Quickly Alan explained. "So I couldn't reverse time," he finished. "I couldn't make you as young as I was--so I took the opposite tack and made myself as old as you were." He looked at his father. "The universe is going to change, now. Earth won't be so overcrowded. And it means the end of the Enclave system, and the Fitzgerald Contraction." "We'll have to convert the _Valhalla_ to the new drive," Captain Donnell said. He looked still stunned by Alan's sudden appearance. "Otherwise we'll never be able to meet the competition of the new ships. There will be new ships, won't there?" "As soon as I return to Earth and tell them I've been successful. My men are ready to go into immediate production of hyperspace vessels. The universe is going to be full of them even before your ship reaches Procyon!" He sensed now the full importance of what he had done. "Now that there's practical transportation between stars, the Galaxy will grow close together--as close as the Solar System is now!" Captain Donnell nodded. "And what are you planning to do, now that you've dug up the Cavour drive?" "Me?" Alan took a deep breath. "I've got my own ship, Dad. And out there are Rigel and Deneb and Fomalhaut and a lot of other places I want to see." He was speaking quietly, calmly, but with an undercurrent of inner excitement. He had dreamed of this day for nine years. "I'm going to take a grand tour of the universe, Dad. Everywhere. The hyperdrive can take me. But there's just one thing----" "What's that?" Steve and the Captain said virtually in the same moment. "I've been practically alone for the last nine years. I don't want to make this trip by myself. I'm looking for a companion. A fellow explorer." He stared squarely at Steve. A slow grin spread over his brother's face. "You devil," Steve said. "You've planned this too well. How could I possibly turn you down?" "Do you want to?" Alan asked. Steve chuckled. "Do you think I do?" Alan felt something twitching at his cuff. He looked down and saw a bluish-purple ball of fur sitting next to his shoe, studying him with a wry expression. "Rat!" "Of course. Is there room for a third passenger on this jaunt of yours?" "Application accepted," Alan said. Warmth spread over him. The long quest was over. He was back among the people he loved, and the galaxy was opening wide before him. A sky full of bright stars, growing brighter and closer by the moment, was beckoning to him. He saw the Crewmen coming from their posts now; the rumor had flitted rapidly around the ship, it seemed. They were all there, Art Kandin and Dan Kelleher and a gaping Judy Collier and Roger Bond and all the rest of them. "You won't be leaving right away, will you?" the Captain asked. "You can stay with us a while, just to see if you remember the place?" "Of course I will, Dad. There's no hurry now. But I'll have to go back to Earth first and let them know I've succeeded, so they can start production. And then----"