Having pieced the robot together from several different models and after the patchwork repairs following the crash, Derec felt pleased that the robot was still operating at all.

As usual, patchwork repairs hadn't stood up to the summer weather, and the various service providers were still squabbling about whose responsibility it was to put it right.

An associate, Christopher Tavener, said that patchwork repairs indicate that problems with the terra cotta arose decades ago.

Valentine stayed in the center of the road, crisscrossing it, checking blown debris, the patchwork repairs, anything for some kind of sign.

Her crew had been harried into short tempered despair as they attempted patchwork repairs.

"Shouldn't be more than an hour or so," Scotty answered, then added, with an exaggerated shrug, "We can't get much more done here than basic patchwork repairs."

But until the campaign ended, the ground crews could do nothing but make patchwork repairs, just enough to keep the Wasps flying for another day.

Yama ran across the square into the tunnel and plunged through the hole he had burned in the patchwork repair to the tunnel's glass wall.

The Brothers could afford to make only patchwork repairs and they had to assume the roles of blacksmiths and carpenters in order to repair damaged farm equipment and property.

Earlier patchwork repairs, in various shades of blue, are visible at the upper sections.