V6 Vandals - D4 Midnight-2a - “Ditto”
All remained peaceful up until about 5 in the morning, when Luke started to bring himself out of his night-rest. The quiet click of a relay and the soft hum of the first of Luke’s three hydraulic pumps spinning up turned the otherwise peaceful white noise just a little louder. A second click and a similar hum joined the first. The third click was met with a quiet electrical buzz.
Amy woke to the sound of an alarm, but not her alarm clock. The kind of alarm typically found on heavy equipment, where a malfunction could mean lives were at risk. The sort of alarm that no one wanted to hear, especially with a nuclear-powered robot on the team. The alarm was quickly silenced, and Amy glared at Luke.
“Really? Why not use an air-raid siren next time, you jerk?” Amy said, scowling.
“Wasn’t planned.” Luke said, showing her the screen on his left arm, lit up with a harsh red “SYSTEM FAULT” alert. “Lost the third hydraulic pump. Still able to function, but I’ll be limited to about 40% efficiency.”
Jake and Cody barged in, with Cody gasping for breath and Jake managing to get out a ragged, “We came as soon as we heard the alarm. Everything okay?”
“Other than a wake-up call from Luke that could give someone a heart attack, and Luke losing a hydraulic pump, yes, we’re okay.” Amy said.
“Oh, great, so we’ve got to carry 600 pounds of robot.” Cody said.
“No, I can still carry myself. Just not much more than that.” Luke replied.
“Wait… You said ‘40% efficiency,’ Luke. Surely it should be 60% or higher? You lost one pump.” Amy said.
“Compensation for runtime pressure losses, flow inversion, and lack of full pressure. 40% is generous, but I can work with it. I lose another one, we’ll be in trouble.” Luke responded. “In fact, I’ll have my screen display current working RPM and set an alarm, a milder one, for if either of them dips lower than 2,000 RPM. We’ll know in advance if things are going to break.”
Soon after, Luke’s screen held new information, still displaying the System Fault warning at the top, but also displaying the RPM values of Hydraulic Pump 1, 2, and 3, plus a bit of extra information.
“So, 3,267 RPM, 3,792 RPM, and 0 RPM. Why such a wide range, Luke? Other than, well, the obvious one.” Jake asked.
“The line under the RPM readings will tell you that. ‘Synchronization Fault’ That means I can’t link-and-sync like I usually do, hold everything equal. And it’s not worth it right now to try modulating down the high pump to match the low one. If I needed to use combat mode, I’d be able to make 50% hydraulic efficiency, but I’d be asking those two pumps to turn around 4,500 RPM. Normally, it’d be all three, but I can’t get HP3 to turn.” Luke replied.
“So, what caused it?” Amy asked.
“Time. 18 years, and I’ve not had a motor change. Could be a bad bearing, could be a dead spot in a commutator, a burned out brush, a jammed planetary gearbox. I don’t know. And the odds of finding spares out here is unlikely.” Luke said. “So what took it out is the same thing taking the rest of me apart, time and wear. And abuse.”
“Abuse?” Cody asked.
“Yeah, shit like lifting trucks, or not bothering to use the engine hoist, pretty much anything that forced me to use combat mode to move it instead of getting the right tools. 100% duty cycle on the motor drivers isn’t nice to anything on the other end. But enough worrying about me, if push really comes to shove, I’ll junkyard-rig something to work. It’s one motor in a triple-redundant set, and I’m still mobile, even if I’ve lost a bit of precision in the process.” Luke said.
“He’s right. Won’t do us any good worrying about getting spare parts, let’s get breakfast and hit the road about 6:00-ish.” Amy said.
The group made their way to breakfast, where they filled up on bacon, pancakes, sausages and eggs, then washed the whole mess down with coffee. When they got asked if they were the source of the noise earlier, Amy covered for Luke with, “I’m a heavy sleeper. Had him set off an alarm that guaranteed I’d be up. I hate mornings.”
At 6 in the morning, the Vandals got into the Truckling, and Luke started the engine, the screen on his left arm still glowing as he held the steering wheel.
“You’re sure you’re okay with driving?” Cody asked.
“He’ll be fine.” Amy said. “Trust me, I was his co-driver in a rally when he blew a hydraulic line, soaked half the interior of the car in oil. Looked like a triple-homicide in the car when we were done. Had to have lost half his fluid capacity, because he told me to handle the gears for him.”
“I couldn’t take my hand off of the wheel. The only reason we were able to drive at that point is because I lost an upper hydraulic hose, which meant my legs still had fluid. I was steering using the large stepper motors just after the elbow joint. Could still grab because that’s servo controlled. And for the record, 72%. The tank was empty, I was down to what was flowing to HP2 and 3 and what was left in my lines.” Luke said.
“So, basically, if Amy starts shifting for Luke, we’re fucked?” Cody asked.
“No. If I determine at any point that my driving is compromised, I’ll be making a stop to let Amy drive. Rally racing is acceptably dangerous, and a driver swap was against race rules. We had a roll-cage, fire suppression, safety crew on standby. Worst case scenario would’ve been me crashing the rally car, catching the interior on fire. Amy took that risk by unlatching the fire extinguisher so that it was at the ready, long enough to make her escape from the car.”
“So, what about you? What was your plan?” Jake asked.
“Stay in the car. Other than my hydraulic fluid being flammable, I’m reasonably flame-resistant. I was given a choice back in 2000, either work for a car company or work for the fire department. I chose the car company because I’m not overly fond of water. Sure, I can shut my vents and remain water-resistant, but that’s good for small stuff like garden hoses, sprinklers going off, or falling in the company swimming pool. High pressure water, no, and definitely no to anything deeper than about 18 feet of water.” Luke said.
With everyone at least agreeing Luke could still drive, he stuffed the Ishu Truckling in first gear, blipped the gas, and surged out of the parking lot onto the open road. The check engine light was still glowing, and Luke lightly patted the dashboard after they were rolling. “I know how you feel. Hang in there, we’ll do well, I know it.” he said, resting his left elbow on the window-line, his thumb hooked into the wheel and holding them straight ahead.
MRL: +12 (+1)
FTG: 0 (-3)
WAY: 4
GAS: 2/3
FST: 5
OIL: 1 quart
Yes, this was planned for this run. Luke’s okay and will still be okay, just he’ll be taking maintenance more seriously in the future. In fact, this is necessary for his story, because by 2020, he’s forced to retire because things like this keep happening. And he calls in every favor he’s earned in order to pull off the whole “Luke Sinistra” thing.
