The Computer Saga; One

I've been trying to get the big Operations Computer fixed for a very long time - well, ever since somebody decided to "modernise things" by having one, really.

Quaverell moved the computer in after the last proper gig here. They went through the preliminaries of setting up three permanent bases, two of them new; I think that has something to do with staff training. I was asked to stay on and supervise, "at least until the impending apocalypse" - there was a very good bonus, and it's Sunnydale. I'd been given the impression that the town had an apocalypse every couple of weeks and the extended gig might take a month, tops - then I was planning a good long period of leave before I accepted another tour job. I was told how long I was likely to be here after I'd agreed to stay... (Next time I'll get every detail in writing before I agree to a damned thing - if there is a next time.)

After the computer system was in place they apparently terminated almost all the old methods of contacting and supplying the bases. This didn't bother me too much, at first - my part in the supplies aspect had always been to tell them what I wanted and complain if I didn't get it. As for liaison, it used to be a case of getting there, getting the job done, getting out, getting a report in and getting what you could out of it; that was probably what the Lore-Makers didn't like.

There's one good thing about computerizing, though; the banks have them too. Pay and expenses have come through here, on schedule throughout; (in case, you've never done multidimensional work, I should add that this aspect really does matter.) Shortly afterwards, they withdrew junior staff pending re-assignments and rota changes; (one of the minions was injured in the original gig, anyway, and they all had leave due.)

Then something happened. I'm told that the technical term is that the whole network went down. Under the new, modern, not very foolproof system, this terminated my whole support structure! No new staff was coming through, I'd lost all contact with the home dimension (and that's closed to all standard access routes anyway. The only way an adult can get in is via a sponsor, and that's an aspect of the gigs that can get very tricky.)

After that, the main computer got worse, until I had real problems even writing my journal entries. I'd made several attempts to get the help of ct_digitalpage, but my timing seeming to be off, on that. I always seemed to choose the wrong time to ask and it looked prohibitively difficult to bring the computer to Sunnydale. Cathy wasn't likely to have time to travel to the UK, even by air, and since she has a real dislike of having magic worked on her it wasn't likely that she would travel by portal. Fortunately, she seems to quite enjoy sliding, so I asked yancey_slide to do me a favour, and he brought her over to make the repair.