“Where’s that?” asked Nick.

“It’s a galaxy,” said Hutch.

George looked distraught. “That can’t be right.”

“Bill’s pretty accurate with stuff like this. He doesn’t make mistakes.” She sat down and looked at Bill. “You said a pair of gas giants. What do you mean?”

“There are two of them locked in a fairly tight gravitational embrace. Unusual configuration. The signal goes right through the system.”

Everyone fell silent.

“They’re quite beautiful, I would think,” he added.

“End of the track,” said Nick. He looked unhappy, too. They all did.

Hutch wasn’t sure how she felt. It would be an unsatisfying conclusion. But maybe it was just as well that they’d be forced to call it off and go home. It seemed like a good time to change the subject. “The Wendy’ll be here with our stores in a few hours,” she said.

Tor nodded. “Doesn’t seem to me that we’ll need them.”

“You’d get pretty hungry going home.” She sighed. “I’m sorry. I know this is a disappointment for everybody. But try to keep in mind what you’ve accomplished. You’ve discovered the aftermath of a nuclear war. And you’ve got a living world that may or may not have intelligent life. That’s not bad for a single mission.” She clumped George on the shoulder.

“What are you hearing from Sylvia?” asked George.

Hutch collected a breakfast and sat down beside him. “It sounds as if we’d’ve become the spearhead of a fleet,” she said. “If there’d been a continuation of the net. She hasn’t said anything, but I’ll bet they’re looking at the other end, at the incoming signal at 1107. Who knows what’s on the other side of the network?”

HUTCH HAD SELECTED the stealth that was easiest to reach and the Memphis had been navigating toward it throughout the night. It was one of the three receptors.

Hutch and Tor slipped into e-suits, added go-packs, and went outside. It was a far different experience from Safe Harbor, which was sunlit, Earth-like, familiar. This world was dark, cold, remote, its sun lost among the stars. They saw the surface only as a vast blackness.

Bill had used night-vision equipment to find the stealth, and they wore goggles that allowed them to distinguish its outlines. “It’s identical to the other ones,” said Tor. “Looks as if they only have one kind of satellite. I mean, it doesn’t need stealth capabilities to be invisible out here.”

The Memphis lit up the unit as they came out through the airlock, using go-packs to cross the forty or so meters separating them from the target.

“Can anyone hear us on this circuit?” Tor asked.

“Yes,” she said, “although I doubt anyone’s listening. Except Bill.”

“Oh.”

She explained how to switch to a private channel, heard the click in her phones, and then he said, “Can you hear me?”

“Loud and clear.”

“I wanted you to know, when we get home, I’m going to ask you to have dinner with me.”

“We have dinner every night, Tor.”

“You know what I mean. Just you and me. With candles and wine.” He paused. “Just one dinner. No commitment. And afterward I’ll disappear out of your life unless you ask me not to.”

He was wearing a green pullover shirt with a stenciled image of Benjamin Franklin. And his famous comment, If at first you don’t succeed. She smiled, thinking, You of all people. If at first you don’t succeed, quit before you get in trouble.

“Look out you don’t hit your head,” she said.

“Where?”

“Here.” She wrapped on an invisible panel, and then directed her lamp toward it. “Things stick out all along here, and they’re hard to see.”

“Thanks,” he said. “And the dinner?”

She was hanging on to one of the dishes. “Are you asking me now? I thought you were going to wait until we get home?”

“You’re playing games with me.”

“I’m sorry,” she said, “that I was playing games. I didn’t mean to. I’d love to have dinner with you, Tor.”

“Good,” he said. “I’m glad we got that settled.”

THEY CLIMBED ABOARD and flashed their lamps around. The reflections were wrong, jumbled, confused, but she could make out the general shape of the object, a dish here, another opposite, the central section directly ahead. There, in the forward part of the diamond, would be the panel that gave access into the stealth controls.

The Memphis floated alongside them, its lights periodically playing across them, silhouetting them, casting shadows. The cargo hatch was open and brightly lit. Hutch had found a bar along the central axis of the diamond, and she was using it as a handhold. Beneath her, everything was dark.

They drifted through the night, and it seemed suddenly as if they were utterly alone. His eyes were hidden, but she could sense the tension in his body. “Would you feel more comfortable,” he asked, “if I went back with the Wendy?”

“Why no. Of course not, Tor. Why would you do that?”

He hesitated a long time. “I thought it might be a little easier on you.”

“I’m fine. I’m glad to have you here.” What kind of guy is this?

He hoisted himself around the central axis, bringing them face-to-face. “You know why I came,” he said.

“Because of me.”

“You knew from the start.”

“No,” she said. She was no longer sure what she’d known. “But I’m glad you came.”

He nodded and squeezed her shoulder. Then she turned her attention to the stealth effects. The panel was precisely where she knew it would be. She lifted it and shut down the circuitry. The satellite blinked into visibility.

The Wendy was considerably larger than the Memphis, and her cargo doors were twice as big. Even so, the dishes would be a tight fit. They were mounted on shafts that would have to be cut as close as possible to the antenna.

She didn’t really need Tor’s help. He was with her as a safety factor, because the regs prohibited one person from going outside alone. But since he was available, she had him use light line to secure the three units that comprised the vehicle to each other, so nothing would drift off.

“Hutch.” Bill’s voice. “The Wendy is on final approach.”

“How long?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

“Okay. Patch me through.” She waited through a series of electronic connections, then heard the carrier wave. “Kurt?”

“Good morning, Priscilla. Bill tells me you’re out slicing up my artifact.”

“Yep. It’ll be wrapped and ready for delivery when you get here.”

“Okay. I have two loads of supplies for you. If you’ve no objection, I’m going to move one of those over first. Then we can stow the satellite.”

“That’s fine.”

“I’ve got enough stuff to keep you going another eight months. I hope they’re paying you overtime.”

Hutch selected the point of separation, fired up her laser, and cut the dish free. “Oh, yes,” she said. “The pay is generous. As always.”

HUTCH WANDERED THROUGH the storage section with Tor, making mental notes. The meat would go here, perishables there, snacks in the upper cabinets. Bill’s voice sounded on the allcom: “Hutch, Captain Eichner is on his way.”

They joined the others outside the cargo bay and waited while Bill launched the lander to make room for the incoming shuttle.

The Wendy Jay, floating in the distance, was gray, angular, utilitarian, not much for looks. Pods stuck out fore and aft. It was normally a survey vessel, loaded with sensing gear.

Hutch turned off the artificial gravity. Nick made a face, signaling that he didn’t like zero gee, that his organs had begun to move around.