And where, you might ask, had our mighty network administrator been all this time? He had been schmoozing with Chief Voutie at a fancy restaurant, lobbying him to throw more work to Lacy Systems, the contractor that had brought him on. Harry had deliberately left his pager in his office, on vibrate, because he didn't want to be distracted during his sales pitch.

Apparently it was a good pitch. Lacy Systems is still consulting for the Department, even though Harry is long gone. After he graduated college, he got the Department to pay for his certifications (without any conditions) -- after which he quit for a better paying job.

I guess if you don't know much about the technical side of networks, that other kind of networking will do just as well. Maybe better.