The ultradrive had just one slight drawback: it set upa shock wave that made suns explode. Which made theproblem of getting back home a delicate one indeed....
Time
Fuze
By Randall Garrett
Illustrated by Paul Orban
Commander Benedict kepthis eyes on the rear plate as heactivated the intercom. "All right,cut the power. We ought to be safeenough here."
As he released the intercom, Dr.Leicher, of the astronomical staff,stepped up to his side. "Perfectlysafe," he nodded, "although evenat this distance a star going novaought to be quite a display."
Benedict didn't shift his gazefrom the plate. "Do you have yourinstruments set up?"
"Not quite. But we have plentyof time. The light won't reach usfor several hours yet. Remember,we were outracing it at ten lights."
The commander finally turned,slowly letting his breath out in asoft sigh. "Dr. Leicher, I would say[Pg 68]that this is just about the foulestcoincidence that could happen tothe first interstellar vessel ever toleave the Solar System."
Leicher shrugged. "In one wayof thinking, yes. It is certainly truethat we will never know, now,whether Alpha Centauri A ever hadany planets. But, in another way,it is extremely fortunate that weshould be so near a stellar explosionbecause of the wealth of scientificinformation we can obtain. Asyou say, it is a coincidence, andprobably one that happens onlyonce in a billion years. The chancesof any particular star going novaare small. That we should be soclose when it happens is of a vanishinglysmall order of probability."
Commander Benedict took off hiscap and looked at the damp stainin the sweatband. "Nevertheless,Doctor, it is damned unnerving tocome out of ultradrive a couple ofhundred million miles from thefirst star ever visited by man andhave to turn tail and run becausethe damned thing practically blowsup in your face."
Leicher could see that Benedictwas upset; he rarely used the sameprofanity twice in one sentence.
They had been downright lucky,at that. If Leicher hadn't seen thestar begin to swell and brighten, ifhe hadn't known what it meant, orif Commander Benedict hadn'tbeen quick enough in shifting theship back into ultradrive—Leicherhad a vision of an incandescentcloud of gaseous metal that hadonce been a spaceship.
The intercom buzzed. The commanderanswered, "Yes?"
"Sir, would you tell Dr. Leicherthat we have everything set upnow?"
Leicher nodded and turned toleave. "I guess we have nothing todo now but wait."
When the light from the novadid come, Commander Benedictwas back at the plate again—theforward one, this time, since theship had been turned around in orderto align the astronomy lab inthe nose with the star.
Alpha Centauri A began tobrighten and spread. It made Benedictthink of a light bulb connectedthrough a rheostat, with someoneturning that rheostat, turning it untilthe circuit was well overloaded.
The light began to hurt Benedict'seyes even at that distance andhe had to cut down the receptivityin order to watch. After a while,he turned away from the plate. Notbecause the show was over, but simplybecause it had slow