Auxiliary Control

[Mytran]

Incidentally, that the engine room reactor is #3, as opposed to #1, implies that it is the tertiary back-up or booster, and not the primary?

I would suggest "Reactor Number three" is used as the main source of power for the rest of the ship's facilities. But that power can be passed around at need.

There's a thread from a couple of years back that discusses what function Reactor#3 might play and there's some nice ideas there.

However, after reviewing the key episodes again, I wonder if there's another interpretation on this mysterious third reactor...

In "The Day of the Dove" Chekov reports the energy creature "near reactor number three" and then the action takes us to the ordinary engine room set. I'm of the opinion that there is a third, smaller reactor in the secondary hull, in the vicinity of the engine rooms.

On the other hand, in “DOTD” one of these reactors (#3 -it’s highly doubtful there would be more than one reactor “#3” on board) is near the engineering room which a host of other episodes (particularly “TWS” and “EOT”) establish as the general location of at least one M/A-M reactor -suggesting that all three reactors mentioned in “Catspaw” are M/A-M reactors and that it is therefore logical to conclude from this, and the weight of evidence throughout the series, that the other two (#1 and #2) are in each of the two nacelles.

It's not clear from just reading the transcript, but the events of the episode do not tie Reactor#3 to the Engine Room so definitively, only the Engineering Section in general. Following Spock's line, the action cuts to the entity hovering in a corridor, just before Chekov climbs down and assaults Mara who is walking (presumably) to the main life-support couplings (on Deck 6). It does not show up in the Engine Room until Kirk and Kang's union near the end of the episode. All signs point to Reactor#3 being on or near Deck 6, in the saucer. And deck 6 gets a lot of attention in this episode:

SPOCK: Scans indicate that our forces and those of the Klingons are exactly equal at thirty eight each. The Klingons control deck six and starboard deck seven, while we control all sections above.

Presumably, the rest of Kirk's crew are stranded on Deck 8 and below (and possibly port Deck 7). This is not too bad an arrangement, since there is good amount of space to house them all (perhaps the pinwheel created fear among them that the saucer was doomed and about to be jettisoned, thus they evacuated to the secondary hull).
Anyway, the space that the entity has left for combatants includes Sickbay, an Engine Room, a Transporter Room, briefing rooms and access to various ship systems including life support. I know that the entity is seen leaving the Enterprise from the midline of the forward secondary hull, but that is just one SFX shot versus the other indications which point towards all the action happening in the saucer.

So, if Reactor#3 is in the saucer, what is it and what does it do? My belief is that "reactor number three" is crew shorthand for the Impulse Power systems. As far back as Corbomite Manoeuvre Kirk used Impulse Power alongside the Warp Engines to boost the ship's energy output. Lieutenant "navy beans" DeSalle simply uses more bombastic language to describe the same procedure.

It's interesting to note that very few episodes actually use the term "reactor" to describe power generation on the Enterprise: In addition to Dove and Catspaw there's EOT & TWS, and By Any Other Name actually says that the ship is propelled by M/AM reactors (as Tin_Man mentioned upthread). Nothing from season one at all and if fact even "antimatter" only gets mentioned in 2 season one episodes!

As this post is already long I won't bother repeating my interpretation of events in EOT and TWS. Regarding using the singular term for more than one reactor, here's an example of Kirk (in The Apple) doing that when he's just been told there's two:

SCOTT: We're losing potency in our antimatter pods. I don't think it's serious, but we're looking into it.
...
SCOTT: I could do with a nice walk in a garden with green leaves and grass.
KIRK: We'll do the walking, Scotty. You get on the antimatter pod. If it gets worse, let me know, we'll beam up. Kirk out.

Anyway, Reactor#3 as the Impulse Deck - what do people think?

 

[TIN_MAN]

Anyway, Reactor#3 as the Impulse Deck - what do people think?

This works great if we go back to FJ and TMOST.

All the deck references in this episode seem to suggest that engineering is on the 6/7 decks, suggesting that the writer used TMOST as his source?

In fact, most of the season two and three episodes that reference deck numbers are consistent with TMOST (or at least not inconsistent).

In any case, I’ll have to review ”DOTD”, but I remember Kirk beaming down to the engine room right after Spock says the alien is “near reactor #3”?

And if Spock merely meant the engineering hull in general, then this seems uncharacteristically vague of him, especially if he’s going to risk Kirk’s life with the “intra-ship beaming” technique, which requires “pinpoint accuracy”.

PS: The quote from “The Apple” is interesting; it establishes the precedent that both nacelles/pods can be referred to in the singular. This might be useful in interpreting “TWS” to mean both pods/nacelles, even though seemingly only one is mentioned?

 

[Mytran]

Anyway, Reactor#3 as the Impulse Deck - what do people think?

This works great if we go back to FJ and TMOST.

All the deck references in this episode seem to suggest that engineering is on the 6/7 decks, suggesting that the writer used TMOST as his source?

In fact, most of the season two and three episodes that reference deck numbers are consistent with TMOST (or at least not inconsistent).

That often seems to be the case with the deck numbers in the scripts, even when the situations themselves (not to mention the SFX) point towards the Engine Room being in the Secondary Hull. Heck, even the actors held this view; there's a chat show featuring the cast from the 1970s (I don't have a link, sorry) where Deforest Kelly points out Scotty's domain as the secondary hull (AKA the engineering Hull). Fortunately the references to different locations of Engine Rooms and engineering sections is not necessarily inconsistent - there can easily be several, spread throughout the primary and secondary hulls. It just so happened that in DOTD the Klingons occupied an Engine Room in the saucer (Scotty's sensors on the deteriorating dilithium crystals could easily be tied to another facility)

In any case, I’ll have to review ”DOTD”, but I remember Kirk beaming down to the engine room right after Spock says the alien is “near reactor #3”

It's always an episode worth rewatching
In summary, the events go as follows:

• Spock locates the entity
• Chekov attacks Mara
• Kirk intervenes and explains the situation
• Negotiations with Kang fail
• Kirk and Mara beam in to the Engine Room

PS: The quote from “The Apple” is interesting; it establishes the precedent that both nacelles/pods can be referred to in the singular. This might be useful in interpreting “TWS” to mean both pods/nacelles, even though seemingly only one is mentioned?

Possibly, although it could also be a case of the character mispeaking - and if it happens here, it could happen elsewhere! TWS mentions a single reactor so much that I do think they're dealing with only the one, but in EOT I do think Scott is speaking slightly figuratively (misusing the definite article) when he says "with the matter-antimatter reactor we've no chance" - if against using a plural he should more properly have said "without a M/AM reactor."

Something else I picked up on a rewatch of EOT is probably the real reason why Kirk suddenly starts talking about a bomb - the commercial break!

KIRK: All right. Ahead warp factor two.
SCOTT: Captain, the matter-antimatter--
KIRK: Belay that order. What is it, Scotty?
SCOTT: The antimatter pods are rigged to blow up the moment we go into warp drive.
<<<commercial break & establishing shot of the Bridge - some time may have passed>>>
KIRK: Scotty, that bomb he planted. Can you dismantle it?
SCOTT: Not without being blown halfway across the galaxy.
KIRK: Give us every ounce of power you can from the impulse drive, and find a solution to the bomb. Kirk out.

For an audience coming back after the adverts, Kirk's succinct description of the situation would be just what was needed to bring them up to speed. It also opens the possibility of further (offscreen) dialogue between Kirk and Scotty expanding on the precise nature of the sabotage. Following a brief skirmish and a turbolift ride, it seems that Scotty has found the solution that Kirk asked for: Unfortunately by diverting the energy of the explosion down and through the dilithium crystals he has ruined them, and drained the weapons systems as well:

SCOTT: I've got bad news, Captain. The entire dilithium crystal converter assembly is fused. No chance of repair. It's completely unusable.
KIRK: No chance of restoring warp drive?
SCOTT: Not without dilithium crystals. We can't even generate enough power to fire our weapons.

I realise that other interpretations are possible but this one IMO fits the facts without requiring an additional reactor in the secondary hull. And really it's only EOT and TWS which come close to suggesting that one exists.

As for the repeated references to a single reactor in TWS, I do think we are dealing with a single, faulty reactor here. It's not an unreasonable assumption to think that the nacelles are constructed to automatically balance each other out so that the output from both is synchronised - otherwise the Enteprise would list off course (it would explain the rarity of 3-nacelled vessels, which would be even harder to synchronise). This also gels with the notion of the "galaxy drive" section being mostly automated (and routinely detached) that we get from the original series bible (probably the reason why an engineer wasn't part of the main cast in The Cage). This concept got diluted over time as an Engine Room set was built and engineering problems became more and more a part of the weekly adventures, but engineering controls in TOS remained mostly console based and remote from the "business" end.

In TWS, Scotty is seen pacing up and down in the Engine Room, trying to locate the source of what doesn't "feel" right to him:

SCOTT: Watkins, check the bypass valve on the matter/antimatter reaction chamber. Make sure it's not overheating.
WATKINS: But, Mister Scott, the board shows correct.
SCOTT: I didn't ask you to check the board, lad.
WATKINS: Yes, sir.

If we consider that Scott had already narrowed down the problem with the ship to one of the nacelles (perhaps weakened during the 1,000 LY transport) then his comments (and later Watkins' and Spock's) are all related to that one reactor in the problem area. The other reactor is working fine, just "running wild" to keep up with its overloading counterpart. And Mr Scott must risk his life climbing into the damaged nacelle while it is still hot & running (this last is Tin_Man's idea and I must admit it really grabs me!)

So, is a third M/AM reactor in the secondary hull really needed?

 

[TIN_MAN]

Okay, I re-watched “DOTD” last night and Spock’s line does come quite a bit before Kirk and Mara’s intra-ship beaming.

And Spock only makes reference to “the engineering section” which could mean either the main engine room or the engineering hull in general?

Either way, Spock and Kirk dash to that location from the bridge while Mara heads from the engine room to deck six, so it makes sense that they would pass each other at some point, which they do, but we still don’t know for sure at what point, or on what deck they meet.

I don’t think it’s necessary to assume a deck six location for “the engineering section”, though it’s not necessarily inconsistent with the dialog. Most likely though, KIrk and Spock were on their way further down to the secondary hull when they met up with Mara and Chekov.

All things considered, the most likely location for "reactor number three" still seems to be somewhere in the secondary hull -which makes it more likely it’s associated with warp drive rather than with impulse drive, and therefore more likely that it is the M/A-M reactor mentioned in “TWS” and “EOT”, IMHO.

And since we know there is more than one M/A-M reactor aboard, reactors "#1" and "#2" are likely candidates for the others, and although they could be anywhere, it seems reasonably in keeping with the rest of the series references that these are in the nacelles -one reactor for each.

So, is a third M/AM reactor in the secondary hull really needed?

No, I suppose not, but it helps to smooth out the inconsistencies, and I guess triple redundancy might not be a bad Idea in any case.

PS: If we assume that the impulse engines are powered -under normal circumstances- by the M/A-M reactor(s) then the need for a third reactor of this type in the secondary hull is made even more necessary -to propel the ship in the event that the nacelles are jettisoned (as Kirk twice suggested doing in the series). In this case, the fusion reactor(s) would only be used as a last resort, in the event that the tertiary reactor failed or was damaged, or when the primary hull is operating independently from the rest of the ship entirely.

 

[GNDN18]

Not that it means much, the entity exits the secondary hull a little forward of the starboard nacelle pylon in the original DotD. The screen cap at Trekcore is a little fuzzy, but there it is.

 

[Mytran]

Not that it means much, the entity exits the secondary hull a little forward of the starboard nacelle pylon in the original DotD. The screen cap at Trekcore is a little fuzzy, but there it is.

Actually, it does mean a lot - it means there was no unified idea on the production team as to what went where! You've got the "common sense" approach (Engine Room is in the Engineering Hull), the TMOST approach (11 decks in the saucer, decks 6 & 7 as the widest part) and the "Matt Jeffries cutaway" approach (which if you count down from the top puts Deck 5 as the saucer's widest part, hence all the references to that deck).

...Spock only makes reference to “the engineering section” which could mean either the main engine room or the engineering hull in general?

He could do, but the additional but of info about "Reactor #3" would be far more useful anyway, since the engineering section is described in other episodes to be a maze that one could easily get lost in. Unfortunately, Spock's reading of the entity is only vaguely helpful anyway, since it keeps moving around the corridors and may well be quite distant from Reactor#3 by the time Kirk & pals arrive.

Either way, Spock and Kirk dash to that location from the bridge while Mara heads from the engine room to deck six, so it makes sense that they would pass each other at some point, which they do, but we still don’t know for sure at what point, or on what deck they meet.

Kirk and pals take a turbolift to the deck the entity is on. Mara is either on the same level as the Engine Room (on her way to take a lift to Deck 6 life support couplings) or else already on Deck 6 and on her way to the life support room.

Incidentally, in TMOST decks 6 & 7 are the widest part of the saucer and also where the book claims that the Engine Room is located (behind the impulse engines). IMO it is pretty clear that the script-writers were using this as their deck layout guide (on this episode anyway). The ground floor of the Impulse Engine Room would be Deck 7 (which we were told earlier that the Klingons had control of) so there are a lot of indicators for the aforementioned "engineering section" being somewhere around here.

Of course, in other episodes the Engine Room is more likely in the secondary hull (also referred to as the Engineering Section), suggesting more than one.

All things considered, the most likely location for "reactor number three" still seems to be somewhere in the secondary hull -which makes it more likely it’s associated with warp drive rather than with impulse drive, and therefore more likely that it is the M/A-M reactor mentioned in “TWS” and “EOT”, IMHO.

The trouble with including the secondary hull in the list of locations for DOTD is that it radically reduces the list of possible locations for the rest of the crew: Somewhere on the "lower levels" are 392 trapped crewmen. If the Engine Room in DOTD is on the midline of the secondary hull then how many "lower levels" are actually left?

So, is a third M/AM reactor in the secondary hull really needed?

No, I suppose not, but it helps to smooth out the inconsistencies, and I guess triple redundancy might not be a bad Idea in any case.

Can't disagree with the need for redundancy in the power systems, but isn't that the function of the impulse engines and batteries?

 

[GNDN18]

I was being a little passive, there, wasn't I?

I've seen a lot of theories about the engineering spaces in the ship, and I've enjoyed most of the discussions, but it always surprised me that no one ever points to this ep. I mean, it is visually accounted for, right?

 

[Timo]

The trouble with including the secondary hull in the list of locations for DOTD is that it radically reduces the list of possible locations for the rest of the crew: Somewhere on the "lower levels" are 392 trapped crewmen. If the Engine Room in DOTD is on the midline of the secondary hull then how many "lower levels" are actually left?

This can't be a problem - as it would already be unthinkable that those 392 would be lower down that the saucer Deck 7! Surely the layout of the ship dictates that at least a couple of hundred would always be above said deck... The saucer is supposed to be where the crew usually is to be found, after all.

"Lower decks" really must refer to anything and everything below the bridge, with trapped people all over the ship, unable to reach each other or this small group of heroes who are able to roam parts of the ship. Not a great many parts, but quite possibly parts of each and every deck nevertheless, since we never witness them having trouble moving vertically. (OTOH, they do struggle to reach their shipmates horizontally, through "bulkheads" in addition to "decks". So the reference to being trapped "belowdecks" isn't a literal indication of relative vertical position.)

IMO it is pretty clear that the script-writers were using this as their deck layout guide (on this episode anyway).

IMHO, it's even likelier they were completely ignoring anything amounting to a "guide", and instead arbitrarily deciding that the deck numbers grew from bottom to top, like in a skyscraper!

Klingons holding Deck 6 but only parts of Deck 7 would mean the higher-numbered deck is the one contested by our heroes, after all. But our heroes are above the Klingons...

Timo Saloniemi

 

[trekkist]

I've always thought of the "Reactors 1, 2 & 3" reference as being to 3 of a larger number (at least 4) strictly-auxiliary power plants, as in a reference in "Where No Man" --

KELSO: Fission chamber three checks out. The station seems to be running fine.
SCOTT [OC]: You're a talented thief, Kelso. Everything you sent up seems to be fitting in place.

Impulse draws power from a dedicated fusion reactor, whose overload megatonnage is cited in "Doomsday Machine." Warp drive uses M/AM-generated power, sometimes loosely called "warp power," which can be diverted to other systems:

SCOTT: I'm having to divert the warp engine power into the shields, sir, if you want the protection.
"Changeling"

-- though the phrase "warp engine power" could (if interpreted literally) imply the nacelles both utilize and generate power via M/AM reactions (VERY loosely analogous to a car engine's using a battery, but also charging the battery).

As for impulse itself, so many "proofs" of its being ftl exist in TOS, TNG and various of the films (IIRC there's one in Voyager too) it amazes me this remains a controversial (let alone "boring") concept.

Hey! What happened to the auxiliary control discussion, anyway?

 

[Ithekro]

The auxiliary what now?

 

[Mytran]

IMO it is pretty clear that the script-writers were using this as their deck layout guide (on this episode anyway).

IMHO, it's even likelier they were completely ignoring anything amounting to a "guide", and instead arbitrarily deciding that the deck numbers grew from bottom to top, like in a skyscraper!

Klingons holding Deck 6 but only parts of Deck 7 would mean the higher-numbered deck is the one contested by our heroes, after all. But our heroes are above the Klingons...

True, but then what happened below that (decks 1-5 in your above example)? I suppose that could be the location of some of the missing crew. Interestingly though, the sixth and seventh deck from the bottom of the secondary hull (on Jefferies' cutaway) takes you pretty much to the pylon and is a narrow deck, so the "starboard Deck 7" that Spock mentioned would consist of maybe one stretch of corridor!? I'm not convinced.

Regarding the issue of where to put 392 trapped crewmen, I would like to quote from another thread:

The entity was able to manipulate the heroes with illusions and to insert false memories...For all we know, those 390 or so crew members were "trapped" in the sense of thinking it was their off shift, so they milled around in their cabins, paying no attention to the emergency around them.

While the notion of "the crew were there all along" does have a certain appeal, continually controlling 392 crewmen to make them believe they were trapped as well as tweaking the emotions of the 76 combatants would have been an additional drain on the entity. Far more efficient to actually trap them somewhere and then either transmute the cutting tools to ensure they wouldn't work (while appearing to) or else transmute the bulkheads into something indestructible.
The most obvious place to strand the extraneous crew is in the secondary hull - all it would take is a fake evacuation drill and everyone would file down there themselves, problem solved!

I've seen a lot of theories about the engineering spaces in the ship, and I've enjoyed most of the discussions, but it always surprised me that no one ever points to this ep. I mean, it is visually accounted for, right?

True and I firmly believe that there are other Engine Rooms in the Engineering Hull (we saw them in other episodes!). However, for DOTD there are far too many indications that we see an Engine Room in the saucer (which we have also seen in other episodes, BTW). With that in mind, all we need is a reason for the entity to sink down into the secondary hull before abandoning ship - maybe it is recharging by absorbing the transmuted bulkheads back into itself?

I would truly love for the Engine Room in DOTD and the SFX to match up directly, but I can't see how.

 

[GNDN18]

I would truly love for the Engine Room in DOTD and the SFX to match up directly, but I can't see how.

I grew up with the STTM and Booklet of General Plans, and consequently believed to a moral certainty that the engine room was in the saucer. Only after reading these threads and other sites like Trek Place that I came to understand that the secondary hull was the engineering hull. The forced perspective pipes in the engine room never worked for me, so seeing them as part of the impulse deck made much more sense.

And still nothing about Auxilliary Control.

 

[Mytran]

I discovered the Star Fleet Technical Journal in my teens and remember thinking how much sense the forced perspective pipes made when fitted into the impulse housing that way. Then later I realised that FJ's Engine Room bore only a superficial resemblance to the one on the show and felt confused/annoyed. Later still it dawned on me that there was no Grand Plan of the layout of the Enterprise and that everyone was just making up their own interpretation

Anyway, Auxiliary Control? It does actually get a mention in DOTD:

(The Klingons have just chased Kirk and pals out of the Briefing Room and back to the Bridge)
KIRK: The Klingons are free. They're armed as we are. They'll try to take the ship. Scotty, how many men do we have?
SCOTT [OC]: Three hundred and ninety two trapped below decks.
KIRK: Deploy forces to protect your section and the auxiliary control centre.

An indication that there is an Auxiliary Control Room near the engineering section, maybe? And AC (according to I, Mudd) is on Deck 8.

 

[GNDN18]

Sorry for the confusion: I meant that I was continuing the derailment of the topic. Thanks, Mytran, for bringing it back.

 

[TIN_MAN]

In the spirit of getting back on topic, and since FJ’s work has been mentioned on and off, I think he might have done better to use the design for the Auxiliary Control for his phaser room, rather than the simplified plan of the “PR” set he put on deck eleven?

After all, He re-labeled the “Forward phaser Room” as “Auxiliary Fire Control” anyway, and since in the series the “AC” was a unique set -seen numerous times, whereas the phaser room was just a redress of the engine room, and seen only once, the “AC” really ought to be in the plans more than the “PR”.

This could be justified “in universe” by assuming that the function of the “PR” was expanded to include other auxiliary functions such as engines, life support etc.? In other words a true adjunct to the main bridge controls, as the term auxiliary suggests.

This way, FJ's emergency bridge would be just that, only to be used in dire emergencies when the main bridge is destroyed or rendered uninhabitable.

What does everybody think?

 

[T'Girl]

The most obvious place to strand the extraneous crew is in the secondary hull - all it would take is a fake evacuation drill and everyone would file down there themselves, problem solved!

Uhura said the crew was trapped "down there." but from the perspective of the bridge, everything is "down there."

So the much of crew were still in the saucer, the living areas, science labs, mess rooms, rec rooms, the gym.

And then others were in the engineering hull. Duty stations, flight deck and places like the bowling alley.

 

[Timo]

One wonders... How do these internal bulkheads divide the ship? We sometimes see that "pressure compartments" graphic that appears to indicate large subdivisions, typically taller than one deck. Is that how the ship is split in emergencies, or can individual corridors or "sections" also be isolated?

Should we also assume that each of these "pressure compartments" contains its own set of controls for operating the ship, at least to some degree, in situations where every other compartment is compromised or inaccessible? Nothing as extensive as Auxiliary Control, but still something closer to what we would expect today, a distributed system with many access points? A "fairweather" means of piloting the ship, if you will, much less robust than the actual AC.

Apart from this episode where everybody is under a spell, TOS doesn't really feature plotlines where the crew would be unable to access "locations of control" - if the ship is taken from them, it is through superior powers taking over the entire system or locking them out of access altogether. So a control console off to some side corridor wouldn't matter plotwise.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Albertese]

I think the pressure compartments are isolated in that they are separate life support environments. Each has its own environmental equipment and is only connected to the adjacent compartments by corridor/turoshaft/certain utilities. In my "head-canon" I would say that there must be emergency airlocks that unobtrusively exist between the compartments. Should a compartment be compromised, the airlock springs closed.

Anyhow, I don't see any need for simplified helm equipment in all of these compartments. I could see maybe an emergency communications set-up in each one, as in for transmitting out of the ship... not unlike the device Kirk uses in STV. But steering the ship? I don't see it. Suit up and crawl your way to the bridge or AC, or maybe a helm station in the Engineering area.

--Alex

 

[Hatshepsut]

...Or could it be that Auxiliary Control was often shut down and "placed offline" for security reasons? Assuming that Auxiliary Control were regularly deactivated, what would that mean? Would the room simply be shut down, lights off, and the door locked?

In fact security for this area was a perennial problem, as mentioned on Mytran's reference:

http://tosgraphics.yuku.com/topic/418/The-Auxiliary-Control-Room#.VSQBOPnF-PY

The ability of one or a few persons inside Auxiliary being able to override the bridge and render the captain helpless amazes me. It seems that realistic security would be based on "voting" by authorized personnel regardless of which control panel they were using. That's how it works with nuclear weapons at the Minuteman bases in the USA.

But then, realism militates against the artistic license needed for the show's plots.

 

[T'Girl]

Should we also assume that each of these "pressure compartments" contains its own set of controls for operating the ship

I wonder if the ship could be controled (with proper passwords) with one of those wedge shaped "tablets."

The way (supposedly) a 24th century padd could independantly control the Enterprise Dee.