"Is this a last attempt at mollification—a salving of your somewhat rusty conscience?"
"Not at all," he said. "I want you to go along with me as a qualified observer."
"To observe what? Terra going up in flames?"
"Nope. Not necessary. The ship still retains its normal drive. We'll take it out beyond the orbit of Pluto by a couple of billion miles and let it go out there. I daresay that if you are correct, the fury of a few hundred tons of spacecraft going up in sheer energy will not damage the solar system much. Especially from that distance. Then if it does run, we're also on our way to one of the nearby stars. Like?"
"Sounds reasonable."
"Certainly," he said. "Frankly I've considered that ever since you mentioned the problem."
"I wonder if my informant considered it, too?" she said slowly.
"Probably."
"Then his warning was truly helpful."
"Iffen and providen again," he grinned. "But if he is so nicely altruistic, why didn't he tell us how to get a real superspeed drive?"