A Not-So-Chilling Effect

Writers: Jane, Vix
Date Posted: 27th March 2007

Characters: Ylisahn
Description: The refrigeration system breaks down and Ylisahn arranges for its repair.
Location: Dolphin Cove Weyr
Date: month 3, day 13 of Turn 4

"Uh-oh."

The comment was loud in the sudden silence and Ylisahn got up from her desk and walked through the door into the kitchens.

"Oh," she said, seeing the entire staff frozen in place and knowing exactly the cause. It was the silence. The pervasive hum of the refrigeration for the large cool rooms behind the kitchens was gone, giving a feeling of sudden deafness.

"Ylisahn?" one the cooks said finally, stirring and nodding in the direction of the silence. "The refrigeration's stopped."

Ylisahn laughed. "Thanks for that. Try to keep out of the cool rooms as much as possible, please, and I'll hunt up a technician to have a look at it."

Slowing the room got back to work, though everybody seemed to be speaking in hushed voices. For a moment Ylisahn dithered over checking the refrigeration plant herself, but her knowledge was limited and the last thing she wanted to do was make anything worse. Instead she tracked back through her office and out into the dining cavern, crossing that and heading down the corridors toward the cavern the technicians used as their workshop.

There was a bell at the door and she pulled that as she entered the cavern, knowing from experience that the craftsmen could be anywhere in their domain.

"In a minute, in a minute." Tian adjusted the bolt holding the larger gear in place then used his finger to move the pinion, watching the teeth mesh with and turn the larger cog. A slight smile touched his mouth as the two toothed wheels operated in perfect coordination. He walked around the other side of the bench, started to bend to another portion of his machine, and then remembered the bell.

The technician squinted as he glanced toward the door. "Yes? Can I help you?"

Ylisahn tracked across the room toward the voice. "Tian. Good. The refrigeration has stopped." She paused, wondering if she should add how important it was that somebody looked at it right away. It was her job to set priorities but telling people their jobs wouldn't endear her to anybody.

Tian sighed and set aside his wrench. "That's not my specialty, but it'll be my hide if I disturb anyone else without at least some idea of what's wrong. Exactly what happened?"

"The noise stopped," Ylisahn said. "And it's even less my specialty than it is yours, so I didn't poke around in there in case I made things worse."

"That's probably just as well." The technician picked up a tool belt and strapped it around his waist, adding a few stray items to its pockets and pouches. "The noise stopped. Suddenly? Or did it change for a while before stopping?"

Ylisahn frowned. "You'll have to ask the kitchen staff to be sure, but I don't think there was any change. It's such a constant part of the kitchen noise that I'm sure I would have heard the difference."
She smiled. "There were no bangs or flashes, at least." She had had experience of both with electricity over the Turns.

"Well, that eliminates quite a few possible problems." He placed a last screwdriver into a pouch and gestured toward the door. "Shall we go?"

Ylisahn led the way out of the room and along the corridors back toward the kitchens. "If we need to get ice - and if it can't be fixed quickly, we will - can you let me know sooner rather than later? I can send for some, but not until I know."

"If this is a simple fix, I'll be able to let you know that within a quarter candlemark and also how long the repairs will take. If it looks more complicated, I'll send for more help and you can send for ice."

"Sounds good." Ylisahn made her way across the kitchens, noticing that the staff were still speaking in whispers which only made the silence more noticeable. "Do you want me to hang around?" she asked, pushing the heavy doors into the refrigeration room open.

"No, that's alright." Tian's attention was already on the unit's workings, tracing the route of pipes along the walls. "I'll let you know as soon as I can what's happening."

"I'll be in my office, then." Knowing she couldn't be of any help she retreated. In the kitchen she announced unnecessarily: "He's working on it."

~ ~ ~

Tian knocked on the door frame of the Headwoman's office as he paused in the already-open archway. "The good news is that it's fixed. The bad news is that the entire system should be checked in the very near future."

"Oh dear. How near?" Ylisahn asked tentatively, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

"I'd suggest as soon as it can be undertaken, both to complete the repair to the current problem and to assure that nothing is wrong in the rest of the unit." The technician's hands moved in front of him as he explained the problem. "This is a gas absorption system and in this case we were fortunate in that the problem was a pipe that carried excess hot water from the other thermo units - water to bathing pools and laundry. The pipe has been patched, but we'll need to close down everything and test each section separately, as well as replacing that section of pipe. In addition, we'll need to check the pipes from the gas cycle and that gets tricky. We don't want to release any of the gas since that could be harmful, and yet it will take time to clear the pipes and then to build up pressure again in order to restart the cooling process." He nodded his head emphatically as he ended his report.

"Er -. All right. Would you like me to talk to the master technician about this, or would you like to?" That sounded a bit too hopeful.

"I'll have to file paperwork about it anyhow, and that includes my recommendations for follow-up." He turned to leave. "Someone will be in touch with you to schedule maintenance work. It can probably be done at night when fewer workers are in the kitchens and have the system up in running in very little time."

"Ahh!" That was good news - and in terms she could understand. "Thank you Tian, and for fixing it now."

"Just doing my job," shrugged the technician, and with a wave of his hand was gone.

Last updated on the March 28th 2007

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A Not-So-Chilling Effect