ght. There was passion
and tenderness and a spiritual quality that was shocking to a modern
man steeped in millennia of conquest and self-interest. There was a
greatness to it, a depth of faith that had since been lost. And as
Kennon slowly deciphered the ancient script he admired the courage even
as his mind winced with dismay at the unheeding recklessness.

The Weygands had lost contact with the others, and had searched for them
in hyperspace, doubling and twisting upon their course until they had
become hopelessly lost, and then, with their fuel nearly exhausted, had
broken out into the normal three-space continuum to find Kardon's sun
and the world they called Flora.

How little they had known and how lucky they had been.

It was only by the grace of their God that they had found this world
before their fuel was exhausted. And it was only by further grace that
the planet was habitable and not populated with intelligent life. They
had more luck than people were entitled to in a dozen lifetimes. Against
odds of a million to one they had survived.

It was fascinating reading.

But it was not proof.

The last entry read: "We have circled this world and have seen no
buildings--no sign of intelligent life. We are lost, marooned on this
empty world. Our fuel supplies are too low for us to attempt to find the
others. Nor could we. The constellations in the sky are strange. We do
not know which way to go. Therefore we shall land upon the great island
in the center of the yellow sea. And perhaps someday men will come to us
since we cannot return to them. Melissa thinks that this is an example
of Divine Providence, that the Lord's mercy has been shown to us that
were lost in the vastness of the deep--that we have been chosen, like
Eve and Adam, to spread the seed of man to yet another world. I hope
she is right, yet I fear the radiation level of the ship has become
inordinately high. We may well be Eve and Adam, yet an Adam that cannot
beget and an Eve that is not fruitful. I am trimming the ship for
landing, and we shall leave it immediately after we have landed, taking
with us only what we absolutely need. There is too much radiation from
the spindizzy and the drive to remain here longer--and God knows how hot
the outer hull may be."

And that was all. Presumptive evidence--yes. Reasonable certainty--yes.
But not proof. Lawyers could argue that since no direct exploration was
made there was no valid reason to assume