Blaze

*pop*
*pwhhhooooooossssss*
*pop*
OK, you can wear out the stretch in bubble gum. Who knew.
"So. Blaze."
"Hm?"
"How did you get your nickname? You like setting fires or something?"
"No."
"Come on, you can tell me ... unless you would have to kill me first?"
*sigh*
"I almost set the machine room on the USS Spadefish on fire and blew up the boat."
"No shit?! How the hell do you do that! All I do is blow up cars ..."
"Well, on a submarine you have to make the air you breath, and transport it around in ductwork"
"Like heat and air conditioning in a house?"
"Sort of. You have what is called 'the bomb' - it is a reinforced tank that you burn what are called oxygen candles - chemicals that when burned separate into oxygen and a mix od salt and rust. You run the oxygen into a tank and compress it with regular air. Because everything is contaminated with machine oil, dust, water and whatnot, the air and oxygen is run through highpressure piping to filters and water separators. OK?"
"OK, though it sounds really complicated."
"It is, and dangerous. So, I accidentally hit a release valve and the gasses rushing out got hot enough to light the oil and dust in the pipes, and the fire and heat started spreading towards the bomb and the other way to the filters. It got bad enough that the pipes in the machine space were glowing red. "
"Holy shit ..."
"It got really dangerous, but we managed to lock it down from both ends and the fire went out when the oxygen supply got cut off, but I really got in trouble - it was my first cruise ever, and I thought my career was going to be over but the guys I worked with told the Captain that I kept my head and worked really hard to fix the problem, so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. But it taught me to be really careful and double check everything after that."
"I bet."
"Hey Blaze?"
"Hm?"
"Glad you didn't blow up."
"Thanks."