Joe's brown eyes stared steadily at Bairn, and his big shoulders shrugged. "I stowed away." And then as the two stared blankly at him, he hurried on:
"I had to. Really. There's a legend in our family that a man named Joe will be the first to reach the stars. It was promised way back when. So I had to come. I had to!"
Bairn grunted again. "Isn't much we can do about it now, I guess. But you'll have to earn your way. What can you do?"
Joe grinned—a big grin that made Bairn and Arden smile.
He shrugged and grinned again. "I don't know. But I'll be good for something. You'll see."
"All right. Arlie, will you take him down to the rocket room? Maybe the gang can find something for him to do."
"Come on, Joe," Arden said.
Joe shook his head. "Not just yet," he answered. "I'd like to tell you something first." He pointed out toward the stars. "A minute ago, you said"—he nodded at Bairn—"this makes us feel cheap and small.
"You're wrong. You're just afraid. All this is man's—yours, mine, ours. It's just so darn big, we don't realize it. But this is our destiny—that's what the prophet said a long time ago. It took a disease like that sweeping the Earth now to get us here. But we're here. The stars are our destiny. No sense in being otherwise. No sense in feeling cheap and small." He stopped, looked at Bairn and Arden.