"In normal usage, the super drive will be fine. We've been using autopilots for years and years, setting up the whole course from take-off to the last half hour of landing. We can still do it. We'll be flying blind, but so what? We fly pretty blind as it is; no one gives a rap about the sky outside. Instrument flying is our best bet." "Well," said Hammond, "we'll see it soon enough. The color of the stars behind us are changing right now." "They should. We're running at three quarters of light--and, Stevey Boy, they're still visible!" Silently they watched the sky. Dead below them, a tiny black circle appeared and the stars that once occupied this circle were flowing away from it radially. It expanded, and the region of flow spread circularly, and the bowl of the sky moved like a fluid thing towards the top of the ship until the stars at their nose were crowding together. Stars appeared there, new stars caused by the crossing of electromagnetic waves from the rear, and the sky took on an alien sight. For a long time the stars seemed to tighten in their positions above the ship, and then the warning bell rang and the ship swapped ends easily and the bowl of the sky was below them. Then it began to return to the fore observation point of the _Haywire Queen_ as the velocity of the ship dropped. The crawl started, and the black circle diminished until it was gone. The stars continued to regain their familiar color as the _Haywire Queen_ approached the normal velocities used by mankind. * * * * * Five hours after their start, the _Haywire Queen_ slid clumsily to a stop beside Station 1 and made a landing. She arced a bit, since the charge-generating equipment did not have the refinements of the Lens flitters for making the ship assume the charge of the destined station. But the arc was not too bad, and within a minute after the _Haywire Queen_ touched the landing deck, John McBride was knocking on the door of Dr. Caldwell's office in the hospital. Caldwell came out of the inner door to answer the summons, and he looked up at McBride and went dead-white. "Mac! It's you?" "Naturally," smiled McBride. "How's Enid?" "How did you get here?" demanded Doc. "That's a long yarn, Doc, and it includes a whole engineering program, exceeding the velocity of light, and using a space warp as a traveling companion. How's Enid?" "She was none too good, but we'll have her through now. Come on in!" "First tell Tommy that the _Haywire Queen_ is on the landing deck and that they're to have anything they need if we have to kill the lens to give it to them!" "I heard that, John," said Tommy, coming in the door. "It's done." He turned on his heel and left immediately. John approached the bedside. "Enid," he said softly. Enid's eyes fluttered. A wave of pain passed across her face and she tried to move. McBride looked at the doctor. "Go ahead, John," said Doc. "Enid. I'm here. It's John."