Eden Incident

The Eden Incident was a major incident that occurred in Sector B of Eden. The incident occurred on the night of May 25 into the morning of May 26, in 2128. In the week beforehand, around eighty processing workers complained of unfair treatment and unsafe conditions. Some civilians were killed in an accident on May 23, which sparked the incident.

## The followup and protest

After the SIC increased its workforce in Sector B of Eden, the newer workers began to file reports of more experienced workers harassing them. In April, one man was admitted to the psych ward and was given time off with pay. In mid-May, a group of eighty workers, new and verteran, complained of the conditions they were working in, specifically with the unusual treatment of sludge and toxic nukage. The Council agreed with their claims and set out to include better regulations of the workplace. However, when the primary council on Earth was informed, they immediately rejected the regulation idea and told the Eden Council to ignore the claims.

On May 23, 2128, a group of ~120 workers joined in a peaceful protest outside of the administration. Some guards were sent to monitor the protestors. As the day went on, more and more people filled the hallway, regardless of if they were protesting or not, which began to confuse the guards. Some workers who had become intoxicated began to verbally harass the guards, and eventually led to physical violence. At 6:32pm EDST, a worker lunged at a security guard, which caused the security guard to fire, striking the assistant and two other people. The other guards, believing that others were armed, began to open fire into the crowd. Over a period of three minutes, 31 people were killed, including 9 people who were not involved in the protests. The security guards were stopped by SSgt. Jordan Thyme of the SSM, and the guards were temporarily suspended from work.

The next day, on May 24, the survivors and uninvolved people demanded the guards be arrested, and so their demands were met. A total of 5 guards were arrested. That afternoon, their initial charges were brought as 2nd-degree murder and reckless behavior. Two of them were acquitted of all charges, and the other three’s charges were reduced to manslaughter. Two of the men with reduced charges also had the recklessness charges dropped. The three convicted were sent to Earth to be incarcerated at a federal prison.

The protestors were upset about their light punishment and demanded compensation. The Eden Council apologized but stated that they could not meet any more demands.

## The Incident

On May 25, a total of 16 workers snuck out at 12:00am, 2 and a half hours after curfew, and they headed to the central pumping station in Sector B. Most of the workers were experienced in handling the nukage, and were able to divert the pipes to meet with the lava pumping. This act was incredibly dangerous since nukage and lava would explode on contact. They also added soldidic ethanol to the area near the nukage/lava pipes, in case the install explosion did not start a fire. They returned to their bunks.

At 3:32am EDST, the two materials collided and resulted in a massive explosion. 10 early morning-shift workers were instantly killed in the blast. One man was severed in two and died on the way to the medical center. The twelfth man was burned alive by the intense radiation. The Council was notified at 4:08, over half and hour after the explosion. They immediately demanded the facility to be shut off and all workers to be inconsequentially suspended. The official death count was stated as 12; however, some sources say up to 16 may have been killed.

## Immediate Aftermath

In the following days, many of the workers were investigated, but many were too inexperienced with the pumps or had no possible way to access the area where the explosion occurred. 3 men were brought in, all of which had been working in the area for over 5 years. They were interrogated, and one of them, C. Hawkins, confessed to the overload and also pointed out 12 other workers. The remaining 3 turned themselves in.

The 16 workers were sent back to Earth and were convicted of 1st degree murder and intensive damage of property. The murder charges were dropped after the leading member, Anthony Griswald, convinced the jury that the goal was to “destroy the pipes...so that the [Eden Workers Department]... would pay for their stupid bullshit”. He and seven of the men were convicted, and the remainder were acquitted but lost their jobs.

## Effect on the base

Many workers called in sick, mostly those who were assigned to cleanup. Sector B was heavily closed off for several months while the radiation was cleared out. This also shortened the water supply, which led the base to rely on partially contaminated water. Dozens of workers complained of illness and refused to drink the water. Nobody died from the contamination, but many suffered medium-term illnesses, and some are theorized to contact cancer at some point. The amount of radiation seen at the base was about 61 Sv, which would be fatal to anyone in the vicinity. Due to the base’s advanced barricades, the radiation did not kill anyone except for the night shift workers.