need help! dpkg corrupted!

["James D. Freels" <freelsjd@ornl.gov>]

I have a major problem with my Debian/Testing/Alpha
system.  In the process of updating my system today
via apt-get, apparently dpkg segfaulted.  Apparently
due to this segfault, my dpkg-dependent files are
corrupt.  For example, if I issue "dpkg -l", I get
an empty response.  If I issue a manual dpkg command
on an individual package, I get a response such as

fea6:/var/cache/apt/archives# dpkg -i zip_2.30-3_alpha.deb
(Reading database ... 0 files and directories currently installed.)
Unpacking zip (from zip_2.30-3_alpha.deb) ...
dpkg: error processing zip_2.30-3_alpha.deb (--install):
 unable to create updated files list file for package zip: No such file 
or directory
Errors were encountered while processing:
 zip_2.30-3_alpha.deb
fea6:/var/cache/apt/archives#

This is a major problem that I do not know how to fix.

How do I fix this?  Help is appreciated!

-- 
James D. Freels, P.E._i, Ph.D.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
freelsjd@ornl.gov - work
jdfreels@home.com - home