Post by Admin on Mar 31, 2016 5:59:27 GMT
Kitchen Mission
Postby DeirdreMcGowan » Thu Oct 23, 2008 9:41 am
“Bloody Tholians,” Deirdre muttered as she made her way down to Main Engineering. She'd spent the remainder of her time on the bridge reviewing all known data on Tholian physiology (which was specific enough for what was in the databanks) and social niceties (which there was little data on, either due to lack of inter-species understanding or the lack of social tendencies altogether). The Engineering challenges of building a little oven for a Tholian diplomat to use were straight-forward enough; the consequences of getting something wrong that would offend or anger said official meant that she would be very careful of what she put in, and what she didn't. Plopping herself at her desk, she pulled up the schematic-o-matic program, and got to work.
As far as the container itself went, it would have to contain the high temperatures required for Tholians. From the data, she figured an adjustable thermostat with settings between 400 K and 500 K would provide a suitable range for the diplomat to have a properly comfortable climate. A combination of polyduranide and transparent aluminum would work nicely, with a nice vacuum insulation layer between the interior and exterior structure. As much as she'd like to keep the Tholian hidden, she figured it wouldn't do to lock a diplomat in something too cage-like so she would use the transparent aluminum to create a nice window.
The atmosphere at least wasn't too hard to put together, so she could use the standard life support connections and throw in a portable controller to stir the mixture properly before piping it in to the oven. Add in a high temperature capable filter from the stocks, and that would be settled.
From everything she could find it was difficult to tell what position a Tholian would prefer to arrange itself in for long periods of time, so she made the best guess possible for a bench that would suit the spindly, multi-legged anatomy of the species. She'd leave it on the back wall so it wouldn't be in the way if the diplomat didn't want to use it. As far as other furniture, she supposed even Tholians might need something to put their “hot PADDs” on, or whatever it is they used to keep notes. So she'd include small, swing-out shelf units on either side.
Adding in communications, translation units, and an independent computer terminal (without access to the Aquarius mainframe, of course) would require serviceable parts inside with the control parts outside to keep from the unnecessary headaches of designing in cooler units. Her teams could throw those together from parts already in stock, thankfully. It wouldn't be too hard to transport into the oven, she figured, but for safety's sake she would include some transport boosters to make sure the Tholian didn't arrive with its legs in the wrong places, something she could fit in with only the minimum of heat related fuss.
She wasn't quite sure if the Tholian would want to imbibe of refreshments while it's in there, but figured it would be quite rude not to have one available since there would be one for the other delegates. Replicators, however, were not designed to exist in an oven, they were designed to take the place of one. So, she would have to improvise and place the delivery section inside the container and leave the control devices outside. It would be so much easier if she was designing a Tholian prison cell instead of a mini conference suite. Even if there was nothing in the replicator database that the diplomat wanted, at least it couldn't complain that the option wasn't there. Perhaps LeGran would know more about the eating habits of the things and could tinker with the settings.
She would have to make sure the bottom of the container was easily leveled and allowed sufficient room for the anti-grav units to get under it to move it around. The major construction would take place in a corner of the cargo bay, but at least the unit could be moved around so that LeGran could play party planner and situate the oven with whatever other tables, decorations, and other miscellaneous items were required.
Making a checklist in her mind, Deirdre went through the basics. Temperature, atmosphere, diplomatic “things” accessible, space considerations, making it seem like the Tholian was part of the negotiating party and not in a cell, portability, safety. Seemed like the necessities were covered, at least, though she was sure that something else would pop up in her mind, or more likely be demanded by LeGran, while the construction was taking place.
She put everything together and fired off everything to LeGran, along with the request to have cargo bay 4 cleared. While she waited for the approval, with the expected additions and subtractions, she could get her people to work on the items that would be there regardless of what ended up in the final schematic. Rising from her desk, with a final thought of “Damn Tholians” in her mind, she went out into Main Engineering and started barking orders.