“A long time has passed since then,” answered the biologist, glumly. His manly Circassian face with its aquiline nose assumed an expression of sternness, despite his youth. “Radioactive disintegration is dangerous just because it accumulates unnoticed. For hundreds of years the total radiation could increase corns by corus, the unit of radiation; then suddenly there comes a qualitative change, heredity collapses, the reproduction of the species ceases and added to that there are epidemics of radiation diseases. This has happened more than once before, the Circle knows of similar catastrophes.”

“Such as the so-called ‘planet of the lilac sun,’“ came Erg Noor’s voice from behind them.

“Whose sun of spectral class A”, with a light intensity equal to 78 of our suns, provided its inhabitants with very high energy,” added the morose Pour Hyss.

“Where is that planet?” asked Eon Thai, the biologist. “Isn’t that the one the Council intends to colonize?”

“That’s the one, the lost Algrab was named after its star.”

“The star Algrab, that’s Delta Corvi,” exclaimed the biologist. “But it’s such a long way off!”

“Forty-six parsecs. But we’re constantly increasing the power of our spaceship….”

The biologist nodded his head and muttered that it was hardly right to call a spaceship after a star that had perished.

“The star didn’t perish and the planet is still safe and sound. Before another century has passed we shall plant vegetation there and settle the planet,” said Erg Noor with confidence.

He had decided to perform a difficult manoeuvre — to change the ship’s orbit from latitudinal to meridional, sending the ship along a north-south line parallel to the planet’s axis of rotation. How could they leave the planet until they were sure that there were no survivors? It might be that survivors were unable to communicate with the spaceship because power installations had been wrecked and instruments damaged.