Home » The Archives » Chapter 9 » Regrouping and Recouperation
| Re: Regrouping and Recouperation [message #238 is a reply to message #237] |
Mon, 23 July 2012 15:31   |
artisticrainey
Messages: 1228
Registered: July 2012
Location: Northern Ireland
Karma:
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Field Commander
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Tuesday, August 14, 2:30 p.m., Tracy Island
The lab door slid open, and Virgil leaned a raised forearm on the side of the doorway, pressing his forehead into the arm and letting out a sigh. Brains looked up from his computer screen and smiled a little. "Thanks for coming," he said.
"You're welcome," Virgil replied as he entered the room. "I need a break from all the party arrangements. You would not believe all the work that has to be done, especially since we're having it here and we have to do a lot of stuff ourselves. Fortunately, some of the food will be catered. I'm flying out with Kyrano in the morning to pick it up." He shook his head. "Gordon and Alan are threatening to set up the karaoke machine."
Brains shook his head. "Just as long as I don't have to sing," he commented. Beckoning to Virgil, he turned the computer screen around a little so that the other man could see the images on it.
"What are you looking for?" Virgil asked as he pulled up a lab stool.
"I've gone through the black box, and talked with Dom and Nikki. I suppose I should talk with Dianne, too, but I'm not sure how to broach the subject." Brains tapped the screen gently with his stylus. "All I can figure is that there was a power surge of some sort. It centered around the magnets, and though the failsafes tried to reinitialize them, they let loose." He shook his head. "I just can't see where the power surge came from!"
Virgil had picked up Brains's notes from the morning. "Hm. Nikki said there was a scratching noise." He looked up and nodded toward the screen. "Show me the footage."
Brains tapped a button or two, and the close-up footage of the tornado rolled. Virgil, even knowing what to expect, still winced when the two portions separated, but when the piece was over, he asked Brains to run it again. This time he got closer to the screen. "Is this the original distance for the film, or have you zoomed in?"
"I zoomed in quite a bit," Brains replied.
"Can you do it some more?"
Nodding, Brains complied. Now the picture was tight on Thunderbird Seven, its white hull partially obscured by the gray-brown of the cyclone. Virgil watched carefully, then called, "Freeze it!" There was a pause, then, "Now back it up, just a little."
The cyclone inched backwards, and Virgil said, "There!"
"Where?" Brains peered at the frozen picture.
"Here!" Virgil took the stylus, and pointed to two bright points. "And here!"
"Blue-white flashes." Brains glanced up at his companion. "What could they be?"
"I think I know," Virgil said. "Zoom out now, way out."
Frowning, the engineer did as Virgil asked, then sat back heavily in his chair. "Of course. That makes perfect sense." He shook his head. "High tension wires. The tornado tore them up, or Thunderbird Seven did when it was pushed into them. Why didn't I see it?"
"You were too close to it, in a way," Virgil told him, clapping a hand on the thin shoulder. "You weren't looking at the bigger picture." He glanced around the room, and spied the door to the pod vehicle repair bay. "I bet we can get further proof, too."
"Where?" Brains asked, frowning again.
"C'mon," Virgil said, already heading toward the door. Brains got up and followed him, clambering noisily down the metal stairs to the repair bay floor.
Virgil grabbed one of the motorized scaffolds, and guided it over to the side of Thunderbird Seven's cockpit. He climbed aboard, pulled Brains up onto the platform, and with the push of a button, sent it moving slowly into the air. They passed the roof of the cockpit, and gained enough height that they could see the whole roof at once.
"Hm. Maybe I'd better get down there with a cloth or something," Virgil said, thoughtful. "I'd forgotten there was so much dirt up here." He turned to Brains. "Let's lower this a bit and climb on the roof; it's stable enough, isn't it?"
Brains nodded. "It should be."
Virgil brought the scaffold down to just above the level of the roof, and leaped out onto the dirty, scraped cockpit. Brains followed, with Virgil catching his arm to keep him from falling backwards.
"Hm. Let's see. Nikki was sitting to Mom's left," Virgil murmured as he faced front. "That would put the scratching sound she heard over... here." He took a few steps, then squatted down to brush some of the dirt away and out of the scratched paint.
"I see it!" Brains cried as he squatted down beside Virgil. "There... and there! Scorch marks on the paint where the wire sort of dragged along the surface."
"And look," Virgil said, pointing off toward the medical cabin. "More marks there, It must have whipped along here, very likely in that direction, and gotten caught long enough to zap the magnets." He glanced at Brains, sober-faced. "Just think what might have happened if you hadn't built her so well and protected the cabins against this kind of thing." He put a hand on Brains's shoulder. "The magnets were a weak link, true, but if you hadn't been so meticulous in preparing Seven for possible electrical shock, things would have be a whole lot worse."
Brains sighed and nodded. "I guess you're right, Virgil. Still, I can't help but feel responsible..."
"You're responsible for Mom and Dom and Nikki being alive," Virgil told him firmly. "And now that you've seen the weak link, you can redesign things with this scenario in mind. And not only Seven, but you can look at the other vehicles and see what might happen if they were caught up in this situation." He smiled. "I'll give you a hand with it, Brains... after the party."
Post by Tikatu on 1/19/2007
  
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