Questions 4-6 refer to the following passage. You're not scared, are you?' asked Max,
when they were about to put on their
helmets.
"Not enough to make a mess in my suit
Otherwise, yes"
Max chuckled. "I'd say that's about right
for this job. But don't worry-I'll get you there
in one piece, with my what do you call it?'
Broomstick. Because witches are
supposed to ride them.
"Oh, yes. Have you ever used one?"
tried once, but mine got away from me.
Everyone else thought it was very funny."
There are some professions which have
evolved unique and characteristic tools-the
longshoreman's hook, the potter's wheel, the
bricklayer's trowel, the geologist's hammer.
The men who had to spend much of their
time on zero gravity construction projects
had developed the broomstick. It was very
simple-a hollow tube just a meter long, with
a footpad at one end and a retaining loop at
the other. At the touch of a button, it could
telescope out to five or six times its normal
length, and the internal shock-absorbing
system allowed a skilled operator to perform
the most amazing maneuvers (movements)
The footpad could also become a claw or hook
if necessary, there were many other
refinements, but that was the basic design. It
looked deceptively easy to use it wasn't
The airlock pumps finished recycling, the
EXIT sign came on the outer doors opened,
and they drifted slowly into the void.
Discovery was windmilling about two hundred
meters away, following them in orbit around
lo, which filled half the sky Jupiter was
invisible, on the other side of the satellite
-Excerpted from 2010: Odyssey Two,
by Arthur C. Clarke