Previously 5P - Ship Log 3d - Job 1 Droids - Trouble pt1.
On the Bridge of the Magic Carpet
Dave and Martin are still trying to troubleshoot the problem of a stuck sensor turret.
Mike, "Rosie to the bridge please. Just to let you know, we do have a technical issue at the moment, but it is not life threatening. Out".
"Maybe she can spot something that we have missed."
Rosie soon appears and they fill her in on the problem, "Well, our options are, we could limp back home to Hougemonte, but having the turret sticking out into the atmosphere would throw us off balance during re-entry, so I would have to manually retard our speed, it could also be damaged or totally wrecked in the process."
She pauses, "We could dock at Wheel One or Two with no problem, then see if they could somehow modify a large safety bubble, attach that to the hull with someone in a spacesuit, they could then remove the spacesuit and make the repair. Time consuming and messy.. But that would violate all sorts of safety regulations along the way, very costly to us."
They all have glum faces, looking at the display, when there is a knock on the door.
David, "Enter."
In walks D 834, "I have been listening to the problem. There is another option that you have missed."
David retorts, "Rubbish."
Martin looks puzzled, "I'm listening D 834."
D 834, "The one thing that you have overlooked," it pauses, "Is that you now have me on board. I do not need a spacesuit and I can fit into Aperture Port 23. I can splice the wires together and repair them at a later date."
Martin considers this, "Ok, D 834, you are our best option, you can give it a try. What do you need ?"
D 834, "Just a heating module, a number 4 toolkit, plus a standard safety line and clips."
Martin, "We will want to monitor your progress, so Ted will fix you up with Hologram capability as well".
D 834 was just about to enter the airlock.
Martin, "Comm Check."
D834 , " Coming through clearly. My eyebrow LED's are turned on and hologram feeds from my eye cameras are transmitting, as requested. The internal fluid heaters are active. The upgrades are working fine. My battery charge is at 93%. All systems are ready."
Rosie, "We have Holo and audio links, all comms are ok. Patching it through to the projectors."
Martin saw a small version of himself appear on the Holomats dotted around the area. "Away you go."
D 834 entered the airlock It closed and latched behind him, began the air storage cycle and the warning panel lit up.
PRESSURE DROPPING, NO ENTRY ALLOWED.
It clipped on the safety lines to the eyelets, tested them and moved to the outer door. The inner panel display read.
INNER PRESSURE ZERO. OUTSIDE PRESSURE ZERO.
INNER GRAV PLATE AT 1.00 GRAVITY. OUTSIDE GRAVITY ZERO.
PRESS BUTTON ZERO TO SOUND ALARM.
PRESS BUTTON ONE TO EMERGENCY PRESSURIZE.
PRESS BUTTON TWO TO OPEN / CLOSE HATCH.
PRESS BUTTON THREE TO PRESSURIZE.
PRESS BUTTON FIVE TO BEGIN DECONTAMINATION CYCLE.
PRESS BUTTON SIX TO PAUSE / RESUME DECONTAMINATION CYCLE.
PRESS BUTTON SEVEN TO BEGIN HEATING TO 17'C.
PRESS BUTTON EIGHT FOR HELP / SETTINGS / CHANGE LANGUAGE.
(Underneath this was a translated message in the Screand and Orkragg languages).
D834 pressed button two.
PLEASE CONFIRM SAFETY LINE IS ATTACHED AT BOTH ENDS BY PRESSING BUTTON FOUR BY THE SAFETY LATCH.
D834 pressed button four.
ATTACHMENT CONFIRMED.
REDUCING INNER GRAV PLATE TO ZERO AND OPENING DOOR.
PLEASE USE THE EXTRUDED HANDHOLDS PROVIDED.
D 834 took hold of the handrail as his weight began to reduce. It was not fitted with "Mag Feet" as it was not expected to be operating in a space environment. It soon floated off the floor.
ZERO GRAVITY, OPENING DOOR.
The door swung open to the blackness of space.
It clipped on its second safety line on the point outside the airlock, then began to move towards AP 23, which was on the left side of the nose. At regular intervals it clipped the line to the handholds as it fed from the spool by its waist.
It halted outside Access Port 23.
Rosie on comms, "I am releasing the safety locks now. You are clear to open the hatch, the security code is 3341 Bravo. The faulty wire is in bundle Hotel 22. Power to that area has been cut."
It felt a small vibration through the handle as the locks disengaged around the port. It entered the code into the keypad. The panel flashed a green light and the hatch sunk into the hull slightly and slid towards the rear, exposing a tunnel. It pulled itself head first inside and looked for section 4a.
Section 4a was outlined with white tape for easy identification. It floated further in to find the optimum working location. Once it had located H22, it locked its feet into a stable position so that it would be operating from a stable base. It selected the snips from the toolkit, then cut the tags holding the wires together, then placed the bits in a waste bag, then spread out the wires for inspection.
D 834, "I have found the cause of the problem. The wire had been rubbing against a protruding bolt end as it vibrated it wore through the insulation, causing a short. Putting some padding over the bolt and a quick splice should fix it. Then I will add some more ties to a bracket that will keep it in a better position."
The job was soon done. It exited out of the port. "Try it now."
Rosie powered up the section again and got a green light on the status board. She pressed the turret deployment switch and it smoothly extended into its operating position.
Rosie, "A green light on the status, initiating a passive low level scan."
A smaller port on the turret slid back to reveal a series of lenses. The turret then rotated 360 degrees. The program mulled over the data returned.
Rosie, "The low level scan has been completed, the results are as we had hoped, our position has been verified. Its not accurate enough to initiate a jump from, but it is good enough to confirm it is working properly. Well done, Droid 834. I will just try the retract and deployment sequences, just to confirm the repair is holding."
The turret obeyed her commands without a hitch and the board remained green. "All clear, Martin."
Martin, "Come on back, D 834."
D834 retraced its path, retracting in the safety line as it did so, finally unclipping the one outside the doorway and swinging itself inside, then pressed button 2 to close the hatch and begin the entry and decontamination sequence.
Ivor
On the Bridge of the Magic Carpet
Dave and Martin are still trying to troubleshoot the problem of a stuck sensor turret.
Mike, "Rosie to the bridge please. Just to let you know, we do have a technical issue at the moment, but it is not life threatening. Out".
"Maybe she can spot something that we have missed."
Rosie soon appears and they fill her in on the problem, "Well, our options are, we could limp back home to Hougemonte, but having the turret sticking out into the atmosphere would throw us off balance during re-entry, so I would have to manually retard our speed, it could also be damaged or totally wrecked in the process."
She pauses, "We could dock at Wheel One or Two with no problem, then see if they could somehow modify a large safety bubble, attach that to the hull with someone in a spacesuit, they could then remove the spacesuit and make the repair. Time consuming and messy.. But that would violate all sorts of safety regulations along the way, very costly to us."
They all have glum faces, looking at the display, when there is a knock on the door.
David, "Enter."
In walks D 834, "I have been listening to the problem. There is another option that you have missed."
David retorts, "Rubbish."
Martin looks puzzled, "I'm listening D 834."
D 834, "The one thing that you have overlooked," it pauses, "Is that you now have me on board. I do not need a spacesuit and I can fit into Aperture Port 23. I can splice the wires together and repair them at a later date."
Martin considers this, "Ok, D 834, you are our best option, you can give it a try. What do you need ?"
D 834, "Just a heating module, a number 4 toolkit, plus a standard safety line and clips."
Martin, "We will want to monitor your progress, so Ted will fix you up with Hologram capability as well".
-------------------
A short time later.
D 834 was just about to enter the airlock.
Martin, "Comm Check."
D834 , " Coming through clearly. My eyebrow LED's are turned on and hologram feeds from my eye cameras are transmitting, as requested. The internal fluid heaters are active. The upgrades are working fine. My battery charge is at 93%. All systems are ready."
Rosie, "We have Holo and audio links, all comms are ok. Patching it through to the projectors."
Martin saw a small version of himself appear on the Holomats dotted around the area. "Away you go."
D 834 entered the airlock It closed and latched behind him, began the air storage cycle and the warning panel lit up.
PRESSURE DROPPING, NO ENTRY ALLOWED.
It clipped on the safety lines to the eyelets, tested them and moved to the outer door. The inner panel display read.
INNER PRESSURE ZERO. OUTSIDE PRESSURE ZERO.
INNER GRAV PLATE AT 1.00 GRAVITY. OUTSIDE GRAVITY ZERO.
PRESS BUTTON ZERO TO SOUND ALARM.
PRESS BUTTON ONE TO EMERGENCY PRESSURIZE.
PRESS BUTTON TWO TO OPEN / CLOSE HATCH.
PRESS BUTTON THREE TO PRESSURIZE.
PRESS BUTTON FIVE TO BEGIN DECONTAMINATION CYCLE.
PRESS BUTTON SIX TO PAUSE / RESUME DECONTAMINATION CYCLE.
PRESS BUTTON SEVEN TO BEGIN HEATING TO 17'C.
PRESS BUTTON EIGHT FOR HELP / SETTINGS / CHANGE LANGUAGE.
(Underneath this was a translated message in the Screand and Orkragg languages).
D834 pressed button two.
PLEASE CONFIRM SAFETY LINE IS ATTACHED AT BOTH ENDS BY PRESSING BUTTON FOUR BY THE SAFETY LATCH.
ATTACHMENT CONFIRMED.
REDUCING INNER GRAV PLATE TO ZERO AND OPENING DOOR.
PLEASE USE THE EXTRUDED HANDHOLDS PROVIDED.
D 834 took hold of the handrail as his weight began to reduce. It was not fitted with "Mag Feet" as it was not expected to be operating in a space environment. It soon floated off the floor.
ZERO GRAVITY, OPENING DOOR.
The door swung open to the blackness of space.
It clipped on its second safety line on the point outside the airlock, then began to move towards AP 23, which was on the left side of the nose. At regular intervals it clipped the line to the handholds as it fed from the spool by its waist.
It halted outside Access Port 23.
Rosie on comms, "I am releasing the safety locks now. You are clear to open the hatch, the security code is 3341 Bravo. The faulty wire is in bundle Hotel 22. Power to that area has been cut."
It felt a small vibration through the handle as the locks disengaged around the port. It entered the code into the keypad. The panel flashed a green light and the hatch sunk into the hull slightly and slid towards the rear, exposing a tunnel. It pulled itself head first inside and looked for section 4a.
Section 4a was outlined with white tape for easy identification. It floated further in to find the optimum working location. Once it had located H22, it locked its feet into a stable position so that it would be operating from a stable base. It selected the snips from the toolkit, then cut the tags holding the wires together, then placed the bits in a waste bag, then spread out the wires for inspection.
D 834, "I have found the cause of the problem. The wire had been rubbing against a protruding bolt end as it vibrated it wore through the insulation, causing a short. Putting some padding over the bolt and a quick splice should fix it. Then I will add some more ties to a bracket that will keep it in a better position."
The job was soon done. It exited out of the port. "Try it now."
Rosie powered up the section again and got a green light on the status board. She pressed the turret deployment switch and it smoothly extended into its operating position.
Rosie, "A green light on the status, initiating a passive low level scan."
A smaller port on the turret slid back to reveal a series of lenses. The turret then rotated 360 degrees. The program mulled over the data returned.
Rosie, "The low level scan has been completed, the results are as we had hoped, our position has been verified. Its not accurate enough to initiate a jump from, but it is good enough to confirm it is working properly. Well done, Droid 834. I will just try the retract and deployment sequences, just to confirm the repair is holding."
Martin, "Come on back, D 834."
D834 retraced its path, retracting in the safety line as it did so, finally unclipping the one outside the doorway and swinging itself inside, then pressed button 2 to close the hatch and begin the entry and decontamination sequence.
--------------
The inner airlock door opened and the Droid emerged to smiling faces and a round of applause.
Martin, "Well done D 834, you have saved us from a very tricky situation. In recognition of that fact, I have decided to keep you on as part of the crew of the 'Magic Carpet'."
The screen noted, "Change of status has been recorded in the Ship Log, this date and time."
D 834, "Thank you, Martin".
Another round of applause and cheers met this news.
Martin, "You can download the ship maintenance logs and review them, always remembering that it states what should have been done, but not necessarily what actually has been done. There could be a difference."
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Later, after lunch.
Martin, "I had originally planned to just dump all of the droids at the first port of call, but they are quite useful, so I am thinking maybe selling one or two per customer and we hang on to 834."
Pinky, "If you don't mind, I would like to keep one too, for a hobby project. You can deduct it out of my pay."
Martin, "That's fine, Pinky."
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