If It's In The News, Then It Must Be True!
A collection of one offs inspired by the news, which someone found 'believable' – though I think a 'second look' is a very good idea . . . added to on a very irregular basis . . . hopefully . . . Note at the end of each story as to what 'inspired' it. I wonder what someone was thinking.
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Trip Tucker didn't even get down to the planet's surface until a week after the 'hyperphasic' storm had passed; the damage to the Enterprise itself, had been extensive, and he wanted to make sure that the ship had been repaired to his satisfaction, before heading down to the rescue effort that the Capt'n, Phlox, and the non-engineering crew were assisting 'the locals' with . . .
Of course, he was in regular contact with all the senior officers, and many of the crew in general, so he had a pretty good idea of the mess that was down there. Still, when he did get away from the 'mostly-repaired' Enterprise, riding down in the twice daily shuttle taking supplies and personnel, Trip was surprised at the devastation – sure, he'd seen plenty of hurricanes in Florida, but this was horrific.
He immediately got to work using his engineering knowledge – while his usual skill set involved the closed environment of the ship and other like systems – Trip had participated and earned high marks in structural engineering at the Starfleet Academy. His own father was a structural engineer of some renown back on Earth, so that he drew on memories of discussions he had had with 'the old man'. And Trip found himself being very helpful in that regard, though the real surprise was how essential Malcolm Reed had been to the recovery effort.
So many buildings had collapsed in the wake of the storm, rather like they had 'exploded' from the effects of the phasic discharge. Malcolm Reed was a specialist (no surprise there on reflection) of how things come apart, in this particular instance – 'How buildings fail' whether from intentional means or the 'hand of nature'. The Brit was particularly skilled in first, finding the areas where survivors might be located – so much so that many of the local authorities seemed to regard him with awe – and secondly knowing how to remove parts of the buildings without causing more damage.
Malcolm for his part was abashed regarding his supposed abilities, and credited everything to the excellent Starfleet scanner that seemed to be an extension of his arm – but the real skill of course was his knowledge of materials and how they react under stress. He was also very respectful of the local authorities, and knew that being polite went a long way . . . which was unfortunately why he found himself gifted with a problem – a 'helper' as it were.
When Trip walked up to Malcolm, he noticed that a device was 'standing' next to his friend, approximately five feet tall and three feet wide. It was made of struts and upon examination some kind of pistons, which began to shift and rotate in his direction as he approached. He stopped and called out to Reed, who acknowledged his presence, "Commander, I see you've joined us." The device continued to change shape and began to advance in Tucker's direction, then stopped and flattened until it was only two feet high and wider in width. "Er, Malcolm, what is your 'friend' there?"
"Glad you asked, commander," the Brit replied with exaggerated correctness. "This is my 'little buddy' – gifted to me by our 'oh-so-grateful-hosts'. Seems they were shocked mightily that we didn't have robot helpers. And so they gave me this 'child's toy', as it were." (The last was spoken with the same tonal quality given by Malcolm Reed upon discovering that some of his supposedly top-of-the-line torpedoes were really only the old model 'gussied up'. Not good at all.)
Trip looked at 'the thing' then back at the lieutenant. "But Mal, what is it?" It didn't have any apparent function except to morph into different shapes, and be vaguely threatening . . .
Malcolm tried to sound aggrieved but failed – "Trip, it's a climbing frame – what you Yanks call a 'Jungle Gym'. If I was a child and saw this thing advancing on me, it might have put me off machines for life."
Trip watched the morphing metal framework, which was currently flexing its pistons . . . and he couldn't say that he disagreed.
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A.N. There is a BBC video – of a device which allegedly is designed for children to use as a 'climbing frame' – though the thing is sliding around expanding, changing shape, and generally acting like some kind of morphing metal sculpture, shifting around the yard. The presenter is talking to the reporter and insisting that the device is perfectly harmless, and that is for children to get used to the idea of robotics – the reporter is quite reasonably skeptical of the idea. (Oh, while it is very interesting, would you allow a child near that? And they want to scale it up?!)
On the DVD set for Enterprise – one of the 'B's talks about how the 'repair station' was based on a child's toy . . . and the Borg comes to mind . . .
Years ago I read a set of books which discussed how buildings were built and (the more interesting frankly) how buildings fail . . . sorry I don't remember the authors or the exact titles . . .
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