EPILOGUE
Taj Lamor looked out across the void of space toward a fading point ofyellow light. Far in the distance it glowed, and every second moved itmany more miles farther from him. They had lost their struggle for lifeand a new sun, he had thought when he turned back, defeated, from thatdistant sun. But time had brought new hope.
They had lost many men in that struggle, and their dwindling resourceshad been strained to the limit, but now there was hope, for a new spirithad been born in their race. They had fought, and lost, but they hadgained a spirit of adventure that had been dormant for millions ofyears.
Below him, in the great dim mass that was their city, he knew that manylaboratories were in the full swing of active work. Knowledge and itsapplication were being discovered and rediscovered. New uses were beingfound for old things, and their daily life was changing. It was again arace awake, rejuvenated by a change!
As the great sea of yellow fire that was that strange sun had fadedbehind their fleeing ships, leaving their dead planets still circling adead sun, he had thought their last chance was gone forever. But hopehad reawakened, with the birth of new ideas, new ways of doing things.
Tordos Gar had been right! They had lost--but in the losing, they hadwon!
Taj Lamor shifted his gaze to a blazing point of light, where a titanicsea of flame was burning with a brilliance and power that, despite thegreater distance, made the remote yellow sun seem pale and dim. Theblue-white glow told of a monster star, a star far brighter than the onethey had just left. It had become the brightest star in their heavens.On their ancient star charts it was listed as a red giant, namedTongsil-239-e, which meant it was of the fifth magnitude and verydistant. But in the long ages that had passed since it was classified,it had become a mighty sun--a star in its prime.
How were they to reach it? It was eight and one half light years away!
Their search for the force that would swing a world from its orbit hadat last been successful. The knowledge had come too late to aid them intheir fight for the yellow sun, but they might yet use it--they mighteven tear their planets from their orbits, and drive them as free bodiesacross the void. It would take ages to make the trip--but long ages hadalready passed as their dark planet swung through the void. Whatdifference would it make if they were or were not accompanied by a deadstar?
True, the star that was now their goal was a double star; their planetscould not find orbits about it, but they might remedy that--they couldtear one star free and hurl it into space, making the remaining sunsuitable for their use.
But they _would_ escape this dead sun.
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