Challenge #01555-D094: What the Hell, it Goes!

It's often held together with paper clips, wire coat hangers and duct tape. But it will last 'long enough' and get you to where you are going safe and sound. -- Knitnan

Unriddling a kludge is half the problem. Engineering a permanent solution that works as well as the kludge is nigh impossible. Desperation makes truly bizarre engineering. Rael, who had spent some time with actual engineers, thought he was getting pretty good at translating kludges to semi-proper engineering that did the job without so much ductape causing so many unexpected heat issues.

And, as a semi-bonus, he could shape himself to fit any tight area. Though he preferred not to. Shapeshifting was a caloric budget that many couldn't afford. He usually satisfied himself with absorbing his bones as a matter of comfort, and re-forming them as movement deemed necessary.

This job, in the depths of some of the older parts of Topsy Turvy Town[1], was a space squeezed between ancient ruptures of two compromised interstellar vessels. Rael had already taken as many panels off as he could, but some of the resultant mess was clearly infrastructure. Leaving them off meant that the next person in here would have a slightly easier time of moving about. And he could possibly claim mass credit on the neglected metal. In addition to the cramped conditions, this kludge-work consisted of coathangers, paperclips, ductape, and seemingly random circuit boards. And decaying hot glue.

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