222 lines
12 KiB
HTML
222 lines
12 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title> Overdue Maintenence </title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="html_resources/style.css"></head><body><div class="back"><a href="index.html"><</a></div>
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<h1> Overdue Maintenance </h1>
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<p>
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Jack parks the truck just before the exit of a tunnel and the four get
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out. Roaring water echoes from somewhere in the distance. Annie grabs
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her bag and follows the others towards the end of the tunnel. The wall
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to the right features doors, large gates, and a few windows that allow
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a peek into abandoned offices, storage spaces, and a small machine shop.
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The end of the tunnel connects to a large balcony extending into
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a narrow ravine with rusted metal walkways going to the left and right.
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</p>
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<p>
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They walk onto the balcony and take a look around: The walkway to the
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left goes to a freestanding staircase tower that goes down to the bottom
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of the ravine and is just as rusty as the walkway itself. The walkway
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to the right connects to the top of a concrete dam blocking the ravine.
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A couple bushes, flowers, and a small tree grow there, partially hiding
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rusty cranks and levers, and the dam is green from moss and small ferns
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growing all over its side. Water flows over the spillway, falling into
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the depths below. To the right of the dam, inset into the same rock face
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as the tunnel exit, is a wall with a window front.
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</p>
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<p>
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<span class="quote speech">Annie, check this out!</span><br />
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Jack gestures for her to come to the railing. She hesitates.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">That railing is gonna hold, yeah?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Idunno?...</span> He attempts to push
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<span class="comment">shove?</span> it and bangs agains it –
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it doesn't budge. <span class="quote speech">Probably?</span><br />
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She walks over and cautiously leans on it to peer down. The water
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flowing over the spillway joins a torrent of water rushing out of
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two big pipes deep below, at the bottom of the ravine.
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</p>
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<p>
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Michelle and James go ahead, using the walkway towards the dam.
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About half-way, as Michelle walks onto the next section of walkway,
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it starts making scary <span class="comment">foreboding?</span> creaking
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noises. The moment James reaches it, the creaking turns into cracking
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and the panel of <span class="comment">grid floor</span> beings
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to give out underneath his feet. He grabs on to one of the railings and
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quickly <span class="comment">hops? Idk some word between "step"
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and "jump"</span> onto the beam holding it, leaving the
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section of floor barely hanging on.<br />
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Michelle asks: <span class="quote speech">You okay?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Yeah – can't say the same for
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the floor...</span><br />
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The two walk the rest of the way across, meanwhile Annie and Jack stay
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on the balcony.
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</p>
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<p class="comment">TODO: Change this so Michelle and James explore the
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dam first, then turn their attention to the windows.</p>
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<p>
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After the <span class="comment">Aufregung?</span> dies down, Michelle
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and James start looking around.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Would you look at that!</span><br />
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Michelle is looking through the windows. A few of them have cracks but
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most are somehow intact.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">I think I found what we're looking
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for.</span><br />
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Jack asks: <span class="quote speech">The control room?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Yea, it's right here.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Guess we're gonna have to climb
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across...</span><br />
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Annie says: <span class="quote speech">I'm not doing that.</span>
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<br />
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James walks up to one of the windows saying:
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<span class="quote speech">Looks like there might be a way back to
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the tunnel from inside. We could let you in that way.</span><br />
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Jack replies: <span class="quote speech">That would work
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but we probably really don't wanna break these windows.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Nobody said anything about breaking
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them...</span><br />
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James takes a screwdriver out of his pocket and jams it inbetween
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the window and its frame, then he quickly pulls on it. The window jumps
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open with a bang.<br />
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Michelle looks at him a bit <span class="comment">befuddled?</span>.
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">What?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">You seem to have some <i>interesting</i>
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skills...</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">The more intact old world buildings tend
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to have locked doors. Gotta get in somehow.</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack and Annie are waiting in the tunnel next to a door.
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The handle moves down and they hear the deadbolt retracting with
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a click. The door creaks as Michelle pulls it inward, revealing
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a hallway. She leads the way. James is standing in a door to the left,
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holding it open. They go through and enter the control room, a somewhat
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large room packed with equipment. Across from them are the windows,
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allowing a view of the spillway and the top of the dam, with a random
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assortment of office furniture and a few electronic devices
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<span class="comment">zusammengeschoben? piled up?</span>
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in front of them. The wall to the left is lined with metal cabinets
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with a few buttons, switches, large gauges and levers on them. The wall
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to the right is taken up by storage <span class="comment">cabinets?
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the drawer thingies...</span> and an assortment of large devices and
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contraptions. A bit towards them from the center of the room is
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a large console facing the window front with many buttons, switches,
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gauges, and two telephones on it. Annie walks past it and looks out
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the windows, admiring the flowering lilypads floating behind the dam.
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</p>
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<p>
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Jack picks up a clipboard and pencil that lay on the center console.
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Maintenance checklist for October 2011 –
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I don't think anyone has stepped foot in here since Sunside Cove was
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sealed off.</span><br />
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Annie turns around and leans on the console.
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<span class="quote speech">It wouldn't surprise me. Many people are
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legitimately scared of the outside world.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">I mean they're probably right, the
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outside world is pretty dangerous. Watch your step, by the way...</span>
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<br />
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She looks down and ... <span class="quote speech">Whoa!</span><br />
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Without noticing, she had walked onto a thick glass pane covering
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a large opening in the floor. It allows a view into a hall filled with
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machinery. The floor is flooded by water rushing out of a burst pipe and
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spraying out from the flanges of many other pipe sections.
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<br />
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Jack says: <span class="quote speech">It's a miracle that there is
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still power being generated here. Michelle, James, have a look down
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there.</span><br />
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Michelle responds: <span class="quote speech">Yeah, we saw on the way in.
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This place is overbuilt to take it.</span><br />
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He walks around the console and tries to get a better look.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Looks like it might not tale it for much
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longer. All four turbines have water, but only three are spinning.</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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After a short time discussing with Michelle and flipping through
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the paper on the clipboard, they come up with a plan and Jack sits down
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at the console. He picks up a telephone and dials a number.
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While wedging the receiver between his shoulder and ear, he pulls a few
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pages from the clipboard and lays them out in front of him.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Good afternoon, this is Jack, I am calling
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from the Ivydale hydro power station. Am I talking to infrastructure
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control?</span><br />
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Short pause while he listens.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Yes, I am.</span><br />
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Another pause.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Sir, I don't care. We have an emergency.
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Am I talking to infrastructure control?</span><br />
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–<br />
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<span class="quote speech">I'm not here to answer questions.
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I am calling to inform you of an imminent power outage. Follow procedure
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thirty-nine. Switch the battery banks to autonomous and disconnect the
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transformers.</span><br />
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–<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Follow emergency procedure thirty-nine.</span>
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<br />
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–<br />
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<span class="quote speech">As I said, I will not answer your
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questions.</span><br />
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–<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Follow the procedure. You have fifteen
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minutes.</span><br />
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–<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Will you do your fucking job already?
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You need to get the city running on backup power <i>right now</i>.
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Questions can be answered later.</span><br />
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–<br />
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<span class="quote speech">If the grid goes down with the power station,
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that's on you. Follow emergency procedure thirty-nine. You can call
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me back on the two five five two. Have a good day.</span><br />
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Jack puts the receiver back down and shakes his head.<br />
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<span class="comment">TODO: James is probably unfamiliar with
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telephones.</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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In the meantime, Michelle has gone around and flipped some switches on
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the control panel cabinets to the left. The gauges are lit up and their
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needles no longer sit at their resting points. Jack flips a switch on
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the center console and it lights up like a christmas tree. He gives it
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a once-over, then he presses some buttons on his watch and gets up.
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</p>
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<p>
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The four climb back outside onto the dam. Jack and James attempt to
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<span class="commenr">man-handle?</span> the mechanism to lower the
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spillway gate. To their surprise, it actually moves and the water flow
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increases.<br />
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<span class="comment">ToDo: something missing here, Idk</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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A bell starts ringing in the control room. They climb through the window
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again and Michelle sits down at the center console. She hits a button
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and the ringing stops.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Power draw is dropping. Looks like
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they're doing their part.</span><br />
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Jack looks at his watch.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Sixteen minutes. About time...</span><br />
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A few minutes later, the bell goes off again. The needles on most of the
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gauges suddenly swing to zero. The phone rings. Jack answers:<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Ivydale hydro power station, this is
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Jack.</span><br />
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–<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Affirmative, you are disconnected.</span>
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<br />
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He looks up and holds the receiver away from his mouth.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Annie, can you flip that big switch?</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">This one?</span><br />
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It moves down with a satisfying <i>ka-chonk</i>. Michelle turns
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some <span class="comment">what do you call this style of switch?</span>
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on the console and slowly pulls back one of four levers. The console
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buzzes at her and some status lights start blinking.<br />
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She tries the other three levers, only the third one moves without
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buzzing.<br />
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Jack speaks into the phone again: <span class="quote speech">We'll
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need to manually shut down three of the turbines. In the meantime,
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is it in your power to gather volunteers?</span><br />
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–<br />
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<span class="quote speech">As many as we can get. We need people to
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dismantle and rebuild large machinery and plumbing.</span><br />
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–<br />
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<span class="quote speech">I don't know? Talk to the news or
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something.</span><br />
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–<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Thanks.</span>
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</p>
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<p class="copyright">Copyright © 2023 Jan Danielzick (aka. BodgeMaster) – All rights reserved.</p><script>let spans = ["<span class=\"paper green\">", "<span>"]; let pre_texts = document.getElementsByTagName("pre"); for (let i = 0; i < pre_texts.length; i++) {if (pre_texts[i].className != "paper") continue; let lines = pre_texts[i].innerHTML.split("\n"); let result = ""; for (let j = 0; j < lines.length; j++) {result = result + spans[j%2] + lines[j] + " ".repeat(80-lines[j].length) + "</span>\n";} pre_texts[i].innerHTML = result;}</script></body></html>
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