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Published: 2005-02-26 Updated: 2007-05-12 |
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"The new American orbital station is a marvel to behold. It consists of two rotating wheels, one completed, one nearly so, more
than 600 feet across, joined to an axle 100 feet in diameter. Visitors enter the station through a huge bay in the axle and are conveyed via lifts to one of the two rings. "The entire station spins slowly, inducing the feeling of Earth's gravity in the rings. "The completed ring not only serves as a waystation for æther travellers, it houses the crews building the American æther ship, Discovery. This enormous vessel, in orbit near the station, is nearly a thousand feet long. Nine-tenths of its length is composed of a spindle containing and Edison æther propeller and the machinery to control the solar boiler and the Marconi Wireless antenna used to communicate with Earth. "The forward tenth of Discovery is a sphere containing a rotating wheel similar to that of the station, only smaller. This wheel will house the five-man crew during their year-long voyage to Jovian space. "A sixth 'crewmen' aboard Discovery is actually one of the most advanced analytical engines built to date. The Howard Analytical Laboratories Model 9 was built in 1892 at the company's manufacturing plant in Urbana, Ill., and is capable of performing more than 10 calculations per second. "HAL 9, as its designers call it, communicates with the rest of the crew through an ingenious application of Thomas Edison's patented phonograph. Once the engine's programming (kept in great files of punch cards) determines a response, a writing stylus indents a foil-coated cylinder. A second stylus, this one attached to a diaphragm and cone, translates the indents into sound. Finally, a roller smoothes out the foil for future use. "The crew communicate with HAL through a similar means. As they speak, their voices are indented upon a foil cylinder by a writing stylus. A second stylus "reads" the indentations, translating them into a series of mechanical switches, which HAL understands. "To facilitate communication with the crew, cameras are mounted above each speaking tube. The image from the camera's lens is projected through a screen onto a white panel, and the resulting image is compared to a series of punchcard images of the crew. When the image from the camera matches at least three-quarters of an image stored in HAL's memory, HAL is able to identify the person to whom it is speaking. "One of the more interesting aspects of this analytical engine is its ability to learn. Discovery carries literally thousands of blank punchcards for use by the engine to store new information and programming instructions." |