Something about his complete lack of interest irritated her.
Most people waited for approval from her.
He appeared relieved by dismissal.
“Wait.”
He stopped.
She looked toward the Senior Engineer.
“How long until the replacement controller arrives?”
“Best case forty minutes.”
“And if that isn’t the fault?”
Silence.
The CEO turned back toward the Single Dad.
“You have five minutes.”
He looked at her.
“To?”
“Tell me whether they’re wrong.”
The Senior Engineer objected.
“CEO, with respect—”
“Five minutes.”
The Single Dad put the toolbox down again.
He looked at the fault screen.
No touching.
Just reading.
Propulsion inverter unavailable.
Vehicle control network loss.
Thermal management interruption.
Battery isolation warning.
Brake-by-wire degraded.
Steering control fallback.
The Senior Engineer pointed.
“Multiple modules offline simultaneously.”
“That strongly indicates central controller failure.”
The Single Dad nodded.
“Or power reference.”
The engineer frowned.
“What?”
The Single Dad leaned toward the screen.
“How many independent modules share the same reference ground?”
The Engineer stared.
“Several.”
“How many faults appeared at the exact same timestamp?”
The Engineer scrolled.
“All primary faults.”
“Same millisecond?”
The engineer checked.
His expression changed slightly.
“Yes.”
The Single Dad looked toward the engine bay.
“Then I wouldn’t start with the controller.”
The CEO crossed her arms.
“What would you start with?”
“Ground path.”
The Senior Engineer almost laughed.
“That would not explain the propulsion lock.”
“It would if a reference ground destabilized enough to make multiple controllers disagree about voltage.”
“This architecture compensates for ground variation.”
“Within limits.”
The Single Dad walked toward the front.
“Did the failure happen during acceleration?”
“No.”
“Braking?”
“No.”
“Steering input?”
“No.”
“What was happening?”
The Engineer checked his tablet.
“Vehicle rolled over a transport-lot ramp.”
The Single Dad stopped.
“A bump.”
“A minor surface transition.”
“A bump.”
“Yes.”
“Then something moved.”
The Senior Engineer shook his head.
“That’s speculation.”
“Yes.”
The Single Dad looked toward him.
“Diagnosis begins as speculation.”
“Then you test.”
The CEO watched.
That sentence felt different from the rest.
The Single Dad opened the hood further.
He leaned inside.
Followed a harness.
Touched nothing for almost thirty seconds.
Then he moved around the passenger side.
Looked beneath.
“Lift.”
The Garage Owner signaled a technician.
The prototype rose.
The Single Dad crouched.
Looked beneath the belly pan.
The Senior Engineer followed reluctantly.
“What are you looking for?”
“Something stupid.”
“That is not technical.”
“Technical problems are often stupid after you find them.”
The CEO stood several feet away.
She watched him.