Search the Sky

About all of Halsey's Planet there was the imperceptible reek of decay. The clean, big, bustling, efficient spaceport only made the sensation stronger. From where he stood on the height of the Ramp, he could see the Yards, the spires of Halsey City ten kilometers away - and the tumble-down gray acres of Ghost Town between. Falling birth rate due to biochemical deficiency of trace elements processed out of our planetary diet. Fortunately the situation has been recognized in time and my bill before the Chamber will provide....”“A purely technological problem, Mr. Ross. Maintenance of a sprawling city is inevitably less efficient than that of a compact unit. Inevitably there has been a drift back to the central areas and the convenience of air-conditioned walkways, winterized plazas....”Yes. It was a purely psychological-biological-technological-educational-demographic problem, and it was basically a step forward.Ross wondered how many Ghost Towns lay corpselike on the surface of Halsey’s Planet. Decay, he thought. Decay.But it had nothing to do with his problem, the problem that had kept him awake all the night, the problem that blighted the view before him now.The trading bell clanged. The day’s work began.For Ross it might be his last day’s work at the Yards.