"OK," he said shortly. He took his notebook and began to scribble a list of equipment on a blank page. A message, he wondered, like they do it in the movies? A request, maybe, for some outrageous piece of equipment that would tip off the boys in the shop? No good, they weren't that smart, and for that matter neither was he. Besides, what did he really know? Nothing, except that he just didn't want this job very much. He tore the page out of the notebook and handed it to Brown. Brown slipped it in his pocket and went out. Dolan turned to the girl. "OK, Miss Jones," he said. "Now let's see what we can figure out about this gear." He strolled completely around it, eyeing it from all sides. "Well ..." he said dubiously. "First, I guess, control. How do you start it up, make it go?" "We push these buttons, in this sequence," the girl told him. She moved her fingers lightly over a series of studs set in a small cube. "OK, push 'em. Let's see what happens." "Nothing happens," the girl said. "The machine just doesn't work." "Well, then, what's supposed to happen?" The girl looked unhappy. "I'm sorry," she said finally, "didn't Mr. Brown say you weren't to ask such questions?" "OK," Dolan said resignedly, "we'll let that go then. How about this: What indications do you have when it _is_ operating normally? Anything light up, move, buzz, hum, spin around?" The girl frowned thoughtfully and shook her head. "Nothing lights up, moves, buzzes, hums, spins around. When the machine works, it ... well, it just works, and that's all." She studied him with troubled eyes. "You are an expert, it seems to me an expert should be able to look at a machine and see what parts are faulty, isn't that true? Why must you know what the machine does?" Dolan leaned back against the machine and lit a cigarette. He squinted thoughtfully at her through the smoke. Well, what the hell, with looks like that, why should she need brains? "Miss Jones," he said patiently, "I gather that you aren't a technical person?" "Not with machines, no." It was an odd sort of answer. Did it imply that she had a technical knowledge of something other than machines? Dolan considered it briefly and decided to pass it up for now. "I _am_ a technically trained person," he said, "an expert as you say; and I can tell you this: machinery, electronic gear, anything like that, is built to do a specific job. Before you can design, build, or repair such equipment, the very first thing you have to know is: what do you want it to do? For all I know, this machine here may just be an overgrown coffee percolator. Now, suppose I go ahead and fix it with that in mind, and when I get done it makes beautiful coffee, but it turn out you wanted all along for it to get television programs, you're going to be terribly disappointed. You see now why I have to know what it does?"