Takis tried not to let himself hurry; he was supposed to be taking r&r time like everyone else. Still, a problem had come up several days ago that he hadn't been able to overcome, and he knew he wouldn't be able to relax until he'd knocked it out.<div>
<br></div><div>He'd been compiling reports for The Chief without any problem. When reviewing them before submission, however, he noticed that one of the variables had been given an improper value, and almost kicked himself (which he already did several times a day anyway, on accident). This was the kind of mistake, he told himself, that gets people injured. Or, worse, would get him chewed out by The Chief, and anyone who told him that was a very self-serving attitude to take had obviously never gotten on Nix's bad side.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Takis had hurried to find the error, only to realize with great relief that he hadn't entered any data incorrectly. There was, in the parlance of the VR Science techs, a wobble-- a sensor panel somewhere on the ship that was periodically either gaining or losing 0.00001 units every ten seconds. The responsible thing would have been to report this to Engineering and let the wrench monkeys handle it, but Takis saw a challenge that he dared not let slip away. He had logged the anomaly, programmed the computers to compensate for it, and had set out to find the problem.</div>
<div><br></div><div>So now he found himself in one of the larger jeffries tubes-- still a tight fit-- trying to track down power fluctuations with a hand-held scanner that was obviously made for those little guys in the old Human movie...what were they...Munchies? Munchausens? Oh, Munchlings! He laughed, delighted that he'd remembered. Those old stories had been and remained an obsession for his parents, and he had spent so much of his early years hating the cheesy songs and awkward one-liners that their remaining presence in his memory surprised him. He began to whistle the tune the Munchlings sang, something about a wizard who wore ruby slippers-- he couldn't remember the lyrics, nor was he sure he wanted to. Sounded like a don't-ask-don't-tell situation for that wizard.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Finally, the scanner picked something up; a power fluctuation in one of the feeds. He wriggled toward the access panel and opened it, spotting a snapped relay that kept disconnecting and reconnecting.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Easy fix, Takis thought, opening his equipment box and preparing a spare. He powered down the relay and removed it, then replaced it. As he was doing so, he realized that he didn't bring the proper wrench or brace to do the work, so he simply seized the connector, bent it toward him, replaced the relay, then bent it all back into place. He checked the power levels and saw that they were stable.</div>
<div><br></div><div>"Checkmate, Vimyridge," he cackled, taking a couple of minutes to turn his bulk around in the tube before heading for the exit.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div>Crewman Second Class Takis Daephon</div>
<div>Science Technician</div><div>USS Vimyridge</div>