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cleared at your discretion. Good luck."
    " Discovery 1 up to point-one G on depart line 8," Stasz replied as his fingers danced across the green-lit board. The quiet hissing was suddenly punched out by a dull rumbling throb that pushed them back into their seats, then the booster flared to life as Stasz punched up an outside view astern on the main monitor so his passengers could watch departure.
    The nexus point of the station was already a mile eastern, silhouetted by the backlighting of a half-phase Earth. The skyhook beyond the nexus shone like a diamond, the sharp, straightedged line descended toward Earth until it finally disappeared from view. Jutting out from the cable in all directions a host of spidery weblines curved away into the infinity of space, a halo over 45,000 miles in diameter, hanging above the Earth—the growing hub of civilization's outward reach.
    The passengers of Discovery 1 were strangely quiet as each one dealt with his inner fears. Stasz's taunting words had a ring of truth to all of them. The odds were stacked against the voyage, and all because a Chancellor wanted to rid himself of some staff to open up positions for a couple of new cronies.
    "Take a good look at old mother Earth." Stasz laughed softly. "You ain't gonna see no blue for a long time to come. Jesus, it got so on my last trip, out that I would think more about blue skies and oceans than I even thought about sex. Funny how the body misses some things more than others out here."
    "You're really not helping things," Richard replied.
    "Not paid to help things." Stasz laughed. "Paid to fly this crate and point out the realities to you folks. Hang on, I'm bringing her up to three G."
    He punched up the control buttons and the rumbling roar increased in pitch as they were pushed deeper into their seats. Ian rolled his head toward Shelley and saw that she was absolutely enthralled with the whole thing.
    She gave him an excited smile. "This is what it must have been like for those first voyagers," she said, her eyes alight with excitement. The only response she re ceived were groans from Ellen and Richard.
    Within minutes Richard noticed that the half planet of Earth was noticeably receding, so that the entire planet occupied less than half the screen. The Brasilia terminus was still visible, looking more like a jewel in a spider's web than a complex structure that housed half a thousand workers and docking ports for a hundred ships.
    Stasz slowly throttled them up to 3.5 G and held the rate there for several long minutes. Ian knew it was simply a matter of showmanship on Stasz's part. They could just as easily have accelerated at 1 G as they cleared near- Earth space—and the ultimate effect would have been no different—but Stasz , like most pilots, wanted to "hot trail" it out and feel the pleasure of raw power under his control.
    Let him have his fun, Ian thought. He was surprised to realize that he was enjoying himself. The historian in him was fantasizing, as well—just as Shelley was doing— imagining the feel of an old shuttle or HBV at lift-off. He settled into his couch and let the pulsing roar engulf him in a drowsy state. Suddenly the pressure intensified and he heard a muffled cry of dismay from Richard. Looking across to Stasz , Ian saw that the pilot had slammed the throttle to the wall. Stasz's eyes were wide and betrayed a maniacal gleam: he was getting off on the power.
    They inched up past 4 and then started toward 4.5, and Stasz laughed with a high-pitched keen.
    Great, the pilot was crazy!
    The Discovery thundered away, slashing across space on its outward trajectory. And suddenly the rockets winked off.
    A deep rolling sensation rose from lan's stomach as they went from 4.5 to 0 in an instant. He had the unpleas ant sensation that he was tumbling head over heels, and from her low, gasping groan he knew that Ellen Redding was already experiencing the worst of it. Stasz merely laughed.
    "And into the universe!" he