I would like to propose a way to fight fires, rescue people and make repairs aboard a starship. I call this system the rescue chute system (RCS). The RCS consists of pipes made from duranium or other extremely hard material, each about 5 meters in length. The ends would be made, so they could fit together, to form even longer pipes or chutes, if needed. Fittings like T-junctions and elbows could also be constructed. Tight fittings would prevent gases and/or fire from getting inside them. Each pipe and fitting could be a meter or so in diameter, to allow people to crawl through them. People could use these chutes to reach people trapped in dangerous areas, to put out fires from up close or to retrieve important documents or objects, without exposing people to the hazardous conditions there. These chutes and fittings could be stored aboard ships and transported to the damaged section of the ship on antigrav sleds. What do you think?
I think you've spent a considerable amount of time conceiving and developing this concept, and due to the complexity, it would have been a better use of your time to put it in the Trek Tech forum instead of General Discussion. Ask a mod to move it for you.
Here's the thing. Any time this system would be useful, forcefields and site to site transporters would be more useful.
Fantastic, publusr! I had no idea we have such an industry developed like this! The one point of difference in my suggestion--other than using neutronium in constructing these chutes--is that mine would be portable/beamable rather than attached to one location, although some could be telescoped into and out of Jefferies Tubes. My idea was for Damage Control Teams to use them on starships and at facilities, when needed.
A real-world possibility for the material of such protective chutes that I just read about could be superdense carbon allotropes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superdense_carbon_allotropes