair but have no alternatives, here is a very quick guide to emergency repairs.

• Inspect your area. Your area may be equipped with a supply cabinet which may contain equipment useful for atmospheric emergencies, or emergency supplies may be available. In particular, if you aren't already wearing one, searching for an Emergency Pressure Suit, or at least a breath mask, and an oxygen tank will allow you to survive for longer. If you find a Metal-Foam Generator, activate it and toss it adjacent (not through) a breach to create lightweight metallic foam that will seal an area off, at least temporarily.
• If you have a pressure suit or breath mask available, put it on immediately, and attach an oxygen tank. Note that you do not need to wear a breath mask under a pressure suit.
• If you have a metal-foam generator available, activate it and throw it next to or in front of the breach; the expanding foam will cover the hole unless it is extremely large. The generator releases on impact, so don't throw it directly out the breach!
• If you have metal sheets and a welding torch available, you can patch holes of any size temporarily by placing the sheets upright and welding them in place. Note that if at all possible you should be to the side of the hole you are attempting to patch if the area is rapidly depressurizing to avoid being sucked out into space. In an emergency, you can scavenge floor tiles and use the welding torch to join them into a wall panel.
• If you have metal sheets, bolts, and metal rods, you can reconstruct the entire wall. First, weld a set of sheets in place, then weld a series of five rods together to make a girder, and bolt four girders to the floor. Add four more metal sheets to connect it to the outer wall and the inner wall you are about to make, then weld another set of sheets in place to form the inner wall. It won't be pretty, but it'll be reinforced and capable of holding against the normal rigors of space.
• If you have metal sheets, plexan sheets, and bolts, you can make a window. Simply use the welder to heat the sheets sufficiently to bend them into a framework design, weld the window frame in place, then insert the plexan sheet and bolt it in place.

If you are conducting emergency repairs, be certain to have Engineering perform proper repairs of the area when time permits! They have specialized equipment which makes this process much easier.

Cosmic radiation, nuclear attacks, alien artifacts, or over-exuberant usage of certain power generation materials may result in radiation. Radiation is not healthy for anyone, as it can have destructive or fatal effects on the body and mind. As radiation proofing an entire space vessel can be prohibitively expensive, most people who work in potentially radioactive environments are supplied with resistant suits instead, and emergency safe zones are built that can house individuals in the event of a major blowout. Note that radiation may have damaging effects on equipment as well, such as causing shortouts or disrupting normal operation. If you are advised of a major radiation incident, check all equipment carefully before resuming normal use.

In the event that a major radiation blowout is detected, all personnel are instructed to immediately seek out the nearest entrance to the Maintenance tunnelways, as these tunnels are specifically insulated against radioactivity; other safe zones may be instituted. In the event of a radiation alert, access to these tunnels is temporarily enabled for all personnel, so seek shelter immediately before it's too late!

Although the wonders of space are many, the sheer number of hostile organisms that want to terminate your life prematurely is at least as numerous. These organisms may be encountered on planet surfaces, attempting to forcibly board from space, or crewing hostile ships. If you are not a member of Security or Marine crews, you should defer to them in handling these matters unless specifically deputized to do so yourself.

The most important thing to know is that your Security teams are on site to ensure your safety, and in times of increased danger it is paramount that you cooperate with them. Likewise, in the event that Marines are called, your ship will recommend action for you to take to stay safe and out of the line of fire. Specific responsibilities relating to your job will take priority; Engineers are responsible for repairing damage to the ship during red alerts, but are not expected to fight off xenomorphs by themselves, for example.

Courses in self-defense and combat skills are available at the VR Concourse, allowing you to practice your skills in hand to hand combat, melee, ranged combat, firearms combat, and even heavy weapons training, for those who want to certify for Marine duty.