158 lines
9.2 KiB
HTML
158 lines
9.2 KiB
HTML
<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><title> Diesel Creek </title><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="html_resources/style.css"></head><body><svg class="hidden_filter"><filter id="crunchy_blur" x="0" y="0"><feFlood x="4" y="4" height="2" width="2"/><feComposite width="6" height="6" in2="SourceGraphic"/><feTile result="a"/><feComposite in="SourceGraphic" in2="a" operator="in"/><feMorphology operator="dilate" radius="1.4"/><feGaussianBlur stdDeviation="2.2"></feGaussianBlur></filter></svg><div class="home"><a href="index.html">⌂</a></div>
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<h1> Diesel Creek </h1>
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<!-- perspective: neutral / (weak) Jack -->
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<p>
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Michelle asks: <span class="quote speech">And you really expect to find
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anything here that can be salvaged?</span><br />
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The four are walking into a valley in a large forested area.<br />
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Jack replies: <span class="quote speech">Right now, I'm not even
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sure this is the place – everything looks so different – but
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if it is, we'll have plenty to choose from and a bunch more for
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parts.</span><br />
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James takes a sudden step to the side and rips the ivy off a roughly
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knee-high, square concrete post.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">This of any use to you?</span><br />
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The post has numbers engraved in all four sides.<br />
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Jack reads two of them: <span class="quote speech">1581, 8480. Yup. This
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is indeed the place.</span>
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</p>
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<p>
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A bit further down the valley, they come across a large, rusty machine.
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<br />
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Annie wonders: <span class="quote speech">How did this thing get
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between the trees?</span><br />
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Jack says: <span class="quote speech">Someone drove it here before
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the they grew. There were large cleared areas and access roads through
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the forest back then.</span><br />
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They walk up to it and take a look.<br />
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Jack turns to Annie and James, and says:
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<span class="quote speech">This is an excavator. We're looking for
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a big one like this, but in better condition.</span><br />
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James asks: <span class="quote speech">What's wrong with this
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one?</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">This thing's just done for. It's
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more rust than steel, missing its tracks, the hydraulics up there have
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been removed, and it looks like someone got a bit carried away
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<i>trying</i> to do the same with the cab.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">Why'd they do that?</span><br />
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<span class="comment">Todo: rephrase above question</span></br/>
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<span class="quote speech">Probably parted out to fix other
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machines.</span><br />
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They continue walking.
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</p>
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<p>
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After a while, they find themselves in a large, flattened area at the
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bottom of the valley. It is full of machines standing between the trees,
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forming long rows and parted out just like the excavator they saw.<br />
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Jack says: <span class="quote speech">Welcome to the machine graveyard.
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If memory serves right, there should be a few buildings back there and
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one of the main parking lots behind them.</span><br />
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While they make their way over, Annie asks:
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<span class="quote speech">So these machines dug out the dome?</span>
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<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Well... no. That was mostly done using
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explosives, conveyor belts, and trains. They used loaders to get the
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stuff onto conveyors but most of the machines here were used in
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construction after the digging was done.</span><br />
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</p>
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<p>
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The buildings are in rough shape, some much worse than others. Most
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don't have rooves, a few have been completely reduced to piles of
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rubble on a foundation. On the other side, as Jack had said, is a parking
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lot. Instead of a forest, they find it mostly overgrown with bushes and
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young trees. They split up and start roaming the area.
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</p>
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<p class="comment">
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research that needs to be done:<br />
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→When were hydraulic excavators invented?<br />
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→When did they get the ability to use a jackhammer attachment?<br />
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→When did cable shovels go out of fashion? (Apparently never,
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depending on use case. From a quick image search, modern ones seem to be
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huge industrial machines.)<br />
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</p>
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<p>
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Annie calls the others over to one of the buildings.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Look what I found...</span><br />
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Michelle arrives first and has a chuckle. Jack arrives a moment later
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and peeks inside. There sits a cable shovel, a machine that looks like
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a hybrid between a crane and an excavator, partially covered in rubble
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from the <span class="comment">caved-in? fallen-in?</span> roof. It is
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rusty on the outside but looks otherwise surprisingly intact.<br />
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He says: <span class="quote speech">That's ... uhhh ... kind of
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a historical artifact.</span><br />
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James, who is just arriving, hears it and says:
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<span class="quote speech">I mean, everything here is a historical
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artifact...</span><br />
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Jack responds: <span class="quote speech">Fair enough, but this thing
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especially so.</span><br />
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They step into the building.<br />
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Michelle says: <span class="quote speech">Looks like it could just work
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if we tried.</span><br />
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Jack says: <span class="quote speech">I think we should look for a more
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modern option first.</span><br />
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<span class="quote speech">I agree we should look for something more
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modern, but might as well take a free win.</span><br />
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She climbs onto the back of the machine and opens an access panel.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Just about mint condition in here. This thing
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might fire right up. Anyone see a crank for this baby?</span><br />
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She pats the side of a small engine that sits on top of a much larger
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engine.
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</p>
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<p>
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They start looking around in the rotting shelves and in the rubble on
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the floor. Michelle jumps down and joins them. After a while,
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Jack spots some rust right behind the rear end of the machine. He moves
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some leaves aside and picks up a metal rod with two bends.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">You mean this one?</span><br />
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Michelle comes over.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Yup, that'll do.</span><br />
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She climbs back onto the the machine and shoves it into a protrusion on
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the small engine. Then, she proceeds to crank it over. First carefully,
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then more <span class="comment">translate: energisch</span>. After a
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moment, it fires up for a brief instant... then nothing.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Aww. Almost but not quite.</span><br />
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She unscrews the cap from the small fuel tank on top of it and peeks
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inside.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Well that can't work.</span><br />
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She jumps down and checks the tank for the main engine.<br />
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<span class="quote speech">Nope.</span>
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</p>
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<!--
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This is for another chapter but here is a list of things they might do:
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- strip parts off of other machines
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- modify or create parts at the Ivydale train yard
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- swap out a beyond-repair engine - with a different one that
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doesn't fit ofc
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- weld things to the machines for botched but improved
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structural integrity
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- maybe come up with an alternative for hydraulic fluid if it isn't too
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far fetched, alternatively scavenge it from other machines or trade
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for it
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- find a grabber attachment for the excavator
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- DIY electronics
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-->
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<p>
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<span class="comment">Research todo: On engines that had a pony
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motor, was it common to use the same fuel across both engines or was it
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sometimes a mix?</span><br />
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They scavenge some gasoline from a nearby truck by loosening the
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<span class="comment">translate: Überwurfmutter</span> on a fuel
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line and letting it drip into a glass bottle that James had found on
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the ground. Michelle takes it back inside while the others continue
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looking for diesel fuel.
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</p>
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<p>
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<span class="comment">
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Things that need research: Did early hydraulic excavators have starter
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engines (what were they called again?) or was that a thing of the past
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by then?<br />
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Events:<br />
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-> they take off some access panels<br />
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-> they manage to get the starte engine going<br />
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-> large engine won't start (why?)<br />
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</span>
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</p>
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<p class="copyright">Copyright © 2023-2026 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++){if(lines[j].length>=80)result=result+spans[j%2]+lines[j]+"</span>\n";else result=result+spans[j%2]+lines[j]+" ".repeat(80-lines[j].length)+"</span>\n";}pre_texts[i].innerHTML=result;}fetch("./chapters.json").then(function(result){return result.json();}).then(function(json){let chapters=json.pages;for(let i=0;i<chapters.length;i++){if(chapters[i]===document.URL.replace(/^.*\//,"./")){let prevdiv=document.createElement("div");prevdiv.className="prev";if(i>0){prevdiv.innerHTML="<a href=\""+chapters[i-1]+"\">◃</a>";}else{prevdiv.innerHTML="<p>◃</p>";}document.body.appendChild(prevdiv);let nextdiv=document.createElement("div");nextdiv.className="next";if(i<chapters.length-1){nextdiv.innerHTML="<a href=\""+chapters[i+1]+"\">▹</a>";}else{nextdiv.innerHTML="<p>▹</p>";}document.body.appendChild(nextdiv);}}});</script></body></html>
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