e Angel
and said: "Check the lead between the 391-JF and the big DK-37. I think
you'll find that the piping is in phase with the two-cycle note, and
it's become warped and stretched. It's about half a millimeter off--plus
or minus a tenth. The pulse is reaching the DK-37 about four degrees
off, and the gate is closing before it all gets through. That's forcing
the regulator circuit to overcompensate, and...."

Mike didn't listen to any more. He didn't know whether Snookums knew
what he was talking about or not, but he did know that the thing the
robot had mentioned would have had just such an effect.

Mike strode rapidly across the room and flipped up the shield housing
the assembly Snookums had mentioned. The lead was definitely askew.

Mike the Angel snapped orders, and the power crewmen descended on the
scene of the trouble.

Snookums went right on delivering his interpretation of the data, but
everyone ignored him while they worked. Being ignored didn't bother
Snookums in the least.

"... and that, in turn, is making the feeder valve field oscillate," he
finished up, nearly five minutes later.

Mike was glad that Snookums had pinpointed the trouble first and then
had gone on to show why the defect was causing the observed result. He
could just as easily have started with the offending oscillation and
reached the bit about the faulty lead at the end of his speech, except
that he had been built to do it the other way around. Snookums made the
deduction in his superfast mind and then reeled it off backward, as it
were, going from conclusion to premises.

Otherwise, he might have been too late.

The repair didn't take long, once Snookums had found just what needed
repairing. When the job was over, Mike the Angel wiped his hands on a
rag and stood up.

"Thanks, Snookums," he said honestly. "You've been a great help."

Snookums said: "I am smiling. Because I am pleased."

There was no way for him to smile with a steel face, but Mike got the
idea.

Mike turned to the Chief Powerman's Mate. "Okay, Multhaus, shut it off.
She's steady now."

Multhaus just sat there, surrounded by a wall of concentration, his
hands still on the verniers, his eyes still on the screen. He didn't
move.

Mike flipped off the switch. "Come on, Multhaus, snap to. We've still
got that beat note to worry about."

Multhaus blinked dizzily as the green line vanished from his sight. He
jerked his hands off the verniers, and then smile