er. Even when she was
drifting dust and the Sun was a dead, cold star, Earth would live on in
the courage and the dreams that by that time would be spreading to the
far corners of the Galaxy.

Russ dug the pipe out of his pocket, searched for the pouch, found it on
the desk behind him. It was empty.

"Hell," he said, "my tobacco's all gone."

Greg grinned. "You won't have to wait long. We'll be back on Earth in a
few more hours."

Russ put the stem between his teeth, bit down on it savagely. "I guess
that's right. I can dry smoke her until we get there."

Earth was larger now. Mars had swung astern.

Suddenly a winking light stabbed out into space from the night side of
Earth. Signaling ... signaling ... clearing the spacelanes for a greater
future than any human prophet had ever predicted.

The End

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