Chapter 3

I am in my cabin awaiting the arrival of the VIP from Earth. I hear the faint but distinct thump of the fairy's docking clamps as it contacts the hull and prepares to cycle the airlocks. I guess at 5 minutes to get aboard and to my cabin; and almost exactly on the mark there is a knock on my door.

"Enter" I say; and as Paul opens the door he is rudely pushed aside by a somewhat large man in a jump-suit carrying a briefcase. As this 'gentleman' enters my cabin he starts in on me with; "Are you the idiot responsible for my being hijacked half-way across the galaxy to fix a computer your people destroyed?" Paul leaves and closes the door quickly.

"If you are asking if I am the commander of this vessel; then yes I am. If on the other hand you are asking if I am an idiot then the then answer is an emphatic NO!" Now Sir; SIT DOWN, before I have you cycled out of an airlock. This is MY ship and you are here at the admiral's request to fix an error in the programming for the engines that MY people found when yours have tried for over 2 months and found NOTHING!"

"Bridge, Capt.; Paul, get Tammy and the Chief up here and bring those documents they dug up."

"Aye Sir."

"Now sir, I didn't get your name, but you are about to see what happens when the best of Space Command is put up against some ivory-towered lab rat who knows nothing about the real world and how things work. Now I said SIT DOWN!"

As he sits, "My name is Doctor Franz Marcos Von Hellfinglander and there is nothing your people can show me about the computer routines that control the engines of this vessel. I personally went over the program and it is perfect. It was tested on the simulators on Earth and nothing was found to be wrong with it."

"Did you test all 6 routines or just one as they are supposed to be exact copies of each other?"

"We tested the Master copy and then worked it up for each engine."

"Well sir; if you had tested each one you would have found what my people did after they hacked into your system;" Knock, Knock. "Enter; Paul, Tammy, Chief; this is Dr. Hellfinglander. He is the squint in charge of the programming for the engines. Why don't you show him what you found in his PERFECT program."

"Dr. Hellfinglander I am Lt. Cmdr. Tammara Jenkins and I know of your reputation but if you would look at these print-outs of the engine control software you will see that here on page 845 is the sub-routine for the fuel-injector timing on engine #1."

"Yes, young lady I am aware of what this sub-routine is for." He said haughtily.

"Of course good Dr. but if you would look at this routine on page 849 you will see the same for engine #2; and again on pages 857, 861 and 865 you will find the routines for engines 4, 5 and 6 respectively. But if you would look here on page 853 at the sub-routine for engine #3 you will se..."

"This is not possible; this cannot be." The look on the good Dr.'s face is priceless; complete and udder disbelief. "We made a master copy and duplicated it for each and every engine. How could this be? Are you sure you printed it out correctly?"

"Yes sir, I am. We hacked the security to get a print-out but could not get into the routines to change anything. I'll gladly take you to Engineering so that you can check this for yourself and correct it as necessary. This way, if you please Dr."