In the end the court-martial at which this testimony came out was ended and Rod Cantrell was formally absolved of all penalty for having been on board the Stellaris when a short-circuit threw it into space.
He was cleared of all censure for having saved the ship and those in it and no blame—so the verdict ran—lay upon him for having fought the murderers of a thousand civilizations and for having certainly prevented the ending of humanity.
And then, as a separate and necessarily slow process, there began the tedious, red-tape-filled process of rewarding him. In the course of a year or so he would undoubtedly be given a medal.
But he was not concerned. A month after the Stellaris' return to Earth there were fluting sounds in the anteroom of the quarters he occupied. The leader of the colonists from the planet of dead cities wished to confer with him. Rod liked the little round man but he begged off.
Kit said, "Why'd you do that, Rod? He's a nice little person."
"I know," said Rod. "But d'you remember how little attention I paid to you while we were off in the Stellaris?" "I certainly do!" said Kit.
"I was busy," Rod explained amiably. "But I just got leave for our marriage and a honeymoon. And I thought that since I neglected you so much before—well—I thought I'd put everything else aside and pay a little attention to you now."
THE END