“Bring us back something that will give us another hundred years,” Gillispie had begged. Ron was ashamed of the faint contempt with which he had regarded the General’s words at the start of their journey. He felt no contempt now. Gillispie knew what a slim chance Earth had to survive. Now Ron knew it, too, for the first time. The General dealt daily with disaster. From a greater distance, Ron had felt superior to the General’s desperate urgency for some solution. Now he shared the same desperation and understood it. He saw how far it was possible to go, and how short the distance they had come.
At the close of the afternoon’s session of the Conference, Ron went to Engon’s quarters on the grounds of the colony. The adviser greeted him pleasantly and invited him to sit in a heavy, massive c
