Nod 2011/08/15(Mon)12:38 No. 340319 ID: 78ae87
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My Mitsubishi!

check it over to make sure it's not tampered with.

>>340326
Thoroughly.

Time for a full diagnostic on that thing. And go over what it's specs are and what it can do and handle.

I'm curious if there is anything about what is or was on those screens that might be important. Get an idea of happened before these events took place. I mean it's a long shot but every bit of info you can get could be important somehow.

Nod 2011/08/15(Mon)14:31 No. 340367 ID: 78ae87
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She's electro-elastic, so what she does is fits like a second skin and let me act like a human rather than a robot when I'm out in the big nothing. She's custom fitted, self-healing, insulated and temperature controlled. When I'm wearing my Mitsubishi I don't even feel like I sweat. Oh, and she's got like seven years left on her TEN year warranty.

There's some diagnostic emitters on the wrist so if I ask her... yup, nothing but green.

Nod 2011/08/15(Mon)14:32 No. 340368 ID: 78ae87
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Oh, yeah... there's a big pause button on that touchscreen.

"Unpause."

Weird clicks. Fasteners? Someone breathing like they're out of breath. Looks completely black. No wait, there's a little light. Is it the Rec Bay?

"Yes, very clever. You have forced my hand."

A man, complicated accent. Sounds older, and like he smokes. I don't think he's anywhere in front of the camera but I can't tell.

"Had I intended to kill you I would have killed you, and I am genuinely sorry that you keep chosing to kill yourself... but I am afraid that I cannot let you meet me while I'm sleeping. So if you wish to live, you will have to do so on my terms: the medical bed or no bed at all. You and I have quite successfully removed every other option. I hope to find you well on the far side of wherever we're going. We'll talk. Goodnight, my little Moth, and pleasant dreams."

Officially very creeped. I do not know this man and people do not try to kill me. Moth is a handle I use for online job searching and classified ads.

see, that is why i told you to check the suit, and don't take the easy way, what if they messed with the diagnostic thing so it says all green even if it isn't?

Well, it looks like you're embroiled in a battle of deception and subterfuge with some chessmaster type. That's both scary and thrilling. The scary part is that you have no idea what moves you were making or who you're working against. Moving right along, I guess. Eat.

...Well then. Take a deep breath and try to calm down. You and him are at some kind of stalemate so you should be under no immediate threat.

First the ship itself. It sounds that the damage caused here was done by both him and you. That is a hell of a lot of collateral. A lot of what has been done on this end was probably your own work, the ID card was probably acting as a lock so he couldn't get to you.

You say you aren't a killer, but you tried to kill him so there must be a reason. If he's letting you live it can't just be simple self defense. It was a good enough reason to get you killed multiple times. How would that work anyway? I'm assuming you aren't some manner of clone, or at least not a recent one, so you've been regenerating somehow? What kind of technology can do this? Whatever it is last time around you expected it well enough to write yourself a note about it.

Now about him. The thing he is so worried about is you seeing him. Or him waking up. Or general proximity. Why?

For now we need more info. Ask the computer if it recognizes the voice on the recording. Then continue to explore further but not past the medical beds. Can you navigate the station on the inside while wearing that suit?

I bet he's trying to steal your red phosphorus.

Nod 2011/08/15(Mon)20:31 No. 340522 ID: 78ae87
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Woah, woah... no reason to go all crazy. I don't think he meant he'd kill me multiple times, he probably just meant I was stopping him from whatever he was trying to do and -- ooh creeper -- that's equivalent to my death. If complete human regeneration were possible I wouldn't be dragging around this wrapped ankle.

Speaking of which, it's going to make putting the suit on kind of awkward and painful unless I can get it in a proper cast. I could absolutely wear it all the time, though. It's some of the most comfortable clothing I've ever owned, even without the whole survival aspect. The only reason I don't is that it's a waste of battery and design life.

I don't know whether I'm a killer, I've don't remember having the opportunity to find out, what I didn't know is that I apparently have killers interested in me. If he was just here as a thief there are all SORTS of things he could steal in a ship this size...

Which, yes, might be why he was checking the cargo manifest. Hm. Anyway my phosphorus isn't on the manifest. I mean I can imagine if I torqued him off by getting in his way, but then why is he calling me Moth? Did I personally piss in his IV somewhere? And yeah, does he not like to be seen or does he think I'm going to murder him in his bed? In my bed. Also does he --

-- huh. This kitchen is STOCKED. I think there's some meat and vegetables over there. Who cooks like this on a cargo hauler?

The Captain deleted the logs. The Captain would have hired you, knowing you call yourself Moth. The Captain knows you have the phosphorous. Perhaps this other Alice did the same thing to the Captain's ID earlier that he did to yours. Perhaps the computer cannot wake the captain because you disabled the ability to wake any of the other crew.

Get some food. Go for something that someone wouldn't be able to easily predict you'd eat though. At this point we have established that the two of you are playing a deadly game with eachother, so play it safe.

You do. Get eating already.

Now then even if you aren't visiting death repeatedly you do still have the issue of memory loss, and the fact you saw it coming well enough to leave yourself a note. The hell can do that?

And where is that red phosphorous anyway?

>>340522
Let's start from the assumption that Moth means you've been together, you know, that way during his trip on the ship or before that. It's just appropriately awkward until evidence prove other.

Lets also believe that the ship you're on is a pile of junk until you're fully engulfed in being engineer again or it has jumped again. More important stuff going around than screwing things back to their rightful places.

Until the the captain is up and running let's stick to these belief systems.

OMGWWDDGHFF.F.F.F.! A micro oven! Ged rid of id!

Nod 2011/08/17(Wed)21:44 No. 341106 ID: 7740ed
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I AM NOT GOING TO INSPECT EVERY PICKLE AND CARROT.

What, everything I might actually enjoy is a potential accomplice in a poisoning? What sort of brilliant mastermind sneaks around injecting fast-acting cyanide serum in vegetables? Plus he distinctly said he didn't want me dead. Was that a trick? He's waiting on the other side of the Crew Compartment door for me to fall for his dastardly SLEEP INDUCING SALAD.

Please.

Also yeah, I love to think I'm a genius with the note... but it was obviously directed at him. It is not I who am now munching ass, but he! I am munching PICKLE.

The phosphorus is in a cylinder tied in with the fuel in back. That's where I usually stow stuff on ships like this and the ID confirmed it. If he wanted it he could have had it without coming to visit.

Anyway, what I'm trying to figure out is how this scenario winds up with me in the airlock. Yeah I can understand not using the medical bed if I thought it had been tampered with, but there are all sorts of places I could have gone to hide. And speaking of hiding... why would I hide the tools?

None of this makes any sense. All means and opportunity, no motive.

>>341106
I was just saying to try something different than you'd normally eat, but whatever.

He has no motive? Perhaps it is you who have motive to act against him? Maybe you found out he was doing something you didn't approve of? As for why you were in the airlock, and hid your tools... Maybe they were there so that he couldn't just look through the airlock window and see that you had them, and therefore would just go in and take them while you were asleep.

>>341106

It's all too strange. Maybe the captain should be woken up!?

Nod 2011/08/19(Fri)09:40 No. 341553 ID: 3a9901
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Sure, that's worth another try.

"Wake the captain."

"What is the nature of the emergency?"

"The ship has been boarded, RASHNU has been deactivated, security has been overriden, we are lightyears off course after an unplanned and incompletely calculated jump." Take your pick.

"I am waking the captain. I cannot wake the captain. I am waking the captain. I cannot wake the captain. I am waking --"

"There is a fault in the sleep beds which prevents the captain or anybody else from waking. Open a path from me to the sleep beds."

"There is a physical obstruction in the Crew Compartment door mechanism. There are nine hydraulics failures in the Security Compartment. There is a general electronics failure in Operations. WARNING: One of my sub-systems related to door operation appears to have been disabled by a logic bomb. WARNING: I lack permission to access my archive copy. Please proceed to the Computer Core, initiate a scan, and reinstall."

The ship I'm on is a pile of junk, and at least two people have stacked it with painstaking precision. I can maneuver around, and I don't think I need to worry about any but the most obvious death traps, but there's no easy way I'm waking the captain without waking the other Alice first. What am I supposed to do, burrow through the hull and shake her?

Erm... Well, you have something suitable for traversing vacuum. Could an airlock shorten the path?

Nod 2011/08/19(Fri)10:49 No. 341562 ID: 3a9901
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A path to where?

If Ekaatma is built to standard then all the crew compartments are inside a secondary hull stuffed full of ducts and wiring -- and pipes of water to regulate temperature and protect us from cosmic rays. There should be access ports which nominally allow in-flight maintenance, but I've never been inside any that took that concept seriously.

Ekaatma's map showed three airlocks: the one I woke up in, the big one jammed open in Storage, and the one back to the Cargo Bays that the other Alice snuck in through. I found a fourth in the Maintenance Bay, but that's probably internal -- a way to get from there to the foreward electronics: Capacitors, field dynamics, bowsprit.

That's likely the only one that would let me get directly into the guts of the ship. Otherwise I'd have to go out through the Hazard Bay and find my way back in through an access port. I could theoretically go out through the Storage Bay, but without internal airlocks any door I open between here and there is just going to evacuate another compartment.

Gotcha. Then we're not getting to the sleep beds anytime soon.

Let's start repairing shit. Maybe we'll come across something interesting in the process. I say we fix the vacuum in the Fan room.

I'd say fix the jammed Storage airlock first, since it's stopping us bludgeoning doors open with impunity.
(Also, "RASHNU"?)

Nod 2011/08/19(Fri)22:33 No. 341737 ID: 3a9901
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The Fan Room and the Storage airlock are really two parts of the same problem, and they're an excellent place to start. The easiest way to get there would be to go change into my suit and then evacuate the Mess/Filter hallway and go right through Storage to both problems. That way I can investigate them without long exterior trips and I can stop to fix the broken locking mechanism on that door. The vacuum on the far side would normally hold it closed and I can't get into the mechanism until it opens.

First things first, a serious investigation of the Mitsubishi reveals that its internal diagnostic is operating properly and it really is in as perfect condition as it claims. That means I just need to figure out how to stuff my injured leg into it and I'm good to go.

I found some hexa, a pry bar, and a cutter exploring the Maintenance Bay, and I should stop and pick those up. Ideally I'd also like to find the rest of my clip and pin set from wherever I stashed it before I got in the airlock. I doubt I'll need them for the Storage repairs though. Anything that big is unlikely to require precision circuit work.

RASHNU is an acronym I can never remember because it's in Farsi. He's a popular security computer... a black box brick of hardware and software put together by the big insurance conglomerate that builds him. Basically a requirement if you want to get paid for the sort of incidental damage they cover. He's supposed to be pretty much impossible to deactivate so it's more likely Ekaatma has just got a blocked connection somewhere.

>>341737
Hmm. If we can fix RASHNU then we'd pretty much ruin the saboteur's day. However... okay we can assume that you were acting against the interloper for a while, which means any big security breaches that happened before you went to sleep would probably not be fixable. If they were, you would've fixed them already. So check with Ekaatma about that.

The broken ankle is a big problem. Is there a place you can get a proper cast? Or make one from acquired ingredients? We really do need you in that suit somehow. Since the interloper didn't break it, we can assume that your ankle was broken so that you couldn't use it. It would be the easiest way to keep you out of vacuum without killing you, wouldn't it? I mean, anything he could do to your suit you could fix, I imagine... or maybe he wants to be able to use your suit in the future. If there's no way to fix your ankle so you can wear the suit, you should sabotage it yourself so your enemy cannot.

What's hexa, by the way?

I think an important thing is to know is what is broken because he broke it, and what is broken because you broke it. Then we figure out why. Get all the information you can on everything wrong with the ship and piece the story together.

Also we can assume the intruder is the one sleeping in your bed, right? That would be the most difficult area to get to. Which of the other crew members could be easier to reach?

Nod 2011/08/20(Sat)22:22 No. 342024 ID: 81dbab
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After a short, painfully instructive conversation in the Hazard Bay with Dr. Ekaatma's medical knowledgebase it's probably just a fracture and so long as I don't plan on playing any tlatchtli or thuck thay I should be splendid. The hardest part is going to be putting the suit on. Once the current tightens it, that ought to immobilize the limb as well as my blanket bungee monstrosity. The gauze and tape should do the rest.

In short, it's not going to prevent suiting up, so I don't know how he would have broken my ankle and then let me get away. Besides, based on my past track record, I broke it myself.

In terms of who broke what, the easiest distinction is that I'm a lousy cracker. I buy scripts from smarter people so I can blame them when things go wrong. I know the ins and outs of proper operation of these computers, and a few tricks and shortcuts, but unless I intended to do destroy his brain before I got on board there's no way Ekaatma's current condition is my fault. It would have taken me hours of hard work to trick him into altering permissions. I really prefer physical and mechanical solutions.

Speaking of which: Hexa are my ratchet's male counterparts, suited for safely undoing screws and loosening set bolts. This particular standard requires only seven, which is convenient. Some station sets have upwards of forty.

I'm itching to find uses for them all. Is there any other research I should do from here or am I ready to go?

Onward. TO GLORY!

>>342024

You're ready!

Nod 2011/08/23(Tue)19:27 No. 342566 ID: 363774
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My father's mother grew up in an agricultural commune in Montana, and my grandfather was a brakeman on a train. When they decided the wanted a family they moved to Chicago so they could get "real jobs" that wouldn't sterilyze them or keep them on the move, but they missed the open country and the big sky. Lived and the rest of their lives and died in place without stars, pining for the great outdoors.

They encouraged my father to travel, but he didn't have the money or the discipline to see the World through anything but a window. After he married and had a kid, he'd never have the money to see it again.

"What channel should I set my radio to?"

"Three one nine."

Nod 2011/08/23(Tue)19:28 No. 342567 ID: 363774
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"Radio test."

"Radio test, confirm?"

"Confirm. I am Alice Weber, if this hallway is sealed then evacuate its air so I can open the door to the Storage Bay."

There's a rush, then a hiss, then just the comfortable silence of my breathing. With the lock broken and the pressure seal meaningless, it's just a matter of sliding it open.

Grandma, I'm sure Montana is a wonderful place that I will never visit, but I have to take issue on two points: You never really knew the big sky...

Nod 2011/08/23(Tue)19:28 No. 342568 ID: 363774
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... because that is the great outdoors.

I expected a mess like the Maintenance Bay, but this is all in order. I've got about twenty minutes of oxygen, but I can refill it at any time from a station... and I can see two from here but there's probably more. I'm inclined to work without a tether because they can be such a hassle, but it wouldn't be a waste of time to hunt down one of those too. So should I check out the supplies, head straight to the fan room, or just deal with the airlock?

how long a job does it look like? if it is relatively short then may as well do it.

>>342568
Deal with the airlock. Find a tether if you don't have any kind of maneuvering unit since there's nobody else concious and capable if you mess up.

Check that refill stations are operational. It will be sad to repair airlock only to suffocate

Make sure that the supplies haven't been sabotaged.

Nod 2011/08/29(Mon)16:12 No. 343815 ID: 80841b
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I wouldn't even know where to start in terms of supply sabotage. The boxes in here here could contain anything from cleaning equipment to food to spare parts. Anything the crew and maintenance teams would need to live and work here between dockings... which can be years apart on a hauler.

Looks like the most obvious station to use would be this one by the airlock. It tests good. I'll fasten one of lines from the nearby tetherbox around my ankle and head outside.

"Ekaatma, I am starting repair on the supply airlock and am unspooling a tether. Does it sense?"

"Yes."

"Check for slack every two seconds, and do not let me draw line faster than half a meter per second. Confirm?"

"By 'draw line' do you mean unspool?"

"Yes."

"Confirm."

Nod 2011/08/29(Mon)16:13 No. 343816 ID: 80841b
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...and out I go. I don't see any escaped containers out here or obvious damage. All the external gear looks to be in good shape. Did he even come out here? Did I do this?


Anyway. Seems like the the airlock door is held by four little robots in tracks running the length of the doorway. Then there are bolts and seals that squeeze around the door once it's lowered into place. The tracks look clear and I don't see anything sticking out of the mechanism. I guess I'll inspect the control systems behind me and then, failing anything suspicious, open up the robots themselves.

There are easier ways to evacuate rooms than opening the cargo airlock, and Ekaatma says the other Alice came in from the back of the ship. Why jam this door open? There's nothing out here.

Hang on... do you usually fasten the line to your ankle? Maybe that's how your ankle broke! Maybe the airlock got opened to try to trap you outside of it, but got stuck open so you just came back in. Hmm. Could be something else though...

I say look behind everything out here. Maybe someone stashed something.

Does having the storage bay and fan room evacuated block access to anywhere? Could you have done this to keep the other Alice away from some part of the ship?

Nod 2011/08/30(Tue)13:26 No. 343973 ID: b5c9ce
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Behind everything? I'd be hunting for hours.

The control box looks fine. It's been tampered with, but everything was put back afterwards. That means it wasn't me since it was done from the outside and my suit was in the Rec Bay the whole time or he wouldn't have been able to steal my ID.

I always tether to my ankle.. but the catch is on my suit's right leg and my broken ankle is the left one. I might have done it as a fluke if I'd tethered indoors, but the only places big enough for that are the Storage and Maintenance Bays.

This is the easiest airlock to open directly to space since it has no secondary door. If he opened this he could evacuate other rooms just by opening their air passages rather than getting specific permissions from Ekaatma. Unfortunately he wouldn't need to, since he already had engineering permissions by pretending to be me and I can evacuate chambers at will so long as... oh... so long as they don't contain any people. Well I don't think he tried to murder me. If I'd been decompressed I'd be in a lot worse shape than I am and have more obvious signs.

So, other than going and getting fried by the Bowsprit, is there anything specific I should inspect while I'm out here or should I get straight to dismantling robots?

>>343973
Maybe not you, but he may have tried/succeeded in spacing one/some of the rest of the crew. Ekaatma thinks they're in the beds, but he also thinks you're in a bed, so he's not entirely infallible in that respect.

Perhaps he did it so he could threaten to space someone, to force the captain to delete the logs.

...fried by the bowsprit? Well, one thing you should make sure of is that the door won't immediately close once you've fixed it. You'd want to be inside first.

Nod 2011/08/31(Wed)13:34 No. 344261 ID: b5c9ce
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Oh. Right, of course.

As much as I don't know these people they are still people and probably at risk. They're as far from where they're supposed to be as I am and there's no reason to assume we Alices were the only ones involved in the mess before. Those other names and faces aren't history or fiction, they're hopefully living and breathing somewhere. Yeah, something to keep in mind.

Based on the lack of debris outside and the order indoors, I'm guessing that this door opened after air had been pulled from the Storage Room. It was properly evacuated, which means it was probably clear and the fan room was working when the airlock opened because dropping pressure in that large a space takes power. So if he was trying to space anybody in here, he failed.

That means he could have broken the fan room in order to give himself that grisly option in the future.

The Bowsprit has all the strongest magnetics on any ship, and on a big one like this they're nigh apocalyptic. If a capacitor burped while I were poking around out there the phase knife might decide to burn deadly little holes in my intestines. I'm not alone in that paranoia, so I wouldn't be surprised if the other Alice wasn't eager to explore out there either.

Anyway, I'm gonna pop these little forklifts open.

>>344261
=>

>>344261
Sounds good, so long as we're not about to trigger a trap or something.

>>344291
I don't think we should be paranoid about traps at every turn... but being in not the most obvious position when engaging in new interactions seems like an reasonable precaution.

Which of the crew might we be able to check on first, if any?

Nod 2011/08/31(Wed)16:54 No. 344343 ID: b5c9ce
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Unless I can get to the beds, all the crew are outside my reach. I suppose everybody except the captain might be easier to wake since captain's cabins are typically somewhat more secure than other portions of the ship. If I can wake anybody, I could wake any of the rest of them since everybody else seems to be sleeping in the same place... though, again, that's not necessarily trustworthy.

Allright first things first, made sure the control box was set to OPEN and disconnected the power connections to the rails. Then I checked each robot's matrix and they looked fine from the outside but when I hexed open a lid, bingo: Two of them had relays bypassed with pins.

I'm guessing these are mine, so I'll confiscate them. I'm also guessing he has no experience using them because he soldered them together. I hope I don't bend them too badly while scraping them apart. I also reset a couple jumpers and breakers.

I did it all at unusual angles to void boobytraps but I felt more silly than safe.

Ekaatma listed a few more outdoor errors, but they're all in Cargo and Aft Field Dynamics. I can do those once I have circulation up and operating. I've still got about 30% air, anything else to do out here before I pop in to recharge?

Not right now, let's recharge. What would bypassing the relays have done?

And if the other Alice wanted to space people, preventing that sounds like a good idea.

>>344343
As a final bit of paranoia, blast out a bit of air (if possible) before hooking it up to your suit.

>>344366
Probably shorted out the motors to operate the airlock doors, hence the breakers needing to be reset.
It seems like a very nondestructive way to disable the doors, compared to just smashing the robots' circuitry or stealing the relays. Not sure what that means.

It might mean that he intended for it to be easily reparable. Maybe he wanted to be able to fix it easily later. It does seem pretty dangerous. If it got turned around on him in your little game of chess he might need to reverse it quickly.

It might also means that he's planning on taking over the ship and using it for something. That would be a good reason to keep sabotage easily repairable.

Nod 2011/09/02(Fri)13:28 No. 344938 ID: 363774
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The care taken here is surprising considering the mess in the Maintenance Bay. Assuming solder means he did both, then the whacking at the walls probably happened later when he was less concerned about reversibility.

A good thief, assassins, or kidnapper would want to leave as little evidence of a visit as possible.

Anyway, with nothing else outside I might as well shut the door... works perfectly, but makes things awfully dark.

"Are the Storage Bay lights working?"

"Yes."

"Turn them on."

Oh. I've been in this exact spot before... and I remember the captain's voice.

I closed the door after I'd unloaded the skiff with its Waldo and was getting a basic interview. She's listening to music, something with a heavy beat, and she's sharing some inside joke with someone else in the room. He keeps making fun of her questions and it always sounds like she's just about to laugh. I feel like I remember it all but the details are gone, like waking from a dream.

Uhm, anyway. What's next?

Next is fixing the vacuum issue.

>>344938
Fan room?

fan room

Fan room!

Nod 2011/09/03(Sat)09:40 No. 345190 ID: 363774
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There's no issue with recharging safety in a Mitsubishi since she checks composition anyway and would reject a bunch of neon, carbon monoxide, or hydrogen cyanide. Plus it'd be a big hassle to change the gas in a recharging station takes since it's hooked into the oxygen system rather than some other series of tubes.

Oh handy, there's a screen by the Fan Room door: "Display the maintenance map here."

Alright, assuming Ekaatma is honest and correct about the open airlock being the sole breech in the hull, I could theoretically start re-pressurizing now, but it'd be slow without mechanical assistance.

Alternately I could try to fix whatever is wrong with the vent (he was unclear) and then pressurize the Fan Room and use its power to re-establish circulation, refilling the Storage Bay a lot faster.

All of which assumes there's not something wrong with the machines themselves. He said these other two problems were just vacuum warnings, but there's no easy way to test a fan when it hasn't got any air in it.

>>345190
The worry wasn't so much messing with the gas mix, but rather foreign objects hidden in the valve. Foreign objects such as a small quantity of shock-activated adhesive, for example.
>(he was unclear)
Ask him to clarify. No good trying to fix the wrong problem.

Nod 2011/09/03(Sat)22:07 No. 345344 ID: 363774
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He doesn't theorize very well, but I can get him to run some tests... or I could go check it out myself. Or both.

"Ekaatma, close the vent between the Fan Room and the Storage Bay."

"That vent mechanism is closed, but its seal is incomplete."

"Cycle it open and then closed again." That might dislodge something.

"Seal remains incomplete."

Hm, the cover is removed... and missing. Ah yeah, I can see the valve from here. Looks like it got whacked with a pole or something and the edge is bent. I could probably fit through this duct if I didn't have the helmet and airpack, but for now it's beyond my reach.

Examine the "?" labelled note behind you.

>>345344
So, the fast way of doing things has been sabotaged... Would just plain welding something over the vent help things?

check that shit out.

Nod 2011/09/06(Tue)10:52 No. 346025 ID: b5c9ce
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There's no welder here, so I'd have to go find one in Maintenance and haul it out here with an extension cord. I guess I could stuff the hole with something instead, but without an adhesive the air pressure's just going to blow it out...

...well wait, from the other side I could just lay a panel over the vent and let the room fill until the pressure holds it. So I just need to find something wide enough and strong enough to use.

Plenty of supplies around here if I knew where to check. Oh yeah, another flatnote and a symbol I recognize. Writing on the back isn't mine and it looks like Hindi script... which I used to be able to read pretty well. Must have been some curiosity about this box.

>>346025
Well let's use our handy dandy computerized reading glasses on it.

get that note read then open that shit up.

Nod 2012/01/06(Fri)21:43 No. 378064 ID: ab2f34
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"Read this to me."

He does. Apparently the writer thought it was a practical joke by -- weird name "Selsesham" -- and it's listed on the cargo manifest as resistor couplings. Isn't sealed, of course, since somebody already opened it...

...and those aren't electronics.

>>378064
Well that's interesting. You could probably do some work to make a long zipper chain or loop out of these things but that's not too useful.

Are there any zippers in the manifest? Maybe a box got switched. Then again if someone found the zippers to be strange and put a note there, they would've found the switched box and put a note there too.

Are any of the box covers sturdy and big enough to cover the vent? If not we may have to go looking around for other supplies. Or heck, switch tasks to something we can complete.

Um, how about a quick reminder of our task list?

>>378064
>innocuous objects made of fabric & metal
Are there any valuable metals or fibrous materials that someone may wish to smuggle?

>>378064
Dig about in there for anything that isn't zippers.

Nod 2012/01/07(Sat)11:29 No. 378192 ID: ab2f34
File 132596457779.png - (18.53KB , 441x616 , 226.png )

Well if this box lid is reinforced for vacuum seal then it ought to be able to handle the kilopascals. Assuming I can get to the other side of the broken vent, it's just a matter of making sure I've got the right side facing against the pressure.

Don't want to make too much of a mess in the cargo bay, but I might as well give the zippers a little search. No reason not to be thorough.

Sure there are all sorts of metals and fibers one might want to smuggle, but why would you make zippers out of them? Materials aren't illegal, they're just valuable. The extra cost of manufacture would cut into your --

-- this bit isn't a knot of zippers, it's a bag. There's a solid box inside. It won't unzip, though. Essentially one piece of heavy cloth.

Well that's no problem. We just need to get some sharp cutting implements in close proximity your environment suit. Those must be dime a dozen out here in the vacuum of deep space.

>>378192
We should get that open to see what's being smuggled. And yeah, let's try using the box lid. Do we have a clear route to the other side of the vent? Oh wait, we'll need some way to hold the lid in place while the air is pumped too... Won't need much. A magnet maybe?

Anything useful in these nearby boxes?

Nod 2012/01/07(Sat)13:53 No. 378227 ID: ab2f34
File 132597318666.png - (14.04KB , 510x616 , 227.png )

The cutter I brought with me is more suited for struts or paneling. Using it would probably damage whatever's inside. Better to wait and find a razor or some shears back in the Kitchen. It'll wait until then while I try to block up the other side of the vent.

The Fan Room door unlocks and opens, but even though it's dark inside I can feel a wave of infrared before the suit adjusts. Something in there is hot.

"Turn on the lights in the Fan Room."

"The lights are on."

Oh good.

can your suit track it?

>>378227
Stand in the doorway and swivel that palmlight about. Any sign of burn damage?

>>378227
Ask Ekaatma if they can tell what's hot- wait no that is unreliable due to sabotaged systems and such.

...if something in there is really hot, and the room's been vented of air, maybe it was vented of air to keep a fire from spreading. We'll need to make sure fixing this issue is a good idea before we actually fix it, I think.

Would there happen to be any infrared goggles on board? Laser-pointer thermometer?

Nod 2012/01/07(Sat)17:25 No. 378311 ID: 7f7745
File 132598594617.png - (7.99KB , 510x616 , 228.png )

Looks like some large machinery and a lot of ducts. I can feel the heat on my face through the globe. It's coming from almost directly in front of me.

Yes, a fire would explain a lot -- opening the airlock, for instance -- there's no scorches on anything. In fact, nothing seems out of the ordinary at all. There's even a few activated emitters on the controls.

Bah. Ekaatma may not be completely trustworthy, but I should at least get his opinion.

"What is currently the hottest point in the Fan Room?"

"The interior of the primary bearing casing."

"Is it a hazard?"

"Never touch the bearing casing while the fan is in operation."

Thanks, dad. I still don't think it should be radiating like this.

tell it to shut off power to the bearing casing, however that would happen.

>>378311
I can't see how you can do anything about this even vaguely safely without a much better light source.

...don't suppose there are any cargo boxes labelled "glowsticks, 1000 pcs." :V

The heat is probably being caused by a secondary problem. Perhaps the lack of air circulation is not allowing the bearing casing to cool properly? Personally I think it's odd that you're getting so much heat but you can't see anything glowing from the heat.

I don't like this. I think we need to get some better light in here or something. ...would turning on the fan at this temperature result in a lot of extremely hot air being circulated?

Nod 2012/01/08(Sun)12:02 No. 378511 ID: 7f7745
File 132605292791.png - (11.47KB , 440x616 , 229.png )

If I start searching boxes I'll be here for hours. Especially if I need to ask Ekaatma to read everything. Huh. Wasn't he reading the manifest in the Rec Bay?

Oh wait, how could I be so... air circulation! The poor thing's still on.

"Ekaatma, turn off the fan."

"Done."

It doesn't connect to an external radiator because it thinks it'll be pulling enough enough air to keep the bearings cool. Without any resistance the blades are almost certainly moving faster than normal and they've got nowhere to lose that heat except into the machinery itself. For hours. It probably is red hot in there, even if the exterior panels aren't glowing visible spectrum. Still, it wasn't worth an error or a warning it was still apparently within operating norms.

Or the diagnostics computer is an idiot.

Nod 2012/01/08(Sun)12:04 No. 378512 ID: 7f7745
File 132605305558.png - (7.79KB , 440x616 , 230.png )

Oh and while I'm here... yeah, another missing vent cover but this box lid should fit pretty well. So long as nothing dislodges it while the air comes into this room, the air pressure should hold it. Ready to give that a try or am I missing something else completely obvious?

you sure air will push it IN and not OUT from this side? if so then no, nothing else i can think of.

>>378512
You might want to make sure the bearings are cooled down before you turn on the fan again to start pushing around air.

>>378511
What, and it wasn't screaming with vibration through the floor?

Don't suppose you could do something like start off repressurising with a pure nitrogen mix before enriching with oxygen, just in case it is above autoignition temperature? Should cool it down without any risk of fire.

Nod 2012/01/08(Sun)22:15 No. 378633 ID: 7f7745
File 132608970172.png - (15.46KB , 440x616 , 231.png )

Okay, a little adhesive reinforcement in case Bernoulli wants to play games... then it's just a matter of getting outside and shutting the door.

Only very large equipment has mechanical bearings, and only because of the risk of catastrophic seizure in the event of power loss. Everything smaller, including the mechanical bearings themselves, are suspended by magnetic bearings. Vibration is death to structural materials, and so long as they're responsible for holding the air in they cannot be allowed any opportunity to deteriorate.

Still, they should be allowed to cool gradually instead of being exposed to a full stream of the frozen air from outside... wouldn't want anything to crack.

And yes, oxygen might be unwise. Based on the sound of my voice, I think this ship uses neon instead of nitrogen. It's a little cheaper, a little more inert, and theoretically safer from gas narcosis. I'll bet Ekaatma's got a big supply somewhere.

"Complex request. Slowly repressurize the Fan Room with neon from interior tanks. Add oxygen percentage last. Do not allow access until ten minutes after fan circulation is reinitiated, standard override. Execute request."

"In progress."

"Oh, inform me when the fan bearing temperature is within operating norms."

"Alice, the fan bearing temperature is within operating norms."

Thanks.

I'm going to refill my air supply again because I may have a bit of a wait. What do I want from these boxes?

>>378633
Well if you do have access to a manifest, light sources.

Nod 2012/01/15(Sun)11:59 No. 379960 ID: f8e3b7
File 132665756568.png - (9.67KB , 443x562 , 232.png )

Ekaatma will be no good with generalizations, so I'd have to be able to sort the manifest myself. Which means -- unless he can display its contents as pictures -- he'll be reading it out for hours. Probably safer to imagine what sorts of lights which a ship like this would require.

Most of them are going to be spare emitters, strong but not self contained. The particular uses of personal light sources are rare: Awkward spaces behind equipment, power failure, and the necessity of more than starlight brightness outside.

Bam. That last one's probably my best bet. Exterior repair is an inevitability, as is emitter failure in cargo bays of this size. Sometimes you just need more light.

"Where is the nearest supply of lanterns?"

"By lanterns do you mean night lamps?"

Oh right, ISA. "Yes."

"Check the secondary equipment locker near the mechanical panel at the exterior door to the Supply Bay."

Ah, perfect. Might be overkill, but I'd rather see too much than too little.

Shall we check the Filter Room next?

>>379960
Well if we're done here, let's go find something sharp yet delecate enough to slash open that zipperbag. Kitchen?

>>379968
Oh, yeah, that's something we can do real quick.

As I recall there are still some alerts we were putting off until after we fixed the fan room. Were any of those serious? If not, my choice for next major job would be the obstruction in the vent shaft cutting us off from crew quarters.

For now though, we should get that bag open.

Nod 2012/01/17(Tue)10:54 No. 380423 ID: b5c9ce
File 132682649032.png - (20.12KB , 441x616 , 233.png )

I can't do much of anything until the fan's ready to refill the Cargo Bay and I can take this helmet off and get back to real work.

In the meantime, let's review: "Redisplay the shipwide maintenance and error map, no labels."

Several of these things are either unimportant or outside my control... like that mess in the Maintenance Bay. Yes, there's a lot of damage but it'd take forever to patch up and besides the lighting there's nothing seriously wrong.

Other unimportant stuff... the filter room has some bad wiring that, based on the logs, has been a problem for weeks. I'm not using many fluids or gasses, so unless Ekaatma upgrades it I can ignore that. Also the kitchen, which is just a broken mixer. And I don't need to worry about the vent here since I shouldn't need to be using the cargo airlock again.

Oh, and the thing in the cargo bay is a captain's order to inspect a set of cameras, but they seem fine now so that's not an immediate concern either.

Of the important stuff, I can group some of them since they're common problems: The sleeping crew (minus the obvious), security, the computer, and all the crap back at the reactor. Those are functionally single issues and will probably need to be dealt with as groups.

That leaves the door to the filter room corridor, the airlock I woke up in, the broken medical bed, vent problems in the Hazard Bay, the Computer Core, and the Crew Compartment.

Bluh.

Ok, well, I would keep RASHNU offline lest he start locking you out of things. A security program is more likely to recognize two people with the same identity as a problem. The reactor sounds important, but I'd start with the computers. Having Ekaatma back up to snuff should help things along.

The captain asked that the cameras in cargo be checked? If they're working now then there's likely nothing we can learn from them, but I wonder why he wanted them checked. Does it have something to do with him deleting those logs? We should look into that at some point.

Our map seems to be rotating, is that because of your current position, or is the ship referencing some outside location? Also, is that your ship there on the side? It looks enormous. Cargo haulers usually that big? The time involved getting there seems like another good reason to leave anything at the back of the ship for later.

>>380423
Vent problems in the hazard bay, you say? I would like to handle all air-related problems at once.

Nod 2012/01/18(Wed)10:38 No. 380678 ID: b5c9ce
File 132691191425.png - (10.10KB , 441x616 , 234.png )

I've been rotating the map to see it better, and I'm all for keeping RASHNU out of the loop.

This is a fairly large ship -- I'm guessing two kilometers with a twenty meter beam -- but all these space needles are big. Physics and economics: It's easier to keep a comparitively small hole open than make a large hole in the first place, and it's cheaper to send out the tugs once for a long ship than to do it ten times for ten short ones. Just gravity sling the speed up to 50,000 km/h and the empyrean rift is only open for a fraction of a second: fewer tidal stresses, less power, more precision.

The captain left two unfinished repair tickets: Do a manual check on some cameras and degauss the aft sensors. According to the logs, I was sitting in Ops looking at camera feeds when the other Alice came aboard so I didn't close the tickets before the scalene jump. The sensors are reading a little off and degaussing is easy so I thought I'd keep that one in mind, but the cameras? A few failed back then, but they're operating normally at the moment. Maybe I'll give them a peek on the way to the reactor.

The large vents to the Crew Compartment, the Computer Core, and the Hazard Bay are all clogged or broken. Guessing it was an attempt by one (or both) of us to prevent (or assure) air loss in those areas. The smaller vents are still operational so they shouldn't prevent normal circulation. Figuring out what's up with all of that is probably a reasonably major safety concern.

Speaking of which, adding air should provide enough friction to stop the fan and that's probably a good guess for when it's cooled a bit: "When the fan stops, restart air circulation and start refilling the cargo compartment from auxilliary vents. Let me know when it would be safe to take off my helmet."

>>380678
>Figuring out what's up with all of that is probably a reasonably major safety concern.
==>

Yeah, let's check the vents next.

Ok, so safety would be important. Vents first then. I still think computers are a concern, and I do want to get a look inside that bag when you get the chance.