Chapter 6

But the real breaking point came on Saturday. Emily took the day off and didn't come to work.

The machine was started up again in the workshop. Ten minutes in, the spindle suddenly seized up. The whole system locked down, and a red error message flashed on the screen: [System authorization expired. Please contact the supplier to renew.]

The operator tried restarting it three times, but the same message kept popping up.

The workshop supervisor was freaking out. He called Southland Machinery's after-sales service, but they said they didn't work on Saturdays and asked him to call back on Monday.…