When he became director of the Foundation, he’d thought about going with one of the missions. Something to establish his credibility. (They’d had three ships at one time.) But it didn’t look right. People would have thought he was taking advantage of his position. So he’d stayed back while the researchers went.

It wasn’t as if he’d never before been in a ship. He’d gone to a couple of the nearby stars. Had traveled to Iapetus to see Saturn close up. And to see the monument. But it wasn’t the same as going deep, as setting down on a world that was home to a different biosystem. As being so far from home that when you looked through a telescope at the sun, at Earth’s sun, you knew you were seeing it as it had looked before you were born. That was traveling.

Now, of course, if all went well, they’d be able to go the next step. So far away that the sun, if you could see it at all, would appear as it had been before the first pyramids had gone up. Before Baghdad.

Before Gilgamesh.

NEWS DESK

SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE 100 YEARS AGO TODAY

Third Major Quake Marked End of Fabled City

Ceremonies Planned at Memorial and White House

CAPABILITY TO PREDICT QUAKES STILL FAR OFF

Some Maintain It Will Never Be Possible

CULVERSON NAMED YEAR’S BEST POLITICAL CARTOONIST

Wins Shackleford Award Second Year Running

NEW YORK LEVEES TO BE REINFORCED

HURRICANE ROMA TURNS NORTH

Hatteras Watches

Season’s 18th Major Storm

LAST SLAUGHTERHOUSE CLOSES

Nanoburgers Too Much for Cattle Industry

AMERICAN SCHOOLS STILL RANK LOW

Test Scores in English, Math Weak

“Get Parents Involved,” Says Snyder

“Read to Your Kids”

Studies Show Parents Should Start When Kids Are Two

CHURCHES SPLIT OVER CLONING ISSUE

First Human Clones to Appear in Germany

Do They Have Souls?

VIRGIN APPARITION CLAIMED IN DUST CLOUDS

Mary’s Likeness Reported 6000 Light-Years Away

Telescopic Images from Ballinger Cloud

MOVEMENT TO BAN ALCOHOL GAINS STRENGTH

Prohibition Again?

POPULATION GAINS CONTINUE FOR CENTRAL

AND MOUNTAIN STATES

People Feel Safer Away from Coastlines, Quake Zones

Trend Expected to Continue

Kansas Now Has More People Than Florida

NEW FOREST FIRES IN COLORADO

Long Dry Spell Creates Hazard

Campers Asked to Exercise Caution

TANAKA LANDS IN KENTUCKY AFTER 16 DAYS

Completes Round-the-World Hot-Air Balloon Flight

Misses Record by Seven Minutes

chapter 19

ALIOTH IS A white class-AO sun. Its formal name is Epsilon Ursae Majoris. Eighty-one light-years from Arlington, it didn’t exactly equate to going deep, but it was far enough. And they’d be within striking distance of help should something go wrong.

Alioth is about four times as wide as Sol, and more than a hundred times brighter. It’s large for a class-A, and consequently has been burning hydrogen at an accelerated rate. It is now near the end of that phase of its existence, and will soon enter its helium-burning phase. For that reason it had been visited several times by Academy ships studying the decline of class-A stars.

Seventeen worlds orbit Alioth, one of which, Seabright, is unique in that it’s the only known planet entirely covered by water. It’s perfectly located in the middle of the biozone, but it has produced not so much as a single living cell.

The recently discovered companion star is a dull class-G orbiting at a range of almost a light-year.

AS THEY CAME out of jump status, Klaxons sounded. Collision alert. Matt barked a goddam and froze while Phyl activated the ship’s defensive systems and fired a series of particle beams at something.

“Rock,” she said.

It exploded directly ahead and to starboard. The detectors should have picked it up and canceled the jump. “They may not be properly correlated with the new system,” said Jon. “I hadn’t thought about that.”

“Nice reflexes, Phyl,” said Matt. He was embarrassed.

“That’s what you can expect with a top-of-the-line model.”

Antonio had urged that Jon should be first to speak on arrival, and that he think of something historic to say, a timeless remark that would not only play well during the newsbreaks, but that people would always remember as signaling the first shining moments of the real interstellar age. But that moment had also been blown away by Phyl’s particle beams. “I don’t think the profanity works,” he said over the allcom. “Can we just rewrite the moment?”

“Not without breaking the law,” said Matt. “It went into the log.”

“So we’ve got goddam as our giant leap comment?”

“I’m sorry, Antonio.”

He shook his head. “Make your apology to history, compagno.”

A BLINDING SUN dominated the sky. Matt activated the viewport filters. They helped.

“Too close,” said Rudy. “It’s not as precise as a Hazeltine.”

Jon apologized and said he’d figure it out in time. They told him it didn’t really matter, not now. “Time to make it official,” said Rudy. He climbed out of his chair and disappeared in back. He returned a minute later, brandishing glasses and a bottle of French champagne.

They recorded the TOA, 1723 hours ship time. Transit time, five hours, thirty-five minutes, seventeen seconds. Matt printed a copy of the log entry, along with his unfortunate remark, and they all signed it. Jon Silvestri. Priscilla Hutchins. Rudy Golombeck. Antonio Giannotti. Matthew Darwin.

“So now that we’re here,” said Antonio, “what’s next?”

“I take it we’re not very close to Seabright,” Hutch said.

Matt shook his head. “I doubt it.” She smiled back at him, two pilots exchanging an unspoken understanding. It’s big out here. Brand-new propulsion system. Lucky we got close to the star at all.

It was good to be back. Matt gazed out at the stars, thinking how there was no career like it. “Phyl,” he said, “how far are we from Seabright?”

“Two hundred thirty-six million kilometers, Matt. Ten days by standard drive.”

“Can’t we do better than that?” asked Antonio, with a smile.

“I think it might be possible.” Matt grinned.

“I’ve never seen Seabright,” said Antonio.

Despite his claims, Matt doubted Antonio had seen much of anything out of the ordinary. The journalists had usually traveled the standard routes. They were rarely found with the exploration missions.

Jon nodded. “Doesn’t seem as if we should come all the way out here and not see the sights.” He glanced at Matt. “Why don’t we take a look?”

“Sure.” Matt nodded. “Okay by me. We’ll have to kick the pony a bit to recharge. Figure a half hour. I’ll let you know when we’re ready.”

HUTCH SPENT THE time thinking what it would mean if the Locarno could be made to work with real precision. Travel across the solar system in seconds. She wondered if there might be a groundside application? Climb onto a train in Boston and step off an eye blink later in Los Angeles. Or Honolulu. Possibly even private vehicles doing the same thing? She wasn’t sure she’d want to live in such a world. She liked riding the glide trains, liked cruising through the skies over DC. The whole point of travel was, after all, the ride and not the destination. Like people’s lives.