Fractals

Zzznnnnngggggg! Sparks flew from the pipe John Dower, electrical engineer onboard the Freedom, was welding. It had split six times in four days and each time, John had to re-weld it back together. One last shower of sparks finished the job.

“There,” he said to nobody in particular, “that should hold.” He looked around the room he was in lovingly.

In the center of the gigantic room, pipes, pistons, panels, gauges and wires all were assembled together into the enormous generator of the Freedom, towering above everything else in the room. To the generator's left was the supply closet, where they stored everything from pipes to panels. Across from that were the large double doors; they swung freely so material could be easily transported through. Above him the generator went right through the roof to level B, were Thomas Reed worked as Head Engineer. John had worked in this room for almost five years, so he knew what he was doing.

Ever since they had left Earth in search of somewhere better he had worked on helping keep the generator up and running, and after a while the other engineers realized he was the smartest and gave him the title: Head Electrical Engineer onboard the Freedom, level A (the room had three levels). He went about checking gauges and inspecting for damage as he always did, every day, for five years. John knew his level perfectly, but today, something was missing, although he wasn’t sure what.

Sergeant Karl Jerney (no longer Elusive Operations sergeant) walked through the double doors, “How are things, Mr. Dower?”

“Pretty good, sir,” John informed the sergeant, “that pipe burst again, but I fixed it.”

“I’m going to have to talk to the other engineers about this.” Sergeant Jerney said, “it could turn into a serious problem.”

“It already is serious, sir!” John argued, “every time I weld together it gets weaker, and it bursts again. We don’t have infinite resources, sir, and I use some each time. We don’t know how long it will be before we find a new home, but I doubt it will be soon.”

“But we can hope, Mr. Dower,” Jerney said, “we can always hope. We must hope.”

*    *    *

After a long day in the hot generator room, John was happy to go to his room and talk to his wife about the problem.

“Amanda, something is wrong with the generator.”

“What! What’s wrong?” Mrs. Dower exclaimed.

“I don’t know, but something’s wrong with the heat, I'm sure of that.”

“Surely it’s not a big problem... Is it?” She asked fearfully.

John saw the terror in her eyes, wishing he didn’t have to say it. “Yes, dear, it is. Don’t worry though, Thomas, Peter and I will figure it out. They’re good, sharp-witted engineers.”

Just then a small radio on his belt buzzed, “Hey, John!” John recognized the voice as the assistant engineer who looked after things after John left, Peter Goodman. “Are you there?”

“Yes, I’m here, what’s wrong?” John said into the radio.

“That blasted pipe again! You’d better hurry, it’s pretty bad this time.”

Click. The radio calling light went off. After a quick goodbye to his wife, John hurried to his work. Peter was right, it was really bad. The entire pipe was split down the middle, from top to bottom. Peter was on the hydro lift working on the top, so John got to work on the bottom. It was slow going, but finally they met in the middle and finished together. John brought down the lift and asked how it happened.

“I was in the supply closet, checking for any trash or stuff like that, when I heard a strange hissing noise.” Peter made a sound through his teeth. “Then a loud crack! I hurried over here to check the pipe, and sure enough...! I switched on the power tanks and called you, then got on the hydro lift and started welding. That’s how it happened.”

John looked thoughtful, “We ought to switch of the power tanks now, they don’t last too long you know.” He said. After they had done that they looked at the pipe. “We should fit another pipe around it so it doesn’t crack for a little longer.” “Good idea!” Peter observed. “I’ll go get it.” They worked all night, and in the morning, they got someone to watch the room for them. They both gratefully went to their rooms and flopped into their beds, still with their work clothes on.

*    *    *

John woke up at about two o’clock in the afternoon, and after a refreshing shower and a bite to eat he went back to work.

Ping! Ping! Pang! Ping! Pang! Ping! Pang! Ping! Ping! Pang!

“Who’s making all that noise?” John roared as he went through the door, “oh, it’s you.” It was the mechanic he had left there that morning. “What are you doing?”

“Hello, sir,” the mechanic said, “some fool wrapped a pipe around this one, so I’m removing it.” He tapped the pipe Peter and John had worked on for six hours the night before.

“Sir! You are dismissed!” John blazed at him. The mechanic stared at him meekly.

“Yes, Mr. Dower.” he muttered. John fixed all the damage that the Mechanic had done to the pipe and then returned home, muttering darkly. He sat down on the couch and looked at the ceiling. He was failing, the SS Freedom would fail because of him. He put his head in his hands. Then he laid down on the couch and fell asleep. He woke with a model plane in his face, on the side table of the couch; he had made that plane when he was nine.

“A lot of good you did me!” He said, knocking it from the end table. It fell to the floor and broke. John picked up the pieces and put them back together, but a piece was missing, the propeller. Suddenly John realized...

“That’s it!” He yelled, “Of course!” He ran to the generator room and took a elevator to level B. Now he realized why something seemed wrong, he had missed the hum of the fan. “Thomas! Check your fan! Hurry!” sure enough, a fan was out of place. After two hours of work it was back. And the gauges read normal.