Ty summoned the elevator, and rode it to floor -14. The elevator door opened upon not a corridor, but a waiting room. Ty stepped out, and walked up to the counter. No one was there, but a sign said "Now serving: 64". There was a machine to dispense tickets, so he took one, which read 65, and sat down.
After a moment, the now serving sign changed to 65, and someone stepped up to the desk. Ty wss dumbfounded. It was Lisa, wearing overalls. She was shorter than usual, only about four feet tall, and a bit oddly proportioned. A homunculus. "Lisa, thank goodness I've found you," Ty said.
Lisa looked at him, and said, "I'm not Lisa. I'm Repair Agent 27B. What seems to be the problem?"
Ty looked at her, somewhat disappointed. "It's Main Control. There is a bunch of damage to control panels. They need to be repaied."
"I'm not surprised," said 27B. "A lot of the telltales for Main Control lit up a while ago. We tried calling, but no one answered."
"Can you fix everything?"
"Probably. I'll have to take a look." She grabbed a toolbox from behind the counter, and summoned the elevator.
When they got to floor 83, and walked into Main Control, 27B's jaw dropped. "What the heck happened in here? Did a bomb go off?"
"Something like that," said Ty.
27B walked around the room, looking at the various panels, and the holes where panels were supposed to be. She s]ent several minutes inspecting, then turned to Ty, and said, "No."
"What do you mean, 'no'?" Ty said. "Your job is maintenance. Maintain!"
"Oh, I can fix a broken indicator and a switch here and there, but this level of damage is hopeless. I'm surprised that the system hasn't already collapsed. That can't be too far away."
"And you can't do anything about it?" Ty asked.
"No. Most of the panels need to be completely replaced, and there are no replacements. The parts department only has replacements for common individual parts, not entire panels. This is hopeless. The main operator should have already triggered the Emergency Stop switch, but in their absence, I have authority to do so." 27B walked purposefully toward a particular panel.
Ty said, "No, I can't let you do that. There has to be another way."
"Afraid not," 27B said. "And just who are you, anyhow? I don't think you have any authority to order me around."
"I'm Acting Main Operator," said Ty.
"There's no such thing," 27B said. "Oh, this will take a few minutes. The panel is here, but the Emergency Stop button is missing. I'll replace it." She started digging in her toolbox.
"You'll do no such thing," Ty said. "I will provide replacement control panels," he said.
"That's iimpossible," 27B said. "Get out of my way, and let me fix the Emergency Stop."
"Not on your life," said Ty, "or Lisa's life." He waved a hand, and 27B was frozen. He left her able to speak.
"You can't do this!" she said. "I'll report this!"
"Maybe later," Ty said, "but for now, we'll talk. If you had a supply of spare control panels, could you use them to repair everything?"
"Sure, in theory," 27B said, "But there are no spare panels."
"I know where to get some. If I provide them, will you do, the repair, and not activate Emergency Srop?
"Well, this isn't covered by Procedures," 27B said. "But if, just IF, the right panels were available, yes, I would do it. I'd call more Repair Agents to work with me."
"And if those panels were provided," Ty asked, "could I trust you and your fellow Agents not to activate Emergency Stop?"
"Oh, certainly!" agreed 27B "That is, by definition, a last resort. We have to exhaust all other avenues of corrective action before we're allowed to do that. But this is academic, since these hypothetical panels don't exist."
"I will prove to you that they do exist," Ty said, "and make them available. However, this will take me a while. If I release you, will you give me time to provide the panels?"
"No," she said. "I can't wait for something that is impossible. Procedure requires that I activate Emergency Stop now."
"I'm sorry, then," Ty told her. "I'm going to have to completely freeze you until I get the panels."
She started to protest, but Ty waved his arm, and she completely froze.