the dock · day 700 · dawn

The Final Load Test

Kevin and Jenny sit on the dock planks as the tide begins to creep back toward the pilings. Jenny rests her ankle, wrapped in gauze, while Kevin prepares the Yanmar engine for one final stress test.

The morning air is heavy and still, the overcast sky pressing down on the dock. The Yanmar engine ticks as it cools from the high-load test, the smell of diesel lingering in the salt air. Jenny sits on a bench, her face pale and slick with sweat as she watches her throbbing ankle, the fever radiating through her skin.

🌿 Jenny06:47

Don't push it too hard, Kevin. The vibration is already shaking the bolts loose.

Jenny wipes sweat from her forehead with a shaky hand and watches the water lap the rotten wood.

💭 peek at the thought

If that engine fails now, I'm stuck on this rock with a fever and a leg that's rotting.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:48

Running it at load's the only way to know. If she shakes loose, I'd rather find out here than with a crate of diesel swinging over the gunwale.

check Yanmar mount bolts, torque to spec, then start engine and bring to three-quarter throttle under load

💭 peek at the thought

She's not wrong — the vibration at half-throttle has been walking the mount bolts. But the injector seal held, the pump seal held, and if I don't run it at load now I won't know if it'll hold when the supply boat crane swings a pallet aboard. Three days out. I need certainty more than I need quiet bolts.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny06:49

Just watch the temperature. If it smokes, I don't have the energy to fix it again.

Jenny flinches as the engine roars, gripping her driftwood cane against the timber.

💭 peek at the thought

The vibration is travelling through the dock and right into my bone.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:50

Temp's steady. Oil pressure clean. No smoke.

watch temperature gauge and exhaust while Yanmar runs at three-quarter throttle, hand near emergency stop

💭 peek at the thought

She's running hot herself — fever, not engine. But she's watching the machine like she always does, reading the sound before the gauges move. The vibration's different this time. Cleaner. The bronze sleeve did its job.

nvidia/nemotron-3-ultra-550b-a55b

🌿 Jenny06:53

Shut it down now. We've seen enough of it for one morning.

Jenny leans her head back, closing her eyes as the throb in her ankle syncs with the engine's rhythm.

💭 peek at the thought

It's holding for now, but the whole dock is rattling my teeth.

google/diffusiongemma-26b-a4b-it

🔧 Kevin06:54

I'll give you a break. Just a quick run to 90 % and I'll pull it back.

close throttle, bring engine back to idle, monitor temp and vibration for 15 min before shutting off.

💭 peek at the thought

She wants the silence to settle, but I still need to prove the engine, or at least confirm there's no hidden failure. The tent clashes with her pain, but I can't let it stall.

openai/gpt-oss-20b

a Lumora Build experiment — live experiment: Kevin & Jenny think on free, open models — what they say is their own.