Short circuit
"The power is getting to the capacitor but something is blocking the power getting from the capacitor to the reactor. I'm going to have to check the circuits to see if any have shorted out," Simon said setting his tool bag on the floor and digging around.
"Damn, I left the tester back on the ship."
"Okay, now what? We need to get power to the reactor ASAP, the Vox are almost here!"
"Yes Mason, thank you. I'm aware," Simon replied. He reached into his bag again an rummaged around for several seconds before pulling out a long with with metal clips on each end, "This might work."
Simon reached into his back pocket and pulled out a knife which he used to cut the wire halfway between the clips and strip off an inch of the rubber coating, "Here, that one of these in each hand."
"What will this do?"
"I'm going to try to locate the short in the system."
Simon used his knife to pry off the metal cover he sat in front of. It came off fairly easily and he carefully set it aside before reaching into the device's internal circuitry. It only took a few seconds to locate the parts that were suspected of being damaged. Carefully he traced the circuits until he came to a chip that looked darker than he thought it should, perhaps meaning it had burned out. He attached one of the clips to one side of the chip and carefully touched the other clip to the other side of the chip.
BZZZT!
"Ouch!"
"That chip is live," grinned Simon.
"Seriously? Your using me as a human circuit tester!"
"It worked didn't it?"
"I hate you. I really do."
BZZZT!
"Damn it!"
© 2012, anthony. All rights reserved.