Human Error Read online

the middle-west had proposed a motorcaravan to Space Command Base, where the participants would go on asit-down strike until assurance was given that no Wheel would be builtagain. And on the heels of this came the demand by an increasing numberof Senators for a full investigation of the Base.

  Paul met Barker after seeing the newscast of Morgan's revivalist typeappeal for a caravan of protest against the Base. "This looks like itcould get to be something that would be hard to handle," Barker said."It doesn't seem reasonable that the near-crash of the first Wheel atSan Francisco could be responsible for all this commotion."

  "I don't think it is," Paul answered reflectively. "The sinking of a bigocean liner doesn't produce hysterical demands that no more ships bebuilt. The crash of an airship with a hundred people aboard is acceptedfor what it is, without this kind of reaction. I think these broadcastsand write-ups of Captain West's appeal have sunk in deeper thanOglethorpe or anyone else ever intended.

  "For a long time there has been building up a sense of man's inferiorityto his machines. Now this incident of the Wheel and the world-widebroadcast of West's final words have triggered that inferiority into agenuine fear. They're afraid to have another Wheel up there over theirheads. They're afraid that no man is capable of mastering such a pieceof machinery."

  Not only the public was infected with this fear, but the very men onwhom the operation of the ships depended. Harper was right, Paulthought, as he reached his own office again. It must be terrible to bein their shoes, fighting constantly the conviction that they were poormiserable creatures hardly fit to polish the shining hulls of theircreations!

  They were trained in the best of military traditions, crushing theirweaknesses by sheer force. And they had concluded their own breakdownwas inevitable, in spite of their training and traditions. How couldsuch men even hope for the stars!

  But where was the flaw in it all? If the answer was not in men who weremore nearly like their own machines, where was it?

  They needed a year or two to even approach the problem properly, andsome kind of answer was demanded within weeks!

  Oglethorpe came to the laboratory the morning Harper was to begin histest runs. "We're going on a complete crash-priority basis, withround-the-clock shifts," he said. "It's been a toss-up whether to closeSuperman and put everything we had on the new Wheel, or leave it open inthe hope of getting something out of it.

  "For the time being I'm leaving it open, but remember that every hourHarper or one of his men spends here is an hour away from the job on theWheel.

  "We didn't need your suggestion about an investigation. Plenty of otherpeople thought of it first. The Senators will be here in four or fivedays. You're going to talk to them. You're going to tell them what youproposed to tell them."

  "Of course. And what are you going to do about Morgan's cavalcade?"

  Oglethorpe spat out an exclamation. "We'll set up barricades that they'dbetter not cross within ten miles of Base!"

  "That won't help," Paul warned. "I think you'd better let me preparesomething for them, too."

  "Forget them! Take care of the Senators and the Project and you'll bedoing enough."

  Harper arrived shortly, nervous in spite of his attempt to appearcomposed. But he was put at ease when they took him to the laboratory ofcomplex testing equipment assembled by Nat Holt.

  Paul indicated a seat in the middle of the mass of equipment. "As nearas we've been able to make it," he said, "this simulates the landingprocedure of a rocket craft. There are a hundred and thirty-fivedistinct actions, observations and judgements involved. A taped voicewill lead you through the sequence, asking you to press buttons and makeadjustments to indicate your observations and responses. When you can doall this to your satisfaction, you will turn off the tape and continuefor as many cycles as you can."

  "How long? A man could do that for a month, provided he didn't have tosleep."

  "I think you'll be a little surprised. You will continue until youraccumulation of errors becomes so great that the entire procedurecollapses."

  "It still looks like a kid's game to me," Harper said confidently."Let's get started."

  Carefully, they fitted the multiple electrodes of theelectro-encephalograph recorder to his skull. The tape instructor wasturned on, and Harper began the first cycle.

  Behind the one-way glass of the observation room, Paul sat with Nat Holtand Professor Barker and two assistants, watching. The rocket engineerbegan jauntily, contemptuous of the simple actions required of him,impatient to have it over with and get back to his duties at thetake-off stand.

  The instructions coming over the speaker had some variations from thenormal handling of a ship, including the items necessary to recordobservations and responses. Harper listened to these for a half dozencycles. Then, confident that he could breeze through the procedure forthe rest of the day if he had to, he switched off the tape and settledback to take it easy.

  One by one, he watched the meters, noted their information, made theproper adjustments, added compensations, waited for results, checked andre-checked--

  "He'll go a long time," said Nat Holt confidently. "He's had toptraining. If it breaks down, we may find out a few things."

  "Cummins had top-drawer training, too," Paul said. "His break pointseemed to have no adequate antecedents. I don't think we're going tofind Harper holding out very long."

  After an hour, the attitude of contempt had left Harper's face, and hewas proceeding with obvious boredom. He had made no error yet, but therewas evident a faint trace of anxiety as he concentrated on theinstruments and levers.

  At two hours and a half Harper reached for a button and withdrew hishand in abrupt hesitation. Then it darted out again and presseddecisively. At three hours he was making two such hesitations everycycle.

  "Not so good," Barker commented. "Not for a man who battles himself theway Harper does."

  Nat Holt remained silent, watching critically the wavering dials andgraphs showing the engineer's physical condition and reaction.

  At four and a half hours, Harper's hand reached for a lever in thecenter of the board. But it didn't get more than a third of the way. Inmid-air it froze, as if paralysis had suddenly struck it. Harperregarded it in seeming dumb astonishment. His face grew red, and sweatbroke out upon his forehead as if from the physical exertion of tryingto put his hand to the lever.

  Paul grabbed a microphone and switched it on. "Touch the lever," hecommanded. "Draw it toward you."

  Harper looked around as if in panic, but he completed the motion. He satstaring at the panels for a full two minutes while alarm eyes went fromgreen to yellow to red.

  "Alarm red!" Paul exclaimed into the microphone. "Correct course!"

  Harper turned and glared about with hate in his eyes as if to find thesource of the sound. He began tearing at the wires and contacts fastenedto his head and body. "To hell with the course!" he cried. "I'm gettingout of here!"

  He hurled the wiring harness at the panels. Then, he stood in a moment'sfurther paralysis and slumped finally into the chair. He put his armsand head down on the instrument desk and began sobbing deeply.

  Paul put away the microphone and moved to the door. "That's the end ofthat," he said. "I hope our record is good. Harper might not like to gothrough that again."

  Nat Holt was still staring through the window at the sobbing engineer."I don't understand," he murmured. "What made him break down like thatfor no reason at all?"

  * * * * *

  One by one, the top engineers of the Base went through the breakdowntest. Some broke down with an emotional storm as Harper had, otherssimply ended in a swirl of confusion that put lights flashing all overthe panels. But all of them had a breaking point of some kind that couldbe measured in a small number of hours.

  The test was a stab in the dark. It was based on an old and well-knownprinciple that repeated tactile contact under command will break downthe motor responses of the body in a matter of hours. Paul did not knowwhether it
would actually provide a fertile lead to the problem of erroror not, but it seemed the closest possible approach at present.

  Nat Holt, however, was astonished at the reaction of the men. Heinsisted on trying it himself, determined that he would not break downno matter what happened. He lasted six hours before the panel lit uplike a Christmas tree.

  He subjected the resulting curves to an analyzer, and to his own he gavethe most detailed attention. At the end of a full week of study on it,he called Paul with an excitement he could not suppress in his voice.

  "It looks like you owe that dinner," he said. "We've got what we werelooking