Birthright

end, natural and artificial, satellites spinning crazily in their orbits, here an interstellar comet, there a

meteor storm, way over there huge clouds of opaque gaseous matter. “What do you think of it?” asked Landon with the air of a proud father. “I never imagined...” muttered Nelson, unable to tear his eyes away. “I never guessed...” Landon chuckled. “Quite a piece of work, isn't it? It's 57.8 miles long, 6.2 miles deep, 38.1 miles wide. It contains every star in the galaxy, bar none, as well as every other body we've charted. For example, there are well over two million asteroids between Sirius XI and XII, though we'd have to magnify the field to show even the bigger ones.”

“It's awesome,” said Nelson fervently.

“And accurate,” said Landon. “It's moving far too slowly for you to perceive, but the entire galaxy is rotating at its natural speed. So are the planets, and all the other bodies. All solar storms, ionic and otherwise, are charted. We've even got a fix on every ship the Republic owns, plus a number of alien vessels as well.”

Nelson only half-heard the Director. He was lost in the majesty and grandeur of the map ... thoughmap was such an inadequate word for it. As he looked more closely, he saw that the colors of the various stars had been maintained: There were red stars, yellow ones, white dwarfs, blue giants, binaries, even long-dead black stars. Though he couldn't see any of them clearly, he'd have bet his last dollar that the topography of the myriads of planets was painstakingly accurate. “This, of course, is just a beginning,” Landon's voice came through to him. The Director pressed a small button on the railing of the balcony and spoke into a microphone. “Control Booth, this is Landon here. Let's see Earth, and put it on high magnification.” Immediately a light flashed far out on one of the spiral arms of the simulated galaxy. It was a good five miles from where Nelson stood, but so bright that it immediately drew his attention. “Earth,” explained Landon, “And now, if you'll be so good as to look above you...” Nelson's eyes followed Landon's extended finger. Somewhere above his head, though he couldn't say how close it really was, floated Earth, spinning serenely beneath its swirling cloud layers. “Bad weather today,” apologized Landon, “or you'd be able to see something more than Australia and Antarctica. I could have them remove the clouds, but I'm sure you know what the rest of it looks like. And here,” he added, pulling a number of cards out of a slot next to the button he had previously pressed, “is a complete hard copy readout on Earth: land area, sea area, gravity, average temperature of all major land masses, dominant forms of life, population, political systems now in power, major religions, economy, military potential, stellar alliances, technology, languages, varieties of the major races, aquatic life, age of planet, life expectancy of planet, rare elements, atmospheric breakdown, and just about anything else you need to know.”

“And you can do this with every planet in the galaxy?” asked Nelson. “To greater or lesser extents, yes,” said the Director. “It all depends on how much information we have about the stellar body in question. If paper's not to your liking, you can get the information on tapes,