Horus Makkan - Rank:Chief Petty Officer - Shop: Maintenance; Engine

Public Log, Entry 1

I've decided to keep this log because, well, there's nothing else to do out in the black. After much debate with myself I've come to the conclusion that I should write it as if it were happening in real time, from the best of my memories. We'll see how long it lasts. I apologize in advance for the shite story-telling. My late wife always told me I was terrible at recounting stories.

Although, I do like the idea of being able to give those who can't or are too afraid to venture into the black a perspective on what it's like out here. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to comment and I would be happy to answer them.

Anyway, here goes nothing.

Sol-Date: 2415-51-03

For any of you land dwellers, Sol-Date is the military's way of keeping a standard date between the star systems. The first set of numbers refers to the cycle of the galaxy. I think it's a load of bull. If you ask me, they started with a number pulled out of a hat and increase it every time the next two numbers down reach 100. More than likely, whoever thought up the system started with the year we left the Earth, 2240. The second set of numbers represent what were called months on Earth that was. It is kind of a nod to our history and where we came from. It's a shame that it has nothing to do with the antiquated system.

The last set of numbers is measured by a work day, or sleep cycles. After a certain amount of time, the computers click it up one. There's no way for us to tell time out here, except with our computers. Most of you land dwellers use seconds and minutes and hours. We mostly do, but because of there being a lack of a rotation around an axis, there is no sunrise or sunset for us and we must rely on what we're told. If I remember correctly, there is some sort of half-life of a certain atom that now determines how long a "second" is. Bullshit, I say.

Needless to say, I relish our time on land-dock. I hate not being on dirt. There is nothing compared to the warmth of the sun.

Now that I’ve successfully gotten off-topic once, already.

Last night was interesting. I grumbled in the small space I had shimmied my way into. I had been there for two hours working on a pneumatic pump that had stopped working on our C-class Vega; it's a cruiser class that is capable of defending itself rather well out in the black abyss of space. The pump that went out could have caused the Hadron engine to damn near fail catastrophically if my apprentice wouldn't have caught the issue. The pump is essentially what keeps the entire damn engine cool. Basically it's what keeps it from melting and then dumping radiation on us all.

This helped me a bit when I was learning about the engines. http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/Particles/hadron.html If you're curious. It's an old 21st century website, so it may not work on your modern tablets. If I understand correctly it uses the energy from the negative pion decaying into a muon and a muon antineutrino. Or maybe it decays into an electron and electron antineutrino. I dunno, I leave the physics to the experts. I don't exactly know what any of that means, but I feel like it makes me feel smart.

Moving on.

Whoever was in charge of designing where to put this son of a bitch pump box needs to be shot. Damn near one of the most important parts of the engine and it's back in the corner of a tiny ass duct that only the smallest of mechanics can get at. I had barely enough room to bring my arms down to my work belt. I'm just glad I wasn't actually inside the engine.

The engine itself is a layer of tungsten and lead alloy with some other metals added into it. I won't get into specifics. All you need to know is that it protects the ship from the radiation it produces while still retaining a high melting point. In between the engine and the hallways/general living quarters is a small duct-like cavern that surrounds the engine and has all sorts of components and wiring to keep the thing running. We called it The Cave in school. Yeah, the pump is inside that area. On the floor. Under a plate that held other components.

Don't ask me why this important piece was placed where it was.

Getting on with it...the pump looked like it had a leak. There was a pool of a viscous fluid underneath the casing where it bolted to the bulkhead. I've never seen or smelt the fluids that they use inside the pumps. I work mainly with the engines and leave the pneumatics to their shop, so I wasn't certain whether this fluid came from the box or not. I popped the casing off and took a look inside and it did seem to have a leak of some sort. The fluid was everywhere inside the casing.

I found what looked like a probable cause. Probable is an understatement. One of the couplers inside (which was made of titanium, by the way) was completely shattered. I had never seen anything like it, and I probably never will again. Titanium is a hell of a metal.

After I got it cleaned up and replaced, I started wriggling my way out. “You need help?” My underling, Garrett, said. He was damn near fresh out of basic and school but he catches on fast.

“No,” I called back. “Just fucking annoying getting through here.”

This may seem off topic, but you never know the pants-shitting terror of something until you think you're experiencing it. As I shimmied my way through The Cave, I felt a rumbling coming from the engine side. I thought the fucking captain decided it was time to fire the engine up before it was fixed. Needless to say, I hauled ass out of there before anything bad could happen to me. As I reached the maintenance hatch I used to access the compartment, the rumbling slowly died as if fail safes had been engaged. Good.

“Meet me back at the shop, I'm going to go change my pants.” Garrett got a chuckle at that. He left and I made my way to the bridge. The captain should be informed of the fix. And I thought about giving him lip about trying to start the damn engine.

I reached the area of the ship where the bridge is located. It's different on different classes of ships. On class-C it's generally towards the rear. They're different to keep the enemy guessing, I think. Or at least I had reasoned. I'd wager a week's pay they know where it's at on all of the different ships.

Anyway, the captain and a navigation officer, Paul I think his name was, were discussing something; we're not terribly disciplined when it comes to calling others by their last name - the captain never understood the point. By now, last names were as common as first names. What they were discussing sounded like how far behind their projected timeline they were. I try not to eavesdrop when it's not my place. I waited patiently for him to wave me over, and he did. I had no need to salute him when I approached.

“Tell me you figured something out, Horus.”

“Yes, sir.” He was about the only one I called sir. He was one of the few on the ship that outranked me. As far as seniority and respect, though, I bet if I asked him to jump he'd ask 'how high?' out of respect. I've been at this over 30 years. “A hose coupling shattered inside of a coolant pump. Fixed now and should be operational. Oh, and next time try to wait for me to give the all clear before turning the engines on.”

“I haven't touched the power sequence since she went through emergency shutdown.” his face was quizzical. I'm sure I looked just as confused. “You OK?”

“I think that remains to be seen, sir.”

“Have you thought about retiring?" he asked. That might have been a quip at my age. Not many spend 32 years in. Come to think of it not many survive that long in the service.

“Every day, sir. Let me know if you need anything.”

“I've told you, Horus, you can call me Dan. After all I rarely refer to you as your official title.”

“Yes, sir, I'm aware. Old habits die hard, I suppose.”

As I left I swear I heard a mumbled “Old habits, my ass.” That made me grin.

An old teacher once told me to never lower your standards for anybody but yourself. I've decided to give my nod to those higher ranked, but I'm not lenient with those under me calling me by my rank. They seem to like me more because of it. Makes a much more laid back and calm work environment.

The elevator was quiet as I descended the decks. Left me to my thoughts. The engine shouldn’t have begun to spin up without the captain activating the power sequence. So what was that feeling I got while inside The Cave?

Oh well. Probably just the Black getting to me in my old age. Time to wash this fluid out of my hair. Turned it the color a green instead of the usual silver and grey. Wanted to get everything down before I showered and slept for the night.

As I said above, if you have any questions don't hesitate. I'm not expecting a whole lot as of now, but it would be nice to hear from you grounders.

Anyway. Horus, signing off.