Power Outage

[WxMurray 0]

“Report.”

 

“Everyone’s in position.”

 

“Right. Here we go.”

 

Murray stood on the main level catwalk overlooking the generator pit. The generator had dies two days ago, and to Murray, that was two days too many. They had rigged some solar panels on the roof to get power to lights and food replicator. The downside was that they had lost power to the hardware replicator; the sun wasn’t enough to keep it going.

 

“Norman, keep an eye on readouts. If the generator so much as sputters for a microsecond I want to know about it. Jay, ready when you are.”

 

“Give me a second.” Murray could hear the sounds of tools and circuit boards coming from the pit. “Alright. Let’s start her up.”

 

“Norman. Start cranking the generator. I’ll monitor the power output.”

 

The generator sputtered, spattered, spittered, spottered, and spettered before finally cranking. The sound of power being restored could be heard throughout the station, but alas, it was short-lived. The generator coughed and sneezed, before giving out. As Murray sighed, another sound was heard. A sound like a post-bean Jolly Green Giant penetrated the air, followed by a short yell and the sound of a body hitting the ground.

 

“Report!”

 

A voice came up from below: Williams. “Norman took the explosion. He needs to get to the medical ward. He should be fine, though.”

 

“What happened? It sounded like we had it going.”

 

Williams waved his tricorder over the generator. He reached into part of the generator and pulled out what looked like a handful of scrap metal. “I think this is the culprit.”

 

Murray raised an eyebrow. “What is it?”

 

“It’s the cranking mechanism. I think its recent extended use just wore it out and it blew to pieces. That’s what caught Norman.”

 

“Alright. Get him to the medial ward. I’ll try to come up with a way to get that generator running again.”

 

Murray slumped into a chair. This was not good. They needed the generator to power the hardware replicator to replace the destroyed part of the generator. He needed to think of something fast. They needed that generator.