anding stiff,
branches outstretched, like an army of scarecrows.

The air of Sirius Three was doing strange things to him. Two of the
trees seemed to be moving. He swayed and sat heavily.

As he watched through a haze of red dust whipped up by the morning
breeze, the two trees came closer, turned into men wearing desert
uniforms and leaned over him.

"Are you okay?" one of them asked.

Brandon said nothing.

"We saw you from our observation station over on the hill," said the
other pointing.

They helped Brandon to his feet and gave him a swig of cool, sweet water
from a canteen.

"I'm Captain Brandon, of the Astro One."

"Astro One?" The man removed his pith helmet to wipe his brow and
Brandon noticed the gleaming US insignia on the front of the helmet.
"The Astro One left Earth thirteen years ago," the man said.

"Only four years by RT," Brandon said.

The man smiled and put his helmet back on his head. "A lot of things
have happened since you left. There was a war which we won, and I guess
you guys were almost forgotten. And there was a lot of technological
development."

"You mean you had a quantum jump?" asked Brandon parroting Colonel
Towers' favorite expression.

"Odd you would know that," replied the second man. "It was through
quantum mechanics that we learned to approximate the speed of light.
While nine years pass on Earth when we make the trip, our RT is mere
moments."

"Good Lord!" Brandon said. "You must have passed us up."

"Been on this planet for nearly a year," the first man said. "Got men on
dozens of planetary systems throughout the Milky Way. One ship went a
thousand light years out. By the time they come back, civilization on
Earth will be two thousand years older."

"Have you got a tele-talkie?" Brandon asked.

"Sure," said the first man, producing a set one-third the size of
Brandon's.

"Could you tune it to 28.6 microcycles?"

"Sure," the man said again. He turned a dial with his thumb and handed
the unit to Brandon. Brandon depressed the "talk" button. A crystal
clear image of Colonel Towers, putting the finishing touches on his full
dress uniform, appeared on the screen.

"This is an historic occasion," Colonel Towers was announcing to his
crew. "Open the hatch--and, Reinhardt, be sure to stand by with the
motion picture camera."

"Excuse me, Colonel Towers," said Brandon quietly.

Towers swung around and looked out at Brandon. The colonel's face paled.

"I hav