Chapter 4 – The Rapid Restart
“James, Time to wake up. Your alert criteria have been met!”
Great, just enough time to not feel rested and it is time to get up. Isn't that always the way?
“Computer, I am awake.”
Grabbing the H2IK manual, I flip over to the reactor restart section.
The restarting of the fusion reactor is a very power hungry process. It can take all of the power in the cells, though in the tests there was always at least one cell still charged at the end of the cycle.
You will need to be in your suit and on internal life support.
I put my helmet back on and secure it to the suit collar. Reaching down I turn the full pack on from standby.
Tell the computer to switch to backup power. This will require the override code: Charley Zero Nine. Once that is done tell the computer to begin Reset Protocol Alpha One.
“Computer. Command. Switch to backup power, Override Code: Charley Zero Nine”
I hear the Command and Control circuit breakers click over to the Battery Bus as the computer responds “Done.”
“Computer. Command. Begin Reset Protocol Alpha One.”
“Commencing Ship Shutdown for Fusion Restart. Propulsion: off-line, Communication: off-line, Navigation: off-line, Life Support: off-line. All major ships systems are idle. Ship ready for restart attempt.”
I scan the status board to confirm the computer's report and as expected all the systems are off-line. I return to the manual.
The computer will monitor the restart attempt and provide continuous status updates during the procedure. Keep in mind that the computer can not control any of the processes that are initiated by the ERS. Once you press the Green Button, you have only two outcomes.
The reactor restarts in which case you will enter the following on the HSC/ERS keypad: 'Load', C100 FFFF, 'Execute' to stop the restart sequence and return the fission reactor to a quiescent state. Then tell the computer to begin Restart Protocol Alpha Two. This will bring the systems back on-line while completing the restart of the other three chambers of the fusion reactor.
The other possible outcome is that the reactor fails to start and the computer warns of immanent power failure in primary bus. If this happens, just press the Red Button to begin the recharge sequence again.
That seems simple enough, though I suspect there is a great deal going on behind the scenes to make this work properly. I guess there is nothing left to do but press the Green Button, so I do just that.
The computer begins its running status report:
“Fission Reactor at full power.”
I wonder if it is using all the fuel rods, or just pulled out all the damper rods. Probably just pulled the dampers since the specifications say that it uses one fuel rod at a time.
“Fusion reactor magnetic containment fields initiating.”
That's why the fission reactor was cranked up. It takes a lot of power to set that field initially.
“Fission Reactor shutdown.”
“Deuterium coolant routed to fusion reactor main chamber injectors.”
Starter fuel for the fusion reactor is hot coolant for the fission reactor. That's sweet.
“Injectors heated to operational temperature.”
And now the fun begins.
“Fuel injected into containment field.”
Now to compress the fuel to fusion temperature and pressure.
“Ion pulse lasers firing in first sequence.”
“Plasma temperature climbing.”
I don't like the looks of the temperature curve versus the power usage. I don't think it will get hot enough fast enough to reach sustainable fusion before we run out of power.
“Ion pulse lasers firing in second sequence.”
“Plasma temperature climbing.”
That cranked it up a notch, but I still don't think its going to make it.
“Ion pulse lasers firing in final sequence.”
“Plasma temperature climbing.”
It might make it. It will be a close run thing, that's for sure.
“Plasma temperature climbing.”
Several minutes of this passed, then came the dreaded status update.
“Main power bus failure immanent.”
“Restart needs to be aborted.”
“ALERT! Press Red Button NOW!”
This is where I came in the first time. I push the button with a sigh.
“Starter fuel returned to fission cooling system.”
“Containment fields deactivated.”
“Fusion Reactor activating at 75% capacity.”
“First Power Cell Charging.”
Unlike the first time I woke up, this time I have the AI and its resources, “Computer. Analyze restart attempt. Give suggestions on improvements to procedures and sequences for a successful fusion reactor restart.”
“Working.”
I wonder where it learned to say it like that?
Great, just enough time to not feel rested and it is time to get up. Isn't that always the way?
“Computer, I am awake.”
Grabbing the H2IK manual, I flip over to the reactor restart section.
The restarting of the fusion reactor is a very power hungry process. It can take all of the power in the cells, though in the tests there was always at least one cell still charged at the end of the cycle.
You will need to be in your suit and on internal life support.
I put my helmet back on and secure it to the suit collar. Reaching down I turn the full pack on from standby.
Tell the computer to switch to backup power. This will require the override code: Charley Zero Nine. Once that is done tell the computer to begin Reset Protocol Alpha One.
“Computer. Command. Switch to backup power, Override Code: Charley Zero Nine”
I hear the Command and Control circuit breakers click over to the Battery Bus as the computer responds “Done.”
“Computer. Command. Begin Reset Protocol Alpha One.”
“Commencing Ship Shutdown for Fusion Restart. Propulsion: off-line, Communication: off-line, Navigation: off-line, Life Support: off-line. All major ships systems are idle. Ship ready for restart attempt.”
I scan the status board to confirm the computer's report and as expected all the systems are off-line. I return to the manual.
The computer will monitor the restart attempt and provide continuous status updates during the procedure. Keep in mind that the computer can not control any of the processes that are initiated by the ERS. Once you press the Green Button, you have only two outcomes.
The reactor restarts in which case you will enter the following on the HSC/ERS keypad: 'Load', C100 FFFF, 'Execute' to stop the restart sequence and return the fission reactor to a quiescent state. Then tell the computer to begin Restart Protocol Alpha Two. This will bring the systems back on-line while completing the restart of the other three chambers of the fusion reactor.
The other possible outcome is that the reactor fails to start and the computer warns of immanent power failure in primary bus. If this happens, just press the Red Button to begin the recharge sequence again.
That seems simple enough, though I suspect there is a great deal going on behind the scenes to make this work properly. I guess there is nothing left to do but press the Green Button, so I do just that.
The computer begins its running status report:
“Fission Reactor at full power.”
I wonder if it is using all the fuel rods, or just pulled out all the damper rods. Probably just pulled the dampers since the specifications say that it uses one fuel rod at a time.
“Fusion reactor magnetic containment fields initiating.”
That's why the fission reactor was cranked up. It takes a lot of power to set that field initially.
“Fission Reactor shutdown.”
“Deuterium coolant routed to fusion reactor main chamber injectors.”
Starter fuel for the fusion reactor is hot coolant for the fission reactor. That's sweet.
“Injectors heated to operational temperature.”
And now the fun begins.
“Fuel injected into containment field.”
Now to compress the fuel to fusion temperature and pressure.
“Ion pulse lasers firing in first sequence.”
“Plasma temperature climbing.”
I don't like the looks of the temperature curve versus the power usage. I don't think it will get hot enough fast enough to reach sustainable fusion before we run out of power.
“Ion pulse lasers firing in second sequence.”
“Plasma temperature climbing.”
That cranked it up a notch, but I still don't think its going to make it.
“Ion pulse lasers firing in final sequence.”
“Plasma temperature climbing.”
It might make it. It will be a close run thing, that's for sure.
“Plasma temperature climbing.”
Several minutes of this passed, then came the dreaded status update.
“Main power bus failure immanent.”
“Restart needs to be aborted.”
“ALERT! Press Red Button NOW!”
This is where I came in the first time. I push the button with a sigh.
“Starter fuel returned to fission cooling system.”
“Containment fields deactivated.”
“Fusion Reactor activating at 75% capacity.”
“First Power Cell Charging.”
Unlike the first time I woke up, this time I have the AI and its resources, “Computer. Analyze restart attempt. Give suggestions on improvements to procedures and sequences for a successful fusion reactor restart.”
“Working.”
I wonder where it learned to say it like that?
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