James Bolivar DiGriz, alias "Slippery Jim" is a fictional character and the protagonist of a series of comic science fiction novels written by Harry Harrison. It might seem a little careless to lose track of something as big as a battleship . . . but interstellar space is on a different scale of magnitude. Still, a misplaced battleship -- in the wrong hands -- can be most dangerous.

My boss leaned back, wiped his hands on his handkerchief and gave me Lecture Forty-four on Company Duty and My Troubles. "This department is officially called Maintenance and Repair, when it really should be called trouble-shooting. Hyperspace beacons are made to last forever -- or damn close to it. When one of them breaks down, it is never an accident and repairing the thing is never a matter of just plugging in a new part." He was telling me -- the guy who did the job while he sat back on his fat paycheck in an air-conditioned office.

Because there were few adults in the crowd, and Colonel "Biff" Hawton stood over six feet tall, he could see every detail of the demonstration. The children -- and most of the parents -- gaped in wide-eyed wonder. Biff Hawton was too sophisticated to be awed. He stayed on because he wanted to find out what the trick was that made the gadget work.