I can't help but think about what would've happened if the Rover had indeed been destroyed though. It seems the only thing that stopped that from happening was sheer luck as they could as easily ( I guess ) have connected to another wrong lead that wouldn't have the protection required to survive the charge? That is, it was outside the author's actual abilities to have stopped that and he could just as easily have been the destroyer of the Rover and forever remembered for that fact, as he had feared he would.