Short Fiction · The Call from Beyond (4/4) (2/2)

He saw the trouble, the simple adjustment that would make the space drive work. Ten minutes⁠ ⁠… ten minutes would be all he needed. So simple. So simple. So simple that it seemed beyond belief it had not been found before, that all the great minds which had worked upon it should not have seen it long ago.

There had been a dream⁠—a thing that he had not even dared to say aloud, not even to himself. A thing he had not dared even to think about.

West straightened from the mantel and faced the room again. He took the bottle and for a second time raised it in salute.

But this time he had a toast for the dead men and the thing that whimpered in the corner.

“To the stars,” he said.

And he drank without gagging.