Ridley Scott, Zaonce, 25-Apr-3200

I've had this problem before. The standard autopilot seems to programmed to deal with ships just ever-so-slightly smaller than the Cobra Mk III. Smaller enough that, on occasion, autopilots can dent the ship. Indeed, I recall seeing a friend of mine moving smoothly, sedately and serenely in his autopilotted Cobra Mk III straight in the wall of Mars High. Not only did his ship explode most spectacularly, but the station was put out of action for weeks while they repaired the damage.

Today's bump was, thank the gods, not that explosive. All the same, it's ¢200 I'd sooner not have paid, but the convenience of the autopilot seems to be worth the occasional glitch in the software. I understand that the techies in the Federal Flight Laboratory are working on a fix, but haven't been able to come up with a decent one yet. Maybe some day...

My live animals, all 41 tons of them, arrived safely in spite of the machine, and sold for ¢37129.6 in total. My account looking rosy, I invest in a naval ECM unit to deal with bandits' missiles more effectively, and upgrade my class 2 hyperdrive to a military class 3. My ship's maximum range is now 18 light years and she will jump 2 light years on every ton of military fuel given.

We refuel the bird and take on board 41 tons of slaves. Some of them look a little pasty to me, but I don't have time to inspect them all, and at ¢858.6 per ton, you can hardly go wrong, can you?