Animal Magnetism
There was a reason Steoso's team hadn't made their escape. A poorly shielded fusion reactor sitting against the hull causes the computer to either crash completely from the interference, or expel a chain of errors and warnings. In Feraan's case, it was doing the latter. Interesting point of fact- at this range, the reactor was shelling them with enough alpha radiation that, without the hull between them, the results would be lethal. As it was, Feraan could expect some radiation burns.
"Is alpha radiation the really bad kind, or just the normal kind of unhealthy?" McDowell asked. The hull was doing an admirable job of blocking x-rays and other EMF, but shuttle designs weren't usually concerned with high speed helium nuclei- the ramscoops and navigation screens handled that. "And do you think we can manual override the computer?"
Outside, Fenn and Dekospos led their teams up the lifts. The trip was painfully slow; the cargo elevators emphasized efficiency and utility, not convenience. This gave Dekospos more time to consider the situation. Fusion reactors depended on powerful magnetic fields- more powerful than any magnetic lifting equipment. Some portion of the blobs- shoggoths, as Trent christened them- would remain fluid. At best, their tactic would slow the shoggoths down- give them time to regroup. Perhaps Mayat's team would find something more devastating.
"Is alpha radiation the really bad kind, or just the normal kind of unhealthy?" McDowell asked. The hull was doing an admirable job of blocking x-rays and other EMF, but shuttle designs weren't usually concerned with high speed helium nuclei- the ramscoops and navigation screens handled that. "And do you think we can manual override the computer?"
Outside, Fenn and Dekospos led their teams up the lifts. The trip was painfully slow; the cargo elevators emphasized efficiency and utility, not convenience. This gave Dekospos more time to consider the situation. Fusion reactors depended on powerful magnetic fields- more powerful than any magnetic lifting equipment. Some portion of the blobs- shoggoths, as Trent christened them- would remain fluid. At best, their tactic would slow the shoggoths down- give them time to regroup. Perhaps Mayat's team would find something more devastating.
