Baltimore:24

                    Author Howard Sherman

                   Solution by Sue Medley

Another fine day in the Internet Service provider business. You
hang up the phone as you complete the order for that brand new MUD
you're going to install on the server. It's Saturday night right
before Easter and in the heart of the Spring Break. Your customers
are going to love the new game. You'll have it up and running in
just a few minutes in the nick of time for all those people with a
lot of spare time. You turn to your computer to begin downloading
the new game file so you can wrap up and go home. Thunder rumbles.
A storm is coming.

As you begin to glide your mouse to the top of your browser to
enter a URL there is a flash outside and the lights flicker!
Instantly you hear lots of loud buzzing noises as the many reserve
power supplies in your office come to life to keep your internet
server online. The buzzing stops, the lights stay on. Satisfied,
you enter the URL of the web page you want to visit and hit
[Enter]. Your browser tells you it is unable to find the server.
Impossible! In a split second a wave of fear crosses your mind as
you realize the one way this could happen...

In panic you run into the computer room and it looks like
Christmas; your Cisco router, that magical box that puts your
server onto the internet, is hysterically blinking. Your worst
nightmare becomes real: You are an Internet Service Provider
without the Internet.

Examine router
I
get router (+5)
e
s
enter car
switch it on
s
s
s
s
read billboard
w
switch car off
leave it
n
n
w
read sign
checkin
call (+10)
sleep
n
s
s
enter car
switch it on
w
s
switch car off
leave it
w
s (Robert is here)
x Robert (holding a cardboard box)
give router ...

You hand Robert your old router and gives you the new one.

"I tested your internet circuit and found a breach. I dispatched
an engineer last night to repair it. Just plug this new router in
and you'll be all set."

With router in hand you practically fly back to your office in New
Jersey, breaking the speed limit in each state you pass. You
hook up the new router and the lights begin to blink in their
normal, methodical pattern.

Your callers begin to logon and open their browsers. You have
restored service. Your callers are ecstatic and praise you on
your dedication of going so far out of your way for them,
especially on a holiday.
















                              - o -