Strip Down

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

5/16/96:

It's not the easiest thing to try and bend a solid
screwdriver around three 90 angels and an inch of wires, but
that's was exactly what I was doing.

Finally getting the screw out from the underside of the
panel, I set it in a tray next to me, which already was
holding a half dozen screws.

I gave the panel a light push, there was a slight tug from
the left. Moving around a few wires (all dead, the generator
going through the megafold), I found yet another screw.

Chewing my lip a bit, I tried to get the screwdriver around
the wires, getting to the screw at an odd angle. Working a
bit, I provoked to come out. After a few minutes of pain
staking work, I finally got the screw in my hand.

I was just setting it down on the tray, when the light
silence of the command deck was broken by Oriana calling
out, "Fox?"

I epped, and jumped, smashing my hand down on the tray,
sending the screws skittering across the floor. The same
time I pushed myself of, hitting my head on the under side
of the panel, proving that I had finally gotten all the
screws out.

Sliding out from under the console, I looked at Oria,
rubbing my head.

"Are you ok Fox?" She asked, moving over to me, he bare feet
padding along the metal of the deck.

"Ya," I said, looking at the bit of blood that was on my
hand, the put it back against the cut. "And remind me to
tell Brian an Bob that they where right about padding the
underside of these things."

She rolled her eyes, and pushed my hand away from the cut
and looked at it. "Not that bad. Just a scrape."

I wiped my hand off on my pants, "That's good to know."

She nodded, offering me a paw to help me up, "That's good."

I took the proffered paw, and stood. Then pulled the control
panel up, reaching under it I yanked off the wires. Then
with a heft, I through it with the stack of four that where
already out, and laying on the side of the command deck.

Making a last check to see if all the cables where labeled,
I shoved them into the bulkhead, just leaving the
terminating ends hanging out. Glancing over the screw
connections I grimaced. "I don't think we can save most of
the consuls in here, or even the mounts."

"Ah..." Oria said, glancing over my shoulder. "We may not
need to worry about that with the computer mounts."

"Oh? The mounts and hookups are that close to the Prid
standard?"

She gave a weak grin, "Not exactly... there's a computer
mounted in there. The cables are disconnected, but it looks
like it should still run."

I laughed, "Really? That's great! Though I wonder why it
wasn't listed in the swap out list."

"Maybe it was put here with out permission?" She suggested.

I shrugged, "Or a clerical error. Either way we got are
self's a free computer, if you can get it working?"

She nodded.

"Good, the new generator should be arriving in a few days,
so after I get that installed you can get to work on it."

She grinned back, "Ok, I'll see what I need to upgrade to
test it out."

"Good, send in a order list if you need it." I said,
crawling under the next control panel. A few seconds later I
hear her pad out of the room.