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for the first time.
    â€œThere,” said Carpdyke, “you have struck it. Keeping up. Keeping up. Ah, the weariness of it. Pettigrew, I’ll wager you have no real concept of what we’re up against here at Nineteen. Mankind fairly hangs on our reports, sir.”
    â€œI’ll bet they do,” said Pettigrew with enthusiasm.
    â€œHere we are,” said Carpdyke, “located in the exact hub of the Universe; located for a purpose, Pettigrew. A Purpose! Every exploding star must be investigated at once. Every new shape of a nebula must be skirted and charted. Every dark cloud must be searched for harmful material. Pettigrew, the emanations of all the Universe depend upon us. Upon us, Pettigrew.” And here he heaved a doleful sigh. “Ah, the weariness of it, the weariness.”
    â€œSure now, Commander. Don’t take it hard. I mean to help out all I can. Just you tell me what you want done—”
    Carpdyke rose and convulsively gripped the ensign’s hand. “You mean it, Pettigrew? You mean it truly? Magnificent! Absolutely magnificent!”
    â€œJust you tell me,” said Pettigrew, “and I’ll do my best!”
    Carpdyke’s exultation gradually faded and he sank back. He slumped and then shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t do that. I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
    â€œTell me,” begged Pettigrew.
    â€œPettigrew,” said Carpdyke at last, “I have to confess. There is a problem. I hate to ask. It’s so difficult—”
    â€œTell me!” cried Pettigrew.
    Carpdyke finally let himself be roused. Very, very sadly he said: “Pettigrew, it’s the rudey rays.”
    â€œJust you … the what?”
    â€œRudey rays. Rudey rays! You’ve heard of them certainly.”
    â€œWell, now, Commander … I … uh … rudey rays?”
    â€œPettigrew, how long were you at UIT?” And Carpdyke put deep suspicion into it.
    â€œWhy, ten years, Commander. But— Rudey rays. Gosh, I didn’t never hear of anything like them.”
    â€œPettigrew,” said Carpdyke sternly, “rudey rays might well be the foundation of a new civilization. They emanate. They expand. They drive. But they can’t be captured, Pettigrew. They can’t be captured.”
    â€œWell, what—?”
    â€œA rudey ray,” said Carpdyke, “is an indefinite particular source of inherent and predynamic energy, inescapably linked to the formation of new stars. Why, Pettigrew, it is supposed that the whole Universe might have been created from the explosion of just one atom made of rudey rays!”
    â€œGosh. I thought—”
    â€œYou thought!” cried Carpdyke. “Ah, these professors! They pour ancient, moldy and outmoded data into the hapless heads of our poor, defenseless young and then send them out—”
    â€œOh, I believe you,” said Pettigrew. “It’s just kind of sudden. A new theory, like.”
    â€œOf course,” said Carpdyke, sadly but gently. “I knew you would understand. This matter is top secret. Nay, it is bond top secret. Pettigrew, if we had just one quart of rudey rays—”
    â€œOne what?”
    â€œOne quart!”
    Pettigrew nodded numbly. “That’s what I thought you said.”
    â€œPettigrew, with just one quart of rudey rays we could run the United Galactic Navy for a million years at full speed. All five million ships of them. We could run the dynamos of all our systems for ten thousand years without stopping. And—”
    Pettigrew was wide-eyed. “Yes?”
    Carpdyke leaned closer, “Pettigrew, with just one quart of rudey rays, we could make a whole new universe.”

    Pettigrew fanned himself uncertainly.
    â€œGood!” said Carpdyke. “I’ll give you your orders.” And before another word could be spoken he scrawled across a full page of the order blank:
    TO ALL