dict stood up slowly. When he spoke, his voice was a choking
whisper. "You mean the sun--Sol--might...."

Leicher nodded. "I don't say that it definitely would. But the
probability is that we were the cause of the destruction of Alpha
Centauri A, and therefore might cause the destruction of Sol in the
same way."

Benedict's voice was steady again. "That means that we can't go back
again, doesn't it? Even if we're not positive, we can't take the
chance."

"Not necessarily. We can get fairly close before we cut out the drive,
and come in the rest of the way at sub-light speed. It'll take longer,
and we'll have to go on half or one-third rations, but we _can_ do it!"

"How far away?"

"I don't know what the minimum distance is, but I do know how we can
gage a distance. Remember, neither Alpha Centauri B or C were
detonated. We'll have to cut our drive at least as far away from Sol
as they are from A."

"I see." The commander was silent for a moment, then: "Very well, Dr.
Leicher. If that's the safest way, that's the only way."

Benedict issued the orders, while Leicher figured the exact point at
which they must cut out the drive, and how long the trip would take.
The rations would have to be cut down accordingly.

Commander Benedict's mind whirled around the monstrousness of the whole
thing like some dizzy bee around a flower. What if there had been
planets around Centauri A? What if they had been inhabited? Had he, all
unwittingly, killed entire races of living, intelligent beings?

But, how could he have known? The drive had never been tested before.
It couldn't be tested inside the Solar System--it was too fast. He and
his crew had been volunteers, knowing that they might die when the
drive went on.

Suddenly, Benedict gasped and slammed his fist down on the desk before
him.

Leicher looked up. "What's the matter, Commander?"

"Suppose," came the answer, "Just suppose, that we have the same
effect on a star when we _go into_ ultradrive as we do when we come
out of it?"

Leicher was silent for a moment, stunned by the possibility. There was
nothing to say, anyway. They could only wait....

* * * * *

A little more than half a light year from Sol, when the ship reached
the point where its occupants could see the light that had left their
home sun more than seven months before, they watched it become
suddenly, horribly brighter. _A hundred thousand times brighter!_

...