Excerpt, “Backyard” Bob Benson’s personal diary:

Pastor Norton’s death was no accident.

I’ve been doing this, fixing crap, for far too long for me to be misled by someone dealing in foul play. I jury-rigged a ZX7 before the Earth exploded. Heck, I PREDICTED that the Earth was going to explode. Just because I’m self-taught in a lot of things doesn’t make me a fool.

They scooped me up almost at the verge of death out by Mars and took me in as a mechanic, an engineer, a what-have-you. I save them; still they call me crazy. Just because God got me to Mars, it doesn’t make me a fool. Even with the dust.

The bolts came off the pipe and it imploded. Sure, the damage to the pipe LOOKS a lot like the end result of a machining fault.

But it’s not.

The dent in the pipe was too oblong for it to have been a flaw. It almost looks like somebody’s foot slammed into it. And the bolts have tool marks. From the wrong tool, too. A ratchet would have left no mark. They probably used some pliers.

I have to tell the Captain.