"I thought the heavy artillery must be ready on Earth in case we kept going that way. It was--enough of it to knock us right out of the System at close to the speed of light. Just how close I don't know yet ... ah." He took a couple of sheets of figures from the hands of Gwar Den, and devoured them rapidly. He nodded with satisfaction to the anxious faces around. "We must have been hit simultaneously by fire from all over one hemisphere--and the forces' resultant, which is now our course, came out as I had hoped.... Our velocity is close enough; the journey will take about fourteen years, ship's time, but most of us can expect to live that long--" "Where are we going?" demanded Knof Jr., unable to contain his curiosity. Captain Knof Llud smiled down at his son with a touch of wistfulness. The memory of Earth, dwindling into infinite smallness behind, still hurt him; but young Knof would never know that hurt. And, after fourteen years, the captain would be about ready to leave his dream in younger hands.... He laid an arm about the boy's shoulders and pointed silently to the forward vision screen, to a faint blurred light dead in its center. "Omega Centauri," he said, and there was a new confidence in his voice.