Glancing through the observation window into the battle plotting room below, he studied the positions of the fleets as they appeared on the large wall diagram of the solar system.
Disregarding the distraction offered by the moving figures of the few officers and technicians on duty by the map, he fixed the positions of the fleets into his mind. He would have need for a clear visual picture until he adapted to the mental images the computer would feed into his brain. He worked with furious haste, yet each step was meticulously precise—everything depended on his grasping the reins of battle from the computer and successfully twisting its authority to his own purposes.
Grasping the viewing switch, he threw it on. Pinpoints of light flared deep within his brain and seemed to blot his vision. Closing his eyes, his brain fought for perspective. Gradually, it focused and perceived the solar system, resplendent with sun, planets, moons, and men of war. Enveloping each ship were lines of force, scintillating sharp and hard; forming cosmic vortexes as the lesser computers on board followed the master's directives and distorted the ether around the ships, seeking to build a pattern to penetrate the opposing fields and engulf the enemy men of war.
A moment, and the game was on. Ruy grasped the "Manual" switch before him, pulled hard, and dropped his hands to the keyboard before him.
The General, who was known in military circles as a good Joe, but a stickler for the theory of war, relaxed languidly at his desk in the small office off the Battle Room. The other officers on duty milled around the plotting board within his eyesight awaiting the end of the evening shift.
It was strange and new to relax on the job after so many years of fleet duty. But staff duty to the master computer was good, politically. He was getting along in years, and a few more contacts here might mean a separate fleet command of his own, perhaps in pursuit of the invader, if the computers could ever break the deadlock.
Suddenly, the sweet reverie of the General was snapped like a tight tension cable. A gong on the wall clanged rapidly three times and a red flashing light next to the gong told him what his ears refused to believe. The computer had been switched to manual. He had received no such instructions. In fact, the computer hadn't been on manual since the war started.
"Captain, who ordered manual control?" he barked as he sprang to the doorway of the Battle Room.