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alley, and steam hissed from an outlet high on the back of the waste-processing building above. A locomotive whistle sounded from somewhere farther away in the plant. What he really wanted was time to think. The disposal shaft, ten feet square as was usual for mines, was capped by a cylindrical steel shaft-head chamber, into which the discharge pipes from above connected. It was fitted with gastight inspection covers in its side, which were the team's intended means of entry The brick hexagon formed an outer chamber enclosing the steel inner one. Thus, a double barrier prevented noxious gases' reaching the outside, enabling maintenance or inspection work to be performed with only one of the two covers being open at any time. "There might be a way of getting down without suits," Ed Payne said as he passed tools to Lamson. "How?" Ferracini asked. Page 200 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html "It's something I was thinking about to pass the time in the barn, just in case the worst happened," Payne said, straightening up. "The shaft-head chamber inside here should have sampling valves through the walls as well as manhole covers, for testing the gas mixture in the shaft. Now, this place makes ammunition, okay? Well, to make bombs and shells you use big pneumatic presses to mold the charges into shape. In other words, something you'll find available all over a place like this is a high-pressure air supply" Ferracini nodded, all the time scanning the vicinity instinctively with his eyes. "Okay." "If we could couple a high-pressure line to one of those valves on the inner chamber, it would raise the pressure of the gas trapped above the liquid in the shaft, and force the level down. We might be able to force it low enough to uncover the opening into the conduit that goes up into Hammerhead. If so, we could maybe rope down the shaft and get into the conduit without having to swim through any liquid at all." "That would take time, wouldn't it?" Ferracini said. Payne shrugged. "Yes. But that's about all we've got left." Ferracini considered the proposition. At least it was something positive to be working on in case the truck didn't show. And as Ed said, they didn't have much else to do for the time being. "How long, do you think?" he asked. "I don't know. It depends on how far above the conduit the liquid level is, what pressure we've got, things like that. If we could find a way of opening the inner chamber to drop a sounding line down without asphyxiating ourselves, I could figure out a rough estimate." "Cover's off," Lamson announced. He lifted the steel plate, uncovering the opening into the outer chamber, and propped it against the wall. file:///F|/rah/James%20P.%20Hogan/Hogan,%20James%20P%20-%20The%20Proteus%20Ope ration.txt (164 of 203) [2/4/03 10:58:32 PM] file:///F|/rah/James%20P.%20Hogan/Hogan,%20James%20P%20-%20The%20Proteus%20Ope ration.txt "See how it looks inside," Ferracini said. Lamson nodded, took the flashlight from his toolbox, and climbed in through the hatchway. Ferracini looked back at Payne. "Gustav's mixed up with safety and firefighting gear He might be able to get us respirators or something." He checked his watch. "Where the hell is Gustav? He should be here by now" Payne became more enthusiastic. "We'd also need ropes, weapons, explosives, thermite to blow the cover at the top of the conduit -- " "One thing at a time, Ed." Ferracini went over what they had said so far. "Would it work? If we pressurize the shaft and force the liquid down, wouldn't that force a column of liquid up into the conduit, too? Wouldn't it get trapped up there and seal it off?" "Yes, but only until the level of the shaft drops below the conduit outlet," Payne said. "Then the stuff in the conduit will drain back out and go down the shaft, like a bottle emptying when you tilt it. Bubbles will go up to the top and balance out the pressure." "You're sure?" "That's my department, Harry" Ferracini nodded and was about to say something further when Cassidy came halfway down the steps. "Gustav's coming- in a hurry. It looks as if something's up." Moments later, the sound of descending footsteps came from above, and Knacke [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |