$> ...Zxss.s...ths..d...s..f..rewescc....zxxvb.... ...adjust...spin...cdsdc...sh..d.s.e...set...tiny bit mo...e.... Alm..st g..t it. One more tweak here with the hyperspanner, adjust the vertical alignment on this old vacuum display with a good ol' flatbar... and now... Holy drek. This thing actually works. Is this thing.. 500? ..600 revs old? Older than anything I've ever seen before, that's for sure. Hah, it's even measured in *bits*! Craze...who would have thought that my degree would have actually come in handy? Oh...must adjust the chrono to current Galactic time standard...there. Right. Well, here I am. My first posting. The counselors at university said that the Galactic Force was the best option right out of grad school, especially for someone with a degree like mine. Said there wasn't a whole lot of options for a degree in Classical Computer Science, except for the Galactic Force. Met up with a recruiter a few rots later and she was all smiles. Said they desperately need people with my qualifications for some golden cufflink assignment or something? It came with a fat bonus, some creds to pay off my engineering loans, plus perks for being a codehead. Sounded pretty good...so I marked on the dotted line. The next rev and a half was a complete blur with spacer camp, A-school, psychological conditioning, and cryotraining. I didn't even have time to take a drek until now. But now I'm here. Stationed alone in a remote research station out in Bum Frak Enif staring at some ancient vacuum-tube light screen waiting for the QuTrit to finish its calculations of some distant nebula. Which won't happen for the next sixteen and a quarter revs. Join the Force and see the galaxy they said. Have a space adventure they said. What the frak did I get myself into?