The Two Round Screens

The computing room of a London college on a foggy autumn morning, grey light from tall sash windows, worn parquet, a tall console cabinet in light mauve-grey with rounded edges, two small red warning lamps at its top, below a grey panel with rows of small lamps, two round cathode-ray screens under grey hoods with a faint green glow, black knobs, in front a sloping chrome plate with rows of black and red toggle switches, every surface plain and unmarked, only a hand in a dark blazer sleeve entering from the right edge onto a red switch, a paper tape reader with a loop of cream tape beside.