Chapter 9: Desperate Measures
Strangely enough, it was Kherris who took charge of the situation. “I don’t know anything about spaceships or the way they work,” he said, “so I come to this problem as a totally unbiased observer. Sometimes a complex issue requires an ignoramus to ask the naïve questions that focus attention on the answer. I’ll play the dummy here. You’ve told us what doesn’t work; how about an inventory of the things that do?”
Kasinda paused to consider. “Well, the basic internal systems are working well—energy, air, light—otherwise we wouldn’t be alive now to worry about the problem. The computer is working; that’s how I calculated our orbit.”
“Is there any chance,” Alex interrupted, “that the computer may be malfunctioning slightly and giving you incorrect answers?”
Ka
