RP: Eureka!
Date: May 23, 2005
Characters: The Ministry Electricity Restoration Task Force
Location: The power generator
Status: Private
Summary: After mishaps and snafus, the Task Force tries one more trick to bring back the power
Completion: Complete
Angus stood looking over The Monster, as they'd termed the generator weeks ago, with a hopeful eye. At last, at long last, he thought they'd finally worked it out. The task force Minister Hopkirk had created to deal with the lack of electricity had run into snag after snag, trying to bring power to the town.
At first, they'd tried to restore normal Muggle electricity to the town. Phillipa, his partner, had thought it would be easiest, but there'd been problems with that. The Muggle government, thinking the town to be abandoned, had cut them off entirely, and the task force wasn't willing to draw attention to Stoatshead Hill from prying Muggles. Even patching into existing Muggle power sources in nearby places wouldn't work. They'd have had to build new power lines, and that was out of the question.
Next, they'd discussed reverting to non-electric means of lighting the town. Old-fashioned lamps, candles in every home, magic to cook with. They'd all argued back and forth for hours about the practicality of it, and in the end, Phillipa had gotten him to drop the plan. It wasn't a long-term solution, and a lot of the townspeople needed electricity of some sort to live proper lives.
Using magic to run what was originally a Muggle power grid was unheard of, but it was what they'd decided to do. It hadn't been easy, and indeed, they'd accidentally set fire to themselves twice as they experimented with wires and breakers, batteries and circuits. The main town generator, where they'd been set up for the last three weeks, had earned its nick name of "The Monster", both in its obstinacy to work for them and its ability to shock them, literally. They were almost immune to the sparks that shot out of it now and again, and the shuddery tingle that went through them when they tried to fuse a lumos spell with a circuit breaker.
Now, they were running their final diagnostics on their latest attempt, and were about to throw the switch. Angus had an oddly confident feeling. The hybridization of running a renewable Lumos, an alternating Blasting Curse/Extinguishing Charm, a Flagrate and Flame-Freezing charm, and a large supply of Floo powder laid throughout the town, all fused into the original Muggle engineering. It would require a well-trained 7-day-a-week maintenance crew to run, but his task force was more than up to the job.
He and Phillipa stood by the main switch. They looked at each other and nodded. Phillipa threw the switch, and Angus laid his wand against it, casting the spell. "Incendium facultas ops." Everyone waited a moment as blue lightning crackled through the generator, and then a satisfying hum emanated from it. And the lights came on.
The cheering of the task force drowned out the hum of the new magical electricity.
Characters: The Ministry Electricity Restoration Task Force
Location: The power generator
Status: Private
Summary: After mishaps and snafus, the Task Force tries one more trick to bring back the power
Completion: Complete
Angus stood looking over The Monster, as they'd termed the generator weeks ago, with a hopeful eye. At last, at long last, he thought they'd finally worked it out. The task force Minister Hopkirk had created to deal with the lack of electricity had run into snag after snag, trying to bring power to the town.
At first, they'd tried to restore normal Muggle electricity to the town. Phillipa, his partner, had thought it would be easiest, but there'd been problems with that. The Muggle government, thinking the town to be abandoned, had cut them off entirely, and the task force wasn't willing to draw attention to Stoatshead Hill from prying Muggles. Even patching into existing Muggle power sources in nearby places wouldn't work. They'd have had to build new power lines, and that was out of the question.
Next, they'd discussed reverting to non-electric means of lighting the town. Old-fashioned lamps, candles in every home, magic to cook with. They'd all argued back and forth for hours about the practicality of it, and in the end, Phillipa had gotten him to drop the plan. It wasn't a long-term solution, and a lot of the townspeople needed electricity of some sort to live proper lives.
Using magic to run what was originally a Muggle power grid was unheard of, but it was what they'd decided to do. It hadn't been easy, and indeed, they'd accidentally set fire to themselves twice as they experimented with wires and breakers, batteries and circuits. The main town generator, where they'd been set up for the last three weeks, had earned its nick name of "The Monster", both in its obstinacy to work for them and its ability to shock them, literally. They were almost immune to the sparks that shot out of it now and again, and the shuddery tingle that went through them when they tried to fuse a lumos spell with a circuit breaker.
Now, they were running their final diagnostics on their latest attempt, and were about to throw the switch. Angus had an oddly confident feeling. The hybridization of running a renewable Lumos, an alternating Blasting Curse/Extinguishing Charm, a Flagrate and Flame-Freezing charm, and a large supply of Floo powder laid throughout the town, all fused into the original Muggle engineering. It would require a well-trained 7-day-a-week maintenance crew to run, but his task force was more than up to the job.
He and Phillipa stood by the main switch. They looked at each other and nodded. Phillipa threw the switch, and Angus laid his wand against it, casting the spell. "Incendium facultas ops." Everyone waited a moment as blue lightning crackled through the generator, and then a satisfying hum emanated from it. And the lights came on.
The cheering of the task force drowned out the hum of the new magical electricity.