Home is the Spaceman

Home is the Spaceman by George O. Smith - Enright was coming home, which should have been good, since he was the first Earthman ever to go faster than light. But when he'd been gone eighteen months in a ship that was supplied for only ten days, the authorities were just a trifle curious....

Test Pilot Billy Enright looked down at the Earth so far below and decided that home had never looked so good to any man. He and his experimental spacecraft had exceeded the speed of light, he had crossed the monstrous gulf between stars, and for eighteen months Billy Enright had walked upon the earth-like planet of another star. He had driven faster, gone farther, and stayed away longer than any other human, and now he was happy to be arrowing down towards Mother Earth and home.

Mingled excitement and joy tickled his stomach. There would be one royal explosion when he called in for landing instructions; he was going to create as much fuss as Tom Sawyer had caused a couple of hundred years ago when he and his boys turned up at their own funeral services. For Billy Enright had been overdue for eighteen months on a flight-plan calling for a twelve-hour program. He had probably been listed as 'Missing' for more than sixteen of the eighteen months.

It would be more dramatic if he just barrelled down unannounced and walked in to the commandant's office with an air of unconcern. But on the other hand, the story he had to tell about his flight and the explanation of his overdue return wanted a large audience whose minds had already recovered from the first shock. So instead of letting shock pile upon shock, Billy Enright flipped the radio on and called:

'Interstellar Spacecraft One calling Mojave Base, I.S.-1 calling Mojave. Test Pilot Enright requesting landing instructions. I.S.-1 over.'