“So it’s all taken care of?” Gold asked as they gathered around the conference table again. Pattie thought he looked relieved, and it occurred to her that, for a starship captain, being confined and unable to see the stars was particularly torturous.

“Done deal,” Fabian said, and the others nodded. “This time it won’t be coming back.”

Sonya explained further. “We disconnected the Dancing Star’s entire conductor array. All of the capacitors, the conduits, the crystals—everything. We couldn’t take the hull off, since we were still floating along the corona’s outer edge, but we did everything short of that.”

“Which means it cannot power up again,” Pattie added. “Then we vented all the energy in its cells, so the ship is now completely without power.”

“I purged the computer systems,” Soloman said. “Nothing is left to start up again. I even removed the hardwired commands, like its directive to return home.”

“And then we just beamed out and left it there.” Gold glanced over at Fabian, and it occurred to Pattie that he might think Fabian was kidding. But one look at his face revealed what she already knew, that he was serious. This time.

“Wait a second, you left it there? Sitting on the outer edge of the sun, where anyone could beam on to it?” But the captain calmed down a moment later—perhaps because several of them were smiling.

“The sun’s gravity has pulled the ship into its core,” Tev said, even though Gold was already shaking his head. Of course, Pattie thought. He knows how gravity wells work—he just wasn’t thinking about that at the moment.

“Has it been destroyed, then?”

Everyone glanced around, but no one answered. Finally, since no one had volunteered, Pattie spoke up. “We don’t know, Captain. The Dancing Star was built to withstand the heat and energy of a sun. And even though we disconnected everything, its hull is intact. It could still be in there.”

“It might always be in there,” Fabian said. “Or at least as long as that sun survives.”

“But it’s definitely not going anywhere this time,” Sonya added. “And nobody can get to it, unless they can already dive into a sun and survive—in which case they won’t gain much from finding it.”

“Well, at least it’s not a threat anymore.” Gold leaned back and looked around. “Did you bring back any of the pieces for study?”

Pattie couldn’t help wriggling her antennae in excitement. “Of course. We have one of the crystals from the engine, and one of the capacitors, and one of the energy panes it used. Plus a sample of the hull, and the recording Soloman made of the computer systems.”

Gold laughed. “Well, that ought to keep you all pretty busy, then.” He stood to go. “Good work, team. I’ll let Captain Scott know that the universe is safe from at least one runaway star.”