Hale drew himself up. "The only thing I can do, sir. I'll have to blow up that ship before it reaches an inhabited planet. They insist that I go with them, but they'll leave without me if I stay here too long."
"But you! If you're aboard—"
"I can't see any other way, sir," Hale said bravely. "It's my life against hundreds of thousand—perhaps millions." He stopped and a look of wild hope came into his eyes. "Of course, if you've got enough power to shoot it down now, sir—"
The captain doctor, visibly shaken, said: "No. Not after twelve years. If we were in space, perhaps, but the atmospheric ionization—"
"I understand, sir. Goodbye, sir." He grasped the captain doctor's hand warmly, then turned and ran back to the Morris.
"Take her up, Yon. Head toward the mountains."
"The mountains? The Peniyan Range?" Yon looked puzzled.
"That's right. I want to see how she'll do at higher altitudes."
They flew back and forth over the range until Hale had spotted the place where his own ship was hidden. Then he turned to the new Commander of Cardigan's Green.
"Yon, old friend, I think you're ready to fly her solo. All by yourself."