"And you approached this star, found this hoped-for planet, landed, and—er—then was captured by some tribe of savages who kept you prisoner?"
"Hardly. I did not reach my destination star and so I still do not know whether it has any planets."
"You were unavoidably detained?"
"You can put it that way."
"Suppose you tell us in what manner, before I ask that a formal charge of absent without official leave be logged against you."
Captain Enright nodded. "I took off under normal rocket take-off procedure, dropping my first stage after nine minutes. At the start of the second stage, the mass-nullifying field was turned on, which brought my velocity up to the estimated constant velocity of sixty-three light years per hour. Once my velocity reached its constant, I turned off the reaction motor to conserve fuel for my return, leaving only the tiniest trickle of power running from an auxiliary rocket to maintain speed. I made observations and recorded them as directed.
"Then," said Billy Enright, "when I was out about fifteen minutes, I caught sight of a teardrop shaped spacecraft closing in from one side and catching up from behind. It was painted in bright enamel in panels. From the pointed tail there came a faint halo of pale blue light. It caught up with me as though I were standing still, and as it came alongside, a bright green searchlight stabbed out and swept along my hull, stopping near my astrodome.
"Then to my complete shock and dismay I heard a gruff voice snap: 'Pull 'er over to one side, Buster!'
"Wondering what to do, and how he could talk to me, I blubbered, 'Huh?'
"He said, 'Just pull her over and don't give me that huh stuff.'