The polar co-ordinates disappeared completely from the center of the
viewpanel and centered around the phanobeacon spot. They made larger
and larger arcs as the circles approached the top of the panel.
"Now this is going to be tricky. You must twist the 'Tee' bar slowly
and let the ship rotate, but you must also move it so that the
phanobeacon stays near its present off-center position. But before you
do this, let me explain what you are actually doing in space. Picture a
needle-shaped spacecraft with a line along the axis running out before
the ship, marking the line of drive, or direction. At some distance
from the line lies a spot which denotes the phanobeacon. Somewhere out
beyond, there is another spot that must be sighted within the confines
of an angle not greater than the angle made between the point of aim,
or line of drive, and the imaginary line running from the nose of the
ship to the phanobeacon. So you must cause the ship to rotate on a
false axis, making the line of flight describe a cone of revolution
with the phanobeacon on the axis of the cone. Now, go ahead and try."
"Okay." Dusty moved the 'Tee' bar and the stars moved in jaggledy
little scallops along a greater arc. The center of the beacon held the
polar lines, but they moved with the stars and with the beacon. It made
Dusty dizzy and his eyes began to ache. "What am I looking for?" he
asked plaintively.
"Look along the outer circles for a winking st--"
"Got it!"
"Good. Turn the 'Tee' bar to neutral," said Gant. "Return the
'Co-ordinate' switch back to the center of the 'H' pattern. Center the
stellar course beacon on the point of aim."
The winking star flashed at Dusty like a flag. It danced crazily as
he manipulated the 'Tee' bar with all of the thumb-handedness of the
rookie pilot on his first attempt at the controls. There was so much to
do, so many things to handle, so many motions to make. Dusty gripped
the 'Tee' bar tightly, too tightly. When he let go with one hand to
flip a switch or to make an adjustment, the grip of his other hand
moved the bar. It became sweaty and sticky, then it became slippery
and he gripped it even tighter, which made it worse because his fine
control left him as he strove to hold the handles tighter and tighter.
In a jagged line like the trail of a rising smoke, the winking star
proceeded to the center of the viewpanel. There it hung, wabbling
around in tiny circles and occasionally making a brief jerky dart
to one side or the other. Dusty mopped his face and the beacon star
jumped; he grabbed the handle again and the star leaped across the
center and wabbled on the other side of zero-zero.
"Got it," he said in a quavering voice.
"Now rotate the ship until the phanobeacon is on the vertical hairline.
Then flip the switch to 'Rectangular' again."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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