Ring Around the Sky - Allyn Gibson [11]
Grevesh shook his head. “Forgive an old fool, Eevraith, but this makes no sense to me. How does the Ring hold up the elevators?”
“Counterweight, First Minister,” said Tev before Eevraith could answer. “The centrifugal force on the Ring from Kharzh’ulla’s spin throws the Ring outward from the planet, but because it’s anchored to Kharzh’ulla by the elevators, the same centrifugal force pulls the elevator shafts taut.”
“Should the destruction of the Ring section not concern us equally to that of the elevator damage?”
“It would,” said Eevraith, this time cutting Tev off, “but the Ring’s geosynchronous altitude serves to keep the Ring in place. The centrifugal force counterbalances gravity’s pull. A lower or a higher altitude for the Ring would be a concern for us. The builders put in place a system so finely balanced that it keeps itself intact.”
“Until something happens to upset that balance,” said Gomez.
Eevraith shook his head. “The elevators and Ring are quite resilient. Even the accident with the passenger transport two decades ago posed no threat to the stability of the system.”
“Only now there is a threat,” said Tev.
Eevraith scowled. “Would you not consider the possibility of the system falling onto the planet a threat, Tev? Or have you grown too indifferent to the plight of our people…?”
“I think that if the elevator truly posed the threat you claim, Minister, you would have asked for Federation assistance a year ago.”
“There was never a need to ask for assistance. Not when we were able to deal with the problem ourselves. We were able to shore up the elevator shaft, but when we discovered several months ago buckling and stress fractures in the Ring to the west of the damaged elevator, the problem had become larger than our ability to contain it.”
“ ‘Shore up,’ ” repeated Gomez. “How? Did you patch the phaser scoring?”
“Have you seen the damage?” asked Eevraith.
Gomez shook her head. “Not up-close, no. From the da Vinci, yes.”
“The phaser damage is not insignificant, and certainly more than mere ‘scoring.’ ” He looked to Grevesh, who nodded slowly, his eyes closed. “The Jem’Hadar phasers cut a gash into the elevator shell nearly forty kilometers long. Sensor analysis of the battle shows it was probably not deliberate, merely a shot gone awry. Regardless, the damage was done, and we installed starship-rated structural integrity field generators along that section of the elevator shaft, until we were ready for a permanent repair.”
“What sort of repair do you have in mind?” asked Tev.
Eevraith’s eyes narrowed on Tev, and then he quickly looked away to Gomez. “We have manufactured a new shell to bridge the gap. Our hope” he looked to Grevesh—“is that your team will be able to install the new elevator shell.”
“What about the superconducting magnets within the shell? Will the transport pods be able to travel up and down within the shaft?” asked Tev.
“Replacements for those have been fashioned as well.” He looked hard at Tev. “You of all people should know, Tev, how the elevator housing is put together. The new shell we’ve built will suffice for all of Kharzh’ulla’s needs.”
“Minister,” said Gomez as a thought occurred to her. “You said the westward Ring segment and the elevator were buckling under the strain of the damage, yet you also said you were supporting the damaged elevator by using structural-integrity fields. How can you have buckling if you also made the elevator artificially rigid?”
Grevesh was silent, his eyes still closed. Eevraith sat back on his couch and said nothing.
Tev turned and looked at Gomez. “The structural integrity fields. The elevator shafts require a certain amount of movement and oscillation, but by making the damaged elevator shaft artificially rigid in the middle—”
“—the elevator shaft couldn’t oscillate as it should have,” Gomez finished. “The oscillation wave would reach the structural integrity field and die.”
Eevraith nodded. “By