field plates are for. They pull all that junk out of the air mixture before it hits the matrix.”
“True. If they’re running that is,” I said while I crossed to the panels for the field plates on the number two scrubber. I opened the inspection door and looked inside. “Brill? Shouldn’t there be a plate in here?” I asked knowing the answer myself, but not really believing what I was seeing.
“What are you talking about?” she asked coming around the scrubber and crouching down to look in beside me.
“The plate is gone,” I said. “There’s nothing but empty mounting brackets.”
Francis and Diane came to look over our shoulders. “Pixies?” Francis asked.
“Too heavy for a pixie,” Diane said. “Those things mass a good five kilos.”
“Well if they were fast pixies maybe they stole the plate while the gravity was out.”
“That’s it!” I said.
They all looked at me. “Ish,” Diane said, “we were kidding about the pixies.”
I grinned. “I’m not.” I got down and stuck my head in the door so I could look up to where the other half of the field mechanism ran across the top of the intake vent. “Yup. Pixies.” My voice echoed weirdly inside the cabinet.
Brill nudged me so she could get a look. “Damn it!” she said.
When she pulled her head out, I could see she was already calculating. “How fast can we change out all four scrubbers?”
“With all of us working it would take four stans. But it’ll take more than half a day before they begin working again.” Diane confirmed what we already knew.
When I had first come aboard, this practice of stating and restating the obvious confused me. Now I recognized it as a kind of mutual reality check for the group to make sure everyone had an idea of what the other person was thinking.
“Francis,” Brill said, “go run the numbers. How much time do we have? Diane, Ish, start on number three. Pull the frames and strip ’em out as fast as you can.”
He bolted for the console and Brill called Mr. Kelley. “Environmental reporting, you’ll need to see this, sar. It’s serious and won’t take long.”
Diane and I had done this as a team for so long we had three of the matrix frames out before she finished speaking.
Mr. Kelley showed up in two ticks. “Whatcha got, Brill?” he asked.
She took him back to the scrubber and showed him where the field plate was supposed to be. “What the—?” he said as he dragged his head out of the cabinet. “How’d it get up there and what’s holding it?”
“Magnetism,” she said. “Francis, would you kill the power to number two scrubber please?”
“Securing power to number two now.”
When he said “now” the missing scrubber plate dropped with a clank and bounced out of the inspection hatch at Mr. Kelley’s feet.
“How are they normally connected to the base?” Mr. Kelley asked.
Brill answered, “They just sit in those sockets. While the power is flowing, they’re locked down magnetically.”
“So, when we lost power, we lost the lock, grav failed long enough for it to unseat, and when the power came back on, the field kicked in with the plate out of position.”
“No field plate, dirty matrices, dead bacteria,” Brill finished. “How much time, Francis? I need to know now.”
“Ten hours until CO2 reaches critical,” he called back.
“Oh, shit,” Mr. Kelley said.
Francis came in to help me and Diane while Brill conferred with Mr. Kelley. “Can you get me somebody to fix these plates while we clear the matrices? I don’t wanna put good matrix back in a dirty stream.”
He pulled out his comm and started making calls.
With Brill and Francis helping, we got number three stripped down and restarted within a stan. Mr. Kelley fixed number three’s field plate himself and tested it for us to make sure it worked. While he was working, his back up team including Bert Benson, Janice Ivanov, and Arvid Xia came in. He set them to work on the other field
“True. If they’re running that is,” I said while I crossed to the panels for the field plates on the number two scrubber. I opened the inspection door and looked inside. “Brill? Shouldn’t there be a plate in here?” I asked knowing the answer myself, but not really believing what I was seeing.
“What are you talking about?” she asked coming around the scrubber and crouching down to look in beside me.
“The plate is gone,” I said. “There’s nothing but empty mounting brackets.”
Francis and Diane came to look over our shoulders. “Pixies?” Francis asked.
“Too heavy for a pixie,” Diane said. “Those things mass a good five kilos.”
“Well if they were fast pixies maybe they stole the plate while the gravity was out.”
“That’s it!” I said.
They all looked at me. “Ish,” Diane said, “we were kidding about the pixies.”
I grinned. “I’m not.” I got down and stuck my head in the door so I could look up to where the other half of the field mechanism ran across the top of the intake vent. “Yup. Pixies.” My voice echoed weirdly inside the cabinet.
Brill nudged me so she could get a look. “Damn it!” she said.
When she pulled her head out, I could see she was already calculating. “How fast can we change out all four scrubbers?”
“With all of us working it would take four stans. But it’ll take more than half a day before they begin working again.” Diane confirmed what we already knew.
When I had first come aboard, this practice of stating and restating the obvious confused me. Now I recognized it as a kind of mutual reality check for the group to make sure everyone had an idea of what the other person was thinking.
“Francis,” Brill said, “go run the numbers. How much time do we have? Diane, Ish, start on number three. Pull the frames and strip ’em out as fast as you can.”
He bolted for the console and Brill called Mr. Kelley. “Environmental reporting, you’ll need to see this, sar. It’s serious and won’t take long.”
Diane and I had done this as a team for so long we had three of the matrix frames out before she finished speaking.
Mr. Kelley showed up in two ticks. “Whatcha got, Brill?” he asked.
She took him back to the scrubber and showed him where the field plate was supposed to be. “What the—?” he said as he dragged his head out of the cabinet. “How’d it get up there and what’s holding it?”
“Magnetism,” she said. “Francis, would you kill the power to number two scrubber please?”
“Securing power to number two now.”
When he said “now” the missing scrubber plate dropped with a clank and bounced out of the inspection hatch at Mr. Kelley’s feet.
“How are they normally connected to the base?” Mr. Kelley asked.
Brill answered, “They just sit in those sockets. While the power is flowing, they’re locked down magnetically.”
“So, when we lost power, we lost the lock, grav failed long enough for it to unseat, and when the power came back on, the field kicked in with the plate out of position.”
“No field plate, dirty matrices, dead bacteria,” Brill finished. “How much time, Francis? I need to know now.”
“Ten hours until CO2 reaches critical,” he called back.
“Oh, shit,” Mr. Kelley said.
Francis came in to help me and Diane while Brill conferred with Mr. Kelley. “Can you get me somebody to fix these plates while we clear the matrices? I don’t wanna put good matrix back in a dirty stream.”
He pulled out his comm and started making calls.
With Brill and Francis helping, we got number three stripped down and restarted within a stan. Mr. Kelley fixed number three’s field plate himself and tested it for us to make sure it worked. While he was working, his back up team including Bert Benson, Janice Ivanov, and Arvid Xia came in. He set them to work on the other field
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