Visiting Vieques

[Tenseiken]

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CAMERA ACTIVE

FEED SAVING TO DRIVE CMXXVI

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Rell hadn't actually thought about on-site repairs. All of his previous plans had been made for transport vessels and on how to supply them.
Just when he had come up with an appropriate answer, the engineer in his exo rig approached and said something.
"Sorry, what?" It took a moment until he grasped what had been said.
Oh, right. The heat. Well, what did you expect? It is a cooling system, after all. Of course the tech is gonna be hot.
The large models will literally be too hot to handle while in operation. Unless you have heat protection gear on.
When the temperature approaches 950°C on the inside of the pipes, the outside will heat up to about 150°C.
Such temperatures are far below standard heat signatures of most vessels.
In the interest of crew safety, they will be mounted in a way that leaves enough room to work on one without touching another.
If something fails, the corresponding unit will shut down automatically. There will be several backups to handle the load."

Rell tried to make himself comfortable.
"The small ones can be handled easily. You can touch them without gloves while they are running. Here, I'll show you."
Rell rolled over and put his flat hand on the small model.

"Even when the brine is at maximum operating temperature, the outside never exceeds 35°C. Quite a comfortable temperature, really..." Rell explained the functions thoroughly, even going so far as to take some of the bits out of the dismantled versions and showing them in detail. For some of them, other Junkers joined and helped to move clamps.
While exclusively manufactured for the models, all pieces could be worked with normed tools from most houses, albeit not always in their regular application.
Sometimes, a screwdriver had to be used to temporarily stabilize two pipes while a clamp was applied.
Once, Rell showed the engineer how a a cable can be attached to a standard comm device to check the temperature of the smaller models.
All of it worked quite well, but it would take a moment to train a crew that wasn't used to the Junker style of solving engineering challenges.

When the presentation came to emergency procedures, Rell's eyes went wide for a moment.
"Oh dear. Speaking of backup systems. I completely forgot. Mr. Xae."
He rolled his office chair over.
"I got a bit carried away there. You asked about the avaiability of repairs and maintenance. I'd simply recommend Congress standard procedure for how our captains handle important and immediate repairs. We give you a list of bases that will hold small but noteworthy stocks of repair parts all over Sirius. I won't be able to reserve enough space for a full set on each base, but there will always be enough to make the ship operational again.
If you can't get to any of them, dispatch an encrypted comm or, if you can't do even that, give the nearest Congress Junker one of these." Rell pulled out a printed list of what looked like random strings of symbols, with the odd number and letter here and there. At first glance, they formed what looked like rather blocky kittens, weird stickman figures or small houses, as if a student got bored and tried to make intricate pictures with a writing program.
At the second glance, some strings seemed to repeat almost perfectly with only minor alterations.

"These are essentially TANs. Don't worry, these are outdated. We changed the encoding structure recently. There's no harm in you seeing them.
I'll have a list of them made and uniquely encrypted for you. Each one can only be used once, but their very structure will inform the nearest relevant base about what you need.
They'll send a Salvager Frigate with the requested repair pieces. They'll bring whatever the codes you transmit contain, so make sure to send everything you need, even if that means adding a whole other line. Whoever is available and known to be discreet will come and help you out, given that doing so wouldn't betray our dealings to others.
Just be ready to pay for their next few rounds at the bar.
But they will only get you running. For full repairs, you will eventually need to come back to Vieques."

He went back to explaining the machinery more thoroughly, including all safety mechanisms. After a moment's hesitation, he even brought in samples of the strange, rocky material that they used to transfer heat. They were brought in under guard.
The low-temp version looked like finely cut volcanic rock. The high-temp one looked like it was perfectly smooth once. Now, it had cracks running all over its surface.
Even in the chilly air of the workshop, they felt strangely warm, as if they contained more heat than they were willing to pass on to the skin that touched them.

"This is what you will need to come back for at least once per year. They transfer heat quite strangely. I never really understood why. I only worked on the "how".
They may last longer than what I initially told you, but I can't guarantee that.
Here. The cracks in this one happen if it is left cold for too long."
He drifted off into more explanations, including a warning to never, ever flash freeze the high-temp material without letting an electromagnet flash like a strobe light nearby.
Rell grimmaced, as one does when unpleasant memories return for the briefest of moments.
But he caught himself again.
The wiry man smiled and tried to find a more comfortable sitting position.
"Does that adress your concerns? Is there something else you would like to ask? Anything you think I missed?"

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FEED SAVED

DRIVE CMXXVI FULL; SWITCHING TO DRIVE CMXXVII

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<span style="font-family:Lucida Console"><span style="color:#33CC00">*personality core activated*</span>
Science consists of stating the obvious and linking the facts. </span>