"C'mon in," he said, seeing us. "If you want a look at your friends, here they are."
He flicked a stud, and the entire wall above the panel underwent a slow change of colors. Those colors whirled kaleidescopically, then coalesced into a three-dimensional scene.
It was a scene of a rapidly unfolding desert country as seen from the rear of a kite car. Directly behind the windscreen, backs turned to me, were Jimmy Baker, Grannie, and Xartal. It was as if I were standing directly behind them.
"It's Mr. Baker's own invention," the operator said. "An improvement on the visiphone."
"Do you mean to say you can follow the movements of that car and its passengers wherever it goes? Can you hear them talk too?"
"Sure." The operator turned another dial, and Grannie's falsetto voice entered the room. It stopped abruptly. "The machine uses a lot of power," the operator said, "and as yet we haven't got much."
The cloud of anxiety which had wrapped itself about me disappeared somewhat as I viewed this device. At least I could now keep myself posted of Grannie's movements.
Karn and I went down to the commissary where we ate our supper. When we returned to Jimmy Baker's office, the visiphone bell was ringing. I went over to it and turned it on, and to my surprise the face of Antlers Park flashed on the screen.
"Hello," he said in his friendly way. "I see you arrived all right. Is Miss Flowers there?"
"Miss Flowers left with Mr. Baker for Shaft Four," I said. "There's trouble up there. Red spot fever."