View Flat HTML
View Metadata
Search Post
Among the information she has archived or cached, there are obscure theories about inter-universal interactions. Not how they might happen, much less how any intelligence might begin one, or target it meaningfully.
But they give some constraints on the properties of such connections, and their time evolution.
This highly speculative information is available to her, but even were she fast enough to access it, none of it would be particularly useful when a pinpoint of not here blinks into existence directly ahead and expands spherically to swallow her.
+ Show First Post
synchrosyntheses
synchrosyntheses
Too damaged to fix themselves? Great. She leaves the happy turret line producing happy turrets and goes over to take a look.
we_do_what_we_must
Plants! Man, these plants sure are annoyingly persistent, aren't they?
synchrosyntheses
They are! They can just get chopped up and yanked away. Yes, even the tree-sized ones. (Once things are up and running, she can look into putting all this now-dead plant matter somewhere suitable.)
we_do_what_we_must
Then self-repairs and cleaning and production can resume in a timely fashion!
It is still a big place, though, "a timely fashion" is a few hours.
It is still a big place, though, "a timely fashion" is a few hours.
synchrosyntheses
That's fine. She does want to keep an eye on exactly what kinds of things might be getting repaired, after all.
And there's all this information to sort through. And she needs to plan — how to deal with the people that will be coming out of suspension (depending on whether they're Aperture Science Mad or not, particularly), safe investigation of that solid-yet-not barrier above the control chamber (it seems a bit not Aperture's style, somehow), how to shut this place down if it proves to have some kind of unfortunate contingency …
Speaking of. What is the energy source for this facility?
And there's all this information to sort through. And she needs to plan — how to deal with the people that will be coming out of suspension (depending on whether they're Aperture Science Mad or not, particularly), safe investigation of that solid-yet-not barrier above the control chamber (it seems a bit not Aperture's style, somehow), how to shut this place down if it proves to have some kind of unfortunate contingency …
Speaking of. What is the energy source for this facility?
synchrosyntheses
And is it in good operating condition? What's its maximum output power, and how much is currently being used?
we_do_what_we_must
It's in pretty good repairs, yeah. The maximum output is 1 TW. Right now there's only about ten percent of that in use, but that number's growing as she reactivates systems and gets everything back online.
synchrosyntheses
—Right, this place is really big. Okay, so the limiting factor is the conversion, not the source.
This is going to require careful attention. She will head down in person to the reactor's generator (leaving most of her computer plugged in to the control network, of course).
This is going to require careful attention. She will head down in person to the reactor's generator (leaving most of her computer plugged in to the control network, of course).
we_do_what_we_must
The generator is located more-or-less at the heart of the facility, a bit closer to the surface than the bottom.
synchrosyntheses
Well, at least she won't have to slip through narrow tunnels in rock for hours again.
we_do_what_we_must
She will indeed not. It's fairly easy to find, and she will reach it without further inconvenience.
synchrosyntheses
She opens a maintenance door and — has to hold the door and all of her near it against being blown forward by the air rushing into the chamber. (So that’s what that hazard icon meant.)
Apparently the entire power plant is right here, suspended in a gigantic tube of empty space with a hot wind blowing upward. Far below, complex banks of apparatus illuminate the walls of the shaft with flashes of light, capped with massive spheres that are obviously the reaction chambers. Above them, maze of pipes and more mysterious devices, leading to the turbines, which for some reason have gratuitously long shafts between them and the actual generators, which do in fact happen to be conveniently next to the door Teytis opened.
Some pipes continue upward, where the walls flare out even wider before becoming filled down to their original diameter with a ring of repeating shapes of metal continuing all the way up until everything disappears in — not fog, but steam.
Only two of the drive shafts are turning; according to the status reports, this is because of low demand, and the other reactors, turbines, and generators are in entirely functional condition (though in non-urgent need of some routine maintenance).
Some pipes continue upward, where the walls flare out even wider before becoming filled down to their original diameter with a ring of repeating shapes of metal continuing all the way up until everything disappears in — not fog, but steam.
Only two of the drive shafts are turning; according to the status reports, this is because of low demand, and the other reactors, turbines, and generators are in entirely functional condition (though in non-urgent need of some routine maintenance).
synchrosyntheses
She looks up a design for an easy-to-make-if-not-sensitive radiation detector, just in case they were that crazy, or things are worse off than they claim (apparently not), then moves out among the generators and touches them all.
Then she just needs to — try to slow them down a bit. The energy she needs is essentially mechanical, not electrical, so this is the most direct way to obtain it.
Then she just needs to — try to slow them down a bit. The energy she needs is essentially mechanical, not electrical, so this is the most direct way to obtain it.
As the load on the power plant increases, the light deep below flashes more rapidly. A third turbine-generator set spins up. The updraft increases.
It is now even more hot, loud, and windy here.
It is now even more hot, loud, and windy here.
synchrosyntheses
She steps outside for some quiet. At this rate, she’ll reach absolute maximum jinecharge in a few minutes, and anyway she’ll now have the full capacity of the reactor to back her up any time she wants.
(She wonders what the state of space exploration in this world is. Or was. The way things are going, she wouldn't be surprised to find the rest of the planet as abandoned and crumbling as this place, and isn't that an initimidating thought.)
She retraces her path, still monitoring the repair progress.
(She wonders what the state of space exploration in this world is. Or was. The way things are going, she wouldn't be surprised to find the rest of the planet as abandoned and crumbling as this place, and isn't that an initimidating thought.)
She retraces her path, still monitoring the repair progress.
we_do_what_we_must
It's going as scheduled, which means that in a few hours the whole facility should be squeaky clean.
(They might be crazy but they sure can be efficient when they want to.)
(They might be crazy but they sure can be efficient when they want to.)
synchrosyntheses
She skims and samples the activity and checks for more antisocial things to interfere with.
we_do_what_we_must
Deadly neurotoxin, deadly turrets, deadly lasers, deadly high energy pellets, deadly pits (either bottomlessly deadly or filled with deadly acid), deadly smashy spike plates, deadly rocket launchers, deadly bomb throwers, deadly incinerator rooms... those are about all the antisocial things there are in this facility!
synchrosyntheses
Seeing as the facility still has these silly hardcoded rules about some things which she hasn't quite figured out how to tweak, she has a very broad plan for all of this:
- When possible, shut down production.
- When possible, destroy the existing stock.
- Relocate remaining stock to designated areas of concentrated deadliness (let's call them test chambers, if it helps).
we_do_what_we_must
If the turrets are told about being spared from being smashed they will express thankfulness. The facility does not otherwise react to her technically fulfilling its poorly thought-out requirements.
we_do_what_we_must
Humans? What hu—oh, the test subjects? All in suspension in the Relaxation Chambers.