Basing speculations on the future profits to be had from Aldebaran IX, according to Kingsford's report, Anglo-Galactic Mining began almost immediately to outfit a new ship for a second expedition. I heard a bit of Kingsford's story, the landing, the surveys, the planet being almost a total ore deposit, and then the tragedy of the crew. One of Anglo-Galactic's geologists told me Kingsford's tale of how all of his crew was killed by being drawn up in the feeding action of some gigantic flying animal, how he alone had managed to avoid this horror, and his agonizing fourteen month voyage back all alone. I thought I was well able to imagine the feeling of being a sole survivor on an alien world, let alone the almost superhuman task of activating a ship's drive, even with delayed action timing, and plotting a course and manning a craft through fourteen months in space alone. They were recruiting a complete crew for Kingsford's new ship, the Algonquin. She was new throughout, the drive and astrogating equipment being of a design with which I was unfamiliar. I began to understand why I was no longer eligible for command. A short three year absence and space technology had passed me by. I had read about the Shaller drive system in a technical journal during my retirement, but all through those three years I had made a rather strenuous effort to stay away from anything to do with my former calling. Actually, the Shaller system had outstripped all former star drives and was now in almost exclusive use in all ships geared for long range space penetration. It had conquered inertial resistance to the point where there existed absolutely no problems or stresses to either craft or personnel during acceleration and deceleration. If Kingsford's report about Aldebaran IX were true, and assays of the ore he'd brought back seemed to promise even more than he did, a berth on the Algonquin would be quite a prize. I flew to London and arranged a preliminary interview with an Anglo-Galactic vice president whom I had known for years. This would take some politics. From what I could figure, an Executive Officer's berth on the Algonquin, if she should make the strike that seemed imminent, would be worth millions, at the one-twentieth share normally apportioned to Execs on exploratory mining expeditions.