You skid to a halt in front of the genatorium, looking over its link to the life sustainer. You can fix this, but you are going to need some extra hands. You draw what breath you can in the thinning air and try to calm yourself.

"Team, on me. We can fix this power linkage, get the life sustainer back online."

Your team gathers around, but you can see the looks of confusion on their faces.

"Right, sorry, I forgot. The generator is making power, the life sustainer needs it to make the air we breathe, but the cable to move power from one to the other is broken."

You see the dawning comprehension on their faces. Reminding yourself to stick to artisan terminology, you continue on, knowing you don't have too much time.

"I have the knowledge to fix what is broken, but I don't have all of the hands or eyes that I need. So I need your help."

Initiate Kathrine sticks her hand up, "do we have time for all of the rituals needed? And will the work of un-sanctified hands cause more problems?"

You shake your head, "yes and no. In cases of emergency, the popper procedure is to repair the damage, then perform the needed blessings. As to the question of un-sanctified hands, It doesn't matter so long as the needed Rites are invoked properly afterwards."

Katherine nods, reassured by your words, "so it's kinda like the Emperor's Prayer: everyone can do it, but priests do it better because they are less likely to forget the words."

You take a moment to think on it. Kathrine isn't far of the mark, for a meat-being, "Leaving out the technothoelogic details, yes. Any other questions?"

There are none. You can tell that they have their misgivings by the hesitation in their nods, but they can all feel that air running short.

"Alright then. Havelock, You have the best eyesight here. There are five important modules: three on the genatorium and two on the life sustainer." You point out the empty casing of a backup module. "They should be sitting in a housing, a box, that looks like this one. Instead of a blank sheet of metal, they will have wires, buttons, and / or blinking lights, with an extra 'indicator' light in the top-right corner. Think you can find them for me?"

Havelock nods, reassured by your simple description. A few moments later he points at a lump on the side of the genatorium, "is that one?"

You carefully brush some dust away from the box, "yes, it is. Four more to find Havelock. Cian, can you assist him? Kathrine, I'm going to need you to work my dataslate to check my work. Simple rituals of data-retrieval, just like you've used before."

Kathrine take it gingerly, "I'm more used to paper records, but I think I can figure it out."

You pat her shoulder reassuringly, "I'll be here to walk you through it, but I need my hands free to fix the module." You pull out your omni-tool and your small bag of extra components, and take a moment to examine the module.

Fellowship test at +10% (+0% base, +10% for simple module): give Kathrine the information she needs.

Success! Needed <31, got 10. +10% to next Tech-use test.

"Alright, here we go. Kathrine, please look up 'Module space Wiring space comma space Simple.' That should find a chart divided first by the number of wires from three to six, with four cases of what to do below each. I need the information from the section for three wires."

Kathrine taps at keys on your dataslate, hunting and pecking for the correct letter. Mentally, you wince at the inefficient, slow typing methodology, but it is better than rushing through and making a mistake that leads to a search finding nothing. A few moments later her face lights up with a smile. "Got it! For three wires: if there are no red sockets, connect the second set of sockets. Else If the last pair of sockets are white, connect them. Else if there is more than one pair of blue sockets, connect the last pair of blue sockets. Else connect the last pair of sockets."

Tech Use Test at +25% (+0% base, +10% from Omni-tool, +10% from able assistant, +5% spare components (7 remaining)): Fix the module.

Success: Needed <68, got 55. Succeeded by >10: +1 success.

Three more successes needed. Five more turns of air remain.

You carefully examine the sockets, twirling a spare piece of wire in your hand. There is one red socket in the last pairing, and the top pair of sockets are blue. There is more than one red socket, so the first IF check is false. The last pair of sockets are not both white, so the second IF statement is also false. There is only one pair of blue sockets, so the third and final IF statement is also false. That leaves the fall-through case as the only solution. Accordingly you take the scrap of wire you have been fiddling with, strip the excess insulation away, and make the needed connection between the last pair of sockets. The indicator light in the top right corner glows a comforting green.

"Module one is complete. Thank you Katherine. Havelock, Cian, have you found any more modules?"

Cian points to one on the life sustainer, "I found one, but the little indicator light is green. What's that mean?"

"It means that module is in working order and we don't need to fix it! There should be one more on the Life sustainer, keep looking for it please Cian. Havelock, any others on the genatorium?"

Havelock pokes his head around the corner of the genatorium, "Found another one. Six sets of wire clips, a socket, some sort of port, a row of lights, a number, and some paper tags."

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

"That's the next one then. Keep looking please." You gather up your equipment and beckon Kathrine to follow.

Fellowship test at +0%: give Kathrine the information she needs.

Failure! Needed <21, got 74. -5 on next Tech Use Test.

"Kathrine, please look up 'Module space Wiring space comma space Complex.' You should get a document with four discreet flowcharts, one each for a red pair of sockets, a blue pair of sockets, a red and blue pair of sockets, and a white pair of sockets."

"I have one, but there a note on it that reads 'for defusing ONLY.' what does that mean?"

"It means it is close enough to what we needed here that it will work. Just follow the chart, I'll worry about the extra step."

Tech Use Test at +15% (+0% base, +10% from Omni-tool, -5% from bad assistance, +10% spare components (5 remaining)): Fix the module.

Success: Needed <58, got 53.

Two more successes needed. Four turns of air remain.

You take breath, snap a battery into the socket, and gather the wires you may need. "The first pair of sockets are blue."

Kathrine taps the flowchart with a finger, "Does the pair have a light? Or a paper tag?"

"It has both."

"Does the module have a 'DB-25 port', whatever that is?"

You examine the port closely, counting the little pinholes. You get a total of 25 in two rows, confirming that it is indeed ad DB-25 port, "yes."

"The chart says 'cut'."

You mentally flip from the 'defuse' chart to the 'module maintenance' chart, converting 'cut' to 'do not connect'. "No connection needed. The second pair of sockets is the same as the first, so it also requires no connection. The third pair of sockets is red, and has a light but no tag."

"Does the module have two or more batteries?"

The module has only the one battery you added so... "No it does not."

"The chart says 'do not cut'."

"That means I need to connect the two sockets..." you quickly make the needed connection "...and done. The next socket pair is red and blue. It has a tag, but no light."

Kathrine drags her finger through the flowcharts, "is the last digit of the 'serial number' even or odd?"

You scrape a finger across the engraved serial number, scraping away the grime and dust. "The last digit is a nine, which is an odd number."

" 'Do not cut' "

"Making the connection. Fifth pair of clips is white with a tag."

" 'Cut' "

"No connection required. Sixth and final pair of clips is white with a light."

" 'Do not cut' "

"Connection made, indicator light is green. Module complete. Havelock, any luck?"

"No luck."

"Cian, same question."

"Got one here. Keypad, four buttons."

"On it. Help Havelock find the last module."

You and Kathrine move to the next to last module. You leave your spare parts packed away, you won't need them for this one.

Fellowship test at +10% (+0% base, +10% for simple module): give Kathrine the information she needs.

Success! Needed <31, got 9. +10% to next Tech-use test.

"Kathrine, please look up 'On space The space Subject space Of space Keypads space Maintenance.' You should find a six-by-six chart full of symbols. The four on they keypad should only exists in one of the columns, and need to be entered in order from the top of the column to the bottom of the column, skipping over the two that are not on the keypad."

Kathrine scrunches up her face, "I found the chart, but I don't recognize any of the symbols."

"Not a problem, I'll describe how they look as best I can."

Tech Use Test at +10% (+0% base, +10% from able assistant): Fix the module.

Success: Needed <53, got 47.

One more success needed. Three turns of air remain.

"Here we go. Symbol one: a backwards capital letter c with a dot in the middle. Symbol two: a lightning bolt. Symbol three: a capital letter A with an extra leg. Symbol four: a fancy capital letter H.

"I think I have this. In order: the capital A, the lightning bolt, the fancy H, the backwards c."

You press the four buttons in the proper sequence at get a little green light for your trouble. "Module complete, only one more to go. We just might do this!"

Kathrine looks up sharply, "you mean we could sill die horribly?"

Fellowship test at +0%: inspire Kathrine. Failure: needed <21, got 76

You shrug, "we have a non-zero chance of failure, but our chance of success is rising slowly."

Cian call out for your attention, "Found it! Big red Button with 'Hold' written on it!"

Tech Use test at +0%: Push the button?

Success: needed <43, got 08.

Life sustainer online, genatorium capacitors discharging safely.

You hurry over and examine the button. Large, red, under a safety shield which you promptly flip open. No markings, other then 'Hold', no indicators for what it does. It is on the genatorium, so you suppose it could be a start or connect switch. You give it an experimental push, promptly releasing it just in case. Everything goes till for a long moment, then the Life sustainer engages with a loud CLANG and the deck shudders under your feet as liquid rushes through a pipe beneath the floor. You sit down on your ass and choke down a lungful of air. It isn't fresh, but it is redolent of the particular bitter metallic aftertaste of a life sustainer. "We did it folks. Take five minutes to rest while I perform the Right of Reactivation."

Seven minutes later and you are leading your team through the airlock and on into the Arno Dorian. Some time later (without a timekeeping device you aren't sure how long) You encounter a section of impassible wreckage. You backtrack and find a maintenance shaft leading down to a lower deck, but the ladders look a bit slick, like they were recently covered in a liquid of some sort. The air is once again thick with the bitter aftertaste of a life sustainer, and you have to wonder if this was the source of the liquid that drained away under your feet. You do need to go down the ladder, as it is the only way forward that you can find, but there is always the question of how fast you need to go.