"Very sensible. We have the same laws and the same interpretation," smiled Gant. "But in this case we have a different situation. As of the last acknowledged contact with Transgalactic, and specifically that part which is dealing with Sol and Terra, they had every right to proceed. The law has been changed. Now it is up to the law to see that the change in law has been properly delivered to the interested parties and that the change is acknowledged. Follow?" Dusty nodded. "_Ex post facto_ sort of thing. If you pass a law forbidding neckties on Tuesday, you cannot arrest a man for having appeared on Monday without one." "Right." "But this is already Tuesday." "But to be effective, newly-passed laws must be properly posted. Then must be acknowledged from the farthest point in space. And Transgalactic is playing communication-silence." Dusty grunted angrily. "And that was the character that yelped about our vengeful nature? Isn't he guilty of the same?" Gant Nerley nodded. "Of course! Aren't we all of the same cut of human?" The phanoband signal went on: "Calling Transgalactic! Discontinue all operations by Order of--" and so forth. The squawk box on the wall said, "Calling Gant Nerley with report." "Report!" "Report slight increase in phanoradiation high in the subnuclear region. Cross semi-collateral traces indicating an increase in lower-level nuclear activity." The squawk box clicked off and Dusty looked with puzzlement at Gant Nerley. "What was all that?" he pleaded. "He means that Transgalactic is hard at work. The lower level of nuclear reactions has increased in intensity, meaning in simple prediction that the business of making a variable star out of Sol is under way." The Marandanian with the filar micrometer on the barytrine detector grumbled. "It's going to be a bit rough." "Why?" asked the pilot. "If it weren't for that barytrine we'd never find Sol out of that mess dead ahead. We'd be canvassing the stellar region around there for weeks if we didn't have a focal point--" "I know," grunted the detector operator. "First you need a barytrine field large enough to make a homing run on, but then once you're home you'll want a tiny one so you can locate the generator precisely. Well, you can't have 'em both, Jann." Jann Wilkor shook his head. "I wish I'd made this run before. I could make it faster." Gant pointed at the screen and nudged Dusty. The color-scale was still high in the blue-violet and there were a couple of places on the viewpanel that were a dead black, tiny spots that did not move as Jann Wilkor's delicate touch corrected the course. Spots burned out of the substance of the panel like over-exposed film burned through.