The gapt. Pornsen. He would no longer have to see that fat face, hear that whining voice.

``Hal Yarrow!'' said the whining voice.

And, slowly, feeling himself icy yet burning, Hal turned.

There was the squat loose jowled man, smiling lopsidedly up at him.

``My beloved ward, my perennial gadfly,'' said the whining voice. ``I had no idea that you, too, would be on this glorious voyage. But I might have known! We seem to be bound by love; Sigmen himself must have foreseen it. Love to you, my ward.''

``Sigmen love you, too, my guardian,'' said Hal, choking. ``How wonderful to see your cherished self. I had thought we would never again speak to each other.''

The Gabriel pointed towards her destination and, under one gee acceleration, began to build up towards her ultimate velocity, 99.1 percent of the speed of light. Meanwhile, all the personnel except those few needed to carry out the performance of the ship, went into the suspensor. Here they would lie in suspended animation for many years. Some time later, after a check had been made of all automatic equipment, the crew would join the others. They would sleep while the Gabriel's drive would increase the acceleration to a point which the unfrozen bodies of the personnel could not have endured. Upon reaching the desired speed, the automatic equipment would cut off the drive, and the silent but not empty vessel would hurl towards the star which was its journey's end.