The alarms cut through Stan's daydreams. One moment he was accepting the Award for Technical Brilliance, the next he was surrounded by a flurry of activity. Pulsing red lights drenched the control centre, calling people into action.

'The arm - get the arm!' came the order, barked across the chaos.

Stan jumped up, cursing the coffee that split across his lap, and raced across the chamber to his panel. So much for a break. His hands flew across the controls like a conductor, each lever, button, and switch a section in his frantic symphony. The floor shuddered and hot steam billowed out from the vents - the arm was in motion.

'Arm raising! Who's got fingers?' he called out. Several voices rose in reply, 'I've got index', 'Pinky over here', 'I'm thumb!'. Stan watched the operators scurry around their own control panel, their white lab coats transforming into a snowstorm of activity.

Stan took a deep breath, ignoring his shaking hand as it pushed one of the levers slowly upwards. They must have practiced this a hundred times in the simulations. This wouldn't be any different.

All eyes turned to the display and a collective gasp swept across the room. That fuzzy shape is definitely the arm, but that was only possible to tell from the size and position. They had no hope seeing the fingers. Blasted fools. Why they'd picked a host who wore glasses was beyond Stan - and beyond his pay grade. He'd warned that it added extra complication, but 'Just focus on your arm' had been the response. It always was. Yet now all they had to guide them was a blurred display and muscle memory.

'We have drilled this people!', came a crackled voice over the speakers. Director Merrick. 'Raise the arm. Extend the hand. Press the button.' A lot easier said than done when you can't actually see what you're doing. The constant wailing of alarms didn't help either.

However, slowly but surely, Stan managed to get the arm into position. It took longer than the simulations and he now had a list of complaints for Engineering but it was there. Somehow the finger operators also managed to perform their duties and with a resounding slam, the hand made contact.

The alarms stopped. The lights returned to a warm glow. Silence held for a moment before being shattered by cheers and applause. They had done it. Years of engineering, training, scouting had led to this moment, and Stan had been part of it.

'Great work team' announced Director Merrick, his relief evident even through the speakers, 'but we have more to do. That was just the alarm clock, there are going to be greater challenges than this'

A collective groan ripped its way through the enthusiasm. This was going to a long day.

'Sir, we have a problem!' Heads turned to towards the young engineer, clutching a freshly printed report, 'we hit the snooze button by mistake!'