Thoughts came unbidden to watch officer Welnicki.
His pale blue eyes gleamed and his short blond hair bristled even more at the thought. His quartermaster broke in.
"That emigrant ship is a minute late calling in, sir. Shall I buzz it?"
"No. We are senior. I will reprimand her at five after."
That ship in synchro with Carlyle was S.S. Rubberjack, carrying twelve hundred colonists and equipment to found a settlement on a yet nameless planet of Kappa-9 Carinae. From some democratic planet in Vela sector, to be settled athwart an autocratic trend coming down from Columba. Ensign Welnicki, aged twenty-four, was already helping make galactic history.
G.P.S. Carlyle would stand by until the settlement was viable. Adventure ... a flyer forced down among nameless mountains ... hardships ... mineral deposits ... tremendous cliffs and chasms ... forever after, on the maps, the Welnicki Mountains....
"Five past, sir."
"Very well."
Ensign Welnicki brought his slight form erect and strode across to the subspace voder, hardening his lips. Forestalling him, the light blinked on and the neutral machine-voice said, "... Carlyle. S.S. Rubberjack calling G.P.S. Carlyle...."