The key to success is to leave nothing to chance. Certainly, the heating system for the hatching sands SEEMS to be functional, but after that last malfunction, Jethaniel was disinclined to take 'seems' as sufficient.
When Seryth rose, he was in there that very night, setting up a full automated testing suite that would send the temperature from lukewarm to hatching-day scorch and back again over a carefully calculated set of intervals designed to flush out any potential miscalibrations.
When the ice storm came, it did little to change Jethaniel's plans. In fact, running the system entirely on generator power provided a wonderful opportunity to make certain of the backup systems.
When people began to flock to the observation level for shelter, his testing plan continued unabated. The fact that people were camping out was brought to his attention, and in response…
…he hung a thermometer on the wall, along with a neatly printed grid of times and expected temperature ranges.
There's also a pencil hanging from a string, a set of blanks for observational data, and a request to notify him if and only if the temperature deviates from the expected range. After all, he's rather busy with repairs elsewhere.
Posted by Jethaniel on November 26, 2012