Lavalle was having his difficulties, and he
wished fervently that his assistants could have been sent up on the
shuttle with him.

* * * * *

In rim-sector A-10, the FARM (Fluid Agricultural Recirculating Method
control lab, according to the U.N. acronym), Dr. Millie Williams, her
satiny brown skin contrasting to her white T-shirt and shorts, was
also having her troubles.

The trays of plants, in their beds of sponge plastic and hydroponic
materials, were all sealed against free-fall conditions, but should be
oriented properly for the pseudo-gravity as the great wheel was given
its rotational spin.

The vats of plankton and algae concentrates were not so important as
to orientation, but should be fed into their rim-river homes as soon
as possible, although this could not be done until the rim spin was
well under control.

The trays, the plants, the plankton, the algae--even a large
proportion of the equipment in the lab, were all new, experimental
projects, designed to check various features of the food and air
cycles that would later be necessary if men were to send their ships
soaring out through the system.

The primary purpose of Lab One was a check of the various survival
systems and space ecology programs necessary to equip the future
explorations under actual space conditions. Her job on the FARM would
be very important to the future feeding and air restoration of
spacemen; but more important, the efficient utilization of the wheel
itself, since success in shipboard purification of air and production
of food would free the shuttle to bring up other types of mass.

At present, the ship's personnel were existing almost entirely on
tanked air, but within two weeks one of the three air-restoration
projects on the satellite--either hers, in which hydroponic plants and
algae were the basic purifiers; or projects in the chem and physics
labs--would have to be already functioning in the job, or extra
shuttles would have to be devoted to air transportation until they
were ready.

The provision of good fresh vegetables and fresh, springlike air would
almost certainly be up to her department. The other two labs, Dr.
Carmencita Schorlemmer in chemistry, and Dr. Chi Tung in physics, were
both working on the air-restoration problem by different
means--electro-chemistry in the one case; gas dialysis membranes in
the other.

The work of the physics labs was operating on the differenti