would put theminto active condition but not operate. That was left to the Cow.
Turning to the vocoder panel, he directed the Cow to take over controlof the now active precession equipment; to use the sun as a referrantfor the axis of precession, and to move the pole ninety degrees in aclockwise direction around that axis of precession.
Under these directions, the big wheel began to turn, not as it hadbeen turning, but sideways. The operation would take ten minutes, andthe axis of this new turn would be aligned directly on Sol by thecomputer.
The Cow's help in such a maneuver was required, because the precessioncould only be accomplished by switching valves between the tanks ofthe rim in such a manner that water was switched north on one side ofthe wheel, and south on the opposite side of the wheel, and the pointsof this switching between the tanks must remain in a stable positionrelative to the spin of the wheel. The valves that accomplished this,seventy-two of them, were spaced at intervals of five degrees aroundthe rim, but only two out of the seventy-two could be active at anytime; and these must be selected by the computer's controls so thatalways the precessive force was properly aligned to produce therequired precession.
When the precession was finished, the rim of the wheel would bealigned, still with the sun, but also with Project Hot Rod which hadbeen to their south.
As a third thought, Mike switched off the Confuser.
Having set up the necessary factors, Mike turned back to the problemof the Security guard, or saboteur, whichever he might be, but foundthis problem had already been well taken care of. Not satisfied withsimply tying the man up, Ishie had bound him with wire to somewhat theresemblance of an Egyptian mummy, and then for added good measure,given him two sleepy shots with his own needle gun; put electriciantape across his mouth; and taken from him everything he could possiblyuse either as a method of communication or as a weapon.
At least, Mike thought, Ishie is a thorough workman when he sets hismind to it.
Having parked the Security man in a nearby tool locker, with thefeeling that he would keep for a while there, Ishie turned back toMike with a grin.
"Confusion say those who play with firearms should be cautious! Mike,this convinces me. I've heard snatches of what's going on on Earth,and it looks like somebody is putting over a fast one down there.Seems like maybe our own Security boys are part of it. They would bethe ones the captain saw going out to Hot Rod. And that means they'vegot a purpose out there. Is good to know they can't shoot us now, atleast in a few minutes now, without getting themselves shot back. Butthey can shoot at Earth. Any ideas?"
"Well ... I thought some time ago that there was a little fallacyinvolved in that project when I saw how they hung the beam-directorway out in front on those little old balloon-poles. They've got 'embent, and if any one or two of 'em should happen to get punctured, theother two would move the mirror complete out of the laser beam focus.Then the only thing they could shoot would be the sun--and I don'tthink it'd care.
"Ishie, you stay here just to keep the home fires burning and makesure that nobody fiddles with anything we don't want 'em to. All ofthe bulkheads leading into this section can be locked from theinside--a feature I haven't seen fit to point out to other people whoreally don't need to know."
* * * * *
Walking around the floor, Mike carefully secured the four bulkheads,two leading back to the morgue; two leading forward to the north poleend of the hub. And then, jumping catlike upward and grasping theaccess ladder to the central axis tube, he carefully bolted that one,too.
Dropping back to the floor he stepped over to the intercom andswitched in Captain Nails' circuit.
"Mission accomplished, sir. And you were quite right. One of our_Security_ servos is off balance. I'm attending to the matter."
"Thank you, Mr. Blackhawk." The captain's voice was calm, quite unlikethe voice he'd used to them on the bridge. "You would do well tolisten for the ... sound ... of those servos." The captain's voicestopped but the intercom continued to hum, alive from his end.
"Ishie," said Mike, "the captain's in trouble, and he's asking us tolisten in on what goes on the bridge. He's left his intercom open.
"Now I've got a mission to accomplish; and you can't leave here,because this post's got to be operational. But you can listen and dowhatever the captain tells you.
"And, Ishie--if anybody takes the bridge away from the captain, youtell the Cow not to obey any orders or answer any questions unlessthey come from here."
With that, Mike leaned over, loosened an inspection plate in thefloor, and climbed down a ladder through the inspection tube that ledthrough the six feet of normal-shield water directly beneath the floorinto the seventeen-foot flare-shielding chamber beyond. This was thetank which surrounded the hub and held all of the waters of the rimduring flare conditions; but was now holding only the air supplywhich, during a flare, was pumped to the rim.
Making his way back towards the center of the hub, Mike considered hisluck in being one of the people most familiar with the entirestructure of the ship. It would be unlikely that enemies operatingaboard would think to cut off the air and water passages, or even keepthem under surveillance. Nevertheless, he would be cautious.
He must now get to the machine shop, and enter it without triggeringany more of those--he laughed quietly to himself--Security servos.
The particular tank he was in he had selected carefully. Of thetwenty-one possible combinations, this one he knew would bring himinto the water under the north hall that circled the outer rim.
In a few strides he reached the three-foot-diameter spoke tube throughwhich the flood of water would pour during a draw-in action such asthat they had had during the flare; let himself over the side headfirst, let go and began falling down the seventy-nine foot length ofthe tube, accelerated by the light pseudo-gravity of the spin. Evenso, he spread his legs and arms against the walls of the tube to actas a brake, so as not to arrive with too much impact at the bottom ofthe tube.
As he hit the water at the bottom, the tube swung around thecircumference of the rim to the point at its far side at which itentered its particular river.
The course of his dive carried Mike to the bottom of the curve, and hestarted crawling up its far side to where the tunnel entered therim-river. There the motion of the fluorescent-lighted water caughthim, and he was swirled quickly to his target, twenty-five feet along,inspection plate B-36. He grabbed the hand-hold by the plate before heswirled past, loosened the plate, lifted it only enough to be surethat the room was empty, and then pushed it off, pulled himselfthrough, and emerged into the whining dimness of Compressor Room 9,next to the machine shop. The low whine assaulting his ears was thatcreated by the air compressors that fed the jets that drove the watersthrough the rim.
Stepping over to the wall locker, Mike took out a dry pair of shorts,a T-shirt, and moccasins, kept there for the purpose of making changesafter such swimming inspections of the rim tanks.
* * * * *
Before entering the machine shop, Mike spotted the Security manthrough the open bulkhead--just standing there while Paul and Tombugrimly worked on; and Millie sat idle, watching.
Mike entered the machine shop casually, as though intent on business,brushed past the Security man, and stepped over to the tape-controlled,laser-activated milling machine as though to inspect its progress.
Then, as though finding an error, he halted its operation and swungthe laser-head back away from the work piece.
The head swung free in his hand, attached to the machine butnevertheless free. Casually, without even looking at the Security man,he had somehow centered the laser directly on him. Just as casually,he stepped to one side.
"The beam from this machine is quite capable of milling the hardestmaterials," he said, still casually, as though to himself. "Even adiamond can't withstand it."
Now he looked directly at the Security guard. "It's capable," he saidin an even tone, "of milling a hole rig
ht through your guts if youeven to much as breathe too deep."
Then to Chernov, "Move around behind him, out of range of this beam,and secure the man please. Millie, is there any thing in yourdepartment that will make sure he won't talk for while?"
"Yes, Mike, but I don't think I'd better go there right now. Therearen't many of them, but these boys seem to be spread out all over."
Chernov had the gun now; and the personal communicator from theSecurity man as well.
"O.K.," said Mike. "I don't think he can give us much trouble inthere," pointing at the air-lock bulkhead through which he had justentered. "We can go in and out through the physics lab," he said."Best we shut that off now before some more of these boys wanderalong."
When both the lab and the Security man