They could return quietly, one by one, two by two, at times and places of their own choosing.
Then, and only then, they could lend aid to those on Earth who would always fight for freedom.
But not now.
They were yet weak; the path of escape and the path of promise lay before them.
The only help they could be would be to follow that path.
It might not be that the path led where they wanted to go—or where they thought they were going—but nevertheless the path was there, and follow it they must.
Quite a speech, Mike thought. There had been much more, but that, and the Declaration of the Freedom of Space, were the parts that had stayed with him.
That last they had broadcast back to Earth, thrown, as it were, into the screaming teeth of the new dictatorial leaders.
Mike leaned back from what he was doing and caught Ishie's eye.