As Scott and Tom climbed the narrow stairs to the traffic-control deck,
the Solar Guard officer continued to speak of the man-made satellite.
"When the station was first built," he said, "it was expected to be just
a way station for refueling and celestial observations. But now we're
finding other uses for it, just as though it were a small community on
Earth, Mars, or Venus. In fact, they're now planning to build still
larger stations." Scott opened the door to the traffic-control room. He
motioned to Tom to follow him.
[Illustration]
This room, Tom was ready to admit, was the busiest place he had ever
seen in his life. All around the circular room enlisted Solar Guardsmen
sat at small desks, each with a monitoring board in front of him holding
three teleceiver screens. As he talked into a mike near by, each man, by
shifting from one screen to the next, was able to follow the progress of
a spaceship into or out of the landing ports. One thing puzzled Tom. He
turned to Scott.
"Sir, how come some of those screens show the _station_ from the
_outside_?" he asked. Tom pointed to a screen in front of him that had a
picture of a huge jet liner just entering a landing port.
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