SHORT STORY MACHINE

“Mister Carlos, I presume?” the author cheerfully greeted the journalist.  Raoul Frederick Carlos held his notepad in front of him, a little starstruck, or perhaps just surprised that he had been greeted at the door by Alistair Winterford himself, rather than a butler or a housekeeper.  “Yes sir! It’s an honour to meet you, and I must express my deep gratitude to you for agreeing to this interview.“ “Yes, yes,” Winterford said dismissively. “Pleasantries aside, you know as well as I do that this will do us both good. I couldn’t decline a request from a publication as illustrious as yours. Besides, I’ve got my great-grandchildren’s college education to think about!” His eyes gleamed with good-humoured mischief. “You have great-grandchildren?” Carlos couldn’t believe it. He was old, but not that old. “Ha! I jest! But I have plenty of grandchildren and I have faith that most of them will breed. Come in! Come in!” He followed him down a tastefully decorated baroque hallway which opened out

  “Okay, now very carefully, cut the red wire.” “ Which red wire? There are several!” “Fine. Brett, just relax. We don’t want to do anything we’ll regret.” “You’re telling me.” Brett traced the course of the red wire under his finger. It ended on a soldered point on a printed circuit board screwed to the case. A little gold plus sign glinted on the green board next to the solder. “Okay, I’ve got the live” Brett reported. “That’s the one you mean, right?” “Hang on... “ The voice on the other end of the line said. “You’ve got to be very careful here. If there’s more than one red wire, and you’re sure the one you have is the live, you need to strip some of the insulation and short it against the send terminal of the card unit. Got that?” Brett took a deep breath. “Okay, got the send terminal.” “Right,” the voice said. “Make sure you’ve got enough play in the wire at the point where you strip it that it reaches the terminal. And then you’re going to want to clip the wire against it with a