He turned to Bob Star, his dark eyes searchingly intent.
“Are you ready, Bob, to undertake a very important and very dangerous duty, for the Legion and the System?”
“Yes—yes, sir!”
Bob Star’s voice tried to stick, but he was trem-bling with an incredulous joy.
Dismay shook him, when he heard his father’s quick protest.
“Robert isn’t ready for duty,” John Star said.
“I was planning to take him with us, when we leave on the Phantom Star.”
“No!” Bob Star gasped.
“Please—I want something to do.”
John Star merely shrugged at that, but Aladoree caught his arm.
“Bob and I have been talking, John,” she said quickly.
“He feels that we have been shielding him too much, and I believe he’s right.
I think he really needs a chance to prove himself.”
“Thank you, mother!” Bob Star whispered, and he turned eagerly to the grave commander.
“Please—I want to try—whatever I can do.
I want to try—and I’ll do my best!”
“This will need your best.”
And Jay Kalam turned to John Star.
“John,” he said quietly, “for this service I must call upon your son.
No other man will do.
You recall the adjustment of the Jovian Revolt.
There’s the matter of a promise given—and I intend to respect the honor of the Legion, even in such times as these.”
John Star turned slowly back to his son.
Watching him uneasily, Bob could see the stern reflection of some searching question on his face, but at last he nodded, without ever asking it.
He swung abruptly back to Jay Kalam.
“Yes, I suppose we must go on keeping our word.”
His voice seemed cold and harsh.
“You may give Robert the necessary orders.”
Bob Star felt an ache in his throat.
He wanted to thank his father, but the bleak set of John Star’s face checked the words.
He lifted his arm in an impulsive salute, and John Star returned it stiffly.
“For the third matter,” Jay Kalam said again, “I am going out to the object in Virgo, on the Invincible.
We shall keep in contact with the Green Hall, so long as possible, with tight-beam ultrawave.
I intend to discover the true nature of the object and the purpose of its enigmatic motion.
I hope to find that it isn’t quite so dangerous as you think.”
John Star stepped forward quickly, and shook the commander’s hand.
He seemed to swallow, and then said huskily,
“Jay!”
“I fully expect to be seeing you again, John,” Jay Kalam said evenly.
“If we don’t return, however, I suppose it will be advisable to destroy the object.
It will take us about five days to reach it and five to return.
Give us two more.
If we haven’t come back in twelve days, John, you may consider us lost—and forget my protests against destroying the object.”
He paused, turning to Bob Star.
“Bob, you will come with us on the Invincible to the prison of the man known as Merrin.
We’ll have time on the crossing for me to explain the details and the great importance of your duty.
You may make your farewells. We are leaving at once.”
Bob Star turned breathlessly toward his mother.
His father was beckoning the commander aside.
“Jay, I’ve decided where to look for our new sanctuary.