“We’ll be okay in a few hours, Zip,” said Joe. “You got us out of the asteroid with food and a ship. We all thought that would be impossible. We ought to be able to turn on the energy and get blasting out of here before too long.”
“I know,” responded Zip, with his characteristic furrowed brow. “We’re caught between taking a chance on being recaptured by the pirates and depleting the food. We’ll run out of supplies in a couple of days.”
“I know—and the closest base is roughly four days away, depending on how speedy this beauty proves to be. But we’ll make it.” Joe went off to visit with Mark, who was gazing out of the window at the immense spread of the Milky Way.
George St. George came up to Zip, who was sitting alone at a table, doing nothing but staring down at his hands. He sat down opposite him; when Zip looked up, the miner smiled.
“You’ve brought us back into the heavens, young Mr. Starman,” he said, “so you’ve got no reason to be covered with gloom. You won’t get us to safety now any faster by worrying.”
Zip pursed his lips and looked into St. George’s eyes. “The man seems to be protected by a shield of innocence all around him,” he thought. “His base was destroyed, he and his men were captured and taken into a massive iron asteroid by the Solar System’s greatest enemy, and now he’s floating in the void with only two days’ food left, and he’s still calm and trying to encourage me the way he encourages his men. Who is the real leader of these men? I make the decisions, but he strengthens their hearts. He even strengthens my heart.”
St. George smiled. Almost as if he could read Zip’s mind, he added, “Each of us has a gift according to the grace given us, which we are to use to benefit others. If it weren’t for you, we’d still be locked up inside that room—or worse—under the control of Lurton Zimbardo. I have my gift, and you have yours, and we both employ our gifts well. We haven’t come this far to fail now. Our success doesn’t depend solely on you, you know. Relax and just do your part. There’s still a lot to do, but the outcome isn’t in doubt.”
Zip smiled, and before he could say anything St. George had risen and strolled to the window where Joe and Mark stood.
All at once, Mark pointed and cried out, “Hey, look at that! Do you see what I see?” Several men came to the window and peered out. Zip Foster joined them. Joe answered.
“Yes! —the asteroid’s moving!”