V is for Valve
Things broke. It was just a fact of life at the Piston Peaks Air Attack Base. Things broke, Maru fixed them, and everyone went on with their life until they broke something once more. It was to be expected. Firefighting was a slagging dangerous job, and wildland firefighting had an even higher level of risk with even less access to resources. It was the limit on the base resources which sometimes caused Maru to get frustrated when he had to make the same repair, over and over again.
"Drip…how in the world did you manage to bend a valve again?" Maru grumbled as he got to work trying to pound it out. He wasn't even going to bother getting the fit perfect again. This was Drips fifth valve of the season…and it wasn't even June yet. Maru was perfectly willing to make things better than new, but sometimes you just had to put a tire down when it was clear his work was just going to be abused to the point of failure.
"Um?" Drip looked pensive for a moment as though he was reflecting on the as though he was trying to identify the exact moment, he had sprung a leak again. "It might have been the backflips I did yesterday…Oh, or it could have been the race that I challenged Blackout and Pinecone to through up the scree slope. I totally won that race." Drip grinned clearly pleased by his performance. "It also could have been that tree stump that I hit hard on that last fire…or it could have been…"
"Drip." Maru sighed.
"Yes." Drip pulled himself out of his rambling train of thought.
"Forget that I asked." The mechanic stated flatly.
"Okay." Drip stated with far too much enthusiasm for Maru's liking. "But I really need to tell you about the race of the scree slope. It was totally epic!"
And that is what the smokejumper did as Maru got to work replacing the valve and topping off his oil. Once the work was done, Maru quickly sent Drip on his way, then broke down and snagged a small canister of high grade from his stash. Maru loved his people, but honestly, sometimes really did drive the mechanic to drink.
Term- Valve- A valve is an object that regulates the direction and/or flow rate of a fluid. Valves are both natural (think the heart) and manmade (think plumbing). Because of the large number of uses, there are a lot of different types of valves. Common types include hydraulic (powered by liquids), pneumatic (powered by air), manual (powered by someone or something turning it), solenoid (powered by electricity or a magnetic field), and motor (powered by combustion). Most types of vehicles require multiple types of valves to work.
Author's Note- Sadly, we are rapidly coming to the end of this story...but fear not there will be a new Planes Christmas Advent Calendar next year. The challenge is we need to identify the theme for next year's collection. If you have ideas for that please let me know!