Engineering: Environmental Controls

The brief introduction to subspace was intriguing, but trying to understand all the subtle details and their ramifications was starting to give you a headache. "That's some heady stuff," you remarked.

E-9 responded, "Reference to cranial capacity is apt. The degree of comprehension of subspace mechanics is a primary measurement used to assess the collective intelligence rating of a species."

Since humans didn't have an understanding of subspace yet, that probably meant they didn't rank very high on that scale. On the other hand, if you could eventually learn it, perhaps you could show them that humans weren't so dumb after all. However, that would have to wait for another time. "Are there any other systems you can show me?" you asked.

"The environmental system is also located here. It is comprised of four subsystems that control temperature, air, lighting and artificial gravity," explained E-9. "Compared to the other systems, these are rather mundane." He then accessed one of the panels and brought up a 3D image of the Starpoint. "This interface provides access to each subsystem," he added, and encouraged you to try it.

Navigating the menus was simple, and you quickly found that the environmental controls were very intuitive. The systems were interconnected with a multitude of tiny sensors integrated throughout the ship. Using the feedback they provided, the sophisticated systems could maintain environmental settings very precisely. It was also possible to configure additional parameters to utilize the sensors and controls for other purposes as needed.

Since you would begin working in the Feeler labs tomorrow, you decided to examine the special controls applicable to those areas. From the overview, each lab could be configured with unique settings for temperature, lighting, gravitational strength, irrigation settings, air properties which included settings for humidity, and so forth. Furthermore, all of these controls could be accessed from consoles within the labs. Being able to make adjustments for those might be very helpful for the Feeler's recovery. Before closing the console, you saw an extra section that described some special security settings which could lock down the labs as well as the surrounding corridors in case of an emergency. Hopefully you wouldn't need to use that, but just in case, it was good to know you had some options.