exsiliumlogs | Mass Logs [Closed to the following in the cuts]

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Mass Logs [Closed to the following in the cuts]

Date & Time:Jan 7. Jan 9, Jan 10, Jan 11
Location: (in order) The City Black Market District, Hold Training area, Lee's Workshop, Lee's Workshop
Characters: Collette, Margulis, Ghost, Billy Cranston, Taicea and Lee
Summary: All this week Lee has been booked pretty solid with people he's either just met, or people that are curious about his work. One of them is a date. Threads will be separated for organization.
Warnings: It's a semi-open log, but if any of the threads start to go in a direction that needs some privacy, they may be moved to a musebox for comfort.

Jan 7 Monday (Market Place)
Lee had agreed to meet Collette at the appointed time even though he didn't know her name. His geosynchronous watch was never wrong. 4:05 exactly on the dot, he waited patiently for her to arrive. She had his picture, and he had nothing to go on other than he knew that she was a Transport and nothing more. Blind dates were exciting but at the same time the possibility of being stood up were much higher. Even if nothing came of it, it didn't matter. He would still buy the chocolate.

Jan 9 Wednesday (Hold Training Center)
Lee was in a funk from his break-up with Leliana and his date with Collette left him with mixed feelings if it would work at all. His flirtatious banter with Blaine and a few others left him wondering if he was ever going to find happiness on a personal level in this place. The scientist-spy started in on his stretches that were a lot more advanced that resembled more a gymnast than a martial artist. It was something he's done many times throughout his life. Tumbles, flips and passes on the mat helped him keep his focus. He stood at the corner of the training mat and took in a deep breath before he made another pass. Little did he know that Margulis had been watching him. The two still awaited for their orders on their mission and both men were feeling antsy.

Jan 10 Thursday (Lee's Workshop)
With the discovery of Ghost's helmet being smashed and his cannon almost complete for a formal test, which still needed a lot of work, he couldn't let his friend be without the one thing that she needed most in this place. Lee had his own purpose but the way he chose to remain hidden was just the opposite. He knew how to obfuscate. If he didn't want something discovered, he wouldn't mention it nor tell anyone about it. The cannon was now out. He made a promise and he was going to keep it.

Jan 11 Friday (Lee's Workshop)
Taicea wanted to see the cannon, Billy was going to help him refine it. The vortex cannon was being tooled and scrutinized by now two very keen minds with the third being curious with her eagerness to learn everything she can. It was a good day for Lee. Not to mention, the serum he made for Billy was going into the right hands in case he has a relapse. That was a secret he never wanted revealed. Plans were laid out along with notes, mathematical formulas, and several pages of miss trials that he kept tight watch over. Lee knew that it would take more than just himself to make it work into perfection. With the fabricated tool in his hand, he tightened up the bolts that held the gas lines in place while he waited for his guests to arrive.

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"What's a rocket?" Taicea simply looked confused as she made her way over to them. Closest things to rockets back her were airborne explosives that resembled giant fireworks.

As she waited for a response she looked over the cannon. It didn't look like anything she recognized from back home but it was certainly neat.

"A rocket's a device designed to ascend into the atmosphere at high speeds. The most powerful ones can even leave the planet's atmosphere entirely. Bigger ones can carry cargo, or even people. They're sometimes used to explore other planets or bodies in the solar system."

That explained, Billy turned back to idly examine the cannon. "All right. How much fuel do we have, and what form is it in? Maybe it can be changed into a more powerful form if we add the right ingredients."

"I have ten gallons of ethylene that I managed to siphon from a compost. I could use your help in refining it for better stability. I hadn't done it before since the shelf life isn't that long post refinement." The network of pipes for the process was just out of view.

He looked to Taicea to reaffirm Billy's words. "Think of a rocket as a giant arrow only it moves under its own power. It looks like a javelin that is meant to go high up in the air and like what Billy said, it could even leave this world. Even better, it's alike a fireworks rocket only bigger. Much bigger."

Taicea listened to the two of them talk. Even if she didn't understand most of what they were going on about she was still filing it away. She'd figure it out eventually.

Lee's explanation made more sense to her than Billy's. "Oh! So like the gunpowder powered missiles."

"Yeah, that's a good visual of a rocket," Billy added awkwardly. He was not so good at creating visuals that were easy to understand. He scribbled some notes about the cannon and nodded.

"Okay. Then we'll draw up the plan, make sure the cannon is ready to handle the refined fuel, then refine it. Do you have schematics anywhere, by any chance?"

Lee reached toward his desk and thumbed through the notes and designs he had before that he knew didn't work and were marked in red. After a moment, he found the much needed schematics and handed them to Billy.

"Similar but the fuel isn't gunpowder. It has to burn a really long time and hotter in order to reach the height it needs to go."

He looked to Billy and thought aloud. "You know, there is a possibility to create JP5. I hadn't thought of it until now." He snapped his fingers.

"Oh. Fuel like what you're trying to produce for this cannon?" She'd turned away from the cannon now and was curiously beginning to poke around at various other things. She was purposely not touching anything she thought looked easily broken.

Of all the items in the shop most of it was incredibly unfamiliar to him. At least the smelting area was something familiar, even if she'd never done any metalwork back home.

Billy nodded, taking a quick lock at the schematics. Size was fine. Everything matched. The materials would hold. But they needed a nice boost to get up to the required altitude.

"I was just about to suggest a kerosene-based fuel. We can distill it with a little work, some patience, and the right configuration here. Here, I know what to do---I had to work with some lighter rockets back home."

He started sketching out his plan, producing a visible plan of attack five minutes later.

The plan sounded like a good one to Lee and with that he nods his head. "Yes." He said to Taicea while he was looking over the formula that Billy had and his plans with an approving nod.

"The only difference is the fuel needed for this cannon needs to be a gas while the one for the rocket needs to be liquid. Some of them can be condensed to be a liquid but the problem is the right mixture needs to happen or we have a bomb instead." It was dangerous work at best and he wasn't looking forward to that kind of result.

"We'll need to do some tests on the fuel first before we put it in the rocket. Mixtures can always be added if it's not a hot enough burn or the ignition temperature is too low." Lee said to Billy. "Let's get to work building that rocket then we'll finish up the fuel."

There was a thoughtful grunt in response from Taicea as she continued to look about Lee's lab. For the time being she figured she'd just stay out of the way. She was there for when they needed her.

"All right. Gas. That shouldn't be a problem, we just need the right amount of heat and the right equipment to collect it. And protective gear, of course."

Billy pulled a pair of heavy-duty goggles from his backpack and strapped them on, followed by his gloves. He set to work on a new set of calculations for JP-5, then showed them to Lee for comparison.

"So. We've got the right temperature?"

Lee stood from the cannon to fetch a glass of water for Taicea since the purifier was a bit heavy for her to lift and he didn't want to risk the glass breaking. He didn't miss a beat while he responded to Billy.

"The autoignition temperature for spark is at five-hundred and eighty-one degrees Fahrenheit. It's not recommended to use with copper since it reacts violently to it. So when working with it, make sure you're not wearing anything copper or it will burn. It has a tendency to eat through it. Oh, it's acetylene that's in that one tank to your right." Lee spoke as he handed Taicea the glass and walked back toward the workstation.

"The tanks for the JP5 mixture, if it can be bonded correctly in this weather, is in the third room. I'll need help with the tanks."

Taicea could not have looked any happier after taking a sip of the water Lee gave her. She's been drinking the stuff that the Initiative provided but it just wasn't that good. Still too full of chemicals and other disgusting stuff. But the glass Lee gave her was nearly as as good as water back home. That alone makes her feel less sick.

"Thank you so much Lee!" Yup, happiest little plant thing. Although at the mention of needing help she set the water aside and skipped after Lee.

"If they're not too heavy I'll help." She was strong but she wasn't that strong.

Billy tried not to stare at Taicea openly, but it was difficult. That must be her special food source: how interesting! He smiled and followed them to the back room.

"I think the three of us can handle it," Billy said softly, flexing his arm. He hadn't let that old muscle waste away, thankfully.

Thankfully, Lee wasn't just the brainy type and like Billy, he was a lot stronger than he appeared. He led the three into the back area and unchained the tank from the wall and walked it from the resting place. Once he tipped it, he moved toward the back with Billy at the top end of it.

"Taicea, I'll need your help in keeping it from falling over. It's a pretty heavy tank so be careful. On three. One. Two. Three." He lifted the back with his legs doing most of the work.

Nope, she just really enjoyed having such clean water for a change. After all she came from a world that wasn't so polluted. Water and food back home wasn't treated with so many nasty chemicals.

"Okay!" She moved over to where Lee pointed out, ready to help move the tank. With the two of them mostly holding it up it wasn't going to be too difficult.

Billy did his part of the lifting without much difficulty, though he exhaled gratefully when the tank reached its resting place. As they lowered it in the proper place, he grinned.

"Great. Now we should have what we need in a few hours? With a test tomorrow?" He glanced at their tools, mentally checking off what they needed for the next steps.

"Yes." Lee leaned back slightly to stretch. His age, thankfully, wasn't the culprit. It was the mileage that he put on his body over the years that was the cause of this. Still, he didn't like to feel those aches when he could help it.

"All I have to do now is connect the hoses to the tanks. It shouldn't take but a few minutes." He would have more of the gas when the soil remediation project is built. The decontamination would bring more of the precious fuel that they would need which would be helpful in the long run.

Taicea did her best to help but despite how strong she was the tank was pretty heavy. Once they had it moved to it's resting place she stretched with a grunt.

With that done she went back to her water. She figured it was probably better to keep out of the way unless they needed something.

Billy reached over to hold the hoses in place for the connections, grinning. "We're so close I can almost feel it. There's still the testing, of course, but isn't it exciting?"

With the cannon's barrel pointing toward the doors, the moment the hoses were connected, Lee released the gas. There was a smirk on his face. He was very close to completion but there was still a lot of work to be done. "Here goes. Now, everyone stand back. Once I set the ignitor, it's going to be loud so grab the hearing protection."

Lee slipped his on as soon as the hoses were connected and tightened down.

Taicea set her water down again so she could put the protective gear over her ears and move behind Lee. She'd never actually seen any kind of canon in action, just catapults. And catapults weren't near as noisy on the firing end.

Billy stepped next to Taicea and hurriedly slammed his muffs over his ears. He was ready for this. Did it work?

He had his fingers crossed.

Lee's hand revealed three fingers, then two, and lastly his index finger fell just as the cannon had gone off. It was powerful enough to shake the ground beneath their feet with a loud and low thump before the scream was heard that lastly shattered the windows of a building across the small lot. That...was the result he was looking for.

He looked to Billy and Taicea with a grin and a thumbs up. Now, it was making sure that they had the right mixture every time to ensure the best results. "Write this down. Acetylene, 3 parts, butane, 2 parts 5 parts oxygen. Three seconds for prime. I think we got it!"

Taicea let out a yelp when the cannon went off. She hadn't expected such a racket, and even with the protection of her ears it was kind of painful. Slowly she removed the muffs, staring at the cannon with wide eyes.

"That was...something else."

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oncearanger - 2013-02-12 05:08 (UTC) - Expand

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