"Two-way teleceivers, Corbett," said Scott with a smile. "When you
arrived on the _Polaris_, didn't you have a view of the station on your
teleceiver?"
"Yes, sir," answered Tom, "of course."
"Well, these monitors picked up your image on the _Polaris_ teleceiver.
So the traffic-control chief here could see exactly what you were
seeing."
In the center of the circular room Tom noticed a round desk that was
raised about eight feet from the floor. This desk dominated all activity
in the busy room. Inside it stood a Solar Guard officer, watching the
monitoring teleceivers. He wore a throat microphone for sending out
messages, and for receiving calls had a thin silver wire running to the
vibrating bone in his ear. He moved constantly, turning in a circle,
watching the various landing ports on the many screens.
Three-thousand-ton rocket liners, Solar Guard cruisers, scout ships, and
destroyers all moved about the satellite lazily, waiting for permission
to enter or depart. This man was the master traffic-control officer who
had first contacted Tom on his approach to the station. He did that for
all approaching ships--contacted them, got the recognition signal,
found out the ship's destination, its weight, and its cargo or passenger
load.
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