The Star Beagle Adventures
Episode 6: Perpetual Change
Scene 6: Engineering
I see the cold mist in the night...
And watch the hills roll out of sight...
6.6
Engineering
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"So how is the thingamajig this evening?"
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Captain Skip Howard strolled up to Dutch Holland. It had been three months since the readings from the Doppler-Tunneling Generator had told then that both relative spacetime and subspace had been turned inside-out and the stars had started their insane dance.
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It was impossible for a 300 pound luchador to project glumness through a face mask decorated with a puma's face surrounded by flames, but somehow Commander Dutch Holland managed it. He stepped up to the insanely complicated machine, selected the correct series of punch cards to run through the slot, carefully set the levers and dials, then stepped back and, with both hands, grasped the handle of a large lever that projected up through the stone floor.
It took all of his considerable strength to activate the device by pulling the lever - powerful muscles in his arms and back easily visible under his skin-tight golden uniform. Large wheels started turning, lifting large cups of water and dumping them into the green, crystalline steam generator. The machine steamed and whistled and throbbed as it shuffled punch cards. A tiny propeller at the top spun, measuring the pressure of the steam release.
The dot matrix printer fired up and printed page after page of the results. Captain Howard and Commander Holland waited patiently, shifting their weight from side-to-side as the machine did its annoyingly noisy and slow work.
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The massive, masked luchador removed the printed pages and started scanning them.
Captain Howard squatted down to his haunches and looked out across the hills to the horizon, watching the stars leap and dance madly in the mist. This part of the ship was always warm and always dark. He wasn't sure why it had been designed that way. Or why the hills and cabins seemed to hang about at random angles with people walking about hanging nearly upside down in relation to him. It had something to do with the triangular layout of the three separate warp engines and their independently powered nacelles.
With three separate engines powering three semi-circular nacelles, the U.S.S. Beagle required incredible precision. Dangerous things could happen if the engines were slightly misaligned. Standard Star Fleet vessels avoided this problem by powering multiple nacelles with a single engine. Which proved far more rugged. Particularly in combat.
But it was precisely this layout, enhanced by the uniquely vulcan semi-circular nacelles, that made the Doppler-Tunneling Generator and other experimental enhancements possible - enhancements that were not possible with the standard Star Fleet design.
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Howard stood up as Dutch Holland dropped the pile of paper into the storage bin. With all the others.
"So what is it telling you, Dutchie?"
Somehow, Dutch Holland managed a sour expression right through the luchador mask. He pointed at Captain Howard. "You're not real." He pointed at himself. "I'm not real." He pointed at the Doppler-Tunneling Generator. "This thing itself is not real. That's what it's telling me. Those…" He pointed out to the insane stars…
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"Those are real."
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6.6
