Re: [OOC] The Catacombs, hard SF
 

Smarg set to tie the silly dog on, so I imagine it happened.

Re: [OOC] The Catacombs, hard SF
 

Xerxes is looking around the container some more, to make sure he didn't miss anything, and also looking for exits to other parts of the ship (edited IC post).

Re: [OOC] The Catacombs, hard SF
 

The container you're in has doors at both ends. One's the one you came in, of course. The other is a hatch that leads into a flexible tube (much like the ones used to connect a plane to the terminal building, but airtight. The hatch is shut. The tube leads to the next container spinward.

About 2/3 of the volume of the container is taken up by the fabricator and its storage bins. There are a large number of drawers that likely hold tools, parts etc. IT would take a person a week to take an inventory.

Re: [OOC] The Catacombs, hard SF
 

Okay, Xerxes will ask permission to go into the next container. If the answer is "wait" he'll start opening the drawers and inventorying what he can recognise there.

Re: [OOC] The Catacombs, hard SF
 

Yes. The manual control panel hides the mechanism to open the door. Almost all doors that are pressure tight slide open -- a door that swings is very hard to open against a pressure differential. (Atmospheric pressure is about 15 psi, a standard door is about 2600 square inches, so the force on it is about 18 tons!) Sliding doors don't have that problem, they're not opening against the pressure differential. The doors are normally opened by power, but in the event that power fails, there's a way to open them. There's a manually cranked drive. It's much faster to use a powered wrench, if you've got one, but because they're not always handy, there's a hand crank at every door. It takes about a minute to crank it open entirely by hand, a couple seconds with a power wrench.

Re: [OOC] The Catacombs, hard SF
 

Thanks. I seem to have accidentally deleted the post where I was asking you this (probably because I had less than a minute to get out of the house and catch my train). :(

Another question: what exactly is a ditty bag?

Re: [OOC] The Catacombs, hard SF
 

It's a small bag used carry a sailors personal gear. Historically, it was made by the sailor and was a way to show off his sewing skills. These days, it's just a small kit bag. You could put your toothbrush and shaving kit in one, for instance.

Re: [OOC] The Catacombs, hard SF
 

So, this could be an indication we're getting close to the crew quarters on this station. Okay, Xerxes is going to examine the bag so soon as the doors are fully open. Hopefully I won't regret this. I seem to have had an attack of paranoia.

Re: [OOC] The Catacombs, hard SF
 

David, is everything okay? Are you waiting on a response from one of us?

Re: [OOC] The Catacombs, hard SF
 

I'd thought Julia would say something, and then I got busy, and then I got sick. And tonight, I've burned my hand cooking dinner, so excuse my typing.