the central axial
tube of the hub, past the passenger entrances from the rim, the
entrances to the bridge and the gymnasium-shield area, to the
engineering quarters just below the other passenger entrances from the
rim, and the observatory that occupied the north polar section of the
hub.

The engineering quarters, like all the quarters of the hub, were
thirty-two feet in diameter. Ignoring the ladder up the flat wall,
Mike pushed out of the port in the central axis tunnel and dropped to
the circular floor beside the power console.

Strapping himself down in the console seat, he flipped the switch
that would connect him with Systems Control Officer Bessandra Khamar
at the console of the ship's big computer, acronymically known as Sad
Cow.

"Aiee-yiee, Bessie! It's me, Chief Blackhawk!" he said irreverently
into the mike. "Ready to swing this buffalo!"

Bessie's mike gave its preliminary hum of power, and he could almost
feel her seeking out the words with which to reprimand him. Then,
instead, she laughed.

"_Varyjat!_ Mike, haven't you learned yet how to talk over an
intercom? Blasting a girl's eardrums at this early hour. It's no way
to maintain beautiful relationships and harmony. I'm still waiting for
my second cup of coffee," she added.

"Wait an hour, and this cup of coffee you shall have in a cup instead of a
baby bottle," Mike told her cheerfully. "Space One's checked out ready to
roll. Want to tell our preoccupied slipstick and test-tube boys in the rim
before we roll her, or just wait and see what happens? They shouldn't get
too badly scrambled at one-half RPM--that's about .009 gee on the
rim-deck--and I sort of like surprises!"

"No, you don't" Bessie said severely. "No, you don't. They need an
alert, and I need to finish the programming on Sad Cow to be sure this
thing doesn't wobble enough to shake us all apart. Even at a half RPM,
your seams might not hold with a real wobble, and I don't like the
idea of falling into a vacuum bottle as big as the one out there
without a suit."

"How much time do you need?"

"On my mark, make it T minus thirty minutes. That ought to do it.
O.K., here we go." There was a brief pause, then Bessie's voice came
formally over the all-stations annunciator system.

"Now hear this. Now hear this. All personnel. On my mark it is T minus
thirty minutes to spin-out check. According to program, acceleration
will begin at zero, and the rim is expected to reach .009 gee a