I must have been getting hysterical from being pinned there so helplessly with a lunatic at large, for when he got into the metal rat's nest behind the meter panel I laughed. Then I wished I hadn't.
"Swede," he said earnestly. "I want to double the voltage and step up the amperage by eight on the direct current. I want the frequency of the AC boosted to at least 850 cycles, and I need at least two thousand ehrenhafts on the magnetic flux leads."
I blinked at those figures.
"Now Mike," I said, trying to be calm. "Let me out of here and we'll talk this over." I had my eye on a heavy wrench I hoped I could grab in time.
"Oh no, Swede. You're insane. I couldn't possibly let you loose."
He chuckled at his own stupid joke. "Tell me how to rig it," he demanded.
"No soap. That much overload would probably blow the packs and the whole ship with it."
"That's a chance we'll have to take. For all Earth's sake," he said, really serious this time. "There's no other way. Now tell me."
I shook my head.
Instead of arguing he got out a soldering iron and started it heating.