Ten days after the reappearance of Captain Lovelace, the crew works around the clock to get the various systems on her shuttle up and running. Tensions rise steadily as Eiffel, Minkowski, and Lovelace face technical difficulties, personal differences, and plummeting morale. But when a short circuit leaves them marooned outside the Hephaestus, they must race against the clock to repair the shuttle's malfunctioning life support system. Plus, Ford Pinto-class shuttle service, diabolical foxes in the machine, Herr Trigger Von Bombenstein, compound eyes, and raw animal magnetism.