"Venus' spectrum shows its presence. It's not an emanation that is easily duplicated. If it isn't, it's too much of a grim joke--because the money in this ship could have paid for a thousand experiments. My Mary's got a touch of blue coloring in her skin--the first symptom, y'know." "Sorry," Bairn said, and his voice was soft. "Beautiful," Arden said. "I hope Mary can see it sometime." He was looking out at space, his arms clasped behind him. "It's not like I thought, though--this being the first humans to see the stars away from earth." He stopped. "It's so damn big and beautiful it hurts," he said at last. "Yeah, I know," Bairn put in. "It makes guys like us feel cheap and small." "No!" The word was explosive. Bairn jerked around in the pilot's cradle and stared. Arden had a frown on his forehead. "And who in blue blazes are you?" Bairn snapped. "Joe," the big blocky youngster said, as if that explained everything. "Joe, huh?" Bairn grunted. "How did you get on this ship?" * * * * * Joe's brown eyes stared steadily at Bairn, and his big shoulders shrugged. "I stowed away." And then as the two stared blankly at him, he hurried on: "I had to. Really. There's a legend in our family that a man named Joe will be the first to reach the stars. It was promised way back when. So I had to come. I had to!" Bairn grunted again. "Isn't much we can do about it now, I guess. But you'll have to earn your way. What can you do?" Joe grinned--a big grin that made Bairn and Arden smile. He shrugged and grinned again. "I don't know. But I'll be good for something. You'll see." "All right. Arlie, will you take him down to the rocket room? Maybe the gang can find something for him to do." "Come on, Joe," Arden said. Joe shook his head. "Not just yet," he answered. "I'd like to tell you something first." He pointed out toward the stars. "A minute ago, you said"--he nodded at Bairn--"this makes us feel cheap and small. "You're wrong. You're just afraid. All this is man's--yours, mine, ours. It's just so darn big, we don't realize it. But this is our destiny--that's what the prophet said a long time ago. It took a disease like that sweeping the Earth now to get us here. But we're here. The stars are our destiny. No sense in being otherwise. No sense in feeling cheap and small." He stopped, looked at Bairn and Arden. "Don't you feel it?" Joe asked. "This first time the Earth shackles are loosed? Don't you feel the power and understanding and strength the stars give you out here? "This is where I belong," Joe said. "Out here where you can see what you're reaching for. That's why I had to come." He stopped and a slow embarrassed flush crept over his face. "See what I mean?" Surprisingly, it was Bairn who answered: "Thanks, kid, you're good for something all right. I don't know what it is about you, but you give a guy a sense of--peace, I guess you'd say." "Belonging?" Arden put in. "That it, Johnny?"