rt; from the balcony he
could see the ships landing and departing. Life went on, ships came and
went, and out there in the vast night of space, the suns and colors
flamed and rolled, heedless of the little atoms that traveled and
intrigued between them.

A night came when the buzzer sounded and he opened the door to Raynor
One and Raynor Three.

"Better turn on your vision-screen, Bart. The Elder of the Lhari Council
has arrived with their official decision, and he's going to announce
it."

Bart waited, anxiously, pacing the room, while on the TV screen various
dignitaries presented the Elder.

"We are the first race to travel the stars." A bald head, an ancient
Lhari face seamed like glazed pottery, looked at Bart from the screen,
and Bart remembered when he had stood before that face, sick with
defeat. But now he need not pretend to hold his head erect.

"We have had a long and triumphant time as masters of the stars," the
Lhari said. "But triumph and power will sicken and stagnate the race
which holds them too long unchallenged. We reached this point once
before. Then a Lhari captain, Rhazon of Nedrun, abandoned the safe ways
of caution, and out of his blind leap in the blind dark came many good
things. Trade with the human race. Our Mentorian allies. A system of
mathematics to take the hazards from our star-travel.

"Yet once again the Lhari had grown cautious and fearful. And a young
man named Bartol took a blind leap into unknown darkness, all alone--"

"Not alone," Bart said as if to himself, "it took two men called
Briscoe. And my father. And a couple of Raynors. And even a man called
Montano, because without that, I'd never have decided--"

"Like Rhazon of Nedrun, like all pioneers, this young man has been
cursed by his own people, the very ones who will one day benefit from
his daring. He has found his people a firm footing among the stars. It
is too late for the Lhari to regret that we did not sooner extend you
the hand of welcome there. You have climbed, unaided, to join us. For
good or ill, we must make room for you.

"But there is room for all. Competition is the lifeblood of trade, and
we face the future without fear, knowing that life still holds many
surprises for the living. I say to you: welcome to the stars."

Even while Bart stood speechless with the knowledge of success, the door
opened again, and Bart, turning, cried out in amazement.

"Tommy! Ringg! Meta!"

"Sure," Tommy exclaimed,