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fandomweekly2022-08-27 03:00 pm
curiosity) wrote in fandomweekly2022-08-27 03:00 pm
Entry tags:
[#149] Proof (MDZS)
.
Theme Prompt: #149 - Glitch
Title: Proof
Fandom: MDZS
Rating/Warnings: G
Bonus: Yup.
Word Count: 1,000 words.
Summary: The broken bits of the faulty prototype have been salvaged. They find some answers.
Wei Wuxian hammered away on some stuck part. Only his legs were visible from his position, half-buried in the plane’s exposed engine. As he hammered away, he still chattered away, a mile a minute, swearing at and cajoling the machinery by turns.
Until at last there was a loud ‘thunk-clang’ and something fell out of the bottom of the mostly-destroyed aircraft. That something was a piece of melted and warped metal that looked less like mechanical and more like something from a twisted Salvador Dali painting.
Wei Wuxian wiggled his way out of the engine and shimmied down the ladder. Jiang Cheng, Nie Mingjue, and Lan Wangji met him at the broken bit of metal. They all stared at it, wondering. Wei Wuxian was the one who picked it up, heedless of the grease and grime and twisted it around until he found what he was looking for.
A neat section, towards the middle of what was apparently the underside of the mechanism, was covered in bright and shiny gouges. It was completely at odds with the rest of the piece.
“Well there’s your problem right there, A-Cheng,” he announced triumphantly, pointing with one grimy finger.
Jiang Cheng nodded, his mouth a narrow, angry line. “Good catch, Wei Wuxian. Let’s get this documented.”
“Wait a minute.” Nie Mingjue frowned at the broken, mangled metal. “Explain for the rest of us.”
Jiang Cheng gave him and Lan Wangji a look, eyebrows raised. “There’s nothing in that engine that should be able to make marks like this. Unless.”
“Unless the ‘finest steel’ is junk,” Wei Wuxian broke in. “Look how the teeth of the gear below it dug right in! Look how warped it is! Even if we threw it in a volcano, well okay maybe a volcano, but my point is that this thing should be able to put up with a lot more than the work it was designed for. The specs we put through would have meant this stuff could be scratched by a diamond, but nothing softer.”
“The alloy is substandard.” Lan Wangji said, making it a question.
“The alloy is less alloy and more putty,” Jiang Cheng agreed. “This was no innocent mechanical glitch. Someone deliberately manufactured the prototype with substandard materials. There was no way the test flight could succeed. We designed a jet made of an aluminum alloy and got a death trap made of lead.”
Wei Wuxian blew out a breath and glared at the piece of junk he held. “Practically pewter. I bet it warps just from the warmth of my hands.”
“Not until you document everything. I want pictures of every angle, a sketch, testing to determine the composite materials, and projections based on those results for feasibility,” Jiang Cheng rattled off his requirements, glaring at the metal. “I want to know what piece made those marks. I want stress tests and chemical analysis after exposure to the Jins’ proprietary fuel source. I want them all yesterday.”
“Yes sir,” Wei Wuxian nodded sharply, then grinned at Lan Wangji. “Come on, Lan Zhan. You like paperwork. This will be fun.”
They headed off to Wei Wuxian’s lab without another word. Jiang Cheng stared at the rest of the machine that had stranded him, Wei Wuxian, and Nie Huaisang. What had been salvaged was laid out according to a schematic painted on the floor. There were several missing parts and he wondered how many of those had been substandard as well.
Had Jin Guangshan knowingly sent them to their death? Had he even known? How many heads would roll for this?
“Hey,” Nie Mingjue nudged him. “Let’s go get something to eat, yeah?”
Jiang Cheng nodded. “Yeah.”
They strode out of the hanger, turning off the lights and securing the biometric locks before heading to the cafeteria. It was a quiet walk, each man lost in his own thoughts.
“It’s been rough, this last week.” Nie Mingjue offered after a bit, breaking the silence. “With the bad press.”
“It has,” Jiang Cheng replied tersely, mind still on the problem at hand.
“Come back to me, my heart,” Nie Mingjue said softly, taking Jiang Cheng’s hand in his. “Tell me what’s eating at you.”
Jiang Cheng blinked rapidly, looking over at Nie Mingjue. Abruptly he realized they were standing outside the cafeteria already. He’d been lost in his brooding for at least fifteen minutes.
“Sorry. What?”
Nie Mingjue smiled at him. “There you are. Let’s eat. Then you can tell me what’s got you so tangled up.”
“The fact that we were meant to die isn’t enough?” Jiang Cheng demanded, his voice a low hiss. “There’s no way that plane should have left the ground, let alone reach altitude! If it had blown up in midair, we’d be so much gristly confetti right now.”
Nie Mingjue grimaced. “I prefer not to think about that.”
“It’s my job to think about it,” Jiang Cheng countered. “We can’t let a single prototype leave the test floor until we know how this happened. What if someone is sabotaging us on purpose? Hmm? This wasn’t an accident, Mingjue-ge. It was deliberate.”
The older man handed him a tray with the company’s logo embossed on it, studying him with a worried scowl. “You’re sure.”
“Positive. There’s no way to accidentally fuck up the specs that bad, my soul,” Jiang Cheng replied, falling in line behind the bigger man and putting a steak salad on his tray. And two pieces of chocolate cake. Damn it, he deserved it! “We need to track down signatures, approvals, requisitions, everything. The entire process has to be gone over from the ground up. This is big.”
Nie Mingjue paused, thought about it, and put a second piece of flan on his own tray. “Fuck it,” he muttered. “I deserve a cheat day.”
“You do,” Jiang Cheng agreed, following him to a table. “The question is, are you telling Huaisang or am I?”
Nie Mingjue looked up and sighed. “Looks like Wei Wuxian already did.”
Theme Prompt: #149 - Glitch
Title: Proof
Fandom: MDZS
Rating/Warnings: G
Bonus: Yup.
Word Count: 1,000 words.
Summary: The broken bits of the faulty prototype have been salvaged. They find some answers.
Wei Wuxian hammered away on some stuck part. Only his legs were visible from his position, half-buried in the plane’s exposed engine. As he hammered away, he still chattered away, a mile a minute, swearing at and cajoling the machinery by turns.
Until at last there was a loud ‘thunk-clang’ and something fell out of the bottom of the mostly-destroyed aircraft. That something was a piece of melted and warped metal that looked less like mechanical and more like something from a twisted Salvador Dali painting.
Wei Wuxian wiggled his way out of the engine and shimmied down the ladder. Jiang Cheng, Nie Mingjue, and Lan Wangji met him at the broken bit of metal. They all stared at it, wondering. Wei Wuxian was the one who picked it up, heedless of the grease and grime and twisted it around until he found what he was looking for.
A neat section, towards the middle of what was apparently the underside of the mechanism, was covered in bright and shiny gouges. It was completely at odds with the rest of the piece.
“Well there’s your problem right there, A-Cheng,” he announced triumphantly, pointing with one grimy finger.
Jiang Cheng nodded, his mouth a narrow, angry line. “Good catch, Wei Wuxian. Let’s get this documented.”
“Wait a minute.” Nie Mingjue frowned at the broken, mangled metal. “Explain for the rest of us.”
Jiang Cheng gave him and Lan Wangji a look, eyebrows raised. “There’s nothing in that engine that should be able to make marks like this. Unless.”
“Unless the ‘finest steel’ is junk,” Wei Wuxian broke in. “Look how the teeth of the gear below it dug right in! Look how warped it is! Even if we threw it in a volcano, well okay maybe a volcano, but my point is that this thing should be able to put up with a lot more than the work it was designed for. The specs we put through would have meant this stuff could be scratched by a diamond, but nothing softer.”
“The alloy is substandard.” Lan Wangji said, making it a question.
“The alloy is less alloy and more putty,” Jiang Cheng agreed. “This was no innocent mechanical glitch. Someone deliberately manufactured the prototype with substandard materials. There was no way the test flight could succeed. We designed a jet made of an aluminum alloy and got a death trap made of lead.”
Wei Wuxian blew out a breath and glared at the piece of junk he held. “Practically pewter. I bet it warps just from the warmth of my hands.”
“Not until you document everything. I want pictures of every angle, a sketch, testing to determine the composite materials, and projections based on those results for feasibility,” Jiang Cheng rattled off his requirements, glaring at the metal. “I want to know what piece made those marks. I want stress tests and chemical analysis after exposure to the Jins’ proprietary fuel source. I want them all yesterday.”
“Yes sir,” Wei Wuxian nodded sharply, then grinned at Lan Wangji. “Come on, Lan Zhan. You like paperwork. This will be fun.”
They headed off to Wei Wuxian’s lab without another word. Jiang Cheng stared at the rest of the machine that had stranded him, Wei Wuxian, and Nie Huaisang. What had been salvaged was laid out according to a schematic painted on the floor. There were several missing parts and he wondered how many of those had been substandard as well.
Had Jin Guangshan knowingly sent them to their death? Had he even known? How many heads would roll for this?
“Hey,” Nie Mingjue nudged him. “Let’s go get something to eat, yeah?”
Jiang Cheng nodded. “Yeah.”
They strode out of the hanger, turning off the lights and securing the biometric locks before heading to the cafeteria. It was a quiet walk, each man lost in his own thoughts.
“It’s been rough, this last week.” Nie Mingjue offered after a bit, breaking the silence. “With the bad press.”
“It has,” Jiang Cheng replied tersely, mind still on the problem at hand.
“Come back to me, my heart,” Nie Mingjue said softly, taking Jiang Cheng’s hand in his. “Tell me what’s eating at you.”
Jiang Cheng blinked rapidly, looking over at Nie Mingjue. Abruptly he realized they were standing outside the cafeteria already. He’d been lost in his brooding for at least fifteen minutes.
“Sorry. What?”
Nie Mingjue smiled at him. “There you are. Let’s eat. Then you can tell me what’s got you so tangled up.”
“The fact that we were meant to die isn’t enough?” Jiang Cheng demanded, his voice a low hiss. “There’s no way that plane should have left the ground, let alone reach altitude! If it had blown up in midair, we’d be so much gristly confetti right now.”
Nie Mingjue grimaced. “I prefer not to think about that.”
“It’s my job to think about it,” Jiang Cheng countered. “We can’t let a single prototype leave the test floor until we know how this happened. What if someone is sabotaging us on purpose? Hmm? This wasn’t an accident, Mingjue-ge. It was deliberate.”
The older man handed him a tray with the company’s logo embossed on it, studying him with a worried scowl. “You’re sure.”
“Positive. There’s no way to accidentally fuck up the specs that bad, my soul,” Jiang Cheng replied, falling in line behind the bigger man and putting a steak salad on his tray. And two pieces of chocolate cake. Damn it, he deserved it! “We need to track down signatures, approvals, requisitions, everything. The entire process has to be gone over from the ground up. This is big.”
Nie Mingjue paused, thought about it, and put a second piece of flan on his own tray. “Fuck it,” he muttered. “I deserve a cheat day.”
“You do,” Jiang Cheng agreed, following him to a table. “The question is, are you telling Huaisang or am I?”
Nie Mingjue looked up and sighed. “Looks like Wei Wuxian already did.”