"I've been informed there was news from home." The men looked at one
another.
"Only the broadcast from the Sector, sir. Nothing unusual."
"You took it down on the tapes?"
"Yes, sir."
"I should like to hear it." From one corner a reluctant shuffling
replaced the lately dead downbeats. The reproducer scratched badly.
"... at a banquet given for members of the committee. Prominent among
the guests was Mrs. Mary A. Hastings, wife of Captain John Hastings who
is making history in his FTL flight to Alpha Centauri. Captain Hastings
will test his invention, the electron-lightscope, from our neighboring
sun. It is reliably reported that the lightscope will revolutionize
astral observation, in that it will replace the telescope, and will
bring distant galaxies to within a few hundred feet of the earth.
"Mrs. Hastings, smartly gowned, was seated next to Co-ordinator Charles
Lathrop, who had--"
Someone jostled into the machine. The groove was lost.