ONE<br >The demanding beep-a-beep warning pulsed in synchro-<br >nous rhythm with the throbbing， red alert panels on three<br >traffic control consoles. Simultaneously， three controllers<br >aboard the Tripartite Confederation Monitoring Station Sadr<br >homed sensors on the planet Opat 4.<br > On slanted screens above their three lifted heads， imag-<br >ing artificially enchanced the visual of the ringed world.<br >Optical sensors zoomect inward to blur and refocus on a<br >spacecraft that shot fror~ the surface of the fourth planet in<br >the Opat System. A slender， silvery needle， the vessel slid<br >silently across a mottled~ tapestry spun by the planet s<br >blues， greens， browns， and fleecy cloud whites.<br > "Trajectory projection?" the first of the controllers ver-<br >bally requested of the console. Dark eyes locked to the<br >screen above her head， her fingers deftly tapped at a<br >keyboard to repeat the query.<br > The manual input was an exercise in bureaucratic redun-<br >dancy， a log of the controller s activities. The Sadr s<br >ComNet responded to her inquiry at tachyon-boosted speed.<br >Sensors probed the small craft s onboard logic units， found<br >no passworded barriers to inhibit its delving， and read the<br >vessel s flight program.<br > The controller s fingertips just touched the third key<br >when the ComNet superimposed the ship s course in red<br >atop Opat 4 s image on all three control screens. One orbit<br >of the ringed world， two burst transitions into tachyon<br ><br >