April 2008 Trek BBS Challenge (2066 words)
Star Trek: 500 – “Tsunami”
Ashley Turner, engineer’s log, stardate 41820.6
(October 26th 2364)
It’s been two days since I saw Lieutenant Ro being taken from the ship and the Wellington has already been reassigned. Sewenda III is a Federation protectorate world, meaning that they have warp drive but are still too inexperienced to be left on their own, and their world is in a strategic location. Commander Cavanaugh gave us our briefing while we were still en route to the beleaguered planet. I was amazed at what was happening, but I knew a few things about floods. After all, I had been caught in one about five hundred years ago.
‘Lokami City was built when the Lokami Dam was erected, flooding the local villages. The dam has been in place for the last three hundred years but in that time, all knowledge of how to maintain it has been destroyed. A series of natural disasters has befallen the planet and the Sewendarans are unable to prevent their capital city from being completely submerged. We are the only ship in range with a chance of helping these people.’
‘Has the city been evacuated?’ I asked.
‘The outer sections of the city have been, because those sections are already flooded due to cracks and fissures in the dam. Our job is to find a way to hold back the water and repair the dam using their technology, so they will be able to maintain it.’
‘That will present a major obstacle,’ T’Lane replied.
‘I don’t think so,’ I told them. ‘What level of technology do they have?’
‘Early twenty-first century Earth,’ Cavanaugh answered.
‘I think I will be more familiar with that level of technology than any of you are,’ I said. ‘I come from the nineteenth century when flooding was a fairly frequent occurrence. I believe that I can come up with a solution. Do you have a rough idea of what technology we have to work with?’
‘It is all on your padds. You have three days to bring me solutions. Dismissed.’
T’Lane cocked an eyebrow at me as the other members of our team went their separate ways. I waited until Cavanaugh had left the briefing room. ‘You needed me for something?’
The Vulcan nodded. ‘My expertise is in aquatic lifeforms and habitats. I believe that working together we can provide an adequate solution to the Sewendaran problem.’
‘Aquatic lifeforms and habitats? Isn’t that an unusual choice for a Vulcan, coming from a desert planet?’
‘Is it not logical?’
I conceded the point. ‘The best way to hold back the water, would be to divert it somewhere else that can later be returned to the lake.’
‘Our first aim will be to locate this area and an efficient means to diverting the water in the lake to this location.’
‘Then we can use some form of concrete, or the local equivalent, to repair the dam.’
T’Lane nodded. ‘We should get started. There are adequate maps of Lokami City and its environs in the library computer.’
‘We’ll need something more than adequate. What we’re going to need is an area of land capable of temporarily holding several thousand tons of water without damaging the ecosystem.’
‘We should get started.’
And we did.
After getting permission from Commander Mendez to link with the Sewenda Planetary Information Net and download the most detailed maps of the region, we set to work identifying the most logical place to divert all the water. We were working for several hours and finding nothing until I realised that we were going about the process the wrong way.
‘We need to make new rivers,’ I muttered.
‘Explain.’
‘There are six rivers which flow into the Lokami Dam. We need to make new rivers in such a way that the ecosystem is not overly saturated while diverting water away from the dam. If no more water enters the lake, its levels will diminish enough for us to make the necessary repairs.’
‘I propose we create canals from the rivers, this will slow the water down further,’ she added.
‘Right, the Sewendarans should be able to handle that job, with our help, while we are repairing the dam.’
‘A multi pronged approach, eminently logical.’
‘Thank you. What we need to do now is identify the most beneficial sites for new rivers.’
‘Perhaps we should break for the time being. Our shift has been over for three hours.’
‘Good idea, I’m going to grab a bite to eat and get a few hours sleep. Shall we meet in engineering in say, four hours?’
‘That would be adequate.’
Ashley Turner, engineer’s log, stardate 41821.9
(October 27th 2364)
Those few hours moved us into another day and we began anew. We decided on diverting the river into irrigation channels for the fields outside the city, essentially turning the area into marshland. And since it was currently used for war games, and little else, there might be more benefit for the Sewendarans. Our next task was finding a way to repair the dam once the water levels had receded enough which, according to our simulations, would take about four days. We had not yet taken our theoretical plan to Cavanaugh yet but we still had another six hours before the next briefing. Hawkins dropped by to assist while his partner was finishing her duty shift, but he thought our idea was too far-reaching to be implemented quickly enough and disappeared again. I was under no illusions that he was trying to find out what we were doing. I hadn’t informed him of the second half of our plan.
‘The Sewendarans have an excellent hydrocarbon manufacturing industry,’ T’Lane said, scrolling through data on her padd. ‘Perhaps there is something there which could help us.’
I thought about what I knew about crude oil manufacturing which admittedly wasn’t much. ‘Bitumen.’
‘Excuse me?’ she asked, arching an eyebrow. ‘Did you sneeze?’
‘No,’ I smiled. ‘Bitumen is a hydrocarbon derivative which is commonly used for waterproofing sealant in conjunction with other materials. If we can find an appropriate material, we can seal the cracks in the dam making sure that the second material is strong enough and waterproof to prevent such an occurrence happening in the future.’
‘An intriguing proposition. What do you suggest for the second material?’
That stumped me. I had no idea what to use. I began scrolling through my own padd to see what other industries might be useful to us when I saw something that piqued my interest. ‘What do you know of heat-bonded polypropylene?’
‘Geotextiles have been used on Vulcan for centuries. Are you proposing that we use a geotextile bonded to the bituminous sealant to seal the cracks in the dam?’
I nodded. ‘Exactly. From what I can see here, they do have the necessary capability, even if they haven’t fully explored its uses.’
‘I would like an opportunity to discover how they invented war drive with twenty-first century technology.’
‘Humanity did.’
‘Indeed, but your people did so after emerging from an induced global catastrophe, the Sewendarans did not.’
‘True, but an investigation into their history can wait. Or there won’t be a people to investigate.’
‘Right as always,’ Lieutenant Commander Cavanaugh interjected. ‘Tell me you have something?’
‘Have the others not been successful?’ T’Lane asked.
‘Feeling competitive?’ he asked as I passed him a padd.
He perused the contents, noted the simulations, and his eyes widened at the technologies we had chosen.
‘I think it’s doable, sir.’
‘So do I, crewman. Ensign, what is your opinion?’
‘With the Sewendarans help, I believe that we can have all the cracks in the dam repaired and the lake refilled in fourteen Earth-standard days.’
‘That is fast. I would like your report on my desk within the hour. Although we still have two days before we reach the planet, I’d like to be as ready as possible. I will want you to present your plan to the others, in front of the senior officers.’
‘We’ll need them to help smooth the way with what we ask of the Sewendarans,’ I said, understanding dawning.
‘Right again,’ Cavanaugh replied. ‘T’Lane, I’d like to speak with Crewman Turner alone for a moment.’
‘Yes sir.’
As soon as the door closed behind her, Cavanaugh gestured for me to sit down. ‘Captain Hernandez doesn’t want you on board.’
‘Why not?’
‘He isn’t comfortable with the fact that you are from the nineteenth century and have a sealed file with Temporal Investigations.’
‘Technically I am from the twenty-third century. I haven’t figured out everything yet, but to do so I need to get to Gamma Canaris.’
‘I see. What do you hope to find there?’
‘Answers to my origins.’
‘How?’
‘I’m afraid that’s classified,’ I replied, smiling wanly. ‘Temporal Investigations.’
Cavanaugh nodded. ‘I’ll speak to Hernandez. In the meantime, please have everything ready to present to the Captain, and for President dRina.’
I nodded. ‘Yes sir.’
Ashley Turner, engineer’s log, stardate 41827.4
(October 29th 2364)
President dRina was impressed with our grasp of her people’s technological abilities and immediately invoked executive privilege to have the local factories begin production of the materials we would need in the correct quantities. Ensign T’Lane was ferried to the factory to oversee the work while Cavanaugh oversaw the marshification of the surrounding land. I was put in charge of preparing the dam for repairs. It would take a week to remove enough water to do the work, but I knew that during that time I could do thorough surveys of the cracks and fissures and fine-tune the plan. Everything was working according to T’Lane’s schedule.
Ashley Turner, engineer’s log, stardate 41846.6
(November 5th 2364)
We’ve encountered a small problem. The bituminous sealing layer doesn’t bond with the geotextile because the Sewendarans haven’t got a heat source powerful enough to seal it all at once. They can only do it in sections which means that the sealant will not be sufficient. I am currently working on a solar-powered approach but so far, all simulations are coming up short.
‘Do you require assistance?’
I nodded my head in response to T’Lane’s question without raising my head and then gave her a quick overview of what I was trying to accomplish.
‘Do they not have fusion devices?’
‘Like our impulse engines?’
She inclined her head.
‘I didn’t think of that. They do use fusion to power a number of different industries. But I don’t see how a fusion engine can be adapted for a heat source.’
‘This is my area of expertise, Crewman Turner. One needs to heat water somehow,’ she said and strode over to a workstation where she began inputting a sequence for a simulation.
Ashley Turner, engineer’s log, stardate 41857.6
(November 9th 2364)
I watched as the Sewendarans applied the bituminous sealant to the crack and felt T’Lane’s presence beside me as the geotextile layer was moved into position.
‘We work well as a team,’ I said.
‘It would appear so. President dRina has requested Federation membership and Starfleet Command has agreed to send in a diplomatic team. My transfer request has been approved.’
‘You’ve been an asset to us, I will miss you.’
‘As I will you, Ashley Turner.’
I turned to face her. ‘You’ll be welcome back anytime.’
An eyebrow arched upward. ‘That would be unlikely since this move involves a promotion. They are applying the heat now.’
I returned my gaze to the dam as the fusion generator that T’Lane had devised did its job. The geotextile was sealing in the bituminous sealant and adhering to the concrete. It was creating a completely waterproof barrier and the tricorder indicated that the strength of this section of the dam had increased substantially. By the time the Sewendarans were finished, the dam should be able to withstand anything short of a direct hit from a nuclear warhead.
‘We should not remain here any longer. Captain Hernandez is anxious to return to Starbase 231.’
‘For what reason?’
‘To drop me off and take on additional personnel.’
‘There’s something else, isn’t there?’
T’Lane nodded. ‘According to Commander Cavanaugh, an officer from Temporal Investigations will be meeting the Captain to discuss your situation.’
‘Oh joy.’
‘Indeed.’
The science in this story is the sealing of the cracks in the dam. See the links below for clarification.
Science links:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2006/0243369.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotextile
Star Trek: 500 will return.
Star Trek: 500 – “Tsunami”
Ashley Turner, engineer’s log, stardate 41820.6
(October 26th 2364)
It’s been two days since I saw Lieutenant Ro being taken from the ship and the Wellington has already been reassigned. Sewenda III is a Federation protectorate world, meaning that they have warp drive but are still too inexperienced to be left on their own, and their world is in a strategic location. Commander Cavanaugh gave us our briefing while we were still en route to the beleaguered planet. I was amazed at what was happening, but I knew a few things about floods. After all, I had been caught in one about five hundred years ago.
‘Lokami City was built when the Lokami Dam was erected, flooding the local villages. The dam has been in place for the last three hundred years but in that time, all knowledge of how to maintain it has been destroyed. A series of natural disasters has befallen the planet and the Sewendarans are unable to prevent their capital city from being completely submerged. We are the only ship in range with a chance of helping these people.’
‘Has the city been evacuated?’ I asked.
‘The outer sections of the city have been, because those sections are already flooded due to cracks and fissures in the dam. Our job is to find a way to hold back the water and repair the dam using their technology, so they will be able to maintain it.’
‘That will present a major obstacle,’ T’Lane replied.
‘I don’t think so,’ I told them. ‘What level of technology do they have?’
‘Early twenty-first century Earth,’ Cavanaugh answered.
‘I think I will be more familiar with that level of technology than any of you are,’ I said. ‘I come from the nineteenth century when flooding was a fairly frequent occurrence. I believe that I can come up with a solution. Do you have a rough idea of what technology we have to work with?’
‘It is all on your padds. You have three days to bring me solutions. Dismissed.’
T’Lane cocked an eyebrow at me as the other members of our team went their separate ways. I waited until Cavanaugh had left the briefing room. ‘You needed me for something?’
The Vulcan nodded. ‘My expertise is in aquatic lifeforms and habitats. I believe that working together we can provide an adequate solution to the Sewendaran problem.’
‘Aquatic lifeforms and habitats? Isn’t that an unusual choice for a Vulcan, coming from a desert planet?’
‘Is it not logical?’
I conceded the point. ‘The best way to hold back the water, would be to divert it somewhere else that can later be returned to the lake.’
‘Our first aim will be to locate this area and an efficient means to diverting the water in the lake to this location.’
‘Then we can use some form of concrete, or the local equivalent, to repair the dam.’
T’Lane nodded. ‘We should get started. There are adequate maps of Lokami City and its environs in the library computer.’
‘We’ll need something more than adequate. What we’re going to need is an area of land capable of temporarily holding several thousand tons of water without damaging the ecosystem.’
‘We should get started.’
And we did.
After getting permission from Commander Mendez to link with the Sewenda Planetary Information Net and download the most detailed maps of the region, we set to work identifying the most logical place to divert all the water. We were working for several hours and finding nothing until I realised that we were going about the process the wrong way.
‘We need to make new rivers,’ I muttered.
‘Explain.’
‘There are six rivers which flow into the Lokami Dam. We need to make new rivers in such a way that the ecosystem is not overly saturated while diverting water away from the dam. If no more water enters the lake, its levels will diminish enough for us to make the necessary repairs.’
‘I propose we create canals from the rivers, this will slow the water down further,’ she added.
‘Right, the Sewendarans should be able to handle that job, with our help, while we are repairing the dam.’
‘A multi pronged approach, eminently logical.’
‘Thank you. What we need to do now is identify the most beneficial sites for new rivers.’
‘Perhaps we should break for the time being. Our shift has been over for three hours.’
‘Good idea, I’m going to grab a bite to eat and get a few hours sleep. Shall we meet in engineering in say, four hours?’
‘That would be adequate.’
Ashley Turner, engineer’s log, stardate 41821.9
(October 27th 2364)
Those few hours moved us into another day and we began anew. We decided on diverting the river into irrigation channels for the fields outside the city, essentially turning the area into marshland. And since it was currently used for war games, and little else, there might be more benefit for the Sewendarans. Our next task was finding a way to repair the dam once the water levels had receded enough which, according to our simulations, would take about four days. We had not yet taken our theoretical plan to Cavanaugh yet but we still had another six hours before the next briefing. Hawkins dropped by to assist while his partner was finishing her duty shift, but he thought our idea was too far-reaching to be implemented quickly enough and disappeared again. I was under no illusions that he was trying to find out what we were doing. I hadn’t informed him of the second half of our plan.
‘The Sewendarans have an excellent hydrocarbon manufacturing industry,’ T’Lane said, scrolling through data on her padd. ‘Perhaps there is something there which could help us.’
I thought about what I knew about crude oil manufacturing which admittedly wasn’t much. ‘Bitumen.’
‘Excuse me?’ she asked, arching an eyebrow. ‘Did you sneeze?’
‘No,’ I smiled. ‘Bitumen is a hydrocarbon derivative which is commonly used for waterproofing sealant in conjunction with other materials. If we can find an appropriate material, we can seal the cracks in the dam making sure that the second material is strong enough and waterproof to prevent such an occurrence happening in the future.’
‘An intriguing proposition. What do you suggest for the second material?’
That stumped me. I had no idea what to use. I began scrolling through my own padd to see what other industries might be useful to us when I saw something that piqued my interest. ‘What do you know of heat-bonded polypropylene?’
‘Geotextiles have been used on Vulcan for centuries. Are you proposing that we use a geotextile bonded to the bituminous sealant to seal the cracks in the dam?’
I nodded. ‘Exactly. From what I can see here, they do have the necessary capability, even if they haven’t fully explored its uses.’
‘I would like an opportunity to discover how they invented war drive with twenty-first century technology.’
‘Humanity did.’
‘Indeed, but your people did so after emerging from an induced global catastrophe, the Sewendarans did not.’
‘True, but an investigation into their history can wait. Or there won’t be a people to investigate.’
‘Right as always,’ Lieutenant Commander Cavanaugh interjected. ‘Tell me you have something?’
‘Have the others not been successful?’ T’Lane asked.
‘Feeling competitive?’ he asked as I passed him a padd.
He perused the contents, noted the simulations, and his eyes widened at the technologies we had chosen.
‘I think it’s doable, sir.’
‘So do I, crewman. Ensign, what is your opinion?’
‘With the Sewendarans help, I believe that we can have all the cracks in the dam repaired and the lake refilled in fourteen Earth-standard days.’
‘That is fast. I would like your report on my desk within the hour. Although we still have two days before we reach the planet, I’d like to be as ready as possible. I will want you to present your plan to the others, in front of the senior officers.’
‘We’ll need them to help smooth the way with what we ask of the Sewendarans,’ I said, understanding dawning.
‘Right again,’ Cavanaugh replied. ‘T’Lane, I’d like to speak with Crewman Turner alone for a moment.’
‘Yes sir.’
As soon as the door closed behind her, Cavanaugh gestured for me to sit down. ‘Captain Hernandez doesn’t want you on board.’
‘Why not?’
‘He isn’t comfortable with the fact that you are from the nineteenth century and have a sealed file with Temporal Investigations.’
‘Technically I am from the twenty-third century. I haven’t figured out everything yet, but to do so I need to get to Gamma Canaris.’
‘I see. What do you hope to find there?’
‘Answers to my origins.’
‘How?’
‘I’m afraid that’s classified,’ I replied, smiling wanly. ‘Temporal Investigations.’
Cavanaugh nodded. ‘I’ll speak to Hernandez. In the meantime, please have everything ready to present to the Captain, and for President dRina.’
I nodded. ‘Yes sir.’
Ashley Turner, engineer’s log, stardate 41827.4
(October 29th 2364)
President dRina was impressed with our grasp of her people’s technological abilities and immediately invoked executive privilege to have the local factories begin production of the materials we would need in the correct quantities. Ensign T’Lane was ferried to the factory to oversee the work while Cavanaugh oversaw the marshification of the surrounding land. I was put in charge of preparing the dam for repairs. It would take a week to remove enough water to do the work, but I knew that during that time I could do thorough surveys of the cracks and fissures and fine-tune the plan. Everything was working according to T’Lane’s schedule.
Ashley Turner, engineer’s log, stardate 41846.6
(November 5th 2364)
We’ve encountered a small problem. The bituminous sealing layer doesn’t bond with the geotextile because the Sewendarans haven’t got a heat source powerful enough to seal it all at once. They can only do it in sections which means that the sealant will not be sufficient. I am currently working on a solar-powered approach but so far, all simulations are coming up short.
‘Do you require assistance?’
I nodded my head in response to T’Lane’s question without raising my head and then gave her a quick overview of what I was trying to accomplish.
‘Do they not have fusion devices?’
‘Like our impulse engines?’
She inclined her head.
‘I didn’t think of that. They do use fusion to power a number of different industries. But I don’t see how a fusion engine can be adapted for a heat source.’
‘This is my area of expertise, Crewman Turner. One needs to heat water somehow,’ she said and strode over to a workstation where she began inputting a sequence for a simulation.
Ashley Turner, engineer’s log, stardate 41857.6
(November 9th 2364)
I watched as the Sewendarans applied the bituminous sealant to the crack and felt T’Lane’s presence beside me as the geotextile layer was moved into position.
‘We work well as a team,’ I said.
‘It would appear so. President dRina has requested Federation membership and Starfleet Command has agreed to send in a diplomatic team. My transfer request has been approved.’
‘You’ve been an asset to us, I will miss you.’
‘As I will you, Ashley Turner.’
I turned to face her. ‘You’ll be welcome back anytime.’
An eyebrow arched upward. ‘That would be unlikely since this move involves a promotion. They are applying the heat now.’
I returned my gaze to the dam as the fusion generator that T’Lane had devised did its job. The geotextile was sealing in the bituminous sealant and adhering to the concrete. It was creating a completely waterproof barrier and the tricorder indicated that the strength of this section of the dam had increased substantially. By the time the Sewendarans were finished, the dam should be able to withstand anything short of a direct hit from a nuclear warhead.
‘We should not remain here any longer. Captain Hernandez is anxious to return to Starbase 231.’
‘For what reason?’
‘To drop me off and take on additional personnel.’
‘There’s something else, isn’t there?’
T’Lane nodded. ‘According to Commander Cavanaugh, an officer from Temporal Investigations will be meeting the Captain to discuss your situation.’
‘Oh joy.’
‘Indeed.’
The science in this story is the sealing of the cracks in the dam. See the links below for clarification.
Science links:
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2006/0243369.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geotextile
Star Trek: 500 will return.
