Truth in Nomenclature (2)

Alistair Young

Aug 17, 2020 — 1 min read

justonce breaker / justonce bar / justonce stop / etc.: Engineering jargon. A justonce in any of its forms – be it the hardline switch or insertable bus-bar that bypasses circuit overload protection, the stop valve that seals off pressure-relief valves, or the disabling of thermal trips is the manual override which permits equipment to continue operating even when doing so will result in damage to equipment, personnel, or the surrounding area – even, in its most common military applications, to the entire containing vessel.

The justonce, naturally, is intended to be used only in situations where the risks and consequences of having a given piece of equipment out of action are outweigh the risks and consequences of it failing catastrophically.

The unusual name for these devices refers to a cynical saying common in the Imperial Military Service: “Doesn’t matter what they’ve got; you can’t explode twice.”

Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Hole

SINGULARITY INJECTION ZONE DANGER NOT ONLY WILL THIS KILL YOU, AND NOT ONLY WILL THIS KILL YOU PAINFULLY, BUT THE SUBJECTIVE TIMESPAN OF YOUR AGONY WILL BE EXTENDED TO INFINITY (IF YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY, START RUNNING NOW) – seen in Unit 3, Dark Star Power Plant, Xavéral

Exigency

This is, the operator thinks, possibly the worst day to hear the stolid parping of the some-moron-thinks-he’s-a-train alarm. A glance at the monitor pointed to by the sensor indicator told the story. Courtesy of the motion-and-presence trackers, it played back the moment at which the aforementioned moron had forced

Don’t Do That, Then

lookforward monitor: a specialized optronic circuit containing a signaling microwormhole or temporal tangle channel from the near future. (The precise time period depends on the application, and has been configured for periods as short as one micropulse and as long as a full hour.) The function of the lookforward monitor

Wakey, Wakey

navigational awareness system: The most dangerous part of space flight, interface vehicles excepted, is close-orbit maneuvering, or rendezvous, in which one craft must maneuver near to, or even to touch, another safely. Since neither starships nor habitats are small, it only takes a minor accident to involve a lot of

Related posts

Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Hole

Exigency

Don’t Do That, Then

Wakey, Wakey