‘Wouldn't you be detecting the plexons emitted by the five people on the ship? Wouldn't we drown out anything we can spot at millions of kilometers of distance?’

‘That is a complication, Crile. We have to balance the ND so that we five are canceled out and it has to be delicately done. Even a little leakage would wipe out anything we could detect elsewhere. Someday, Crile, automated NDs will be sent through hyperspace to all sorts of places to detect plexons. There'll be no human beings in their vicinity and that alone would make them at least a couple of orders of magnitude more sensitive than anything we can do now, with ourselves hanging around and having to be allowed for. We'll find out where intelligence exists long before we approach anyplace ourselves.’

Chao-Li Wu made his appearance. He looked at Fisher with a touch of distaste and said indifferently, ‘How's the Neighbor Star?’

Blankowitz said, ‘Nothing much at this distance.’

‘Well, we'll probably be making another transition tomorrow or the next day, and then we'll see.’

Blankowitz said, ‘It will be exciting, won't it?’

Wu said, ‘It will be - if we find the Rotorians.’ He glanced at Fisher. ‘But will we?’

If that were a question directed to Fisher, he did not respond to it. He merely stared at Wu expressionlessly.

Will we? Fisher thought.

The long wait would be over soon.