Quoted By:
Your search illuminated by the light of your beaming eyes, it does not take long for you to find what was burning – and what went wrong with the reaction. Apparently, the wrapping on one of the Leads wore out, and because you bundled them together with a strap, it was the perfect storm for a short. That would explain why you were barely feeling any response from the Glyphery.
Frustrated at your stupid mistake, but relieved that at least nothing irreplaceable was damaged, you tenderly prod at the ball to make sure there was no buildup of heat or static, or anything else. When you are satisfied that the ball is safe to touch, you pull the Leads off of it, in the reverse of the order that you put them on, then you do the same for the other ends of the Leads hooked into the Core. Then you remove the two shorted ones and set them aside. They are technically considered consumables, but as you have no idea how to make replacements, you are going to hold on to these, and try to see if you can get them into working order once more.
After fishing out the two fresh Leads, you turn your attention to the Core. As you open the valve up and allow the core to depressurize, but to you surprise, there is no hiss of air whistling its way to freedom. Confused, you open the valve up all of the way, but there is still no release of air. Wondering what the Hell is going on, you open up the fuel and the catalyst compartments, half expecting the door to pop open from the pressure as soon as you unlatch it … but instead, is just swings lazily open. What … ?
Wait a minute. If the Core was pressurized – hermitically sealed, then how were you able to smell the olive oil cooking?
Pattern’s Perdition, you are such an idiot!
It takes a few more minutes for you to finish working everything out, but those ‘extra’ components you pulled off of the Gylphery? It seems that at least half of them are actually needed to run the damned thing, because otherwise the Core is just going to be open to the atmosphere. And the valve that you thought was pressurizing the Core, all it did was close off an intake for an optional external fuel line. It just happens to look identical to the valve that actually does the pressurization, and when the Gylphery is fully assembled, they are right next to each other.
Swearing under your breath at yourself the entire time, you finish reassembling the Glyphery, checking to make sure that you can pressurize the entire system. When you still cannot get the Core to hold pressure, you are seriously considering giving up … until you realize that the Inkpot is still open to the atmosphere. Once you have gotten that taken care, you try one more time. Sealing off all of the intakes, cranking the pressurization valve, then opening one of the intakes just an eighth of a turn. Finally feeling and hearing the jet of air, you compulsively laugh in triumph, before getting embarrassed at your outburst – and your paltry ‘triumph’.
