Earth set itself grimly to meet them with
corrosive fire, determined to blast them
back to the stars. But they erred in thinking
the Old Ones were too big to be clever.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Fall 1949.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
In the last hours the star ahead had grown brighter by many magnitudes,and had changed its color from a dazzling blue through white to thenormal yellow, of a GO sun. That was the Doppler effect as the star'sradial velocity changed relative to the Quest III, as for forty hoursthe ship had decelerated.
They had seen many such stars come near out of the galaxy's glitteringbackdrop, and had seen them dwindle, turn red and go out as the QuestIII drove on its way once more, lashed by despair toward the speed oflight, leaving behind the mockery of yet another solitary and lifelessluminary unaccompanied by worlds where men might dwell. They had grownsated with the sight of wonders—of multiple systems of giant stars, ofnebulae that sprawled in empty flame across light years.
But now unwonted excitement possessed the hundred-odd members of theQuest III's crew. It was a subdued excitement; men and women, theycame and stood quietly gazing into the big vision screens that showedthe oncoming star, and there were wide-eyed children who had been bornin the ship and had never seen a planet. The grownups talked in lowvoices, in tones of mingled eagerness and apprehension, of what mightlie at the long journey's end. For the Quest III was coming home; thesun ahead was the Sun, whose rays had warmed their lives' beginning.
Knof Llud, the Quest III's captain, came slowly down the narrowstair from the observatory, into the big rotunda that was now the mainrecreation room, where most of the people gathered. The great chamber,a full cross-section of the vessel, had been at first a fuel hold. Atthe voyage's beginning eighty per cent of the fifteen-hundred-footcylinder had been engines and fuel; but as the immense stores werespent and the holds became radioactively safe, the crew had spreadout from its original cramped quarters. Now the interstellar ship waslittle more than a hollow shell.
Eyes lifted from the vision screens to interrogate Knof Llud; he metthem with an impassive countenance, and announced quietly, "We'vesighted Earth."
A feverish buzz arose; the captain gestured for silence and went on,"It is still only a featureless disk to the telescope. Zost Relyul hasidentified it—no more."
But this time the clamor was not to be settled. People pressed roundthe screens, peering into them as if with the naked eye they couldpick out the atom of reflected light that was Earth, home. They wrungeach other's hands, kissed, shouted, wept. For the present their fearswere forgotten and exaltation prevailed.
Knof Llud smiled wryly. The rest of the little speech he had been aboutto make didn't matter anyway, and it might have spoiled this moment.
He turned to go, and was halted by the sight of his wife, standing athis elbow. His wry smile took on warmth; he asked, "How do you feel,Lesra?"
She drew an uncertain breath and released it in a faint sigh. "I don'tknow. It's good that Earth's still there." She was thinking, he judgedshrewdly, of Knof Jr. and Delza, who save from pictures could notremember sunlit skies or grassy fields or woods in summer....
He said, with a touch of tolerant amusement, "What did you think mighthave happened to Earth? After all, it's only been nine hundred years."
"T