Dopey

Yesterday, I posted an article about how a real life event in my life (cracking the code to the IUPUI Natatorium) ended up in Rome's Revolution.

The recovery scene ended with a successful reboot and Rome asked OMCOM to give the nav-computer a thorough inspection before she dared try a reentry. I knew that the nav-computer malfunction was the work of Estar but at the time, Rome and Rei did not. I wrote this next portion and I will highlight the dopey portion of the paragraph in bold:

     “If we can get the manual controls to respond,” Rome said. She pressed a series of buttons and restarted the initialization sequence allowing the system to reboot normally. Rome had OMCOM run a diagnostic on every subsystem within the tug. The reboot procedure seemed to have done the trick. OMCOM found evidence of one anomaly which somehow erased itself during the restart. With all systems checked out, Rome tested the manual controls and found they responded as expected. She swung the ship around and used the plasma thrusters to reverse their course and reenter orbit around Dara. When that was done, she sat back in her seat.
     “What?” Rei asked.
     “Nothing,” Rome said. “I just need a moment to compose myself. I do not trust the nav-computer to land us. I will do it manually.”
     “Take your time,” Rei said, considering the alternative.

Think about it. If there was an anomaly, how could OMCOM detect it if erased itself upon reboot? Not one person has ever challenged me on it yet it is patently absurd. Oh we could invoke checksums or CRCs or event logs but really, does anybody care?

You have to admit that it gives a better flavor to the scenes that come later so I guess I'll have to let it go.