"If we get the linear constant of that planet from Pluto, here, we'll line-drive out there. Once within a few million miles, passing by if need be, we'll know it."
"Couldn't we pack this thing aboard the Orionad?"
"Not unless we tear the side out of the ship," grinned Maynard. "We'll fly this blind, and that won't be too hard."
"And then we may find that planet is but a flyspeck," said Kane.
"It could be," agreed Maynard. But he knew better. He was thinking of a huge panel; a brilliant painting in a vast hall lined with paintings. The one he faced showed Sol—and ten planets.
And Maynard had patiently waited for all these years for the stellar light-filter to be built. He knew that the unknown planet was so far from Sol and at such an angle that it would remain unseen until they made the filter work. After all, it had been unseen for hundreds of years during the advent of space travel, and for hundreds of years of pure stellar research from Terra before space travel gave the astronomers a chance to prove their planetary theories. He had not been worried that his find would be found too soon, but he would have broken all rules to get to Pluto at the time he did. Luckily, there was no reason to break rules.
Now he could go anywhere and do anything except the short periods when he was under explicit orders.
He wondered whether his action had been too abrupt, and then remembered that his position permitted a large amount of snap-decision and some eccentricity. The quickness of his action would add to the legends of one Guy Maynard, and would cover up the fact that he had been planning this particular party for years.
At the end of the usual landing duration, Guy gave orders for the Orionad to go out to the new planet.