I said, "I think he'll come around to us eventually."
Trutch had come to my side again, frowning angrily at me. Skagarach said, "Let him alone, you fool, he's all right. Go watch his brother." And Trutch hulked over to Howard and Nessa.
I turned to Bill Cuff, "How soon do we take off?"
"As fast as the other musters can couple the rockets to the station," he said. "Shouldn't be too long. Why?"
"I was thinking maybe we could watch them at it."
"How?"
"On the viewplates back there," I said, jerking a thumb over my shoulder. "At least two or three of us could watch." The wheel had been closed and sealed by the air locks, but by opening the small view ports we would be able to see all around us, while we sat before screens that transferred the ports' vistas to us in the cabin.
Skagarach said, "Come with us," and he and Bill Cuff strode off. I kept pace with them, hoping the rest of the job would be as easy as this. We passed through two sections of the wheel and entered the viewing room and took seats before the scanners. Bill fiddled with the dials as I cast a look at the next door, some dozen feet from where I sat. Just beyond it was the air blower pump. I checked the time. I had six minutes.
The screens flashed to life. We saw the field around us, and two gigantic rockets, silver with thick blue bands dividing each into three sections, the three-stagers that would shortly hurtle us out beyond the atmosphere. Skagarach began working with the control panel too. At last we had a complete view of all sides of the wheel.