Morehouse and Charlemagne were there. Lois was there. And an air of trouble was there also.
Morehouse held up a hand. "Hagen, look at that."
Steve turned and looked. In the corner, near the galactic model, stood a rack and panel, obviously disconnected from the generator room of a spacecraft.
"Go take a good look at it."
Steve went. He looked.
"Test it!"
Steve turned. "I'll have to get my equip—"
Morehouse snorted. "Just turn it on and check it!"
Steve shrugged. He snapped the master switch and turned the function switch to test. He checked the meters, wondering whether they were standardized and reading correctly. But he had no need to concern himself about such a refinement; the servo bridge that balanced the stress of warp against the pressure of normal space and integrated it so that the total volume of warped space remained essentially constant was obviously haywire. Instead of operating with a steady thrust of power—operating on test by balancing the power from a standard electric cell against a standard resistance load—the servo bridge was oscillating.
On, off, on, off, on, off, on—