3 hours ago
== NRC Ensign Raven Singer, Engineering Officer ==
Raven nodded to Cortez, "I'm glad you paid attention in your Academy classes about the basics, but that's exactly why we're making this cage. Have you ever seen a full on bolt of lightning or a discharge from a massive tesla coil? They did it for entertainment while standing inside such a cage, knowing it would redirect the energy. My own Damage Control EVA suit is designed for me to be able to take direct plasma discharges from damaged conduits, because it directs the energy around me. If you don't want something cooked by microwaves, you wrap it in a conductive foil or a metal container and it remains untouched by those microwaves, reflecting them harmlessly away. That's what I'm saying. Most craft flying through an atmosphere build up a static charge as they pass through it, which can be dangerous. They use static dischargers to prevent that. However, a craft that is coated in a special conductive material is its own discharger. I work with warp drive coils, Impulse driver coils, stasis field generators, shield projectors, annular confinement beams, tractoring devices and a long list of other similar high energy fields, not the least of which are the massive number of subspace fields scattered throughout this entire ship. I even have to deal with the fresnel reflection in our optical cables on a daily basis. I'm telling you that unless that device is a warhead, you're going to be safe inside that cage, because anything it releases is going to be either contained inside it, or channelled to a ground state and discharge out of this ship as an overload, in which case, it is not going to be a coherent signal, but an omnidirectional pulse. If we need to, I can even direct it specifically through the deflector and turn it into something that only goes in one direction, but those are pretty much your choices. I'm not sure where you thought the potential energy from this thing might go otherwise, but you have to direct it somewhere. The key is that it is not going to be directed into whoever is inside the cage. We can't make a cage big enough for it to be safe inside the cage, this ship isn't that big. You would need an orbital space dock for that sort of thing and frankly that wouldn't help much either. Containment is not elimination, it is redirection. You can't destroy energy, only change it. I'm here to make you safe against what we do know and understand. You're here to try and figure out what it is if it isn't all the things we already understand. If it is something none of us has encountered before, Science is going to try and come up with theories about it and Engineering is going to try and design something we can do about it. That's how these teams work."
Raven turned toward A'kilees and wagged a finger, "Remember, no chewing on the cables this time."
She then gave a nod to Amila and said, "You've been rather quiet over there Lieutenant. Do you have anything to add before we prepare to light this candle, so to speak? If there's something we haven't already brought up, now might be the time for it."
== Tags to all... ==
== OOC: Yes, the use of a Faraday cage inside a microwave oven is why your face doesn't cook when looking through the mesh over the glass on the front door. You also can use metal foil inside one to protect parts of an item inside it from being cooked too much. I can verify with great confidence that certain types of stealth technology employ the conductive surfaces I mentioned as well, which are still being used in some forms on modern military craft. Star Trek is famous for using various forms of known technology combined with hypothetical variations that are actual scientific theories or speculation based on theories. There are a few good books out by the people who were used for technical references while they were making the shows and movies. Most of my knowledge comes from the unusual things I worked with and some science reading on the side. I had a number of long talks with the engineers from Skunk Works over the years. ==
Raven nodded to Cortez, "I'm glad you paid attention in your Academy classes about the basics, but that's exactly why we're making this cage. Have you ever seen a full on bolt of lightning or a discharge from a massive tesla coil? They did it for entertainment while standing inside such a cage, knowing it would redirect the energy. My own Damage Control EVA suit is designed for me to be able to take direct plasma discharges from damaged conduits, because it directs the energy around me. If you don't want something cooked by microwaves, you wrap it in a conductive foil or a metal container and it remains untouched by those microwaves, reflecting them harmlessly away. That's what I'm saying. Most craft flying through an atmosphere build up a static charge as they pass through it, which can be dangerous. They use static dischargers to prevent that. However, a craft that is coated in a special conductive material is its own discharger. I work with warp drive coils, Impulse driver coils, stasis field generators, shield projectors, annular confinement beams, tractoring devices and a long list of other similar high energy fields, not the least of which are the massive number of subspace fields scattered throughout this entire ship. I even have to deal with the fresnel reflection in our optical cables on a daily basis. I'm telling you that unless that device is a warhead, you're going to be safe inside that cage, because anything it releases is going to be either contained inside it, or channelled to a ground state and discharge out of this ship as an overload, in which case, it is not going to be a coherent signal, but an omnidirectional pulse. If we need to, I can even direct it specifically through the deflector and turn it into something that only goes in one direction, but those are pretty much your choices. I'm not sure where you thought the potential energy from this thing might go otherwise, but you have to direct it somewhere. The key is that it is not going to be directed into whoever is inside the cage. We can't make a cage big enough for it to be safe inside the cage, this ship isn't that big. You would need an orbital space dock for that sort of thing and frankly that wouldn't help much either. Containment is not elimination, it is redirection. You can't destroy energy, only change it. I'm here to make you safe against what we do know and understand. You're here to try and figure out what it is if it isn't all the things we already understand. If it is something none of us has encountered before, Science is going to try and come up with theories about it and Engineering is going to try and design something we can do about it. That's how these teams work."
Raven turned toward A'kilees and wagged a finger, "Remember, no chewing on the cables this time."
She then gave a nod to Amila and said, "You've been rather quiet over there Lieutenant. Do you have anything to add before we prepare to light this candle, so to speak? If there's something we haven't already brought up, now might be the time for it."
== Tags to all... ==
== OOC: Yes, the use of a Faraday cage inside a microwave oven is why your face doesn't cook when looking through the mesh over the glass on the front door. You also can use metal foil inside one to protect parts of an item inside it from being cooked too much. I can verify with great confidence that certain types of stealth technology employ the conductive surfaces I mentioned as well, which are still being used in some forms on modern military craft. Star Trek is famous for using various forms of known technology combined with hypothetical variations that are actual scientific theories or speculation based on theories. There are a few good books out by the people who were used for technical references while they were making the shows and movies. Most of my knowledge comes from the unusual things I worked with and some science reading on the side. I had a number of long talks with the engineers from Skunk Works over the years. ==