Power Struggles

I was observing the ship’s power monitor in the morning, and it wasn’t looking good.  The last few days were rainy and cloudy, which meant little solar power was coming into our system.  We were at 50% on the batteries.  We only had power for basic life support at this point.  I looked desperately at the electrical panel for any systems that I could shut down.  Did we really need our security cameras?  I turned them off.  What about the hot water heater? Off.  I unplugged our cell phones and computers and flipped off a power strip. I reviewed the power monitor, and we were still losing power.

Kathy opened the door and yawned in a big showy way that she knew annoyed me.  I had made her coffee earlier and left it on the counter.  She noticed and grabbed it, deemed it too lukewarm, and placed it in the microwave.  Did she check the power first?  NOOO!!  I was frozen in shock as I watched the events unfold in front of me.  She pressed the buttons and started the most power-hungry device on the boat.  I turned to the power monitor and watched the amps flowing from the batteries and then saw a number I’d never seen before: 49%.  I swallowed hard.

Kathy removed the cup from the microwave and took a sip. “Nope!” she said to herself and placed the cup back into the microwave again.  While the microwave was running she walked past me in front of the electrical panel and flipped on the Starlink switch.  She didn’t even look at the power monitor.  

I begin to protest, “We’re low power, dear.”  She ignores me as she sits down, checking her phone.  She chuckles at something inconsequential before looking up at me and saying, “It’s kind of cold in here, why don’t you turn on the heater?”

“Because we’re low on power!” I snapped.  

“We are?”

“Yes, we’re at 49%!”

She shrugged unconcerned and continued looking at her phone. There was no acknowledgment that we should try to conserve.  No brainstorming on what systems could be shut down.  As minutes passed, Kathy finally looked up and said, “Did you see the outfits they were wearing at the Met Gala?” 

AAAAHHHHHHH!!!

I imagined Kathy onboard Apollo 13 when they had to live in the Lunar Module for 4 days.  She would have killed them all.

I tried to explain again. “Look!  Until we get the batteries charged up, you can’t use the micro-”

“Oh!  My coffee!”  Kathy quickly got up, opened the microwave, and took a sip from her coffee.  “Nope!” she said and nuked it a 3rd time.

I tried to explain the dire situation calmly but the conversation began to devolve…