I’m specifically thinking of Borealis, the Aperture Science research vessel that Judith Mossman is sent to acquire in Half-Life 2: Episode Two.
I’m writing a fan fiction in which Borealis is a nuclear-powered vessel, and has never been fueled or used (though inert fuel rods are stored in the ship), and after teleporting from Aperture (at which time it was in pretty much pristine condition), sat somewhere around Øksfjordjøkelen and Langfjordjøkelen for 5 or 10 years. Not necessarily in the water (though I haven’t ruled that out yet).
What kind of damage would it probably have sustained, and would it be possible to make it serviceable again? (And if so, what kind of work would that entail?)
After 10 years, it might not need much more than some serious bird shit removal and paint. A solid hull can stand being frozen in ice. Was the boat moored? Were any doors left open? Water in the pipes? I imagine getting the reactor and boiler going would be tricky.
Corrosion is going to a problem. Metal rusts slower in colder temperatures, so there probably won’t be as much if the boat was sitting in the arctic. Mold and mildew will represent health hazards, as will PCBs (chemical toxins released when older petroleum products decay… not such a big deal for more modern vessels).
Probably the biggest problem will be bilge water. It is practically impossible to keep a boat 100% leakproof. Ships that sit for years in the mothball fleets still need maintenance workers to come through and pump the water every now and then.
Another big problem is going to be the electronics. Batteries will fail and corrode over time. The gas in the generators will go bad. The ship might have a nuclear power plant, but what intermediate steps would be needed to turn the thing on? They would have to bring their own fuel and power sources to use until the ship’s power is back online.
Well, at least for reference, the steamer SS Baychimo was abandoned in the Beaufort Sea, north of Alaska, in 1931, where it drifted intact for at least 38 years, when it was last seen.
Well, no one’s been aboard her since 1939, so while the Baychimo was intact in the sense that she was afloat, it’s unclear how intact she would have been for the purpose of human habitation.
On the other hand, we know from the events of Portal 2 that Aperture designs their hardware to remain operational after extraordinarily long periods of disuse. All those lights, automated recordings, moving platforms and powered doors, etc, in the old underground Aperture Science labs, after having been untouched for decades at least (possibly centuries or more depending on just how long elapsed between *Portal *and Portal 2). The Borealis was built during that era (there’s a side passage you can travel down to find its dock) so you could easily justify it having the same longevity.
In part of the game, GladoS is mentioning that she is able to repair damage(the dialogue line was about picking up broken glass). The actual underground labs have enough robotics and tools that, under the guidance of the AI, everything in them can be repaired.
The Borealis was teleported by accident to the arctic. Obviously, the crew didn’t survive or weren’t aboard. There’s also promotional screenshots that show it was significantly damaged by the event.
The ship itself isn’t going anywhere. It wouldn’t have inert nuclear fuel onboard - either it needed the reactor running in order to teleport, or it didn’t. If the reactor was running, you’ll find the reactor in a SCRAMed state and presumably not operable.
The whole reason to go after it is it has a large scale teleport or portal generation system. Presumably, this would allow the human resistance to fight off the combine - they could just teleport into nuclear arms bunkers that presumably are still intact on earth, then teleport nukes into all of the alien bases.
The turbine bearings might have flat spots.
Lube oil would probably be bad.
Line shaft bearings would be questionable. (drive shaft)
Stern tube packing would be questionable where the shaft goes through the hull.
Steering gear would need work.
Water in reactor might not be in good condition.
Any rust in the steam plant will cause all sorts of problems in both the steam generator and the turbines.
distilled water would have to be brought aboard for the steam plant.
A large electrical generator would have to be brought aboard to start a cold iron plant.
I’m thinking about the deep underground part, the old Aperture Science labs with the giant asbestos spheres where you discover the special gels. I’m pretty sure GlaDos wasn’t repairing those, may not have even known they existed, yet they still have working power and lights and motion-triggered recordings.
There are? I’ve seen screenshots and other images, but I don’t recall seeing anything that showed damage, except perhaps for concept art from when it was going to be a game location.
I’m not sure how that relates to whether it would have inert nuclear fuel onboard. The fuel is there for the ship’s reactor, not the teleporter. There were plans to use the fuel, it just hadn’t been used yet. As for why it was on the ship, and not stored somewhere else…well, that’s a spoiler.
I wish I could respond to each of you without spamming or making an overly long post, but I want to thank you guys for your responses. I now have at least some idea of what kinds of things I need to be considering.
The ship is supposed to be a conventional icebreaker that Aperture science has purchased. From the screenshots, it appears to be almost identical to a specific real world icebreaker.
You wouldn’t put a nuclear reactor onboard if you didn’t need one. That would be crazy. And, you definitely don’t keep inert nuclear fuel lying around. As far as I know, no naval nuclear reactor ever built has been capable of at sea refueling. You have to cut the ship apart with cutting torches and teardown the reactor to replace the fuel elements. This is done as part of a complete overhaul of the ship, usually. This is for engineering reasons - a ship is much more structurally sound if you don’t have to have gigantic doors that must open in order to refuel the reactor, an event that only happens a few times in the ship’s lifespan.
That ship isn’t going anywhere. And you aren’t going to be able to fire up the reactor, either - shipboard reactors without exception are cooled with water, and you need a constant flow of many gallons per minute in order to not melt down.
…knowing Aperture Science, however, this isn’t that convincing of an argument.
If you really need/want to “cheat” it, for the sake of the story, perhaps you could actually work the Portal devices in as a way of refueling the reactor. Like that part of the original (planned) test was to use a Portal in a modified naval reactor to service and refuel it without a major refit, possibly even while in operation.
Actually, you’d have to make that scheme more dryly insane to feel more in-character as an Aperture operation. Maybe bouncing the Portal “signal” off the moon to open a portal on a target two feet behind the mounted Portal “gun”—The industrial portal device used being unable to traverse, as it was built very long and narrow to fit in through a series of hatchways originally used for installing the ship’s lounge’s couch. Putting it on a pivoting base once installed with vetoed, as then there wouldn’t have been enough room for the couch in the same room. Obviously—or using the remains of an artificial ring of moon dust in Earth orbit for the same purpose; or using the Portals and a Material Emancipation Grill to produce and insert coolant and fuel solution into an exceedingly exotic reactor design.
Maybe through in a few bits of “unused content,” or variants on them, to freshen the schtick up. “Fissile Reprivileging Matrix,” maybe?
