Science-y Stuff

Posted on Wed Apr 14th, 2021 @ 5:43pm by Captain Dirk Taggart & Lieutenant JG Vespa Kale

Mission: Season Two - Incidentals
Location: Science Labs

Dirk checked his Padd for what felt like the hundredth time, if he were to be honest this part of his walk through interested him greatly. With the advanced scanning and labs aboard the Nebula class ship, he looked forward to meeting the Department Heads that ran it.

Entering the space he looked around and saw equipment that he could not identify. He couldn't even guess its purpose but that wasn't his job. "I'm looking for Lieutenant Dinter and Lieutenant Kale," he asked.

"I'm lieutenant dinter. " a man said in a weak voice.

A pair of twins, familiar from the bridge, stood at a close approximate of attention when the Captain made his presence known. "I'm Lieutenant Kale, sir." One form spoke, while the other twin seemed content to let her sister speak for her. Identical, to an almost unnatural degree. Same coloration, same eyes, same causal respiration response, everything.


"It is good to meet you both," he said to Dinter and Kale. "I spent most of my career in security positions, would you please show me a bit of what you're working on and explain it please." He hoped that by allowing them to talk of their work it would put them at ease.

Vespa started first. "It's excellent to meet you as well. I'll try to go easy, but I recognize that talking to a Dalacari might be a bit overwhelming for single instance..." and she stopped. Boom. Over. Done.

Her twin, however, picked up the conversation without missing a beat, "... life forms. My current personal project involves super-cold fluid dynamics." the pair started to motion over to a section of the lab that she had been using. Large clear boxes, some half-filled with an odd thick blue liquid that left frost on the sides of the box as it gently moved about in time with the gentle rumble of the ship's engineering department. "The hope is to use it with the central computer core in order to keep the temperature down to a manageable..." and it happened again. The entire conversation shifted focus to the other form. Good thing they were standing close together.

"... level, and in the event of an overheat situation, the gelatinous supercold substance can bring the thermometer down quick. It might damage the equipment in doing..."

"... so, but it's certainly better than risking a fire, or worse. A fire would consume far more of our air then I'm comfortable with." a pause, for the pair of them to turn back to the Captain. The other sister form spoke up after the pause, "Though, that's a personal project. I can commit to any priorities of the Science department at a moment's notice."

Taggart had read in one of the previous captain's reports of the Dalacari way of speaking but it was definitely interesting to see. He shifted his gaze between the two forms, though they were singular. "That is quite interesting Lieutenant Kale, have you been successful in your testing so far?" Dirk was genuinely intrigued by the side project, he appreciated the ingenuity and intelligence behind the project.

"Ops is hesitant to let me run a live test. For good reason, I might add." she offered. "I've run thirty eight calculation simulations, and am about ready to run Simulation Room..."

"... trials, but out of the thirty eight simulations, nineteen of them failed. The dispenser nozzles that would disperse the substance froze over, blocking deployment. Alternatives..."

"... involve immersion, or rather, having the core submerged in the suspension, but that would make maintenance difficult on the crew while upgrades would need..."

"... to wait until the suspension was drained, and the parts cleared of any leftover material. Wouldn't want anyone getting hurt because they touched something..."

"... evaporating away at minus ninety six." she giggled, an interesting site to watch both of her forms find the same exact moment amusing. "I'm far from prototyping, but I have to keep..."

"... in mind that living people are going to be working on it. A drone would solve all these problems, but having one would raise about six more issues." she noted, ear flicking in annoyance. Well, one of her ears anyway.

Taggart nodded, "Is it an issue with the nozzle itself or the way it's being deployed? You may be able to to get some assistance from the Engineers," he suggested.

"I might have to include them. It's more a factor that the air contains moisture, and the superfrigid temperature causing an icing issue. So the easy solution is to dehumidify..."

"... the air, but that leads to the increased likelihood of static discharge. Which is *slightly* worse for a computer core than an increased temperature. And I don't want..."

"... to turn the computer core into a vacuum chamber, because that's a GREAT way to cause an overheat cause the heat has literally nowhere to go and..." and this time, she paused. Legit paused.

"So, there's where I stand with my current project. I have a great idea to solve a problem that hasn't happened, but in order to impliment it, I have to solve six..."

"... other issues. Which, I mean, all in a day's work for a scientist. Half the fun of solving problems is seeing what little hiccups come up along the way." she offered with a pair of smiles.

"We use a similar concept to keep our Thinking Engines cool back on our ships. Though the rooms that house them are specifically built, and the substance used to..."

"... keep them cold isn't just some ultra-low thermal gel. It's closer to a ... oh what's your term for it... a condensate. It's a substance literally just a few degrees above ..."

"...the final thermal point." she seemed pleased. "Thought I'd try to bring a little taste of home with me. Turns out I can, once I finish re-inventing the wheel." she giggled.

"Thank you Lieutenant Kale," The captain said appreciatively.

Vespa gave a pair of nods. It was such a nice feeling to be appreciated, not to mention not having to translate from SCIENCE to Terran Standard was nice.

With a nod to both science officers he said, "I've got to move along, but I'll be sure to check in on your research. Good job both of you."

[End]