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if the garbage can do us any goddamned harm!”
    With these urgent words from President Ogg on his mind just minutes after takeoff, Captain Tom Javik mentoed the speed toggle on the chrome and white plastic dashboard. The scout ship Amanda Marie accelerated through the stratosphere, stretching to reach the limits of Earth’s atmosphere. The licorice smell of G-gas wafted under Javik’s nose:
    “We’re clear,” Evans said moments later as they reached space. She glanced to her left at Javik.
    “Speed twenty-seven thousand k.p.h. and beginning hyper-acceleration,” Blanquie reported. He sat behind Javik and Evans at a midships science officer’s console.
    Javik mentoed course coordinates into the ship’s mother computer—simply “Mother” to the crew—causing the ship to bank gracefully. The Amanda Marie’s E-cell-powered ion engines emitted quiet blue flames, which Javik saw on the console screen between him and Evans. Looking at Earth, he saw that the hole in the gray cloud cover below was sealed now, evidence of the continuing tug of war between Bu-Tech and the Great Comet. The idea of Sidney as a comet seemed ludicrous to Javik. At the same time, it frightened the hell out of him. Gyros whirred as the ship’s gravitonics system kicked on.
    Wizzy buzzed out of Javik’s pocket and flew around the cabin, examining each article of equipment with a child’s fascination.
    “That’s Wizzy,” Javik said, with a nod over his shoulder. “A newfangled flying meckie.” Javik retreated inwardly to his thoughts: If Wizzy is Sid’s boy, and Sid is a comet . . .
    “Hi, Wizzy!” Evans said, cheerily.
    Spotting a mirror on a half bulkhead behind Javik, Wizzy hovered in front of it to admire himself. “Does my tail look longer today?” he asked, directing his cat’s-eye gaze at the back of Javik’s head.
    Javik shot Wizzy a quick backward glance. “I dunno,” he responded, noting that Wizzy’s tail was silvery and translucent, his rock body pale and golden. Wizzy is a friggin’ comet! Javik thought, as he faced forward. I’d better take him aside . . . keep it from the crew.
    “Hmmm,” Wizzy said. “The silver is nice.”
    “I’d like a word with you, Wizzy,” Javik said, mento-unsnapping his safety harness.
    “It is a beautiful tail, Wizzy,” Evans said. “Kinda like on that big comet.”
    Gotta move quickly, Javik thought.
    “Ain’t like no meckie I ever seen,” Blanquie drawled.
    Javik swung his long legs out from under the instrument panel. “Did you hear me, Wizzy?” he snapped.
    “Watch me change colors,” Wizzy said, paying no attention to Javik.
    Javik chewed nervously on his lower lip as Wizzy’s tail and body switched colors. Now the tail became a sputter of gold light, with a lumpy, silver body. Wizzy’s yellow cat’s eye darkened, matching his tail.
    A brilliant flash of orange light off the starboard bow diverted Javik’s attention. A fraction of a second later, Wizzy was perched on the dashboard beneath the curved windshield, looking out at the return of the Great Comet. Wizzy did not speak this time. He, like the others, watched in awe.
    The Great Comet approached fast, causing Javik to squint in the increasing orange-hot glare. He mentoed for a collision report.
    “Comet-like body at fifteen thousand three hundred kilometers,” Mother said, using a mellow, computer-synthesized voice. “Not on a collision course with this ship.”
    Spinning on his chair to look out his side window, Javik saw the comet swoop below them to Earth, pushing away part of the cloud cover and creating another opening. Through the new hole, Javik saw the soft brown and green tones of Earth. Feeling his pulse quicken, he wondered, Will it hit Earth this time?
    Wizzy let out a little squeal of excitement. He was on the sill of a side porthole now.
    Suddenly the Great Comet rose and veered off, beginning a series of loops and swirls as it trailed a stream of white smoke.
    “W,” Javik thought. It