Sound of Ruin

Fault Engine Four sounded like money disappearing.

That was Benjamin Hale's first honest assessment. It was not a technical diagnosis, so he kept it out of his ledger. Instead, at the top of a fresh, clean page, he carefully wrote:

FAULT ENGINE 4

CUSTOMER COMPLAINT: ENGINE MAKES A TERRIBLE KNOCKING SOUND

Directly beneath that, he underlined three words:

DO NOT ASSUME.

Samuel Croft peered over his shoulder. "You write that every single morning now."

"Because every single morning, you jump to conclusions."

"I said connecting rod before the instructor even touched the fuel petcock."

"Exactly," Benjamin said. "You guessed."

"Could be a rod," Samuel insisted.

"Could be is not a diagnosis."