#Do My Electromechanics Assignment | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

trainsinanime · 3 years ago

Text

In the past few weeks I’ve built a model railroad signal for garden railways with a custom DCC decdoder. Here’s what it looks like:

youtube

I’ve heard from a number of people that they thought this was interesting, but they didn’t really understand what I was doing. So today I’ll try to explain the core of it all, this circuit board:

And here’s the associated circuit diagram:

I’ll try to explain why this is the way it is and what it does.

(This whole explanation is aimed at people who have never done anything with electronics before. If that’s not you, then this may be a bit boring. Also, I didn’t come up with any of the parts of this. Most of this is based on things I learned by reading OpenDCC and Mikrocontroller.net. I’m sure I still made a lot of mistakes, though, and they’re definitely all mine and not the fault of anyone on these sites.)

The goal

First let’s talk about requirements. My goal was to build an american signal type ��Searchlight”. Such a signal has between one and three lamps. Thanks to a clever electromechanic design that moves different color filters around, each lamp can show different colors - up to three from a total selection of four.

Replicating this system for a model railroad is not practical. I need something else. Having multiple colored LEDs next to each other wouldn’t work; they’re too big and I want it to all look like one light source. There are LEDs that contain red, blue and green in one housing, but that would require a lot of wires quickly that all have to be put in the mast. The solution is this:

This is an “adressable” LED, better known under the name “Neopixel” used by a large american online store. There are many variations from different manufacturers. The key thing is that each LED has a tiny control circuit built right in. It takes four wires: Plus five volts, minus, data in and data out. If you have more than one, you can connect the data out of the first directly to the data in of the second and so on. Connect the plus and minus as well, and you can control almost unlimited amounts of LEDs with just three wires.

The data line has a special protocol that you need to generate. Basically you need to switch it from 0 to 5 to 0 volts again and again at a certain rate; the time it stays at 5 volts (“high”) determines whether you’re sending a 0 or a 1. From these bits you form bytes, which tell each LED what specific color value to send.

Due to this dataformat, you definitely need some electronic circuit controlling the signal, and the first requirements for this are:

Provide five volts DC power

Generate the data for the LEDs in the correct format

The Input

There are a lot of options for designing the input side of things. In my case, I’m assuming the signal is electrically connected to the rails of a model railroad that is controlled digitally. With digital command control (DCC), the voltage at the rails has a constant value of about 15 to 25 volts, larger for larger scales. This voltage constantly flips polarity; first plus is on the left rail, then it goes to the right rail (and minus vice versa), and then back. It’s like AC in normal wall outlets, but with very abrupt changes instead of a smooth sine wave.

This voltage has two tasks. First it supplies the locomotives with power, but it also transmits information. If one of these change-and-back sequences is long, it transmits a “0”; if it’s short, it transmits a “1”. These bits together then form the bytes that form the messages that say things like, “Locomotive three run at speed step 64” or “switch 10 switch to direction left”.

This decoder uses both features. The digital voltage provides both the data and the power. For a locomotive, that is required since the only conductors you have are the rails. This is a stationary decoder, so I could have designed it so that it only uses digital commands, and gets the power from an external power supply. However, I wanted to use the least amount of cables, so I’m using the simple version.

With that, the requirements are fixed. The circuit has to:

Turn the digital power (15-25 Volts, AC-ish) into 5 Volts DC

Read and understand the digital data signal (decode it, hence the name “decoder”) and calculate the colors for the LEDs.

Computation

This calculation is the real key here. The digital signal has a completely different fromat than what the LEDs expect. It’s slower, but also has completely different meaning. At best it transmits “set switch or signal 10 to state 0”. Which color values are associated with that, let alone any blending to make it look nice, are things the signal has to decide for itself. There is no way to build a simple stupid adapter here; I need a complete computer.

Luckily, you can get those for cheap and in really tiny.

The ATtiny85 costs about 1€ depending on how many you order, and it’s smaller than one cent coin (I think in basically any currency), but from a technical point of view, it is essentially a full computer. It has all the important parts anyway. There is a CPU that can run at (depending on the version) up to 20 MHz; half a kilobyte of RAM and eight kilobyte of internal storage for the program. Multiple programs is a bit of a challenge. If you know Arduinos, the ATtiny85 is related to the ATmega328p in the Arduino Uno and Nano. Far less powerful, but cheaper and significantly smaller.

What it lacks are all the surroundings like keyboard and screen for input and output. The chip is designed for applications where this isn’t needed, or at least only minimal things. The software that you write can assign each pin (okay, five out of eight) freely for different tasks: The pin can work as an input, telling the software whether there’s a low or high level of voltage at it (meaning 0 or 5 Volts), or it can work as an output and write high or low values, meaning setting the pin explicitly to 0 or 5 Volts.

There are other options for the Pins as well; among other things it can also read analog voltages and generate them to some extent. But for this task I only need the simple digital high-low inputs and outputs.

These types of chips, known as microcontrollers, exist in thousands of variations by different manufacturers with very different performance characteristics. They are the key part of basically everything that’s digitally controlled these days. Washing machines, everything that plugs into a computer including every single Apple lightning cable, TVs, TV remotes, amazing amounts of parts in cars and so on are all the realm of microcontrollers. The ATtiny85 is, as the name implies, very much at the low end of the scale (though there are smaller ones), and even here, it is a bit out of date. But it is very easy to program and very forgiving of mistakes, which makes it great in hobby situations.

To run, this chip needs around 3-5 Volts DC (some versions like the one here can also run on a bit less) and exactly one capacitor. I’m already generating 5 Volts DC for the LEDs anyway, so this chip will get them as well. That means for all the calculation, only two pieces of hardware are required.

There is some more associated hardware, though, for getting the program (which I’ve written myself) on the chip. For that you need a programmer, a device that you can buy for some money, or make yourself astonishingly easily from an Arduino. It needs to be connected with six wires to the chip. The standard for this is with a six-pin plug, which I’ve thus included here as well. There are standard six-wire cables for this.

You could connect the cables differently, for example with some sort of spring-loaded contacts on some programming circuit board you’d have to build for that, or in the worst case, just temporarily solder the cables in there. But the plug version is both simple and convenient, with the only downside that it makes the circuit a bit more pointy.

(Due to the Tumblr image limit, the next part will have to be in a reblog)

#model railroad #electronics #attiny #attiny85 #dcc #decoder #arduino

46 notes · View notes

sheetforce5-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Doctor BA Answers an Old Question: how the BA profession came into being

I wanted to get to the bottom of things once and for all. We had been having several discussions about the birth of business analysis and how the profession of business analyst came into being. There were no business analysts, at least as currently incarnated, in Data Processing when I started a long time ago, and a look into the history of business analysis might be interesting. So I went sought out Doctor BA who has been around a lot longer than I.

I joined Doctor BA at his invitation in his Club, a throw back to the yesteryear of exclusive clubs such as the one in Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days or M’s Club in the James Bond series by Ian Fleming: big overstuffed chairs in libraries with floor to ceiling bookcases filled with elegantly bound books that no one read. He escorted me to a pair of wing backed chairs in front of a mammoth fire place and ordered us glasses of wine.

When we were settled in, Doctor BA stroked his pointed chin, pushed back his wavy white hair and lifted his glass.

“To all those in business analysis who came before us and are still with us in spirit.” He toasted. And then he went on to address the question of where business analysis started.

[note that, because Doctor BA can get somewhat obtuse in his references, especially with names, I have edited his narrative with an explanation or two.]

It All Began…

“If you get literal, it started eons ago. Business is a somewhat nebulous term, but we can adopt Keith Roberts’ definition as selling goods or services to voluntary buyers at a profit., As such then the first appearance of business analysis must have been back in Mesopotamian times when someone analyzed the exchanges of fish for grain or pottery for meat which at the time was probably done simply for subsistence of families or groups, and determined that he could step in as a middleman and facilitate the exchange with a common exchange rate and take a percentage or profit from the transaction. Then the market was analyzed, another form of business analysis, to determine what the people needed, how that need could be fulfilled and what they were willing to pay and / or receive for it.

In other words, despite today’s insistence by various organizations and people, business analysis existed long before Ada, Charley, and Joe [Lovelace, Babbage, and Jacquard, respectively, early pioneers of computing technologies. I don’t know if Doctor BA knew any of these folks personally], ever even thought of differential engines or programmed devices.

Despite the youthful belief that computers and their off spring, smart phones, have been with us forever, business came first. As a result, business analysis should be focused on the business first, and not on some technological approach.

However,” he said, switching to coffee to chase the wine, and pouring it himself from the china coffee pot set on the side table next to him. “You are asking about the profession of business analyst as much as the origin of business analysis. For that again you would probably have to go back a hundred years or so to my friend Herman [Hollerith, the inventor of an electromechanical device for reading information stored on punched cards and for punching the cards using a code he developed in the 1880s. He went on to found the company that eventually became IBM]. He perceived a problem in the 1890 census and analyzed the business of census taking coming up with a novel and innovative solution. The essence of business analysis. Of course he was not called a business analyst at the time. Or ever probably, for that matter. He was a professor at MIT before he moved to Washington. You know, there is a plaque to him down around the C&O Canal in Georgetown. IBM paid for it. But he was a professor and a very good one, not a business analyst.

We have to remember that business analyst is a role as much as a profession. So even as a professor, Herman acted in the role of business analyst. He even had John Shaw [Billings, a statistician and surgeon and librarian who was head of the US Census and asked Herman Hollerith to help on the compilation of census data.] as his problem owner and spent a lot of time asking questions, testing solutions and analyzing the information and the results.”

Doctor BA paused to hold his porcelain coffee cup up for a refill from the silver pot in the hands of a charming fellow in a white jacket who hovered near by. It looked as though we might be in for a long night and I thought of signaling for another glass of wine, but then decided that I didn’t want to doze off and miss something important, so I opted for water instead.

Professionally Speaking…

“I suppose your question is more about when the term ‘business analyst’ first started being bandied about associated with IT. Back when Johnny [I think he is referring to John Van Neuman] started this whole thing there was no need for business analysis. We were all known as ‘computer scientists’. And I guess we were scientists of a sort. It took IBM to put the business into computers. We’re talking late 1960s with the advent of mass business and government use of the IBM 360 computers and Grace’s [that would be Grace Hopper, who Doctor BA knew and had dinner with occasionally according to other conversations I had had with him] introduction of COBOL. But still, as technical types we were called ‘software engineers’ rather than business analysts. Most of the time as we wrote programs to print reports, or calculate interest, or compute amortization, or produce payroll checks, we had very little concept of what the business did with the results of our code, or what the reason was for writing it. And really, at the time, it probably made no difference.

But the actual term ‘business analyst’, that was in the 90s, that is the 1990s. Actually, I worked with business analysts in the 1980s. Telecom companies had business analysts who were the intermediaries between the technology of telecom and the business side. IT was a part, but only as a facilitator. Marketing comes up with a “Friends and Lovers Circles” plan and the business analyst helps the technicians define what information has to come off the switch and where it goes on the eventual bill.

It wasn’t until half a decade later when some business unit delegated it’s most power of power users, at that time PCs were starting to appear on all desktops, to cross the No Man’s Land between the business and IT to talk to the technical types. The idea was that the power user might understand ‘geek talk’ better. The concept caught on in many business units of organizations, all on the down low. Then at some point, someone went to HR and a new position was created to legitimize the role. Now remember that you and I have been doing this type of thing for decades, or longer in my case, but before this time the title was something like requirements analyst, or the much more prestigious requirements engineer, or system analyst.

“Well, some IT organizations recognized the value of having a greater view and understanding of the business, realized that such a view might indeed help them produce better systems, and assigned whichever technical type who had some relatively good soft skills to be a business analyst.

Back in the day most business analysts worked for the business side, but today it has reversed and business analysts generally work for IT.

And that, as Paul Harvey would say,” said Doctor BA, with a sip of coffee, “is the rest of the story.”

Doctor BA got a far away look in his eyes as he stared into the fire place while the nice fellow in the white jacket refilled his coffee cup. I knew it was probably time to depart. As I got up from the low slung overstuffed chair, I heard my joints creak and felt very old as I walked slowly out of the Club being helped by the friendly fellow in the white coat.

Author: Steve Blais, PMP, PMI-PBA

Steve Blais, PMP, PMI-PBA, is an author, consultant, teacher and coach who has nearly 50 years’ experience in Information Technologies working as a programmer, project manager, business analyst, system analyst, general manager, and tester. He has also been in an executive position for several start-up companies. He develops business analysis and agile processes and trains business analysts, project managers, and executive for organizations around the world. He is the author of Business Analysis: Best Practices for Success (John Wiley, 2011) and co-author of Business Analysis for Practitioners: a Practice Guide (PMI, 2014) and a contributor to the Business Analyst Body of Knowledge, V3 (IIBA, 2015).

Source: http://www.modernanalyst.com/Resources/Articles/tabid/115/ID/4967/Doctor-BA-Answers-an-Old-Question-how-the-BA-profession-came-into-being.aspx

1 note · View note

uxdesignresearch2 · 2 years ago

Text

Week 2 Activities

DEVELOPMENT OF IDEAS to write our exegesis Chapter 1: positioning the researcher, 300+ words

About your background, where do you stand in relation to your practice, your beliefs and your personal involvement with the project.

Positioning Yourself Activity: Black = Q/Blue= my answers

NEXT - In-pair activity, researching sensors (as the project is sensor-based). LIST:

https://smartphonedomain.com/smartphone-sensors-explained/

LIST FROM CLASS:

- 1. Motion Sensors & Environmental Sensors

- 2. Position Sensor & Ambient Light Sensor

- 3. Proximity Sensor & Accelerometer Sensor (the one assigned to me & Bianca as a pair)

- 4. Gyroscope Sensor & Barometer Sensor

- 5. Compass Sensor & GPS

- 6. Camera sensor & NFC Sensor

- 7. Fingerprint sensors & Microphone

Our one = n.3, below:

Proximity Sensor (Bianca W.)

What is it?

The proximity sensor works both to save battery power and to avoid unintentional input while you’re on a call. What it does is it senses the presence of nearby objects without any contact. A smartphone with a proximity sensor can, for example, turn the phone screen on as you reach for the phone, and have it ready for use. When you put the phone down and move away from it, the screen will switch off. And while you’re on a call, the proximity sensor will detect that the phone is close to your ear and have the screen switched off. This will help you avoid accidentally ending the call with your ear or cheek or any other input that may interfere with the call.

Once you remove the phone from your ear, the screen will switch back on, enabling you to interact with your smartphone as you wish.

Applications (Examples, images and description): electromagnetic field detection of objects that has heat nearby, voice call detects when the screen is close to the ear, turns on the screen when reaching the phone, self-driving cars, beeping sound when a car is parking to acknowledge proximity of objects/cars.

https://smartphonedomain.com/smartphone-sensors-explained/

Accelerometer Sensor (Me)

What is it?

An accelerometer senses a smartphone’s movement. It analyses the acceleration, vibration, and tilt of the phone in order to determine its exact position, orientation, and movement along the X, Y, and Z axes.

That means the accelerometer allows the phone to detect if it’s being held horizontally or vertically, and then rotate the display. It is also responsible for counting your daily steps and recognizing the motion gestures of the phone.

Pretty much every smartphone has an accelerometer. What the phone can do with the data from this sensor differs from device to device. For example, two smartphones may both have an accelerometer, but maybe only one of them has the “flip to mute” function.

https://smartphonedomain.com/smartphone-sensors-explained/

An accelerometer is a device that measures the vibration, or acceleration of motion of a structure. The force caused by vibration or a change in motion (acceleration) causes the mass to "squeeze" the piezoelectric material which produces an electrical charge that is proportional to the force exerted upon it. Since the charge is proportional to the force, and the mass is a constant, then the charge is also proportional to the acceleration.

These sensors are used in a variety of ways from space stations to handheld devices, and there's a good chance you already own a device with an accelerometer in it. For example, almost all smartphones today house an accelerometer. They help the phone know whether it undergoes acceleration in any direction, and it’s the reason why your phone’s display switches on when you flip it.

An accelerometer works using an electromechanical sensor that is designed to measure either static or dynamic acceleration. Static acceleration is the constant force acting on a body, like gravity or friction. These forces are predictable and uniform to a large extent.

Applications (Examples, images and description)

--> As mentioned above: space stations, handheld devices, smartphones (example: your phone’s display switches on when you flip it), rotate the display, steps count, motion gestures of the phone, shaking the phone to change a song, flipping the phone face down to mute a ringtone, tilting the phone to steer while playing a mobile game, changing between portrait and landscape mode when taking photos or recording videos, and so on.

https://www.omega.com/en-us/resources/accelerometers

More images on google:

FINAL pair search/outcome:

0 notes

raisonroux · 4 years ago

Text

OTAS: Ch. 6

Going Down

Jim, the terrified elevator mechanic, busies himself on his data pad, desperate to try and convince the impatient Kylo that he was actively working to fix the elevator (despite there being nothing he could do). His heart sinks as he watches the coordinates of the elevator move past the current location to a commander’s floor above; those floors always taking priority over the common floors. With the six minutes up, Kylo reaches a gloved hand for the man's shoulder.

Just then the lift returns and the door opens to Lieutenant Mitaka flanked by two stormtroopers. Mitaka, Kylo hates Mitaka, the sniveling lackey of General Hux. Kylo clenches his jaw at the unwelcome annoyance and enters the crowded car.

“Commander Ren,” nods the Lieutenant, his tone firm as if speaking to a peer - obviously trying to show leadership in the presence of the two troopers.

Kylo ignores the empty greeting and motions to the panel to press his floor, but sees it is already lit. “Hmm. You are going to R6?” He immediately regrets the question, as it opens the door to further conversation.

“Yes, Sir," says the Lieutenant, eager to show his productivity to the apathetic Commander. "The troopers on that floor have failed to update their status. It is most likely a delay in the Comm System, but it is protocol for an officer to check and maintain order.”

Ruminating on this new information, Kylo knows it is not a comm delay… it is the rogue stormtrooper. It has to be. The more he considers the actions of the trooper, making fools of both he and the Order, the more uneasy he becomes. He shifts his stance and tries to push the agitation of a potential force sensitive trooper out of his mind, instead focusing on the task at hand - the Pilot.

The elevator door opens on R6 to reveal another solitary stormtrooper in Kylo’s path. Except this one is flailing on the ground, moaning as he humps inappropriately against the floor. The two men behind Lieutenant Mitaka snort loudly as they attempt to hold in a laugh.

A visibly startled Mitaka blinks in confusion, then lets out a shaky command, “FN-1165, stand and explain yourself.” Despite the order, the thrashing resumes.

Incensed, Kylo turns toward Lieutenant Mitaka and the stormtroopers, “Are all you little shits defective?!”

Attempting to regain the appearance of control, Mitaka quickly motions to the troopers at his side. “Get him up!” NOW!"

Kylo huffs. Choosing not to wait, he uses his long legs to step over the gyrating body. Before he completes the stride, he stops short to smash his heel into the troopers outstretched hand. Expecting a howl of suffering, Kylo looks down to see that the man appears to be impervious to the pain, solely fixated on his invisible pleasure. Jaw clenched in anger, he twists his weight deeper into the cracking bones; but still no reaction. At the faint sound of a gulp, Kylo looks up and is relieved to see a frightened Mitaka, quaking in fear. Lowering his helmet to the edge of the man's forehead, Kylo makes one final comment, “Take control of your fucking men or these won't be the only bones I break today.” The terror in Mitaka's eyes satisfies Kylo and he turns to leave. His thick black boots march onward with determination down to the cell, as the sound of armor hitting the steel floor echoes throughout the hallway.

Just before entering the interrogation room, Kylo steadies himself - reconnecting with his innermost darkness, only to hear the rustling of armor to his back right. Perturbed with the constant interruptions, he pivots just in time to see two other languid troopers attempting to rise to attention. Kylo growls furiously and uses the Force to jerk one trooper to him. “Enough of these antics! I want answers!” The trapped trooper tries to nod in compliance but is unsuccessful against the hold of the Force.

Not waiting for a reply, Kylo continues, “I want to see all security footage of this cell and hall!”

“Y y y… Yes. Yes, sir.” Regaining his faculties at the release of the hold, the guard fumbles with his data pad and types furiously. He pauses and his shoulders drop before looking up, “There is no video sir. An order was placed to cease recording.”

“Who put in the order?” Kylo’s deep voice speaks slowly as he twists the hand by his hip. The guard feels an invisible strength circling his throat, and gulps.

“WHO PUT IN THE ORDER?!” Kylo asks again as his free hand latches to his sabor. The other trooper takes a step backward.

The frozen trooper stumbles over his words. “It’s… it's… mmm my… my login code, but I…I… I don’t remember-” before he can finish his admission, Kylo tightens his fist and thrusts out his arm; the unforgiving Force propelling the strangled man into a nearby wall, already dead before impact. Hearing a gasp, Kylo turns his attentions to the other guard.

“Tell your General to get his ass down here! His inability to lead is turning the Finalizer into a circus and I AM NOT AMUSED.” Kylo hisses. He takes a step forward as a door to the cell opens. Right away his brain fogs with the oddest sensation. Even odder is the prisoner, asleep on the table, a contented smile glued to his face. This would typically annoy the Commander, like everything else about this day, but his emotions stay steadfast in a satisfied, almost sensual, calm.

“Wake, now.” Kylo orders coolly as he wields the force to jostle the prisoner’s head to attention. “I had no idea we had the best pilot in the Resistance on board… Comfortable?” The comment is meant to be a jeer, but observing the prisoner’s sated state, it appears to be true.

“I’ve been better,” admits Poe shrugging his shoulders, still hazy from his euphoric high.

“I’m impressed,” Kylo continues as he saunters toward the trapped man as an enigmatic heat fills his torso. An urge to touch Poe's chiseled cheek makes his fingers twitch. Clenching his fist, he fights the compulsion. “No one has been able to get it out of you… what you did with the map.”

“You might want to rethink your technique,” Poe smirks. He closes his eyes and takes in a full breath, losing himself in a thought, “The uh… Lady interrogator.” He sighs out, gently shaking his head, ”Hoo… yeah. I would have given her anything, and given it to her good.” He chuckles through his nose before focusing back on Kylo, “You on the other hand… aren’t really my type. But by the look of those tight pants, it seems I’m yours.”

“ENOUGH!” An embarrassed Kylo silences the smug pilot. Without another word, he hovers his palm over Poe’s mind, untangling and unearthing images from his brain. The first image he pulls loose is a memory from minutes earlier. It is one of arousal and pleasure, and Kylo finds it too enticing to ignore. However the memory is blurry and the face of the initiator, a woman, isn’t clear. Only her mewls are heard.

“This has to be a dream,” Kylo reasons to himself, “but it looks too real.” Tantalizing goosebumps dance across Kylo’s sensitive skin. Suddenly the quiet room fills with a hedonistic sigh, his own - at once alerting him to his mental voyeurism. Kylo scolds himself for lingering too long on this diversion, as tempting as it might be. With a groan forming in his chest, he clears his throat and digs deeper until the image of a droid in the desert is made clear.

***

After reading the same paragraph four times, Rose throws her book to the floor. “Agh! Where the kriff is she?!” With every distraction failing, she opts to visit the refresher. Trying her best to keep a positive mood, like her best friend, she encourages herself, “Everything is okay. Y/N will be back at any moment.” Grabbing her robe, she repeats the affirmations to herself all the way to the refresher room.

However upon her return, her hopeful smile fades when she sees a still empty bedroom. Dejected, she flings herself onto her bed, only to feel a buzzing against her chest. Scrambling the bedding out of the way, she pulls out her data pad, alerting her to a message. Eyes closed, she prays it is you as her fingers open the screen. Unfortunately it isn't Y/N. It is a work notification from her manager, “Emergency Call - Please report to the machine space of vertical transport 101A for an internal investigation.”

“Shit!” Rose's mind races. This is bad. This is very very bad. An internal investigation could point to her, and she knows she has to reach the assignment first to name another cause and sway suspicion. Zipping up her plain gray jumpsuit, she shoves her wet hair into a hat, and runs to the incident.

At the scene, her eyes widen to see the other Portside Lift tech already working. “Damn it, I’m too late.” She takes a deep breath before greeting her peer, “Hey Jim. What’s the situation?”

“Thank Kriff you’re here,” he motions down to the data pad screen to share his findings. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s a forced reboot flagged from the Electromechanical interlock, but all of the inner parts report back as stable. I’ve tried running different test scenarios virtually, but nothing is coming up. It looks like one of us will have to board the car ceiling to manually inspect.” His eyes slowly look up to stare at Rose. “So?”

“You want me to do it?! Why not a droid?” Rose asks nervously. Due to the advanced technology of the self-diagnostic computer systems and the aid of droid techs, Rose never had to enter a hoistway. Even in the apprentice program, manual checks of this nature were only discussed theoretically.

“One is already in the pit, checking for anything out of the ordinary. The other was crushed, remember? Hasn’t been replaced yet.”

Rose recalls seeing the gnarled pieces of the recovered droid on top your worktable after it got twisted into the rails. She shudders before pointing her finger at Jim, “Why not you?”

“Hell no! I had to babysit Commander Ren on Common Deck C2 for nearly a half hour. That’s way more dangerous than the hoistway. It’s your turn,” declares Jim, holding out a flimsy harness to his partner.

“This is pointless… I already know the origin of the error,” Rose lets slip as she throws her exasperated arms in the air, refusing the harness.

“You do? How?” questions Jim, eyes narrowing.

Rose bites her lip, knowing if she says anymore she will implicate herself. She tries to think of an excuse, any excuse to explain the reboot, but nothing comes out of her mouth.

“Just as I thought, you don’t know either.” Smug in his assertion, he ends up throwing the harness at Rose.

Rose catches the belt against her chest. “Uh. Fine.” As she buckles herself in, cursing under her breath with each motion, Jim calls the car to their floor.

“You’re chariot awaits,” he teases. Rose glares at him, she’s in no mood for jokes.

“I need a boost,” she huffs. Jim helps her through the hatch door of the car ceiling. Looking beyond the sling, her heart quickens as she takes in the seemingly endless vertical shaft downward. She gulps. As she steadies her feet on the roof of the car she calls down nervously, “Jim! Make sure the car is halted! I’m not dying because you forgot to click a button.”

“No can do. We have orders to keep it in service while we fix the issue. But don’t worry, I’ve kept the speed locked at 2 MGLTs.”

Rose drops back down to her knees and grips the edge of the open hatch, “WHAT?! You can’t be serious?!” she yells to her unconcerned partner, nose down in the data pad - oblivious to her distress.

Finally looking up he gives her a cocky grin and laughs, “What’s that? You want me to make it faster? Okay…”

“Just lock the damn car, Jim!” Rose’s terrified yelp echoes throughout the expanse.

But he only shakes his head, “Sorry. Superior officers are using this system. Direct orders not to halt service.”

“Fuck you and fuck orders,” Rose grits her teeth.

“Now that is no way to speak to the man holding the controls. Seriously, calm down. It’s going to be fine. I doubt you’ll even be up there long enough to-,” he pauses and all teasing stops. The elevator dings. “Oh… um… it’s been called to R6.”

“Kriff no! Pause it! I’m coming down, we will finish this later,” she says, cautiously lowering a leg through the hatch door. But it is too late, the doors begin to close.

“STOP!” warns Jim through remaining sliver of the doorway, “…it’s too dangerous! Just hang on!” The door shuts and the mechanism next to her begins to click ominously. With the rumble of motion, Rose quickly closes the rustling hatch door and lays flat against the car ceiling, careful to avoid any moving parts. In an instant, she attaches her harness to a corner hook and wraps her arms protectively about her head.

“This can’t get any worse,” she cries to herself. After a few minutes pass, the car comes to a stop, and she lets out a sigh of relief. She decides to ride back to her floor in the safety of the car. But before she can unhook her tether, in walks two reasons to stay put.

***

After a successful, and strangely gratifying search through the prisoners brain, Kylo at last has what he is looking for. With this step of mission complete, he calls the elevator - ready to end this day once and for all. With the elevator slower than normal, a now present General Hux has time to wrap up his conversation with Lieutenant Mitaka and makes his way next to the Commander. Kylo sneers under his helmet.

“Have you finally taken control of your men? Or does a real leader need to set them in line?” mocks Kylo as the lift door opens. Simultaneously both men take a step inside, shoulders colliding, refusing to be second to the other. As the elevator moves, Kylo looks about the cabin, sensing something out of place, but sees nothing.

“Lieutenant Mitaka is convinced it is a gas leak, no doubt from one of your many destructive outbursts,” states Hux, his face frozen in disdain. “And you? Did you finally retrieve the information that we all have been waiting for? Or are you too busy whining about troopers?”

Kylo ignores the slight, “It’s in a droid. A BB Unit.”

“Well then,” General Hux smirks, “If it’s on Jakku, we shall soon have it.”

“I leave that to you.” The cabin goes quiet as the two men stand silently in their hatred. A minute passes before Kylo continues, “And Hux, I want FN-2102 found and detained. I need to have a word with her.”

Above the car, Rose hears the name of the trooper and her mind instantly flashes to the moment she placed the helmet on your head. She scoots closer to the small perforated metal window into the cabin just in time to see the General pull out a portable Comm Link System.

“Status needed on FN-2102,” states Hux into the microphone.

“Yes, sir,” replies a voice through the speaker. “FN-2102 is currently in the med bay unconscious. Unlikely to wake, Sir.”

General Hux motions to Kylo before answering. “Commander Ren requests the trooper be detained.”

“She is immobilized, Sir. Both legs have been broken. Should we continue with customary protocol?”

“Not yet. Since Commander Ren has taken an interest, wait for removal until he gives word.” Hux turns off the comm link and turns to Kylo, “My gift to you.”

As the harrowing words rise up to unknown hitchhiker above, Rose clutches her face and tries to hold in a scream. Despite her mouth staying shut, her watery eyes watch as Kylo’s helmet snaps to the attention of the hatch. Their eyes meet through the tiny holes of the metal gate and Rose gasps. Startled, General Hux looks up to see what has caught the Commander’s attention.

“You!” Scolds the General, “Get down here and explain yourself.”

1 note · View note

justanokengineer · 6 years ago

Text

An introduction of sorts

Hey all, I prefer to leave my name off the blog, and include a very badly taken selfie of me and my cat, Buddy, he loves dad more than me because he spoils him with treats.

I had switched from electrical engineering in the electromechanical pathway to bioengineering in the biomechanical pathway. So I am old but not too old, it does make me feel old when colleagues tell me their age and I realize I really am still in school. Though that doesn't put me down since there really isn't an age limit for things to do in life.

I chose engineering for two reasons, spite and hope.

Spite, because in high school we had "career counseling" and my career counselor didn't like that my career test was basically different jobs in engineering and would cross them all out and say "accountant". I kept saying I like the stuff that comes with engineering and she would nod and say "actuarial science". So lady, look at me now..!!

Hope, because of a question my dad had asked me when I was in high school. He asked, "if you had any wish, what would it be?", And like any good fifteen year old I said I wanted to be rich, that way I can pay for anything, school, a home, bills, support people in the family, etc. He nodded, told me that yeah, that would be nice, but "if just for one day, I would like to walk on my own, no support, nothing," so for those of you that followed the link here and don't know, my dad has polio, he contracted it at a young age back in the Philippines when the vaccine was not yet available to them there, and has no use of his legs. That struck something in me, like I wanted to help, to find a way to give him that freedom, though I know with his condition it probably wouldn't happen, I'd like to try for others in a similar situation. That day he gave me the first piece of jewelry he ever bought for himself, that he never took off (unless he was afraid it'd get lost) so I too wear it, it's like a promise I made.

Then we go back to spite, because years later, like literally made one or two years ago, dad asked me why I wanted to go for engineering, baffled I asked if he remembered what he asked me all those years ago and he said, "oh you took that seriously? I was joking." ...I was joking..really? Too bad, I'm here, I have a year left, screw it, I'm gonna keep going.

Since I'm not all too sure what to type for credit for this class, I'm going to snag the prompt from the assignment. Since we get to run a blog I'm going to run the blog honestly (depending on if there's a prompt we have to do and depending on how free we get to be with this blog). I don't like long blurbs of text (I say as I type a long blurb of text) so I've included a picture of me and my cat, if it's ok, I plan to keep adding pictures of my cat, and maybe some other family pets or past pets, as most in most bioengineering classes there is a study if animals and what's cuter than pictures of animals? They're definitely fun to watch and nice to hold when I'm not rashing up with an allergic reaction.

Mechanics of fluids, the class I am making this blog for (and may as well keep as a personal, nonfandom, nonfamily, social media side) is a required class for me to graduate, I have taken the class the previous semester and was not doing well. I do not focus well in classes that are more than two hours long and that are at night. I was so used to previous class schedules where my classes were over and I was home by about 3-4 and would use that time to digest what I had done that day and then use the time for homework and other activities. This style worked very well for me and I hope that I don't get too set in that way such that it'll affect possible jobs in the future.

#school #personal #word blurbs #cat

0 notes