on the controls will lock. And for twenty
years, a generation, it will be impossible either to alter the course
of the Vulcan or to shut her blast motors off.

"At the end of that time the last tank of reserve fuel will be
exhausted, and they will cease automatically. Then once more the Vulcan
may be controlled by those aboard. They may switch the motors onto the
tanks of fuel in the cargo holds, and continue onwards. If they were
celestial navigators, they might try to turn, and seek earth again. But
they are not navigators, and the sun will be but a tiny spark in the
limitless darkness, one with a million others, not to be told apart.
They will know that only Proxima Centauri in all space may the Vulcan
hope to reach in their lifetime, or perhaps even in that of their
descendants, for a message to that effect they will find presently.

"So it may be that they will continue onward of their own choice. If
they make no choice, momentum will carry them onward, perhaps forever.

"But in any case, Nanlo and Hugh Neils will have exactly what they have
asked for--each other, for all eternity. If truly that was what they
wanted, a great destiny may be theirs. A lifetime of travel can bring
them to the stars. They or their descendants can be the first humans to
bridge the gap of nothingness that has thus far daunted the stoutest
hearts."

As they watched, the green dart of light dwindled and was gone. And
quite invisible at last in the arms of outer darkness, the Vulcan sped
its two passengers onward toward the stars.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Indulgence of Negu Mah, by Robert Andrew Arthur

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