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On one long wall of the dock command center, a slowly rotating 3D map shows the positions of all the vessels docked. You can see the gray, spider-like sprawl of the dock itself, the Asterion and the three rockets in a row, as well as various Earth-to-Luna shuttles.

One of the staff is on hand to point out what each model is. She points out the glowing thread of the elevator down to Moltke City, which of the shuttles is from the Group of 81 and which are from mining corporations.

"What do those lines mean?" asks Petavius. She points at green curved lines leading out of some of the shuttles.

"Line of trajectory," says the guide. "Shows they're on their way out without risk of collision."

As you look at the map, a new shuttle appears on the very edge, a few hundred miles away. The trajectory line from the shuttle goes straight through the Asterion and on through the dock.

"I don't think it should look like that," says Petavius.

"The label says it's a drone shuttle," says Kosmo, unconcerned. "It'll slow down."

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