"Beautiful station," Dykstra said, arriving in the bubble and taking the copilot's seat. "But, are those drive nacelles I see?"

"That's right," Bob said. "Booker's station was the only trans-Hague Limit place that survived the Phinon attack completely intact. After they'd sent the last of the impeller units to Knoedler's Mercury crew, Booker had what skeleton crew remained outfit some tugs with the new drive and automated controls, and also had a unit attached to the station. When the Phinons arrived he moved the station and sent the tugs after their ships. And . . . Well, he's still here and they're not."

The trip to the station had been suggested by Bob since, as he said, the inventor of the hyperdrive should certainly have the chance to see hyperspace. It had been eight months since the battle with the Phinons; Dykstra was sure that Bob had been fretting that, at 127 years of age, he'd better get the old coot out beyond the Hague Limit as soon as possible.

The Hyperlight II docked with the station. "It will be good to see Rick and Paula again," Dykstra said. The two had married as soon as Paula was well enough to stand on her own in the little High Command chapel, and they'd immediately left for the station after that to "take care of some business" as the new Mrs. Vander Kam had put it.

Rick and Paula were there to greet them as they walked off the ship, as was Mr. Booker. Paula was all set to rush in and give Dykstra a hug, but Booker beat her to it. "Chris! My God man, it's good to see you again. We took 'em! By God, we took 'em!"

Dykstra returned the embrace as solidly as he could. "Yes, we took them," he said. Then he sighed. "But at a great cost."

"I think history will record that it was a debt worth paying," Booker said.

Then Rick shook his hand and Paula got her turn to hug him, which revealed a surprise. "You're pregnant," Dykstra said.

"After months of rather vigorous practice, yes I am," Paula confirmed, and this news required yet another hug.

"Dad says there can never be too many Vander Kams," Rick put in.

"Did you hear the news from Brinn, Rick?" Bob asked. "They found a near habitable planet out at Tau

Ceti. Sammi's all excited about heading out there and joining up with her friends."

"No, we hadn't heard," Rick said. "That's great news! But wait a minute. It would have taken them six months to get there. There hasn't been enough time for a ship to come back and tell us what they found.

How . . . ?"

"Dr. Hague and I finally constructed an FTL radio," Dykstra told him. "It only works outside the Hague Limit, but it transmits through hyperspace two. We sent a ship with a unit out after all the fleeing liners once we had it finished. Brinn's news came in just a few weeks ago."

"Bob, will you be going with Sammi?" Paula asked.

"Um," Bob said, obviously uncomfortable. Then, "We came to an agreement on that and I lost. No, I'll be staying with the System Patrol."

"Sizzled and fizzled?" Rick asked.

Bob shrugged.

Booker stepped in with a question to change the subject. "Colonel Knoedler? Nikki Le? Any news?"

"Still listed as missing," Bob said. "Everyone hopes they're not dead and that their radio is just

permanently out. At .4c they would have been past Pluto in twelve hours. We sent a ship to follow along

their last known trajectory. Didn't find anything, not even debris. We hope no news is good news."Booker started them all walking toward the other side of the dock facility. Dykstra noticed a tarpcovered ship that way. A tarp? In a space dock? he wondered.

"Chris," Paula said. "Rick and I have another surprise for you. We think you'll be pleased.""Oh?"They reached the covered ship and Paula said, "Mr. Booker, would you do the honors?""My pleasure," he said, and at the touch of a button the tarp was lifted off the ship.It was the Hyperlight, all bright and shiny."Paula and I tracked her down and brought her back," Rick said. "And Dad bought her from the Patrol.

She's yours, Chris. We had to take the weapons out, but we put in a standard control board so you can

fly her like any other ship. Giving her to you is the least we can do."

Dykstra, ever-present cane in hand, walked slowly up to the ship. He patted her with his hand. There's always something special about the first of anything. And I worked on this one with my own hands. He walked around her, slowly, doing one full orbit. He tapped her side with his cane, then turned to them all. "The Hyperlight is mine?"

"That's right," Booker said.

"And I can fly her whenever I wish?" he asked, a twinkle of youth in his eye.

"That's right," they all answered, laughing.

"Let's rock and roll," Dykstra said, and entered the ship.

The others followed, though unsure of what the old genius meant by "rock and roll."

He showed them.

The End