owly, "was a sort of
superthermostat." Harry, as usual, came to the right starting point.

Frank smiled, "That's right, especially considering layout. Venus and
Mercury are hot; the others, cold. What about a control console that'll
light when the rooms get outside normal temperature range? Then the
operator--"

"Hey! Why an operator?" Mel questioned. "We ought to make this
automatic." He grinned. "Giant computer ... can see it now: the brain
comes alive, tries to destroy anyone turning it off--"

I asked: "Have you been _reading_ the stuff you write?" Funny enough for
3 A.M.

Dex said calmly, "We _can_ work this--in fact, we can tie it in pink
ribbons and forget it. An electronics outfit in Pasadena makes an
automatic scanning and logging system. Works off punched-paper tape.
We'll code the right poop, and the system will compare it with the
actual raw data. Feedback will be to a master control servo that'll
activate the heater or cooler. Now, we need the right pickup--"

I snapped my fingers. "Variable resistor bridge. Couple of resistors
equal at the right temperature. There'll be a frequency change with
changing temperature--better than a thermocouple, I think."

They looked at me as though I were butting in.

"You've been reading, too," Dex accused. "Ok, we'll use a temperature
bulb. Trouble is, with this system, we'd better let it run continuously.
That'll drive costs up."

Hazel asked, "Can't we use the heat, maybe to drive a compressor? The
sudden expansion of air could cool the rest. Harry?"

Harry hadn't time to answer.

"What'll this cost?" I snapped.

"Roughly, 15 to 18 thousand," Dex replied.

"_What?_"

With fine impartiality, they ignored me completely. Harry continued, as
though without interruption, "Ye-es, I guess a compressor-and-coolant
system could be arranged ..."

* * * * *

We broke up at 6 A.M. I took one of my pills, frowning at the bottle.
Seemed to be emptying fast. Sleepily, I shook the thought off and faced
the new day--little knowing the opposition had managed to skizzle us
again.

The last displays were moons of Jupiter and Saturn; it was impossible to
recreate tortured conditions of the planets themselves. Saturn's closest
moon, Mimas, was picked.

Our grand finale: landing on Mimas with Saturn rising spectacularly out
of the east. Mimas is in the plane of the rings, so they couldn't be
obvious. We'd show enough, however, to make it d