dear. I have read a
little history, and I don't mean that censored pap which passes for it
nowadays. But there's another possibility, which I think is just as
alarming. That message may be perfectly honest and sincere. But will it
still be true when we get back? Remember how long that will take! And
even if we could return overnight, to an Earth which welcomed us home,
what guarantee would there be that our children, or our grandchildren,
won't suffer the same troubles as us, without the same chance to break
free?"

"Ye vote, then, to carry on?" asked Lochaber.

Pride answered: "Of course."

"Good lass. I, too."

Kivi raised his hand. Coffin recognized him, and the spaceman said: "I
am not sure the crew ought not to have a voice in this also."

"What?" De Smet grew red. He gobbled for a moment before he could get
out: "Do you seriously think you could elect us to settle on that annex
of hell--and then come home to Earth yourselves?"

"As a matter of fact," said Kivi, smiling, "I suspect the crew would
prefer to return at once. I know I would. Seven years may make a crucial
difference."

"If a colony is planted, though," said Coffin, "it might provide the
very inspiration which space travel needs to survive."

"Hm-m-m. Perhaps. I shall have to think about that."

"I hope you realize," said the very young man with ornate sarcasm, "that
every second we sit here arguing takes us one hundred fifty thousand
kilometers farther from home."

"Dinna fash yourself," said Lochaber. "Whatever we do, that girl of
yours will be an auld carline before you reach Earth."

De Smet was still choking at Kivi: "You lousy little ferryman, if you
think you can make pawns of us--"

And Kivi stretched his lips in anger and growled, "If you do not watch
your language, you clodhugger, I will come over there and stuff you down
your own throat."

"Order!" yelled Coffin. "Order!"

Teresa echoed him: "Please ... for all our lives' sake ... don't you
know where we are? You've got a few centimeters of wall between you and
zero! Please, whatever we do, we can't fight or we'll never see any
planet again!"

But she did not say it weeping, or as a beggary. It was almost a
mother's voice--strange, in an unmarried woman--and it quieted the male
snarling more than Coffin's shouts.

The fleet captain said finally: "That will do. You're all too worked up
to think. Debate is adjourned sixteen hours. Discuss the problem with
your shipmates, g