minuscule advantage? He knew more
than she about almost everything and she seemed to take it as a
personal affront.
“I imagine because it’s a good place to lay an
ambush. That’s why
Carolingian
came here during the
war.”
Her smile shrank. “Yeah. And because it’s close to
the obvious space lanes. Moyshe, there’ve been battles here
for ages. Probably for millions of years. Or even billions. Except
for the wrecks from the Ulantonid war, which I didn’t even
count, none of the ships here were built by any race we’ve
ever met. They were all extinct before man ever left Old Earth. Or
at least they were gone from this part of the galaxy. They all
pre-date any of the races we have encountered.”
“Ask the starfish about them.”
“We did. We’re not stupid. But they don’t have
much to tell. They don’t pay any more attention to hard
matter races than we do to bacteria. Less, really, because
we’re curious and they aren’t. We’re pretty sure
one bunch of ships, though, belonged to a race that moved the
ancestors of the Sangaree from Earth to wherever it is their
homeworld is.”
“Ah? Don’t let Mouse know about that. He’ll
drive you crazy trying to get to them.”
Only in this century had geneticists surrendered to the popular
notion that Human and Sangaree sprang from the same root stock. The
man in the street would not believe in a parallel evolution so
similar that it could produce a being indistinguishable from
himself. Scientists had demurred, citing no evidence on Old Earth
for extraterrestrial intervention . . .
Then the abandoned alien base beneath the moon’s dark side
had been discovered. Some major rethinking had been necessary. Then
had come confirmation of reports that the human female could,
occasionally, be impregnated by the Sangaree male.
The most famous—or infamous—of Sangaree agents,
Michael Dee, had been half human.
“Mouse will be protected from himself.”
BenRabi studied her. She wore an oddly ferocious expression.
“Amy, I’ve been here almost fourteen months and
you’re still springing surprises on me. When are you going to
run out?” He stared into the hollow asteroid and awaited her
response.
“Moyshe, what happened to the people who built
Stars’ End?”
“We’ll probably never know. Unless somebody cracks
its defenses.”
“We’ll do that. We’re going back. That was a
rhetorical question.”
“Wait a sec. Back? To Stars’ End? After what
happened? You’re out of your minds. You’re all raving
lunatics.”
She laughed. “Moyshe, they left their ships behind when
they disappeared. Right here. God knows how many of them there are.
Three Sky occupies a cubic light-year. We haven’t explored a
tenth of it. They had their yards and secret places too. Most of
the ships we find were theirs. They were the people who transported
the Sangaree, we think. We have explorers who don’t do
anything but hunt for their hideouts. Every one we find is one we
don’t have to build for ourselves.”
He spoke to the engulfing maw in the viewscreen.
“She’s serious.”
“Absolutely, darling. Absolutely. Oh, we’re not
really
sure
that it was the same race that did all three
things. But the computers go with the probability. See, these are
mostly good ships, Moyshe. They aren’t derelicts. Some of
them still have a little emergency power left. They try to scare us
off with mind noises the way Stars’ End does. And they have
parts missing. Somebody took off all their weapons. I wish we had a
whole army of xeno-archaeologists and anthropologists. It’s
really interesting. I always go see what they’re working on
whenever we come in. The scientists don’t go very fast.
They’re mostly ones we captured, so they aren’t real
enthusiastic about helping us out. They train some of our people as
aides, sometimes. Old folks and birth defect types who can’t
do much else.”
“That don’t make sense. People don’t abandon
good ships, Amy. Where
than she about almost everything and she seemed to take it as a
personal affront.
“I imagine because it’s a good place to lay an
ambush. That’s why
Carolingian
came here during the
war.”
Her smile shrank. “Yeah. And because it’s close to
the obvious space lanes. Moyshe, there’ve been battles here
for ages. Probably for millions of years. Or even billions. Except
for the wrecks from the Ulantonid war, which I didn’t even
count, none of the ships here were built by any race we’ve
ever met. They were all extinct before man ever left Old Earth. Or
at least they were gone from this part of the galaxy. They all
pre-date any of the races we have encountered.”
“Ask the starfish about them.”
“We did. We’re not stupid. But they don’t have
much to tell. They don’t pay any more attention to hard
matter races than we do to bacteria. Less, really, because
we’re curious and they aren’t. We’re pretty sure
one bunch of ships, though, belonged to a race that moved the
ancestors of the Sangaree from Earth to wherever it is their
homeworld is.”
“Ah? Don’t let Mouse know about that. He’ll
drive you crazy trying to get to them.”
Only in this century had geneticists surrendered to the popular
notion that Human and Sangaree sprang from the same root stock. The
man in the street would not believe in a parallel evolution so
similar that it could produce a being indistinguishable from
himself. Scientists had demurred, citing no evidence on Old Earth
for extraterrestrial intervention . . .
Then the abandoned alien base beneath the moon’s dark side
had been discovered. Some major rethinking had been necessary. Then
had come confirmation of reports that the human female could,
occasionally, be impregnated by the Sangaree male.
The most famous—or infamous—of Sangaree agents,
Michael Dee, had been half human.
“Mouse will be protected from himself.”
BenRabi studied her. She wore an oddly ferocious expression.
“Amy, I’ve been here almost fourteen months and
you’re still springing surprises on me. When are you going to
run out?” He stared into the hollow asteroid and awaited her
response.
“Moyshe, what happened to the people who built
Stars’ End?”
“We’ll probably never know. Unless somebody cracks
its defenses.”
“We’ll do that. We’re going back. That was a
rhetorical question.”
“Wait a sec. Back? To Stars’ End? After what
happened? You’re out of your minds. You’re all raving
lunatics.”
She laughed. “Moyshe, they left their ships behind when
they disappeared. Right here. God knows how many of them there are.
Three Sky occupies a cubic light-year. We haven’t explored a
tenth of it. They had their yards and secret places too. Most of
the ships we find were theirs. They were the people who transported
the Sangaree, we think. We have explorers who don’t do
anything but hunt for their hideouts. Every one we find is one we
don’t have to build for ourselves.”
He spoke to the engulfing maw in the viewscreen.
“She’s serious.”
“Absolutely, darling. Absolutely. Oh, we’re not
really
sure
that it was the same race that did all three
things. But the computers go with the probability. See, these are
mostly good ships, Moyshe. They aren’t derelicts. Some of
them still have a little emergency power left. They try to scare us
off with mind noises the way Stars’ End does. And they have
parts missing. Somebody took off all their weapons. I wish we had a
whole army of xeno-archaeologists and anthropologists. It’s
really interesting. I always go see what they’re working on
whenever we come in. The scientists don’t go very fast.
They’re mostly ones we captured, so they aren’t real
enthusiastic about helping us out. They train some of our people as
aides, sometimes. Old folks and birth defect types who can’t
do much else.”
“That don’t make sense. People don’t abandon
good ships, Amy. Where
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