"It is a minor difficulty," said Burbank calmly. "We will iron it out presently."
"Presently! Our charter doesn't permit interruptions of service of this magnitude. I ask again: What are you doing?"
"You, as electronics engineer, have no right to question me. I repeat, we shall iron out the difficulty presently."
Channing snorted and tore out of Burbank's office. He headed for the Office of Beam Control, turned the corner on one foot, and slammed the door in roughly.
"Chuck!" he yelled. "Chuck Thomas! Where are you?"
No answer. Channing left the beam office and headed for the master control panels, out near the air lock end of Venus Equilateral. He found Thomas stewing over a complicated piece of apparatus.
"Chuck, for the love of Michael, what in the devil is going on?"
"Thought you knew," answered Thomas. "Burbank had the crew install photoelectric mosaic banks. Instead of having a crew of beam-control operators, he intends to use the photomosaics to keep Venus, Terra, and Mars on the beam."
"Great sniveling Scott. They tried that in the last century and tossed it out three days later. Where's the crew now?"
"Packing for home. They've been laid off!"