The next morning Joss met Renny for lunch at the spaceport. They found a quiet table in the cafeteria and unpacked their meals. "How's it going," he asked his friend.

Renny shrugged and bit into the sandwich Delia had made him.

"Good, I hope."

Renny swallowed and looked up. "Joss," he whispered, "there's talk going around that the explosion in the barracks was not an accident." Joss listened, hoping he wouldn't give anything away.

"It wasn't. Some of us saw Demolition carrying material out with Security watching. One guy found a piece of com. Starship, like a pilot would have. The kind that could send a signal to a bomb, telling it to explode."

"Have you told Security?" Joss put his sandwich down, his appetite lost.

Renny nodded. "They said they'd investigate it. But I know something else." He leaned closer. "That I didn't tell them."

"What's that?"

"I saw a pilot candidate in and out of the barracks the night before the explosion. She was a nightmate with a pilot there, who died in the explosion.

"Do you know who she was?" Joss asked as casually as he could, but his stomach cramped.

"Only her last name. Smyt."

Wanda Smyt. She wanted a pilot berth. This was how she planned to get one.

"Tell Security."

Renny looked away. "I called for an appointment. Got one two days from now." He rolled his eyes. "She came back around so I think she's up to something. Let's change the subject. Is the Pioneer ready to depart?

"A few more days."

"Good. Good. There's also talk the climate is getting worse. Ringworld might have droughts."

Joss shrugged. He could only hope the starships would leave soon.

After lunch, he called Clemson and reported what he learned from Renny. Clemson verified that Wanda was one of the suspects.

Joss worked late and left for the monorail, hoping to get home before Gabi went to bed. He walked past the workshop where Renny worked just as Wanda ran out of the shop with Renny chasing her. She leaped to a fence and pulled out a com. Renny pulled her off the fence and held her down. Joss called Security.

Vans pulled up almost immediately and soon Wanda was locked in a van. Officers spoke with Renny and Joss for what seemed like hours. Renny saw Wanda slipping into the shop after dark with a large box. She put the box by the electrical room, a good place to start a fire, when Renny asked her what she was doing.

She tried to order him away, but he chased her out and tackled her. The box was designed to resemble a grease fire and burn down the shop and the workers there. The com was linked to a detonator.

Finally, Joss and Reddy went home, with orders to say nothing.

The next few days were hectic. No announcements were made about the firebomb. Crews worked around the clock on the Pioneer and the Argo.

On a rare evening off, Joss met Renny at the Falling Star. The Pioneer was due to leave in a week, and his family's belongings had already been moved to their quarters. He'd learned from Clemson that the Argo could not be prepared to departure before the collision.

"Renny, I can ask for a transfer for you to the Pioneer," he said. The man was the closest he had to family since his parents died, until he married Gabi.

"No good. The Project Admins offered me a berth there, but I can't take Delia."

Joss opened his mouth and shut it. "Why not?" he finally asked.

"Too crowded already, too many people want on."

Joss wondered if he should lie.

"I won't leave her. She's pregnant and so happy." Renny smiled at him. "I'll stay on Ringworld with Delia. We'll live--and die--on Ringworld." Renny waited for his reaction. He had intuited the apocalypse and accepted it.

Joss nodded, his heart broken. Renny had made his choice, and was at peace with it.

"Lucky you," Renny said, smiling, his old, happy grin.

"Why?"

"You'll get to see the stars. Always day here, never night. But. You'll see the stars." Renny leaned forward, eyes shining bright as stars. "You get to fly between the stars and live there. Lucky you."

Joss nodded. Renny understood.

"You'll leave our endless day and fly into the night. When you see those beautiful stars, remember me. I'll be thinking of you."

Joss shut his eyes, holding back tears. "I will, my friend."

*

The Pioneer departed four days later, lifting slowly out of ring orbit, and moving far away to reach launch position for hyperspace. The ship ran smoothly. Sheila was a junior pilot on the deck, and Joss was second navigator. Amelia was in the medical department, and Gabi and Abe were in the toddlers' lounge.

The ship left the Anelon system, and the sun dwindled behind them. The entire crew and passengers waited at ports to see the galaxy in its multitudes of stars for the first time.

Joss watched, tears in his eyes as the sun shrank into a star and night claimed the skies. The first star appeared, bright and hopeful. Every crew member on the flight deck gasped, all eyes on the night sky. The entire ship watched in silence. Another star appeared, and another, and more came until the night brightened with millions of stars.

"You were right, Renny," he whispered. "The stars are beautiful.