Biologic Space Laboratories research station

File:BSL Artwork.jpg

The Biologic Space Laboratories research station.

The Biologic Space Laboratories research station was a newly constructed research station operated by Biologic Space Laboratories that orbits SR388. [1] It is the setting of Metroid Fusion.

There are some signs that the B.S.L. has some relationship or a possibly recreation to the Bottle Ship of Metroid: Other M, as many of the specimen onboard (noticeably Nightmare and Ridley) were transferred to make their reappearance in Metroid Fusion.

Complete Map of the Biologic Research Station: [2]

Overview

The BSL research station was home to various creatures captured from various planets, most notably SR388 and Zebes. Many researchers lived in the station as well. It appears to have been a hollowed-out Asteroid with a docking ring around the widest portion of the asteroid.

Here is a simple overview of the different parts of the station:

Main Deck

• This area contained elevator access, storage, etc. It linked all the other parts of the station together and consisted of several sub-sections:
  • Docking Bays
    • This is where Samus first entered the space station. Her ship was located here.
  • Habitation Deck
    • This area contained the living quarters for the crew and the researchers. It is also where Samus found the Etecoons and Dachoras, the only creatures aboard the station that had not been infected by the X.
  • Central Reactor Core
    • This area is found covered in vines and Ki-Hunters.
  • Reactor Silo
    • This is where the main reactor that powers the entire station was kept, as well as the Auxiliary Power Station.
  • Operations Deck
    • This is where the controls for the station's main operations, such as orbital position and the self-destruct mechanism, were located.
  • Main Elevator
  • Sub-Zero Containment

Sector 1 (SRX)

• This sector reproduced the environment of planet SR388, home of both the X Parasites and the Metroids.

Sector 2 (TRO)

• This sector was used to research creatures living in humid, jungle-like habitats.

Sector 3 (PYR)

• This sector was used to research creatures living in extremely hot habitats, such as deserts and volcanoes.
  • Main Boiler Control Room

Sector 4 (AQA)

• This sector was used to research marine creatures.

Sector 5 (ARC)

• This sector was used to research creatures living in extremely cold habitats.

Sector 6 (NOC)

• This sector was used to research nocturnal and cave-dwelling creatures.

Restricted Zone

• This facility is where the top-secret Metroid breeding project took place.

While the Main Deck held facilities related the station's operations and the living quarters for the scientists, Sector One represented the ideal Metroid breeding environment from SR388, and the other sectors represented different environmental climates: desert/volcanic, forest/tropical, aquatic/seabed, ice/arctic, nocturnal/cave. Accordingly, each sector housed different species. It is currently unknown whether the other five sectors represented habitats on SR388 or were simply stereotypical habitat patterns used to research creatures from other planets. However, the portions of SR388 explored in Metroid II: Return of Samus seem to support the latter theory.

X infestation

When Samus Aran was attacked by an X Parasite on SR388, she was transported to Galactic Federation HQ. There, her Power Suit was surgically removed and transported to the research station. However, while in the Quarantine Bay, the infected pieces of her Power Suit formed together to create the SA-X. The SA-X used a Power Bomb to escape the Quarantine Bay, releasing all the X the scientists had unwittingly brought onto the station in the process. As a result, everyone aboard the station and all the creatures were infected, save for a small group of Etecoons and Dachoras.

Samus, having been provided with a new gunship and the Fusion Suit, was sent to investigate the explosion. She soon learned the fate of every living thing aboard the station and subsequently set out to exterminate the X, even if it required her to destroy the station and herself.

Metroid breeding program

As Samus explored the station, she came across a Restricted Lab. Here, she learned that the Galactic Federation had been using the station for a secret Metroid breeding program. However, an SA-X, as the original had asexually reproduced into several copies, managed to lock down the lab and cause it to self destruct, ultimately destroying the program.

Destruction

Samus soon found out that the Galactic Federation planned on using the X for military purposes. However, she is strongly against this as she knew how dangerous they were. Her ship's computer tried to stop Samus by locking her in a Navigation room. Samus demands to be let out, but the computer had its orders to keep her from destroying the station, so the Federation could arrive. When she mistakenly called the computer Adam, her private name for the computer, it awakens to the fact that it is the real Adam Malkovich, one of Samus's previous commanders. Adam agreed that the X are too dangerous, and he devised a plan to ram the station into SR388, killing all the X on board. Samus set the station to crash into SR388 to rid the universe of the X. As Samus leaves the station after confronting both an SA-X and an Omega Metroid, it crashed into SR388, destroying the research station, the planet, and all the X aboard.

Trivia

Notice the lack of the last period.

• B.S.L is the last of four space stations to be destroyed, the others being the Oubliette, Ceres Space Colony, and the bottle ship.
• Interestingly, all labels of the B.S.L (such as on the transport ship and docking bay doors) exclude the dot after the L.

Gallery

Samus had just entered the station in her new gunship

The Restricted Lab falling off the station

The Restricted Lab falling into space

The Restricted Lab exploding

Samus setting the station to crash into SR388

The station crashing into SR388

The station entering SR388's atmosphere

The station exploding

Samus's starship escapes the explosion