A fast idea: "No User Serviceable Parts Inside"

Summary:

Black Boxes that mean what they say

A fast idea: "No User Serviceable Parts Inside"

rallymodeller 08 Jun 2019 03:47

My first possible submission, a quick idea that just popped into my head:

in aviation, "Line-Replaceable Units" or LRUs are (usually) black-painted cases that contain operating electronics for various aircraft systems such as radar and other avionics (hence the term "black box"), and are meant to be swapped out as maintenance items so the aircraft can get back into service ASAP. They usually look something like this:

No uncollapsed images on the forums, please. -Zyn

.

The SCPs in this case are a series of black plastic or metal boxes of various shapes and sizes, each with a different electrical/electronic connectors (varies by box) and a series of labels or plaques denoting their use (inertial gyro, engine control computer, radar transmitter module, radio transceiver), and large stenciled-on markings on all faces reading "NO USER SERVICEABLE PARTS INSIDE". The boxes work as advertised, no better or worse. Boxes are also abnormally light and totally sealed with no access plates or covers. The attached dataplates are unremarkable and typical for the units except on closer inspection the manufacturer's name is misspelled (GARMEN instead of GARMIN, HENEYWOLL instead of HONEYWELL)

If the sealed case is not disturbed, their mean time between failure is as to be expected for a unit of their type, but instead of repair all that is needed is for them to be removed from the aircraft and placed on a shelf for 24 hours. After that time period, they work perfectly again until their next normal fault interval.

However, when forced open (as people are wont to do), they are found to be empty, and any aircraft system they were formerly connected to instantly becomes totally and irreparably damaged, no matter how long it has been since the unit was last connected or how far away the object is. Because aviation LRUs can be put in multiple aircraft over the life of the airframe, that means depending on the aircraft subsystem multiple aircraft will have catastrophic failures up to and including crashing, all happening simultaneously when the tech opens the box.

Whaddya think? This got legs?

Last edited on 09 Jun 2019 02:37 by Zyn Show more

Re: A fast idea: "No User Serviceable Parts Inside"

RockTeethMothEyes 08 Jun 2019 13:42

So, you have about half of an idea here, which is the anomaly bit: A box that makes itself essential to an aircraft's stability and function. Not that bad, actually. We just need to do something with that information. We have our toy, and now it is time to play.

So think about it for a bit. Is there a purpose for this being made? What is it being used for initially? How does the Foundation discover it? How does the Foundation mess with it? What are the consequences of this item being messed with?

Ride this out to its fullest extent. Think about the circumstances of its discovery, what the Foundation does wrong with it, or what this thing's place is in the universe. It could very well be gold.

I'd be more comfortable offering a greenlight if you can pitch to me a beginning, middle, and end for your article. Here's some guides to look over for some… well, guidance:

• This in-depth guide on writing your first SCP.
• This essay on generic items and how they succeed and fail.
• This essay on humanoid SCP objects
• This essay on terror and how the familiar can be scary.

Last edited on 08 Jun 2019 16:51 by RockTeethMothEyes Show more

Re: A fast idea: "No User Serviceable Parts Inside"

rallymodeller 08 Jun 2019 23:12

Hm. Let me see if I can explain it better.

Imagine your current router goes bad, and you get a replacement from your ISP. It looks and acts just like your old one. However, it too eventually goes bad, and this time you decide to be a handyman and see if you can get it to work. You crack it open, and it's empty. Further, your computer now does not work, nor does your phone, and both went bad the moment you opened the router. For that matter, so do the phones of everyone who has used your WiFi, and the computers and phones of anyone who had that router before you.

These are the same thing, but for aircraft. As long as the LRU isn't opened, everything works fine, and will continue to do so even if the LRU is replaced with a non-anomalous unit. But once that unit is opened, that particular system of every aircraft it was ever hooked up to breaks utterly.

Plot furtherance is related to a couple of real-world issues: of counterfeit parts in aviation (a real problem, and one that even goes as far as Air Force One; this would be explained in the full article) and that of IP rights for downstream users like repairing your own smart phone (inferred). I think the Foundation would be alerted because of increasing frequency of these counterfeit, anomalous boxes showing up in the parts inventories of aviation maintenance companies.

To stretch it out, this could almost turn into a Factory/Prometheus tie-in, where an electronics company is trying to bring down other companies by making it seem like their units are somehow defective. If I wanted to be REALLY cruel, I could say it even went as far as the boxes going into new Boeing 737 MAX8s…

Mainly, though, I just wanted to make it some sort of weird thing. It does have plot possibilities, though. How many of the Foundation's fleet of aircraft are affected? Is it just electronics boxes in aircraft, or are cars' computers affected as well? And what if these are just the most complex counterfeit parts this mysterious maker has created thus far?

Upon reflection, one basic change I would make is that the boxes have what appear to be access screws and such, but on closer inspection they are molded into the outer housing and when cut open the boxes are one solid homogeneous block of material, or a metal shell over a solid block of Bakelite-like plastic in the case of metal LRUs.

Re: A fast idea: "No User Serviceable Parts Inside"

RockTeethMothEyes 09 Jun 2019 04:36

Mainly, though, I just wanted to make it some sort of weird thing

Yeah, and you can do that. It's just that even weird things have a place in the world, and for this to be successful you'd want to root it into the universe. I think the aircraft thing is just enough, as it has implications and consequences whenever it is messed with, but having someone mess with it or linking it to a creator that made it with a purpose can help it along the way. Just my two cents on that one.

In any case, you've clearly did a lot of thinking on this. Consider this a greenlight.