text; private to ratchet

[buffthis]

[ hello ratchet have a message from some douchebag medic you met like once completely out of nowhere ]

So what's a spark jump?

Comments

[stubbornandfrustrating]

Excuse me?

[buffthis]

Spinister told me about it. You did it on Krok, didn't you? It's not a procedure I've ever heard of.

[stubbornandfrustrating]

Yes, I did.

It's direct contact between a strong spark and a failing one, to stabilize the latter. You have to make sure the sparks are compatible, then pop the donor and the patient open and hook them up manually. There's specialized equipment, but I had to use a set of jumper cables from a human car I'd collected. A colleague of mine invented and tested it successfully fairly recently. Any particular reason you're so curious?

[buffthis]

Call it a professional curiosity. Wouldn't you want to know about a supposedly life-saving procedure you'd never heard of?

It certainly sounds risky. Your colleague must be quite the pioneer.

[stubbornandfrustrating]

You could call him that. Ideally the procedure is done in a controlled environment, with equipment designed specifically for that purpose, not while the patient in question is actively dying on your carpet, but I made do.

[buffthis]

My, my, you're a regular hero, aren't you? I'm sure Krok's in your debt.

You and I both know we rarely deal in ideal situations. Frankly, I'm surprised organic-made equipment was enough to conduct the spark.

[stubbornandfrustrating]

Whatever. It needed doing, anyway.

And, it did the trick, at least enough to keep Krok's spark from guttering out right there. We were both in a coma for a while, and I'm pretty sure the cables I used were shot.

[buffthis]

Yes, Spinister mentioned the two of you were laid up for quite a bit.

Tell me, how do you modulate the flow of energy between sparks? It seems like it would be all too easy for a failing spark to drain a healthy one without proper flow control.

[stubbornandfrustrating]

It's a setting in the equipment that was created that keeps too much energy from flowing from one spark to the other--it regulates it to just enough to jump the other spark.

[buffthis]

Mm, yes, that'd make sense. I don't suppose you have a copy of the schematics lying around -- or perhaps you'd be willing to draw some up for me? I'd be interested in studying this method a little further.

[stubbornandfrustrating]

If the equipment was replicable here, I would have done it already, and I'm not the one who invented it.

...why?

[buffthis]

I told you, professional curiosity. If the proper equipment works as well as you say it does, that's quite the revolutionary technique. Wouldn't you want to know more?

[stubbornandfrustrating]

Well, if First Aid shows up, you can ask him. I don't have the specs on me and I can't rebuild them from scratch.

[buffthis]

Hm. That's disappointing.

Is there anything else you can tell me about the technique? Any key principles, even on a theoretical level?