again. It was North's Chief Engineer. It sounded
like he was virtually in tears. "This wonderful droid," he said, "this
wonderful droid has just taken me into the engineering section's main
storage bay. You won't believe what's down here, sir…..sixteen
beautiful brand new engine liners stacked up one underneath the other!
They're still in their storage containers ....FLAT! They weren't
shaped, to save space! We can cut them, install them, and cure them.
83 It's a miracle, sir! It's a damned miracle! There's other parts
here, and this droid has already ordered his friends to make an
additional shield. They're going to help us with our system engine!"
84 "Make sure they get OUR shielding elements," insisted North, "none
of this old junk of theirs."
85 The Firing control Officer turned towards North. "Sir!" he inquired,
"Why not just dock up to this ship, or have her tow us?"
86 "Unfortunately," explained North, "we can't take this vessel with
us. The hatches don't match, and if I remember correctly, neither do
our power systems. It would take us months to rig up
interfacers. After this old girl has
given us the parts we need, I'm not sure what we're going to do with
her."
87 The Engineer called again. "Some more good news, sir! This ship's
got two good busses! And they're equipped for maintenance work! They're
going to be real handy!"
88 "Any idea how long it will take to repair the ship?" asked North.
89 "Five weeks," announced the Engineer, "if everything goes as we
expect. We should be ready if we can get the system engines back
together."
90 "Dammit, we don't have five weeks! " the Doctor screamed. "If he's
not back before that, he's blind for good!"