Whereupon Wendel reached out suddenly to stroke Crile's cheek. ‘Don't worry. I think I've grown too used to you to tire of you now. In the hot blood of my youth, I could grow bored with my men and discard them, but now-’

‘It's too much of an effort, eh?’

‘If you choose to think of it that way. I might also finally be in love - in my way.’

‘I understand your meaning. Love in cool blood can be restful. But I suspect this is not the proper moment to prove it. You'll have to chew over this exchange with Koropatsky first, and get that poisonous feeling about fakery out of your system.’

‘I'll get over that someday. But there's another thing. I told you a little while ago about Earthpeople having no feel for space.’

‘Yes, I remember.’

‘Well, here's an example. Koropatsky has no feeling - no feeling at all - for the sheer size of space. He talked about going to the Neighbor Star and finding Rotor. Now how is that to be done? Every once in a while, we spot an asteroid and lose it before we can calculate its orbit. Do you know how long it takes to relocate that lost asteroid, even with all our modern devices and instruments? Years sometimes. Space is large, even in the near vicinity of a star, and Rotor is small.’

‘Yes, but we search for one asteroid among a hundred thousand. Rotor, on the other hand, will be the only object of its kind near the Neighbor Star.’

‘Who told you that? Even if the Neighbor Star doesn't have a planetary system in our sense, it is extremely unlikely that it won't be surrounded by debris of one sort or another.’

‘But it would be dead debris, like our dead asteroids. Since Rotor will be a functioning Settlement, it will be emitting a wide range of radiation, and that should be easy to detect.’

‘If Rotor is a functioning Settlement. What if it isn't? Then it's just another asteroid and finding it may prove an enormous task. We may not succeed at all in any reasonable period of time.’

Fisher could not keep his face from falling into lines of misery.

Wendel made a small sound and moved closer to him, placing an arm around his unresponsive shoulder. ‘Oh, my dear, you know the situation. You must face it.’

Fisher said in a choked voice, ‘I know. But they may have survived. Isn't that true?’

‘They may,’ said Wendel with a slightly synthetic lilt to her voice, ‘and if they have, so much the better for us. As you pointed out, it would then be easy to locate them through their radiational output. And more than that-’

‘Yes?’

‘Koropatsky wants us to bring back something that will prove we encountered Rotor, feeling that would be the best evidence that we had indeed been in deep space and returned, covering several light-years in, at most, a few months. Except- What exactly could we bring back that would be convincing? Suppose we find some drifting bits of metal or concrete. Not any bit will do. A lump of metal with nothing to identify it as Rotorian would be something we might well have taken with us. Even if we manage to find a piece that is characteristic of Rotor - some artifact that could only exist on a Settlement - it might be considered a fake.

‘If, however, Rotor were a working, living Settlement, we might be able to persuade some Rotorian to come back with us. A Rotorian can be identified as one. Fingerprints, retinal patterns, DNA analysis. There may even be people on other Settlements, or on Earth, who would be able to recognize the particular Rotorian we bring back. Koropatsky hinted heavily that we do this. He pointed out that Columbus, returning from his first voyage, brought Native Americans with him.

‘Of course’ - and Wendel sighed heavily as she went on - ‘there is a limit to how much we can bring back, animate or inanimate. Someday we may have starships as large as Settlements, but our first one is going to be a small and, by later standards, a primitive thing, I'm sure. We might be able to bring back one Rotorian; more than one would be more than we could handle, so we'll have to pick the right one.’

‘My daughter, Marlene,’ said Fisher.

‘She might not want to come. We can only take someone who's willing to return. There's bound to be one among the thousands, perhaps even a large number, but if she doesn't want to come-’

‘Marlene will be willing to come. You let me talk to her. Somehow I'll win her over.’

‘Her mother might not wish it.’

‘Somehow I'll talk her into it,’ said Fisher stubbornly. ‘Somehow I'll manage.’

Wendel sighed again. ‘I can't let you live with that thought, Crile. Don't you see that we can't take your daughter back, even if she is willing to come?’

‘Why not? Why not? ’

‘She was one year old when she left. She has no memories of the Solar System. No-one in the Solar System could identify her. There are very unlikely to have been any records that could be checked independently elsewhere in the system. No, we would have to have some middle-aged person at the least, and one who has visited other Settlements or, better yet, Earth.’

She paused and then said tightly, ‘Your wife might be suitable. Didn't you once tell me that she took part of her education on Earth? There would be records and she would be identifiable. Though, to be honest, I would much rather take someone else.’

Fisher was silent.

Wendel said, almost timidly, ‘I'm sorry, Crile. It's not as I would wish it.’

And Fisher said bitterly, ‘Just let my Marlene be alive. We'll see what can be done.’