Disclaimer: The Rat Patrol is not my property. They come out to play sometimes, then I send them home.

Author's note: The true first, complete computer is the 'Z1', created by Konrad Zuse in his parents' living room 1935. It was the first electro-mechanical, programmable binary computer.

But What If…

By Suzie2b

It had been a long week and a difficult mission, but it was a success and that's what mattered. Troy and Moffitt had their debriefing with Captain Boggs as soon as they were on base.

After their meeting, Troy put the key in the lock of the quarters he shared with fellow sergeant and teammate Moffitt.

Moffitt followed his friend inside as he said, "I'm going for a shower.

Troy stopped in the middle of the room and stared and the monitor and keyboard on the table. With a sigh he said, "I think I'll get this report done first."

Moffitt smiled as he collected his shower things and clean clothes. "Getting the torture over with?"

"Yeah. This computer doesn't like me anymore than I like it."

"I'm not fond of it either. Just remember to hit save."

Troy dropped his pack on his bunk and said, "We were doing just fine with typewriters and carbon paper."

Moffitt headed for the door as he said, "According to Captain Boggs this new system makes it easier to copy and store reports and such."

After Moffitt was gone, Troy walked over to the table and pushed the button to turn the computer on. He put his hat on the table as he sat down and waited for the sign in screen appeared. Using his index fingers, Troy typed in his password. As soon as he hit enter, a red error message popped up saying "Incorrect Password". He mumbled, "What're you talking about? That's the one I always use." Troy watched his fingers as he carefully typed the password in again. This time it worked and he said, "See, I told you."

Using the mouse, Troy pulled up a blank form to type his report into. His eyes flitted between his index fingers and the screen as he filled in the appropriate boxes with name, date, rank, serial number, mission number, etc. before he began to type his detailed report.

Troy admitted the new computer set up was good for headquarters, but as far as he was concerned it was more trouble than it was worth. He would usually write up reports in long hand, letting the secretaries do the typing. Now he had to do the typing, spelling corrections, giving the file a name, and saving it – and hoping it gets into the system without getting lost.

After a while Moffitt returned. "Still at it?"

Troy continued to concentrate as he said, "Almost done."

"Well, I'm going for a bite to eat. I'll catch up with you later."

Troy nodded absently as he continued with his report. Once he was finished, he finally took a good look at the screen only to see a lot of words underlined in red, indicating misspellings. He sighed and looked at his fingers. "Traitors."

Troy went over the report and corrected everything. Then he hit save. A window popped up and he typed in the mission number as the file name. He was looking at the window on the screen as he hit the enter key and realized the file didn't save to the proper folder. "No! Where'd you go?" Troy quickly tried to bring the file back, but nothing seemed to work. He yelled, "HITCHCOCK!"

Tully was walking by the barracks when he heard the sergeant yell for Hitch, whose quarters were next to the sergeants. The private could swear the windows rattled at the sound of Troy's loud voice. Tully smiled and shook his head as he decided to see what was up. He took the stairs two at a time and found the sergeant stalking the hallway. "Hey, sarge. Anything wrong?"

Troy turned and said, "Where's Hitch?"

Tully shrugged. "If he isn't in his quarters, I don't know. You having computer problems again?"

"That's an understatement. I finished my report and went to save it, but it didn't go where it was supposed to go and now I can't find it."

"Want me to take a look?"

Troy nodded sullenly and led the way back into his quarters.

Tully sat down in front of the computer and asked, "Okay, what'd you name the file?" Troy gave him the mission number and the private typed it into a search box. He hit enter and waited.

The file wasn't found and Troy said, "It's gone isn't it. I'm going to have to redo the whole thing."

"Hang on, sarge. I'm not done yet." Tully did two more searches before a file popped up. "Is that it?"

Troy scanned to screen and smiled. "That's it!"

"Now, where were you trying to save it?"

Troy told him and Tully took care of it, then deleted the file from the other folder. When he was finished, Tully said, "There ya go, sarge."

The sergeant breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Tully."

"No problem. Glad to help."

#################

Early the next afternoon, Troy got a message that his report needed a bit of clarification. Normally that wouldn't be unusual or a big deal. However, now it meant using the dreaded computer.

As Troy walked passed Hitch's quarters on the way to his, he stopped, turned back, and knocked on the door. Hitch's roommate answered and Troy asked, "Is Mark here?"

Hitch's voice came from inside, "I'm here, sarge." He walked to the door. "What's going on?"

"I have to work on a report. Are you going to be around for a while?"

Hitch smiled knowingly. "Sure, I can stick around."

Troy sighed. "Thanks." He then went to his quarters, let himself in, and was relieved that Moffitt wasn't there – though the other sergeant was sympathetic, Troy still hated mumbling and fighting with the computer with someone there.

Troy turned on the computer and tossed his hat on the bed before sitting down. He managed to find the folder and open the file with the report in it. Then he began to go through the notes that Captain Boggs had made.

The sergeant diligently made changes to wording to expand explanations where necessary, making sure to save the information often. Troy had just finished the last paragraph when the screen on the monitor went black. "No! Now what? HITCHCOCK!"

Outside Moffitt was just entering the barracks when he heard Troy's voice calling for Hitch. He decided he'd take a walk instead.

Seconds later there was a knock and Hitch opened the door. "Everything okay, sarge?"

"Get in here!" As Hitch stepped in and closed the door, Troy said, "I was just finishing up when the screen went black!"

"Okay, let me take a look." Hitch sat down in the chair Troy vacated and began to quickly tap on the keyboard.

Seconds later the screen popped back on, but something was missing and Troy asked, "Where's the report?"

"Hang on, sarge. I'm working on it." Nearly a full minute later, Hitch had to say, "Sorry, but your file's been corrupted."

"Corrupted? How'd that happen?"

Hitch shrugged. "Hard to tell. Sometimes it just happens."

Troy growled, "So now I have to start from scratch. Great … just great."

"Not necessarily. Let me try something."

Troy paced around the room while Hitch worked.

It took a little time, but Hitch was finally able to locate a draft of the file in question. "Found it!"

Troy smiled and patted the private on the shoulder. "I knew you could do it."

"Well, it's not the original. A draft of every file is stored in a special folder until the original is approved. I just had to find that folder." Hitch stood up. "Is it all there?"

Troy sat to look over the report. "Looks like everything's here. Even the last part that I didn't get saved before the screen went blank." He stood and said, "I need you to save that and make sure it gets into the right folder."

Hitch quickly took care of it and said, "All done, sarge. Want me to shut it down?"

"Please. I've had enough of that contraption for one day."

"You'll get the hang of it eventually."

Troy huffed, "I doubt that. I'm just glad you and Tully have my back with this thing."

Hitch smiled. "What about Moffitt?"

"He hates this thing as much as I do. He just doesn't really admit it." Troy smiled slightly and said, "How about I buy you a beer for helping me out?"

"Sounds good to me, but I would've done it for you for free, sarge."