Recovery: V Plague Book 8 Read Online Free PDF Page A

but I’ve lived long
enough to know better than to jump at the first pretty face that comes along. 
    Noting the
panel number, I kept checking.  Nothing else within the same rack was showing a
fault, but on the very last rack was a switch twice the size of the previous
one I’d found showing the same red indicator.  I’d heard the Colonel running
the drill again and not knowing where he was or what he might be touching, I
went in search of him before resetting either of the switches.
    He was just
finishing doing something in another cabinet and I had a pretty good idea what
when I saw several more melted arrestors lying on the floor.
    “Found two
master switches in fault,” I said as I walked up.
    “Good.  This
was the last damaged part I could find.  At least the batteries should charge
now when the sun comes up.  If the panels outside aren’t blown out.”  He said.
    “Time to
find out,” I said, leading the way back to the master control panels.
    But now I
had a problem.  There were two switches in fault mode, one obviously
controlling a much larger current than the other.  Which one did I reset first? 
And did it matter? 
    I looked
around hoping to spot an operator’s manual, but there wasn’t one to be seen. 
Making my best guess, I selected the smaller switch first.  It made sense to me
but I didn’t try to explain my reasoning to the Colonel.
    Grasping the
switch, I tried to turn it towards the “on” position, but it didn’t budge.  I
remembered a house Katie and I had owned years ago.  Something was wrong with
the wiring and it was an almost daily occurrence that she would pop one of the
breakers with her hair dryer or curling iron, and I was usually the one to go
out into the garage to reset it for her.  Turning off first, then back on reset
them.
    Holding my
breath, I rotated the switch to the left until it clicked and the red fault
indicator went away, replaced by a black indicator that said “off”.  Turning it
back to the right it clicked in place, the indicator changing to white and
reading “on”.  Other than that, nothing happened.
    Moving to
the other panel I grabbed the large switch.  Its handle was long enough that it
completely filled my hand.  It was stiff and hard to turn, but I succeeded in
muscling it to off, took a deep breath and rolled it to on.
    Immediately,
fluorescent lights mounted to the ceiling buzzed to life and the sound of
several exhaust fans spinning up came from the direction of the battery bank. 
I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding and grinned.
    “Good job,
Major!  Now.  How the hell are we getting out of here?”  Crawford asked.
    While I’d
been looking at switches I’d had an idea.  It hadn’t taken a lot of
concentration to check them so I’d let my brain work on the problem of how to
get out of here.  And if I do say so myself, I’d come up with a good one.
    Keeping
Colonel Crawford in the dark, I went searching for what I needed.  First, and
most importantly, we needed access to the roof.  I suspected there would be a
utility ladder leading to a hatch.  There were too many fans and pipes on the
roof for there to not be easy access for the maintenance staff.
    I found the
hatch quickly but didn’t bother to climb up yet.  Gathering what I needed I
lugged it up the ladder, getting soaked when I pushed the hatch open.  Good. 
It was still raining.
    On the roof
I dropped two coils of heavy gauge wire and walked to the front edge.  Sticking
my head over I was surprised to see as many females as I did.  I had expected a
hundred at the most but there were probably double that number.  They milled
around the barricaded front door, one of them occasionally testing it.
    Striding
back to the hatch I picked up an end of each of the wires and fed them down to
where the Colonel waited.  I gave him enough slack to make the connections
below.  There was a set of positive and negative terminals, controlled by a
switch,