No answer. A second or two. Then all of us in the turret were
startled. Transfixed. From below came a sudden hiss. It sounded in the
turret; it came from the shifting room call grid. The hissing of the
pneumatic valves of the plate shifters in the lower control room. The
valves were opening; the plates automatically shifting into neutral,
and disconnecting!
An instant of startled silence. Miko may have realized the
significance of what had happened. Certainly Snap and I did. The
hissing ceased. I gripped the emergency plate shifter switch which
hung over my head. Its disc was dead! The plates were dead in neutral:
in the position they were placed only in port! And their shifting
mechanisms were imperative!