Prologue: Technical Error
"Damn!" said Doctor Fujiyama as screen blanked again. That was the twenty-third test they'd run and every single one had shorted at this stage.
"Sir, we've traced the problem," said Chief Technician Satogawa. "Apparently the new motherboard we just installed is damaged. I can't be sure, but it probably occurred while it was being shipped here."
"Can you fix it?" asked Fujiyama.
"I'm afraid not sir," said Satogawa. "It needs to be completely replaced. Until it is the probe and the backup sonar system will be entirely non-functional."
"That will cripple us!" said Fujiyama. "We're on the back end of the budget as it is. It will take at least a month to requisition a new one. I wish they didn't ration the damn things."
"I know sir," said Satogawa, "the government thinks it is important to be austere since the Second Impact. I'm sure the computer company will give the U.N. Computing Board a refund eventually and then they can send us a new one."
"I know," said Fujiyama. "You're right, it will all work out eventually. But this will mean that the Mount Asama Earthquake Observatory will have to spend a month without its primary equipment. We won't be able to do any scanning or probing of the volcano's interior until this motherboard is replaced. Imagine how much we could have learned in that time."
"It is sad sir," said Satogawa, "but look on the bright side. It's not like missing some volcano data will cause the end of the world or anything like that. I'd hate to be like those guys down south in Tokyo-3. They have the weight of the world on their shoulders."
"I guess you're right," said Doctor Fujiyama. "Things could be a lot worse." He stood up, ready to try to make the best of this bad situation. Thirteen hundred meters under his feet, deep in the molten magma of Mount Asama, something was growing. And it would grow undisturbed for at least a month.