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And then he forced his mind away from that train of thought. There had to be a way to get there on time. Something in the back of his mind told him that there was a way.

He had to think. Really think.

* * * * *

On 7 June 2287, a signal officer on the Earth destroyer Muldoon picked up a faint signal coming from the general direction of the constellation of Sagittarius. It was the standard emergency signal for distress. The broadcaster only had a very short range, so the source couldn’t be too far away.

He made his report to the ship’s captain. “We’re within easy range of her, sir,” he finished. “Shall we pick her up?”

“Might be a Rat trick,” said the captain. “But we’ll have to take the chance. Beam a call to Earth, and let’s go out there dead slow. If the detectors show anything funny, we turn tail and run. We’re in no position to fight a Rat ship.”

“You think this might be a Rat trap, sir?”

The captain grinned. “If you are referring to the Muldoon as a rat trap, Mr. Blake, you’re both disrespectful and correct. That’s why we’re going to run if we see anything funny. This ship is already obsolete by our standards; you can imagine what it is by theirs.” He paused. “Get that call in to Earth. Tell ’em this ship is using a distress signal that was obsolete six months ago. And tell ’em we’re going out.”

“Yes, sir,” said the signal officer.

It wasn’t a trap. As the Muldoon approached the source of the signal, their detectors picked up the ship itself. It was a standard lifeboat from a battleship of the Shannon class.

“You don’t suppose that’s from the Shane, do you?” the captain said softly as he looked at the plate. “She’s the only ship of that class that’s missing. But if that’s a Shane lifeboat, what took her so long to get here?”

“She’s cut her engines, sir!” said the observer. “She evidently knows we’re coming.”

“All right. Pull her in as soon as we’re close enough. Put her in Number Two lifeboat rack; it’s empty.”

* * * * *

When the door of the lifeboat opened, the captain of the Muldoon was waiting outside the lifeboat rack. He didn’t know exactly what he had expected to see, but it somehow seemed fitting that a lean, bearded man in a badly worn uniform and a haggard look about him should step out.

The specter saluted. “Lieutenant Alfred Pendray, of the Shane,” he said, in a voice that had almost no strength. He held up a pouch. “Microfilm,” he said. “Must get to Earth immediately. No delay. Hurry.”

“Catch him!” the captain shouted. “He’s falling!” But one of the men nearby had already caught him.

In the sick bay, Pendray came to again. The captain’s questioning gradually got the story out of Pendray.

“… So I didn’t know what to do then,” he said, his voice a breathy whisper. “I knew I had to get that stuff home. Somehow.”

“Go on,” said the captain, frowning.

“Simple matter,” said Pendray. “Nothing to it. Two equations. Little ship goes thirty times as fast as big ship–big hulk. Had to get here before 22 June. Had to. Only way out, y’unnerstand.

“Anyway. Two equations. Simple. Work ’em in your head. Big ship takes ten months, little one takes ten days. But can’t stay in a little ship ten days. No shielding. Be dead before you got here. See?”

“I see,” said the captain patiently.

“But–and here’s a ‘mportant point: If you stay on the big ship for eight an’ a half months, then y’ only got to be in the little ship for a day an’ a half to get here. Man can live that long, even under that radiation. See?” And with that, he closed his eyes.

“Do you mean you exposed yourself to the full leakage radiation from a lifeboat engine for thirty-six hours?”

But there was no answer.

“Let him sleep,” said the ship’s doctor. “If he wakes up again, I’ll let you know. But he might not be very lucid from here on in.”

“Is there anything you can do?” the captain asked.

“No. Not after a radiation dosage like that.” He looked down at Pendray. “His problem was easy, mathematically. But not psychologically. That took real guts to solve.”

“Yeah,” said the captain gently. “All he had to do was get here alive. The problem said nothing about his staying that way.”