Triplanetary

Apparently motionless to her passengers and crew, the Interplanetary liner Hyperion bored serenely onward through space at normal acceleration. In the railed-off sanctum in one corner of the control room a bell tinkled, a smothered whirr was heard, and Captain Bradley frowned as he studied the brief message upon the tape of the recorder – a message flashed to his desk from the operator's panel. He beckoned, and the second officer, whose watch it now was, read aloud: «Reports of scout patrols stil