(no subject)

[teddog]

Okay, since I know there's at least 3 fangirls into Red Dwarf at the moment who might read this and could help me go TTPCTS and all...

What type of material is a light-bee made out of? I can't find solid references beyond "metallic". I want to know if it would be considered magnetic. I don't think it would be, because it's a tiny computer in a heavy industry vessel. Too much potential for chaos there.

I need to explain it in the context of this for a round robin I'm in:
http://forums.adastrafanfic.com/index.php?topic=70.msg2924#msg2924

We're discussing how something that is more or less invisible in canon can be leveled somewhat for use in the RR. Otherwise, the character I'm playing is going to be a terminator, which nixes any risk. As I commented somewhere else in that thread, I'm forcing tech from three different series into one character.

For reference, Rimmer can only pull information from series V at the latest (although I gave Nance hard-light for the purpose of this RR because I'm a dick). Trek canon would be Mirror universe circa 2240s/2250s.

Comments

[pyat.livejournal.com]

I believe the lightbee is non-ferrous, and only used outside a ship or other area with magical projection tech. However, I'm also pretty sure the light bee could be magnetic for "the lulz" in the context of the show. :)

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

I'm all for the lulz, believe me. I just don't trust the lulz of some other people at the moment. XD

She's been pretty much a free floating light-bee for the sake of the story, since her computer systems are in another universe. I haven't been playing hard and fast in the context of computer links.

[msp-hacker.livejournal.com]

I don't think it would magnetic either. It might even have some magnetic shielding for the parts inside as well.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Ooo. Didn't consider the shielding. I mentioned that she's shielding from interference, which again makes sense in the context of the original setting and in Nance's current job.

[nightcat-hekasu.livejournal.com]

I just consulted another geek on this and here's what he said on the subject:

The outside coating would probably be something that would have to act as a <http://http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/faraday_cage>faraday cage to protect the inside circuitry. That might be any conducting metal or combination thereof, depending on what kinds of radiation you want to keep out (for example, if you want to keep out gamma radiation you would need quite a bit of lead). This metal will also have holes in it to actually allow the hologram to be projected, of course.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Thank you! That's extremely helpful. ::bookmarks::

I take this stuff far, far too seriously.

[nightcat-hekasu.livejournal.com]

You're very welcome! Taking fandom too seriously is part of the fun :-)

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Oh, I know. And I just know that at some point over the next week, I'm going to be sitting down and writing an essay to explain how the light-bee works and why it seems so invisible in the context of this round robin.

If only I could have written that much on random topics in high school. ;)

[gypsyjr.livejournal.com]

It's also apparently strong enough to survive being digested with little or no damage.

Thanks for that, canon.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Well, at least I can use that as proof of the invisibility of the device. "Stomach acid can't hurt it and it's waterproof..."

Which makes it even more overpowered, but my defense is that they were originally meant to be used by people who paid shitloads of money to live on after death or companies who had the money already. They weren't meant for use in a military sense, which is what I've ended up doing here.