It was little more than an hour later that Guy Maynard, inoculated with all kinds of shots, was lifted into the sky in a heavy spaceship and on the way for a predetermined section of the Solar sky. They left him, a couple of weeks later. And Guy Maynard was headed for Terra in a broken lifeship saved from the derelict of the Mardinex. He thought of Ertene briefly, and then put the thought from him. He would never see Ertene again. But the things he had in his mind would make Ertene's influence everlasting over an unknown Terra. That alone made the contact worth while. Guy Maynard stumbled upon another thought. He had accused them of going on forever like an itinerant, taking nothing and giving nothing and living sterile as far as their good toward civilization. He was wrong, and now he knew it. Ertene did not go on her lonely path. She had strewn the fruits of experience in Sol's path as best she could and still maintain safety for herself. It was reasonable to suppose that Ertene had done the same things for those other systems. Hers was not a useless existence. Ertene was doing as much for civilization as Terra, surely. And though he would never see Ertene again, his own personal gain from having been to Ertene would cause him to remember the wanderer. And even though Terra would never know of Ertene's existence, she would benefit from their experience. Ertene--completely altruistic. Or was she completely selfish? Terra would never know. V. Ben Williamson sat bolt upright in his chair and listened to the faint piping whistle that came through the communicator along with the sounds from the communications office. He snapped the button calling for silence in order to hear better, and then scratched his head in wonder. "Executive to Communications and Pilot: Tune in that signal better and get a fix on it. Prepare to follow the fix." "Received," came the laconic reply, and then the less formal: "What's in the sky, Ben?" "Whether you know it or not, that signal was Guy Maynard's private sign." "I thought so," said the communications officer. "I wasn't certain." "We'll not court-martial you for that," laughed Ben. "After all, you didn't know Maynard personally." "Right. I didn't know him at all. But this fix--I've got it." "Can you get range and possible track?" "Fairly well." There was silence for several minutes and then the communications officer announced the figures concerning the distance and probable course constants of the emitting source. "Executive to Technician: Jimmy, have you got the cards on the _Mardinex_ or did we put them in the morgue after we slipped her the slug?" "Still got 'em. BuSI thought we should keep 'em a bit just in case. After all, the _Mardinex_ was a secret proposition and to remove her cards from the Terran cardexes would be like the guy in that story." "Which guy in what story."