Posted by Lieutenant Commander Nivor Rhansi (Executive Officer) in Pre-Sim - Science Labs: Scientific Progress Goes ‘Boink’

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“Any interesting experiments running right now?”

XO Rhansi

“I’m afraid Cmdr that is a loaded question to a scientist. All experiments are interesting to the one conducting them.” She set her glass on her desk and stood moving toward the door and then turning left. “General labs 1-3 are currently working on setting up the environmental controls in the arboretums. They have an idea to filter all the ship’s air supply through one of the three arboretums to help recycle and purify it rather than using the ship’s systems. Plants do this naturally planet side and with the extensive size of Ark Angels arboretums the process could save significant power if the need should arise.

Rhansi followed her from lab to lab, glancing at displays and nodding to scientists as they passed. “Forgive me, as I’m an engineer,” he said, cocking his head to one side. “Would that not be dramatically slower than existing systems? What is the potential power savings from it?”

Sharah stopped, oh right, her penchant for rambling on and on and not explaining. She back tracked her thoughts a bit and answered his question. “It’s not meant to replace our current processes, but to support the emergency shelters on the ship in the case that we are on low power reserves. It would use a system similar to old HVAC systems on Earth using fans to pull the air in and then push it out. It can be run on the back up power supplies. It’s meant to be for emergencies. We are a long way from the Federation and we’re trying to find small ways to support us when resources are low. We considered just making the arboretums emergency shelters but they can’t hold enough people. And to be truthful we aren’t sure we can run on that alone for the number of people on board, but the Arboretums provide an abundance of natural air. As for speed, plants do this naturally at an incredible rate. It’s a symbiotic relationship, they produce oxygen for those that breathe it and they need our carbon dioxide. As for power conversions…” she stopped and pulled up the results of the last simulation, “we are sitting at 49.98% power savings. And the back up power supplies are estimated to run a week with this system. But we hope that the Boridium power supplies will last longer. They are more pure and should allow us to run for longer.”

Again, both brows raised. “That is impressive power savings. Emergency use for shelters does make sense.” He stroked his chin, deep in thought. “Send me that data, if you please,” he said, hands returning behind his back. “I’d love to take a look at it… even if I’m not directly involved in the project,” he added. He had to remind himself he was not the engineer here - he was the executive officer, and had more on his plate than simply worrying about this. He realized, wistfully, those days were now likely behind him. His oxygenated blue eyes held a remorse for a moment before he gestured for Sharah to continue her tour.

Fayth grabbed a PaDD from the nearby work station and downloaded everything from the specs, modifications, test runs, holodeck simulations, numbers, and anything else related to the work. Including the data on the gas conversion ratios that were measured by the arboretum staff as a base for what they were already performing at. Then she handed the PaDD to Rhansi.

The Exobiology labs are studying and experimenting with cellular samples the Elder One provided us and trying to determine how life in this sector of space evolved. Astrometrics is of course running scans and of the area. And upper and lower Stellar Cartography is continuing En Weir’s work of using pulsars to determine our location and tentatively map major locations on a way home. And of course adding information we’ve gathered from our contacts we’ve made so far.” Fayth continued walking the deck, “And lastly for this deck we have planetary sciences. They are running long range scans of nearby systems, and analyzing data already given to us. We have managed to collect from flora and mineral samples to see if anything is compatible with either or engineering needs or,” and her eyes lit up. This was her area of expertise, the reason Andone had recruited her to Ark Angel originally as a botanist, “to supplement our medical needs.” Her department ranged down to the next two decks and partially near engineering as well. When he was ready she would take him by the rest of the labs.
Lt jg Fayth, CSO

He allowed a grin around his breathers. “You have an excellent department running,” he said, looking around the lab complex again. “I’ll discuss the mineral samples and their engineering possibilities with Lieutenant Miz’uki or one of her officers later. What sorts of medical properties are you examining the native flora for?”

He was always quite intrigued to see novel uses of materials, and it sounded like Sharah had those in quantity.

XO Rhansi

“All medicines have a basis in naturally found materials. Now with science of course we can produce lots of synthetic ones, but the creation of medicinals hasn’t changed for thousands of years. I developed a program that allowed away teams to search for, find, and adapt plants and minerals to usable medications, weak, but usable, if they were caught away from medical aid. In the field the medicines are weak but in the lab on board we can make them at full strength in the labs. The program allows officer to go past just basic first aid. This program is similar. Really we are looking for the same chemical compositions that we already use, but this far from known space things are different. So we are analyzing the flora samples we were given to see if we can use any of them.” Fayth went on for some time into the technicalities and specific chemical compositions they were looking for, how to extract and refine the parts they needed. She stopped suddenly. “I warned you Cmdr, to a scientist their work is very exciting, if only to themselves.”
Lt jg Fayth, CSO

He peered at a screen with chemical data on it. “It’s the same with an engineer, Doctor,” he responded. “‘How do you know someone is an engineer? Just wait, they’ll tell you.’” He chuckled. “A human joke that got old quickly at the Academy, but its humor is, of course, based in its truth. This is fascinating work. You and your staff are to be commended.”

Fayth had heard that saying float around at the academy many many times. “Thank you Cmdr. They are all very good at what they do, I can’t take the credit for that. They all have a deep passion for discovery and their individual specialties.”

Nivor loved enthusiastic people, especially when people were enthusiastic about their work. It helped that Doctor Fayth was also clearly quite accomplished and an effective leader. He was now quite confident in the Angel‘s science department and their ability to tackle any problems the ship may have going forward.

XO Rhansi

“Would you like to see the other labs on deck 14?” She had no idea how much he wanted to see or how much time he wanted to spend there.
Lt jg Fayth, CSO