byThey had come to him and told him to grab a blowtorch and head out to service the ring of satellites strung like beads between the orbit of Venus and the orbit of Mercury. Stasek, a big, rangy young man who thought he had more important things to do than that, stared in bewilderment at the port official who gave him the news.
“You’re joking,” Stasek said. “I’m not a technician. I’ve got work to do.”
“Servicing the satellites is work,” the supervisor said mildly. “Pretty important work, at that.”
“For a technician,” Stasek said. “I’m on the energy-eater project, for Pete’s sake. Do you think I can take time out and go play nursemaid to a bunch of satellites? You could do the job remote, and you know it!”
“The regulations say that the satellites shall be serviced manually.” The voice w
