Challenge #01709-D248: Sticky Situation
"Crazy glue one hundred and one uses. Also known as Super Glue." -- Anon Guest
People were urgently patching holes after the micrometeor impacts. Smaller, slow-leaking holes were already patched with the humans' ever-present gum, albeit temporarily. For larger holes, they were grabbing whatever could fit and welding, bolting, and fastening as fast as they could.
Only the ships' human was using a tiny little tube before just... adding things.
Captain Farz had to admit the human was working quickly, but... what they were doing didn't at all look stable. "Human Lyle. What is it you are fastening with?"
"Cyanoacrylate, sir," said Human Lyle. "It's fast, effective, and energy-efficient."
"Is that one of your species' medical compounds?"
"Yup," chirped the human. "Better than stitches for sealing and healing wounds."
Captain Farz fought not to shudder at that thought. Humans were so resilient that they could withstand all kinds of injuries, and then withstood being sewn back together as if their flesh was a torn garment. And this will work for patching the vessel, too?"
"Oh yeah. You wanna stick anything to anything else, cyanoacrylate is your chemical. It'd probably hold better than a weld, but I'd weld this lot anyway. This is a for-now patch. Not a forever patch." Human Lyle turned away from their work, baring their teeth in what was probably a reassuring smile. "Right as rain."
Human lyle had all kinds of uses for glue. There was one made out of starches that Human Lyle used for artwork consisting of strips of matted cellulose reassembled into three-dimensional shapes. There was one made out of plastics, if Farz understood the human word, 'polyvinyl acetate' that could stick most things to most other things if given enough time. But that one was water soluble. This new one... well, this new use gave Captain Farz cause for alarm.
"Will this one dissolve?"
"Only if you have acetone," said Human Lyle, once again drawing near-invisible lines on a piece of debris. They placed it over a hole and held it there for a moment. "Otherwise, I reckon we're good. Could use some spak filler for all the gaps until the welding team catches up, though. Just in case."
Somewhere, Fraz was certain, there was a human ship made out of ductape, spak filler, and cyanoacrylate.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / ekostsov]
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