Industrialisms

Another installment of Casiella Truza’s Friday Flash Fiction, number 10, using the phrase “Should you be doing that?”

Jerek crouched down in the passageway and looked into the access panel. He noted that the primary relay coupling was fried, and spitting sparks. Coolant was leaking from the attached cooling lines and was making a mess of the panel’s interior components. If he didn’t get things cleaned up it was going to be hell replacing the damaged components shorted by the liquid coolant.

“Jerek, what’s the status of the primary shield emitter?” a voice said behind him as he worked. The voice belonged to the senior technician, Alana Yoril.

“It’s still down Alana. I think I found the problem. The primary relay coupling shorted out from a coolant leak, and the coolant is pooling in the panel, causing more shorts in the circuits,” he said with a sigh, “and it will take me a while to get it cleaned up.”

Jerek applied a binding clamp to the coolant tubes, sealing the leak. He reached around to the back pocket of his coveralls and grabbed a spare rag. He started daubing the rag around the access panel, attempting to swab up some of the coolant and avoid any more shorts.

“Should you be doing that?” Alana asked in a concerned voice, “Please be careful of the….”

BZZZTT!

Jerek flew backwards involuntarily as his muscles moved on their own, smashing him into the hard metal wall across the passageway with a resounding thud. Jerek’s head lolled to the side, he was momentarily dazed from the impact. Alana rushed over to him and helped him sit up.

“Wha?” Jerek finally spoke, reaching up to grab his head.

“You took a nasty shock there Jerek. Good thing you didn’t have both hands in the circuit or you wouldn’t have survived that one. Next time, I suggest you take precautions before trying to mop up a coolant leak where there is live power. You should have shut down the power to this panel beforehand, ” she said reproachfully.

“I’ll know better next time, ” he mumbled.

“Good, let’s get you to your feet and off to the infirmary. We’re not in any danger where the ship will need shielding for the time being, so I’ll notify the pilot to dispatch another junior technician to finish up here, ” she said and dragged Jerek to his feet.