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Sandecker, Captain Quick and another ineer, were seated around a same table

"Care for a brandy?" asked Quick

"Yes, thank you"

Sandecker sat wreathed in

cigar slass He did not look like a happy caet the ship under way until critical parts are delivered from the mainland"

Gunn knew the ad inside, but he looked as cool as a bucket of ice on the exterior

He looked at Toft "When do you expect the parts, Chief?"

"They're in flight froe stos

"Due to land in four hours Our ship's helicopter is waiting on the ground at the Hilo airport on the big island of Hawaii to terry the parts directly to the Explorer"

"What exactly is the problem?" asked Gunn

"The propeller shaft bearings," Toft explained "For souess, the propeller shafts were not balanced properly During the voyage fro tubes, cutting off the flow of oil to the shaft bearings

Friction, ue, overstress, whatever you want to call it, the port shaft froze solid about a hundred miles off Molokai The starboard shaft was barely able to carry us here before her bearings burned out"

"As I told you earlier, we're working under a critical deadline"

I fully understand the scope of your dileet the ship under way again, but they're only hus are only part of the proble only taken the ship from the East Coast to the middle of the Pacific and then back to California, back in the 1970s, but without proper attention for the last twenty years, they are in a terrible state of neglect Even if we should get one shaft to turn, there is no guarantee we'll get past the ain"

"Do you have the necessary tools to do the job?" Sandecker pressed Toft