o a destination? _With_ a
human navigator? Just how did you figure you could do it? I'm
curious."

"Well," said Willy warming up to the subject a little, "I rigged up a
timing unit. When it left here, it was on the taped course for Earth.
Then it went into sub-space. From the computations I got, I set
another timer that will kick it back into normal space at the right
time, and in an orbit around Earth."

The room was silent for a time. Finally the silence exploded with:

"You damned fool! You dangerous idiot! You've got just enough
knowledge to be able to do something like that, but not enough sense
to know it is hopeless and idiotic! I've heard enough. Now, get out of
here!"

Willy got out in a stumbling hurry.

* * * * *

I stayed. Goil tried to glare me out of the room, but I would have
none of it. I was now ready to go into action. I was by no means
certain I would be right, but already deep in this mess, what more
could I lose by plunging?

With a lot more bravado than I really felt, I plunked down on Goil's
desk top a stack of sheets, a chart, and tapes. Then I put both palms
down on his desk and leaned over until I looked him squarely in the
face. I said:

"Do you know what is going to happen to that rock of Willy's, Mr.
Goil? It's going to come out of sub-space right smack in the path of
that freighter. It's going to knock that freighter right off course."

Of course, it sounded like a fantasy, and if I had been in Goil's
place, I would have thought it so. But Goil had been worrying over the
impending loss of his interests, and even the fantastic was something
to clutch at for the moment.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

I nodded to the stuff I had tossed on his desk. "Look at those. The
chart particularly. I got the course plotted by Artie Jones. I checked
the path and timing of both Willy's asteroid and the freighter.
Willy's asteroid is due to come out of sub-space in about six hours at
this point."--I pointed to an X I had marked on the chart--"And the
freighter will be at the same point at the same time."

Goil said nothing, but examined the chart and the computation figures,
and finally the tapes. He shook his head a number of times as if he
didn't want to believe but did not dare not to. Finally, he looked up
at me and said:

"The course and figures seem to check both ways. But I don't believe
it. That the rock and the freighter should meet in the same plac