 What caused the error in O'Rielly's controls?
Swiftly O'Rielly unlocked the controls and reset them. O'Rielly wondered had Callahan passed out, was so long before the old Burner Chief demanded hoarsely, "Didn't you lock them controls before blast-off?" "If every control hadn't been locked in correct setting," O'Rielly answered from his own angry bewilderment, "the error would have registered before blast-off—wouldn't it, sir?" A dozen burners on this ship; why did something crazy have to happen to O'Rielly's? Not enough to cause serious trouble this far out from Earth. His first flight, and O'Rielly saw himself washed out, busted to sweeper on the blast-off stands of some God-forsaken satellite.
 The Venus woman tampered with it.
 A control malfunctioned and reset itself.  He missed something when they were preparing.  The controls weren't locked before take-off.  The Venus woman tampered with it.