//------------------------------// // Chapter 9 // Story: Secret Soldier // by computerneek //------------------------------// Assessing Power Supply…  Done, Auxiliary Power Detected. Power Stability:  73.91% Power Reliability:  Unknown Initiating Nanite Reproduction…  Done. Assessing Command Linkages…  Done, Displays and Keyboard in Command II Operational. Verifying Power Stability…  FAILED:  Independent GFCI Device Detected! Analyzing GFCI Device…  Done. WARNING:  Faulty GFCI Device Detected! Verifying Power Stability…  FAILED:  Independent Circuit Breaker Detected! Analyzing Maximum Device Load…  Done: 27.31A@132.63V Analyzing Maximum Circuit Load, Load End…  Done: 4.87A@132.63V WARNING:  Inadequate Circuit Breaker Detected! Analyzing Maximum Circuit Load, Line End…  Done: 37.72A@132.67V Verifying Power Stability…  Power Source located. Analyzing Auxiliary Power Source…  Done: Geothermal Power Detected. Analyzing Generator…  Done: - Voltage:  2-Phase@132.73V/ea - Maximum Load (Instantaneous):  237.83A - Maximum Load (Continuous):  213.71A - Maximum Efficiency:  13.41%@193.47A - Current Load:  1.37A - Current Peak Load (Estimated):  7.31A - Current Efficiency:  0.17% Verifying Power Stability…  Done: - System Voltage:  132.17V - Maximum Draw (Instantaneous):  643.67W@4.87A - Maximum Draw (Continuous):  543.67W@4.11A - Current Draw:  23.07W@0.17A WARNING:  Maximum Draw (Continuous) Below Acceptable Levels! New Task:  Reinforcement of Auxiliary Power Lines. Detecting bottleneck…  Done: Detected 47 patch cords within War Hull. Initiating repair of original cabling…  Done. Analyzing Expected Power Stability…  Done: - Expected System Voltage:  132.57V - Expected Maximum Draw (Momentary):  2294.79W@17.31A - Expected Maximum Draw (Continuous):  2194.79W@16.56A Expected Maximum Draw within acceptable levels. Damage Control:  Survival II, Initialization Complete. Enter Command: She stares at it.  She went to eat lunch out in her main room, and when she returned, found this.  The blinking horizontal line is back… and, she considers, the reduction in amount of red is appealing.  How much lower can she get it to go? …  Or, how much white can she get it to produce in between the red? She pauses, and tilts her head, blinking at the panels.  Apparently, those two characters she’d punched in earlier had constituted some sort of command- and this had been its result.  Whatever it was doing. She tilts her head the other way.  If she can figure out what it’s trying to tell her, perhaps she can figure out what commands would be valid and find a way to keep it from offering her any red. …  Not to mention, finding out what the red is trying to tell her could help as well- it could be something going wrong, perhaps an undesirable situation, or a simple invalid command. She hopes that’s what it is. She hopes all the numbers coming out of it are signs of things going right. For now, though, she’ll explore a little more…  And, she decides, she won’t worry about carrying power with her this time.  She’s got it working, her tape is more than sufficient for reverse navigation, and her horn is more than capable of providing the necessary light. Oh- and right now, she’s also getting home from her day at the school.  The two-violin filly had actually been able to produce a little music- her effort was paying off.  Whoever said one had to have a musical Mark to be able to play? The one with the lyre, when she’d allowed her to try on her own lyre, had gotten her Mark.  Not a lyre, no- it’s more of a generic musical Mark, though it does look to contain a predisposition for stringed instruments.  So, she’d set up a fundraiser to help the excited filly acquire an instrument worthy of her talent.  Not something as outrageous as her own, but something sturdy enough to provide decent sound- to be a good practice instrument. Depending on what instrument she acquires, she might actually help her parents with the security spellwork to keep it safe.  Again, not something as overblown as her own, but still… The cute ceañera is scheduled for Friday- and the filly hopes to have an instrument to show off by then.  She smiles to herself as she pops open the door; Pinkie had been more than willing to help set up the party. “Unless something super duper tragic happens, of course, but even if that happens I’ll be back super duper quick!” …  Or so the party pony had said.  In her own opinion, if something tragic does happen, everypony will simply wait for her to get back, then participate in the doubled party…  or ‘super duper party’, to use her words. She pauses in the doorway, sniffing the steamy air.  Her house isn’t supposed to be this full of steam…?  She closes the door behind her, trotting around to locate the source.  She neglects to touch into the security fields; she doesn’t feel the need to do that just yet.  Besides, all this steam seems to be coming from downstairs. But her alibi is immune to such petty things as drowning, suffocation, or burning, so no matter how steamy it is downstairs, it doesn’t pose any danger to her. So she pops open the basement door and heads downstairs, completely ignoring the steam flowing back past her.  Did her water heater explode or something, as typical heaters are known to do on occasion if the controlling unicorn uses a persistent heat spell on it? She lets out a yelp as the large metal pipe underneath the strange machine she’s using duct tape to hold together springs a leak, belching scalding steam right at her hind legs.  She bounds backwards and to the side again, seizing the pillow again- and using it to block the stream of steam as she approaches, trying to find something to close off this new tear with.  The various caps and things on the machine, the parts that had blown off earlier, had all been screwed on- but those threads had been shredded by something.  Overtightened, maybe? In any case, she’d taped them back on- and many of them are leaking little jets of steam. This, though, is a ruptured metal pipe.  She doesn’t have any pipe repair tools handy- nor anything suitable to patch the hole. So, angling the pillow to deflect the steam to the side and sweating buckets in the hot, steamy basement of her friend’s home, she sets to work wrapping the pipe with duct tape and slowly- very slowly- extending her excessive buildup of tape over the rupture, equally slowly constricting the opening and containing the steam. She’s mostly done when she hears a gasp from across the room.  A quick glance reveals that her friend got home in time to see this disaster.  “Uh,” she begins. Her friend begins by cussing.  “Shoot! I didn’t label it very clearly, did I?  Back away- you’re cooking yourself alive!” The unicorn gallops over. “What- but earth ponies are tougher, you’ll die!” “No I won’t!”  The unicorn reaches up with one hoof to a very small, cold pipe she’d noticed earlier, flicking a small lever ninety degrees to the side- to a right angle with the pipe, rather than parallel.  She then proceeds to pick her up in her magic and carry her back away from it, forcing her to abandon the tape. She’d noticed that pipe.  It’s the only other pipe going into the stone underneath the device- and she’d checked it for a valve she could operate, possibly close, but hadn’t seen any.  “How’re you planning on fixing it?” she asks. The unicorn shakes her head.  “Come on, upstairs. First step is to vent all this steam and wait for it to lose pressure.  Then we can safely close the upfeed valve and work repairs.” She glances back as they hit the stairs.  “Won’t it just keep going?” Shake, leading her up to the noticeably cooler upstairs.  “Not after I closed the downfeed valve. Sure, there’ll be some, but it won’t be anything like that.” They reach the upper floor just as she feels her strength leave her, exposing her to the frankly blistering heat- even up here.  Her friend heads straight for the window, magicing it open; she follows closely, panting heavily. “So, whenever that downfeed valve is opened, won’t it just overpressurize again…?” “No, it…  Wait. I forgot to put a pressure-sensitive valve on that thing, didn’t I?” “Uh…” Facehoof.  “That would explain it.  Oh well- the housing looked busted anyways, might as well replace the whole thing…  and make sure I installed that valve while I’m at it.” “Pressure-sensitive valve…?  Like, to let off steam?” Chuckle, and headshake.  “No. You know how, whenever you go into a deep mine, it starts getting hot?” She nods.  “Yes?” “Well, if you go a little deeper, it gets hot enough to boil water.  That little pipe pushes cold water into the rocks below even that- resulting in superheated steam deep down in the ground.  The big pipe reaches down to the same rocks, serving as an escape for that steam- through that generator you were taping together.  That whole system is, collectively, a single machine designed to harness the energy of Equus called a ‘geothermal generator’. “Of course, they’re not supposed to explode.  That’s the point of the pressure-sensitive valve- whenever the pressure builds up, it closes the valve and prevents any more water from descending and becoming steam- then whenever the pressure falls back down again, filtering through the generator, the valve opens once again to produce more steam and keep the thing running. “It seems I forgot to install that valve- meaning that shutoff never happened, and it built up dangerous pressure.  Last time I forgot to install that valve, I had a much larger downfeed pipe- so it took all of fifteen minutes to explode.”  She shudders visibly. “Good thing I thought to use a ball valve. Anyways- now that the downfeed is closed, the pressure should vent itself through the generator and that hole in the pipe until it’s safe to close the upfeed valve to stopper the steam entirely while I replace the generator. “Sorry about the, uh…  disaster. I really should have installed that valve to begin with!” She shudders slightly in the positively balmy- despite still being hot- breeze from outside.  “So… When did you install it?” “Uh, the night before you arrived, actually.  Took all night- but that’s mostly because I had to make both those pipes afresh.” Nod.  “You were way too tired for one night.  I’m not surprised something got missed- don’t worry about it.  We’ll put it back together sometime- what, tomorrow? Or whenever the parts come in? And until then, we’ll just do without…  Uh, what was it doing, anyways?” Lyra sighs.  “Powering the water heater next to it.” Blink.  “So the fridge is separate?” She hangs her head.  “No, it also powers that.  I’m gonna have to put a cooling spell on it for the next few days- there’s no way that generator is still operable after that.”  Then she looks up. “Was that a pillow?” She nods meekly.  “Best quick protection I could find against the steam jets,” she states.  Then she tilts her head. “By the way, I think Vinyl noticed the fridge at some point- she asked how it worked.” An eyebrow raised.  “Really? She just bring it up, or…?” Nod.  “She was busy gushing about everything you’re good at; apparently, it’s like a unicorn fridge that doesn’t need to be recharged.” Lyra actually laughs at that.  “Oh no, it’s a lot more complicated than that.  Have you ever let all the air out of a compressed air tank- say, a propane tank- and noticed it get a little colder?” She nods.  “Yes. Even a couple recent studies on that behavior, but they haven’t pinned anything down just yet.” The unicorn smiles.  “Yes- the inverse principle of how hot gasses expand.  Compress them, and they release their energy as heat; decompress and they suck in heat.  That fridge works on this. A special… Uh, gas, I suppose, though it’s technically a liquid for half of the journey.  This gas gets really cold when you decompress it, and really warm when you compress it. “There’s a little pump under the fridge, powered by that generator, that compresses the gas as it enters the tubes under the fridge.  It sheds its heat there- and condenses, but that’s unimportant- before flowing through a pinch in the tube on its way back into the fridge.  It escapes through that pinch into the really low pressure in the tubes inside the fridge, where it sucks in heat- cooling the fridge in the process, before it completes the circuit at the pump.  The pump’s power is, in turn, controlled by a thermostat- so it turns on when the fridge warms up, and off when it cools down. “The same thing works for the freezer, just with a lower thermostat setting.  I think it’s supposed to be easier to vent the cold air from the freezer into the fridge to keep the fridge cold, but I figured it’d be better to keep them separate- so mine has two such pumps, sharing the same under-fridge coil, with one working the fridge and the other working the freezer.” Slow nod.  “She mentioned interest in having a fridge she didn’t have to keep spelling every day…  Is that-?” She pauses, tilting her head slightly. “Uhh…  I’ll have to make her a generator to go with it…  Could take a couple weeks.” “A couple weeks?” Nod.  “It’ll take a week to make a new generator for my house, then a week to make one for her, and probably another week to make her a fridge.”  She smiles. “Uh…  Didn’t you just install that geothermal generator thingy a week ago…?” “Yes…  Before it, I used a magic-powered generator.  It’s more efficient to use a standard unicorn fridge than one of those things.” “...  Okay.”