Quentin was sitting at his desk with PADDs stacked up all around him. He
was researching ways to enhance the dilithium output matrix to boost the
emergency power levels to the engines to provide a faster turn rate for
the ship but the algorithm he was currently mulling over had stumped
him. He had been reading, calculating and researching for the best part
of forty-eight hours and had been through more coffee than he cared to
remember. He sighed and ran his hands through his hair exhausted. He had
heard that the new AI had been installed sufficiently and came to the
conclusion that the best way to proceed was to get this advanced
intelligence program to help out. "Computer… activate the Savant AI"
The computer was diligent in its response - a hologram appeared beside
him nearly immediately. Whoever had designed this hologram made it a
looker, too - tall, long black hair, vaguely Mediterranean features. The
hologram smiled pleasantly at him. "Good evening, Sir. You've been at
this awhile, haven't you? Would you care to tell me what it is you're
trying to accomplish here?"
Quentin was used to AI systems on the ship and despite being an Engineer
was always a little taken aback by them. It had taken him this long to
get used to The Carrington Institute AI, Alice. "Um… yes" he said after
bringing himself back from a trail of thoughts. "I'm trying to increase
the emergency power outlet to the impulse thrusters to give us more
boost and a better turn rate in combat… every option I try however
results in the same outcome… the engines burn out. I can't for the life
of me solve it" he said. While he was more than competent in his duties
Quentin had never had a problem with admitting it when he needed help.
The hologram listened studiously, until he was finished. "I see." Savant
paused, appearing thoughtful for a moment - even to the point of
disappearing into her own internal world - before she acknowledged him
again. She leaned over his desk as she spoke, "Well, let's start by
putting these away, shall we?" The hologram stacked his PADDs tidily on
the corner of his desk, "And let's get you another coffee, that one's
gone cold."
The replicator hummed as she finished stacking the PADDs, and before he
could rise to get it himself she had plucked it from the replication bed
and was setting it on his desk. She smiled pleasantly, "So let's get a
good look at our problem here. Maybe a new perspective will help you."
Holograms sprung up around him in a broad arc, displaying graphs and
charts and displays that were small and flat on the PADDs but were
bright and well-defined when hung in the air. At the centre was Charon
herself, her impulse vectors highlighted brightly in red, with small
numerical streamers indicating tensor and strain variables. Surrounding
the ship was a constellation of graphs showing the various forces at
play upon the superstructure, while displays of various other internal
functions showed as network-charts further off in the periphery. A field
of information hung about him, ready for experimentation.
Quentin watched as the AI tidied his office and brought him a new
coffee. He sipped at the hot liquid and put the mug down and after a
moment watching the holograms appear he spoke. "Thank you… I'd ask if
you wanted something but I guess you don't really eat or drink?" he
asked not really knowing how advanced this AI was in comparison to some
he had encountered over the years. From the displays appearing in
mid-air however he assumed pretty advanced indeed. She only smiled in
return, offering a flippant, "I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but
thank you."
"The problem is…" Quentin begun "that any increases to the power outlet
manifolds here result in a burnout" he said pointing to the problem
area. "And to make matters more complex the flow regulators prevent it
from being reinforced" he added truly stumped by the situation at hand.
She replied sympathetically, "There are times where hardware reaches its
limits. Don't I know it. But, we haven't reached those limits for this
particular system yet. It appears that the problem is with the
pressurization chamber." As she spoke the hologram changed, pulling up a
close-up of the system. The compression chamber was found near the end
of the impulse engine stack, where the bottled fusion power was squeezed
before being jetted out from the engine in a millicochrane field
envelope. The display ran through several simulations, and sure enough,
the pressure was building to and past the bursting point within that
chamber.
"Mm. Well, sir, you're quite right - the structure can't be reinforced
any further. I would suggest the installation of an upgraded structural
integrity field generator dedicated to the engines, and perhaps a new
pressor field generator capable of keeping the stress from the tank
walls. Would you like me to run some simulations?"
Quentin looked at the diagram before him and couldn't help raise a smile
at the comment about knowing hardware limits. "Fascinating" he said more
about the AI standing in his office than the problem he was looking at
with her. "Of course a problem with integrating a new SIF Generator is
that we would have to completely redesign the impulse power manifold
relay network to compensate for the added power the generator would
require and output… can you run a simulation to see what would happen to
the ship's power output levels if we did redesign the relay network?"
Quentin asked as he scratched his chin in thought.
The hologram of the impulse system and fusion reactors changed; the
compression tank peeled itself like an orange, new layers scribing
themselves in place before reassembling around the core. Numbers began
to scroll by as the core went from blue to orange to yellow, then
white-hot, as the simulation ran through a firing sequence. Percentages
grew, manifolds coiled and shifted their shapes as the specifications of
the engines changed with each iteration. Finally, a result appeared
after a few minutes of procedure.
"Here we are, sir. You're looking at an over 1.3% increase of power
requirements at 112% torsional thrust, increasing to 2.2% per sequence
measure at standard operational tolerance and delineation." Savant
smiled and gestured to one of his PADDs, which promptly shifted display
to a more easy-to digest report than the dozens of floating charts. "I
have run an inventory on the ships' heavy-metals replication stock and
find that it is more that sufficient for your needs. Shall I provide you
with prepared versions of the Intent to Modify forms for Starfleet Command?"
Quentin watched the floating hologram with interest as he tapped his
chin and smiled as a devilish thought crossed his mind. "Hold off on the
forms for now… I have another idea…" he paused for a moment and grabbed
a PADD and started drawing a sketch of what appeared to be a transporter
buffer. "What if we added something like this to the external thrusters,
could we reclaim the waste energy pumped out by the engines store it in
a buffer and redistribute it to other systems as needed?" he asked the
AI who impressed him as time went on. /Certainly a useful addition to
the crew/ he thought to himself.
Savant pondered. The funny thing about Savant was that when she was
pondering a problem, one could generally see it! The holographic model
of the thrust assembly gyred and twisted, additions growing upon it,
disappearing, recursively spreading out and across the machine. The
simulation additions jostled for space and processor time as the
computer cogitated. The numbers decreased somewhat, but were still more
favourable than the original simulation. Finally, she reported.
"It appears that we can indeed reclaim some of the exhaust from the
assembly without sacrificing a great deal of thrust. It should drop our
projected increase by somewhere near 0.2% while reclaiming 4% of the
power requirements. This will however increase system heat by 10 to 12%.
Radiative systems will have to be adapted in the area. But it's
certainly feasible."
Quentin rose from his chair at this point and running his hands through
his hair he watched the holographic display in front of him change and
modify to show him the result of the idea in practice. "Hmm" he thought
out loud as did some mental calculations before speaking again. "We can
compensate for the heat with a new coolant system" he said as if the
rebuild was a simple task. "Although we'd need to ensure the chemical
mix is correct or essentially we'll either freeze the engines or blow
them up" he added as an afterthought. "Can you calculate a combination
projection for the chemical coolant?" he asked the ever-increasingly
useful AI. She was succinct, "Standard He3-N coolant should be more than
adequate to our purposes, sir."
"Good, that should be simple enough to replicate" he commented. "I don't
think a thrust drop of 0.2% is going to be a major problem, especially
as we're boosting reserve power by 4%." Quentin said reflecting on the
comments made by the AI previously. "Can we implement an emergency
system into the design whereby if necessary the reclaimed energy can be
pushed into the impulse engine thrust manifold and increase the turn
capacity? He asked.
"No Sir," she replied with little cogitation, "This would create a
feedback loop that would rupture the compression tank. It would
instigate a positive feedback loop in the reclamation system and the
ship would experience a runaway power surge. Emergency systems would
then activate to vent the tank and disable the impulse drive." Small
holograms beside her demonstrated the emergency procedure in action in
all of its drama.
Quentin watched the simulation and thought to himself. He hated
situations where the only answer was no. He much preferred creative
solutions to the otherwise impossible. "What if we feedback through a
valve pressure filter to control the extra input and reinforce the
reclamation system to handle the extra boost?" he asked the AI. He had
to admit it certainly made processes like this quicker to have a
computer to talk to.
The tiny hologram smiled gently and inclined her head, "That could
certainly be done. However, Sir, the power requirements of adding those
systems would consume a great deal more than the four per cent reclaimed
by the modifications. The laws of thermodynamics being what they are,
Sir, I am unsure how we could reclaim any further efficiency from this
system."
Quentin mulled over the scenario trying to think of some far-fetched
creative solution to solve all their problems but was finding it tough.
It could have been because he had pulled a triple shift and was
incredibly tired; especially after the wedding party or perhaps this was
genuinely going to stump him. "Hmm" he said after a moment's pause.
"Thank you Savant" he said to the hologram "your service has been
invaluable to the project. I think the best way forward is to get some
more minds onboard so if you're not busy with other duties I would like
to call a briefing with some of the senior engineering staff… see if we
can't find an answer to this problem… I never believe in impossible
scenarios" he said with a boyish grin remembering the endeavour to fly a
planet through time.
The hologram nodded its tiny head while wearing an amused expression,
"As you like it, Sir. I will take the liberty of arranging the meeting
for 1100 tomorrow. Your staff will be notified of the changes. Now
please, Sir, I do suggest you get a little rest. Caffeine only works for
so long." The image winked out, and the engineer mused over one last cup.
Lieutenant Commander Quentin Calhoun
and
Savant
