Summer. While the world is no longer tied to the conventional season system, with the majority of the world experiencing permanent summer, and the select few under the dome experience artificial summer, even the word is enough to cause someone to sweat. The dome protects from the intense heat outside, but it's still not that strong enough to completely block it out. Once a year, the dome would need to limit its function, so that the solar panel can fill the battery to full and the maintenance crew can ensure that the dome won't break for another year. Since it usually took around 3 months for the solar panel to charge, and 3 months for the cooling system to boot up and really cool down the interior of the dome, most dome owner just decided to replicate the season. 3 months of the cooling system being shut down, so Summer, 3 months of it booting up, the Fall, 3 months of it on full blast, the Winter, and 3 months of it safely powering down, the Spring. Most people say it's just how it is to ensure the longevity of the dome, but maybe they're not ready to admit that they're clinging to some familiarity, something from the past world.
"Einnnn~ Can't you, like, invent something to erase this heat?" The woman with disheveled hair complained, for what felt like the hundredth times this afternoon alone. She was splayed on the couch, fanning herself with a piece of broken cardboard, trying her best to not melt onto the floor.
"Can it, please. We're outside of the dome, Emilie. What did you expect? Go back to your café if the heat bothered you that much." Now it's the mechanic's turn to complain, rightfully so, as she's been trying to fix a machine that a client brought to her. With her hand busy holding the wrench and the other doing the wirings, Ein was the one who wished most for such a machine.
"Boss forgot to call the monthly maintenance, and now the AC broke down there too…"
"Then you went here? Outside the dome?"
"In hindsight, it wasn't the best idea. I thought that most shop would have some sort of AC, you know?" Emilie sank even deeper to the couch, now realizing that talking and expressing her words with her hands only seemed to make it even hotter than before.
"Most shop within the dome, maybe. Just shut up, please. I'm trying to concentrate, and I was already struggling with the heat."
"More reason to invent such a machine then!"
"Hmm? What is this about inventing machine? Were you two eavesdropping on me?" Another woman entered the garage, pushing something on top of a trolley. Compared to the previous two, the latest woman looked far more disheveled and dirty, even when compared to Ein, who's stained all over with grease and sweat.
"Oooh! Liz! Fancy seeing you here! Hauls been good out there?" Emilie beamed as she sat up from the couch, followed by a silent grumble from Ein. If Emilie's already this talkative to the non-talkative Ein, then the workshop is about to get even chattier.
"You bet! I think I figured out a way to beat the heat! It's all just under this tarp!" Liz proudly acclaimed as Emilie scrambled towards the tarped object.
"Can you, like, not do it here? Why did you bring it here, anyway?" Ein objected, looking slightly worried that said object would blow up the workshop.
"Cause I need to borrow some tools. Can't do much with the junk I had. Anyway, can I borrow some welders and wiring kit?" Liz didn't wait for the mechanic to reply as she just went to the shelves and picked the stuff, already knowing where all those are located. Ein wanted to complain, but then again, she barely had any energy to do so.
"Behold! The Heat-Be-Goner mk. XVII!!" Liz pulled the tarp from the object, revealing a franken-machine, with two pipe jutting out, one as input and the other as output. "I just need to weld some stuff… Here… wire these stuff…. And voila! Are you ready to be wowed and get rid of the heat?"
"Oh ooh! I'm ready! I'm ready!!" Emilie excitedly bounced around.
"I'm not. Again, can you not do it here? I don't think-"
"Ignore the grumpy one! Turn it on!" Emilie interjected.
"Here we go then! Enjoy the air from here!" Liz pointed at the output pipe as she turned on the machine. The machine sputtered into life, groaning and creaking, before it finally did what it was made to do: suck air and cool it. The suction itself was quite powerful, as the workshop vibrates slightly from all the air being moved, and despite the strength, the noise the machine made wasn't all that deafening either. Except, 'cooling' wasn't really what happened, as instead of cooler air, the output pipe expelled even hotter air, sending Emilie to stumble behind and fell to the ground. Thankfully, just before the machine could do any harm or turn the workshop to an even hotter sauna than before, a small metallic object flew above and buried itself deep within the machine, turning it off from inside.
"…Will you listen to me now?" Ein, feeling hotter and more bothered by the second, controlled the small metallic beetle, her Zwei, with her cybernetic left arm to do things within the machine. "…I applaud your ingenuity as usual, Liz, but just as always, you forgot the basics. I can see what you're trying to do…" Ein observed the inner working through the camera installed in Zwei as she does some fix. "Unfortunately, without a proper part, your machine would suck in air, forcibly cool it down with the thermoelectric passage, but the machine heated so much that the cooled air immediately got heated again, even more so than before." She explained, before she sent the bug to turn on the machine again. Unlike before, the machine now purred much more silently, and instead of sucking so much air as before, now it only sucked in a small portion of air, and subsequently produced smaller air on the other side. However, with the performance being limited, the machine is now able to produce slightly cooler air, only slightly better compared to an electric fan.
"Ah, dang, I forgot about the innate heat generation."
"Yeah. Thanks to that, Emilie seemed to melt onto the floor. Which does give me some peace, so thanks for that."
"…What if we, like, put a blanket over the sun? That'll be like, nice, wouldn't it? No more heat…" Emilie mumbled, looking dazed as she lay splayed on the floor.
"Seems like the fume had gotten to her. You might want to double-check what the pipe was used for before you scavenged it. Can you get her to the bunk, Liz, some water as well, so she won't be as delirious?" Ein sighed as she left the machine Liz brought before she focused on the one she was commissioned to work on.
"Will do. Guess I forgot to check for that as well, haha…" Liz scratched her nose as she helped Emilie on her feet as she moved the blabbering woman out of the workshop. "Though, you know, that idea might just work. I heard before the war, there was a layer that 'covered' earth from the sun."
"…Atmosphere. If either of us could invent anything close to that, we won't be living outside the dome."
"That'll be the dream, wouldn't it?" Liz gave a small chuckle as she and Emilie disappeared to the hallway.
Now with the machine blowing slightly cool air, and no other human to spew hot air or cause her blood to boil, Ein finally had time to not be as hot and bothered as before. Though, now with nothing distracting her, the mechanic had no other option but to focus on the machine, and the heat that still surrounds her. While her friends visiting might have brought even more heat and bother, trying to fix Liz's machine and explaining her work seemed to at least take her mind off of the heat for a bit. It's not much, but at least it was something. Finding herself unable to focus on her work, Ein stood up, placed her wrench and the tools that Liz used earlier back onto the shelf, before she went out to the hallway after the other two. "…Yo, Liz, where did you find the thermoelectric thing, anyway?"
"Einnnn~ Can't you, like, invent something to erase this heat?" The woman with disheveled hair complained, for what felt like the hundredth times this afternoon alone. She was splayed on the couch, fanning herself with a piece of broken cardboard, trying her best to not melt onto the floor.
"Can it, please. We're outside of the dome, Emilie. What did you expect? Go back to your café if the heat bothered you that much." Now it's the mechanic's turn to complain, rightfully so, as she's been trying to fix a machine that a client brought to her. With her hand busy holding the wrench and the other doing the wirings, Ein was the one who wished most for such a machine.
"Boss forgot to call the monthly maintenance, and now the AC broke down there too…"
"Then you went here? Outside the dome?"
"In hindsight, it wasn't the best idea. I thought that most shop would have some sort of AC, you know?" Emilie sank even deeper to the couch, now realizing that talking and expressing her words with her hands only seemed to make it even hotter than before.
"Most shop within the dome, maybe. Just shut up, please. I'm trying to concentrate, and I was already struggling with the heat."
"More reason to invent such a machine then!"
"Hmm? What is this about inventing machine? Were you two eavesdropping on me?" Another woman entered the garage, pushing something on top of a trolley. Compared to the previous two, the latest woman looked far more disheveled and dirty, even when compared to Ein, who's stained all over with grease and sweat.
"Oooh! Liz! Fancy seeing you here! Hauls been good out there?" Emilie beamed as she sat up from the couch, followed by a silent grumble from Ein. If Emilie's already this talkative to the non-talkative Ein, then the workshop is about to get even chattier.
"You bet! I think I figured out a way to beat the heat! It's all just under this tarp!" Liz proudly acclaimed as Emilie scrambled towards the tarped object.
"Can you, like, not do it here? Why did you bring it here, anyway?" Ein objected, looking slightly worried that said object would blow up the workshop.
"Cause I need to borrow some tools. Can't do much with the junk I had. Anyway, can I borrow some welders and wiring kit?" Liz didn't wait for the mechanic to reply as she just went to the shelves and picked the stuff, already knowing where all those are located. Ein wanted to complain, but then again, she barely had any energy to do so.
"Behold! The Heat-Be-Goner mk. XVII!!" Liz pulled the tarp from the object, revealing a franken-machine, with two pipe jutting out, one as input and the other as output. "I just need to weld some stuff… Here… wire these stuff…. And voila! Are you ready to be wowed and get rid of the heat?"
"Oh ooh! I'm ready! I'm ready!!" Emilie excitedly bounced around.
"I'm not. Again, can you not do it here? I don't think-"
"Ignore the grumpy one! Turn it on!" Emilie interjected.
"Here we go then! Enjoy the air from here!" Liz pointed at the output pipe as she turned on the machine. The machine sputtered into life, groaning and creaking, before it finally did what it was made to do: suck air and cool it. The suction itself was quite powerful, as the workshop vibrates slightly from all the air being moved, and despite the strength, the noise the machine made wasn't all that deafening either. Except, 'cooling' wasn't really what happened, as instead of cooler air, the output pipe expelled even hotter air, sending Emilie to stumble behind and fell to the ground. Thankfully, just before the machine could do any harm or turn the workshop to an even hotter sauna than before, a small metallic object flew above and buried itself deep within the machine, turning it off from inside.
"…Will you listen to me now?" Ein, feeling hotter and more bothered by the second, controlled the small metallic beetle, her Zwei, with her cybernetic left arm to do things within the machine. "…I applaud your ingenuity as usual, Liz, but just as always, you forgot the basics. I can see what you're trying to do…" Ein observed the inner working through the camera installed in Zwei as she does some fix. "Unfortunately, without a proper part, your machine would suck in air, forcibly cool it down with the thermoelectric passage, but the machine heated so much that the cooled air immediately got heated again, even more so than before." She explained, before she sent the bug to turn on the machine again. Unlike before, the machine now purred much more silently, and instead of sucking so much air as before, now it only sucked in a small portion of air, and subsequently produced smaller air on the other side. However, with the performance being limited, the machine is now able to produce slightly cooler air, only slightly better compared to an electric fan.
"Ah, dang, I forgot about the innate heat generation."
"Yeah. Thanks to that, Emilie seemed to melt onto the floor. Which does give me some peace, so thanks for that."
"…What if we, like, put a blanket over the sun? That'll be like, nice, wouldn't it? No more heat…" Emilie mumbled, looking dazed as she lay splayed on the floor.
"Seems like the fume had gotten to her. You might want to double-check what the pipe was used for before you scavenged it. Can you get her to the bunk, Liz, some water as well, so she won't be as delirious?" Ein sighed as she left the machine Liz brought before she focused on the one she was commissioned to work on.
"Will do. Guess I forgot to check for that as well, haha…" Liz scratched her nose as she helped Emilie on her feet as she moved the blabbering woman out of the workshop. "Though, you know, that idea might just work. I heard before the war, there was a layer that 'covered' earth from the sun."
"…Atmosphere. If either of us could invent anything close to that, we won't be living outside the dome."
"That'll be the dream, wouldn't it?" Liz gave a small chuckle as she and Emilie disappeared to the hallway.
Now with the machine blowing slightly cool air, and no other human to spew hot air or cause her blood to boil, Ein finally had time to not be as hot and bothered as before. Though, now with nothing distracting her, the mechanic had no other option but to focus on the machine, and the heat that still surrounds her. While her friends visiting might have brought even more heat and bother, trying to fix Liz's machine and explaining her work seemed to at least take her mind off of the heat for a bit. It's not much, but at least it was something. Finding herself unable to focus on her work, Ein stood up, placed her wrench and the tools that Liz used earlier back onto the shelf, before she went out to the hallway after the other two. "…Yo, Liz, where did you find the thermoelectric thing, anyway?"