The three men made their way along the corridors, hastened past open doorways, and took the elevator up one flight to the control center.

They pa.s.sed dozens of SE men and members of s.p.a.ce Command. Captain Mary Marks-Owens was supervising their work.

Once in the control center, Gene took his seat at the main console, glanced at the Starman and the other men in the large room, then stared at the screen before him. He scratched his head, then placed his hands on the keyboard and activated it.

"Whew!" he exclaimed a moment later. "Well over 290,000 miles per hour!

It would be better to turn this asteroid aside and pa.s.s by the Earth rather than try to bring it into orbit, as Zimbardo had planned at first. We're going too fast for that!"

"My thoughts exactly," said Madera, seating himself on a stool next to Gene. "Let's see how you do it."

Gene plotted coordinates and tracked the trajectory of the runaway asteroid, then calculated the amount of thrust needed to pa.s.s the Earth at a safe distance. He figured how much he could slow the asteroid down without putting too much stress on the inhabitants. When he was finished, he turned to Madera.

"Okay?"

"Looks right to me!"

"Well, then...here goes." Gene entered the figures into the primary guidance system and activated it. Tears suddenly came into his eyes.

"Oh, please let it be enough, let it be right, let it work," he whispered.

The Starmen woke after twelve hours of sleep aboard the Star Ranger.

Uncharacteristically, Joe was the last one up. He found a note in the washroom that read, "We're on the Tempest. Join us for breakfast whenever you're ready." He washed up quickly and hastened to the SE fleet command ship.

Readily admitted, he found his two colleagues in the dining area. Mark and Zip were just finishing a large platter of scrambled eggs and cheese, potatoes, freshly-squeezed juice, and hot coffee. "I'll have the same, but with tea," he announced, and sat down.

"Yes sir," came a voice from the galley.

"How're you feeling this morning, Mark?" asked Joe. "How's your hand?"

"Couldn't feel better, Joe! Had a good sleep at last, and my hand should be healed in a couple of weeks. It was a second-degree burn."

A few moments later, Gene came out carrying Joe's breakfast.

"Gene!" exclaimed Joe.

"Yes, Mr. Taylor. Just trying to help out a little," said the erstwhile pirate.

"He cooks as well as he pilots," said Mark.

"We're safe, then." Joe made it a statement rather than a question as he shook some pepper onto the steaming eggs.

"Yes," said Zip. "The asteroid will sweep past the Earth in a week, missing it by about 50,000 miles. It will be visible for almost the whole night over the south Pacific, like a fast-moving star. Should be quite a sight!"

"Then what?" asked Joe between gulps of juice.

"Then what, what?" responded Mark.

"Then where does it go?"

"As Gene said yesterday," explained Zip, "it's moving too fast to enter an orbit around the Earth, so Gene steered it into a course around the sun. It will take about seven months to circle the sun just inside Earth's...o...b..t. Then it will catch up to the Earth and can easily be placed into an Earth orbit at that time. Scientists from Starlight Enterprise will live on it and try to learn its secrets. In fact, a ship will be launched from SE in a couple of days with a crew of them.

They'll intercept the asteroid and start the exploration right away."

Mark continued bringing Joe up to date. "The Captain's got a team replacing the huge airlock on the surface of the asteroid, and the temporary power supply packets are being reloaded on the ships. We're in complete control of the asteroid now."

"Where's Madera?"

"He finally got a full sleep, then went back into the complex. He can't wait to find out how it all works. He's hoping that Richard will put him in charge of the exploration team."

Joe scooped a large helping of potatoes into his mouth, then talked around it to ask, "Well, when do we leave?"

"I'm excited about this place, and would like to explore a bit myself,"

said Zip, "but more than anything, I'd like to go home. We can leave any time we want to."

"I'd like to see Mr. Madera one more time before we go, and then take off for home."

A day later, the Star Ranger was well on its way to Amundsen City. The Starmen were relaxed, seated comfortably at a small table in the lounge, with the ship on automatic pilot. The strains of Bach's Little Fugue filled the ship.

Joe asked, "Is that the disk Montezuma Vly gave us?"

"No," said Mark. "That was destroyed when Lather melted the Vigilant Warrior. This is just part of our standard library. Beautiful piece.

But I sure wish we hadn't lost that disk Montezuma gave us. What a tragedy!"

"Yes, well, Vly did say that we could visit him again. Maybe he'll give us another."

"I'd like to see him again, but not for a while. I don't want to leave home for a long time!"

At the end of their journey, the Star Ranger touched down gently on the tarmac at Amundsen Base, near the south pole of the Moon on the edge of the largest city in the Earth-Moon system-Amundsen City, with over eight million inhabitants. The Starmen debarked from their ship, crossed the field and entered the airlock that led into the receiving area. Through the second door, they could see an enormous crowd.

"Man! This place is jammed!" said Joe. "I've never seen so many people here!" As air filled the airlock, the Starmen removed their helmets and tucked them under their arms. Moments later they entered the public terminal. A roar went up from hundreds of voices.

"What's this?" yelled Mark to Zip and Joe. He could barely make himself heard above the clamor.

"Look!" cried out Zip. "Our families!" With a big smile on his face, he pointed to the front of the crowd. There were the boys' parents-Allen and Elizabeth Foster with Zip's eight-year old sister, Kathy; Keith and Barbara Seaton; and Charlie and Laura Taylor. All were smiling hugely.

"Wow!" exclaimed Mark. "All these people are here for us!"

Although the crowd was being kept behind a light barrier of stanchions and ribbons, as soon as the Starmen came through the airlock, Zip's sister Kathy ducked under the ribbon and ran toward them.

"David, David!" she yelled. When she was still a few feet away from her brother, she leaped and flew into his welcoming arms. "David, I missed you!" she cried, snuggling her head into his shoulder. "I was so worried!"

Zip smelled the little girl's hair and realized how much he loved her and his home. A lump came into his throat and he unexpectedly burst into tears, kissed her forehead and her cheek, and whispered, "Oh, Kathy, I missed you too, even more than I knew."

Zip's mother Elizabeth had the same red hair that he had, while his father Allen had dark hair, now turning a dignified salt-and-pepper.

But Kathy had inherited the best of both hair colors. Her deep maroon hair shone with health. Zip picked her up and she wrapped her arms around his neck; then, pressing his cheek to hers, they came to where their parents were waiting for him. Joe and Mark, neither of whom had any brothers or sisters, were already greeting their parents.