travel. But
after his death the principle was abandoned.

"That is--until Icarus. I saw the possibilities of a bomb, an
incredibly powerful bomb to destroy Centaurus and all the Empire's
forces. The reappearance of Icarus would mean the annihilation of
their System. As Hedge had shown, the object would re-enter space
already occupied by matter, and the cataclysm would be beyond belief."

"But Icarus never came back," Reinhart cried. "Cole altered the wiring
so the bomb kept on going. It's probably still going."

"Wrong," Sherikov boomed. "The bomb _did_ reappear. But it didn't
explode."

Reinhart reacted violently. "You mean--"

"The bomb came back, dropping below the ftl speed as soon as it
entered the star Proxima. But it did not explode. There was no
cataclysm. It reappeared and was absorbed by the sun, turned into gas
at once."

"Why didn't it explode?" Dixon demanded.

"Because Thomas Cole solved Hedge's problem. He found a way to bring
the ftl object back into this universe without collision. Without an
explosion. The variable man found what Hedge was after...."

The whole Council was on its feet. A growing murmur filled the
chamber, a rising pandemonium breaking out on all sides.

"I don't believe it!" Reinhart gasped. "It isn't possible. If Cole
solved Hedge's problem that would mean--" He broke off, staggered.

"Faster than light drive can now be used for space travel," Sherikov
continued, waving the noise down. "As Hedge intended. My men have
studied the photographs of the control turret. They don't know _how_
or _why_, yet. But we have complete records of the turret. We can
duplicate the wiring, as soon as the laboratories have been repaired."

Comprehension was gradually beginning to settle over the room. "Then
it'll be possible to build ftl ships," Margaret Duffe murmured, dazed.
"And if we can do that--"

"When I showed him the control turret, Cole understood its purpose.
Not _my_ purpose, but the original purpose Hedge had been working
toward. Cole realized Icarus was actually an incomplete spaceship, not
a bomb at all. He saw what Hedge had seen, an ftl space drive. He set
out to make Icarus work."

"We can go _beyond_ Centaurus," Dixon muttered. His lips twisted.
"Then the war was trivial. We can leave the Empire completely behind.
We can go beyond the galaxy."

"The whole universe is open to us," Sherikov agreed. "Instead of
taking over an antiquated Empire, we have the entire cosmos