In the vision plate grew a tiny dot....
In the matter of size, it was a speck in space.
In the matter of explosive potentialities, it was a bomb of untold violence, falling toward the dying red star.
Carl got another notch of speed from the ship. He was abruptly aware that sweat had formed stickily on his body. A blast of furnace heat was already radiating from the bulkheads.
Behind him, Rex said derisively, "Save yourself the trouble. You can't catch up with it. It's inside the boiling zone, you idiot.
"For two years, Carl, that mass of merbohydrate was on an orbit about the sun. Every once in a while I'd come out and add more to the main mass. Today I figured I had enough. I hauled it out of its orbit, took it as close as I could to the sun. Right smack to the edge of the boiling zone. Then I gave it a running start and let go. The sun and the merbohydrate will meet at the convergence of their trajectories."
"Then what?"
Rex laughed. "Distress signal!"