He said carefully, in a deep, solemn voice, “Excellencies, I was chosen by you to command the first manned Daviot-Leeson interstellar ship. I left Earth on the First of Fivemonth past, with my crew of four whom you see here. Traveling at a constant velocity of interplanetary rate, we reached the orbit of Pluto, the assigned safety zone, and converted to the Daviot-Leeson drive there.
“We left the ‘normal’ universe at a distance of some forty astronomical units from the Earth and followed our pre-calculated course for seventeen hours, until reaching our intended position. Making use of the Daviot-Leeson drive once again, we returned to the ‘normal’ universe and found that we had indeed reached our goal, the star NGCR 185143 at a mean distance of approximately ninety-eight hundred light-years from Earth.
“This star is a G-type main sequence sun with eleven planets. Following our instructions, we made landing on the fourth of these planets, which was Earthtype to six places and thus suitable for colonization. To our great surprise, we found that a city was in the process of construction on this planet.”
At the dais, McKenzie scowled. Laurance’s narration so far had been utterly flat, schematic, synoptic; the man had managed to strip away all the wonder of the first interstellar f-t-1 flight and turn it into a mechanical report, the Technarch thought in irritation.
He said, “Tell us about the aliens you saw.”
“Yes, Excellency. I despatched my crewmen Hernandez and Clive to reconnoiter. They observed the aliens for several hours.”
“Unnoticed?” McKenzie asked.
“So far as is known,” replied Laurance.
“What were these aliens like?” asked the Archon of Defense, Klaus, in his thin, testy voice.
“Humanoid, Excellencies. We have photographs of them which would have been available for display had we—had we been given sufficient notice to prepare them. They stand about two meters in height, are two-legged, oxygen-breathing, and in many respects are much like ourselves. Skin pigmentation is green, though some observed aliens were blue. They appear to have a somewhat more complex joint structure than we do; their arms are double-elbowed, permitting motion in all directions, and as best as we could see at a distance they seem to have seven or perhaps eight fingers. Opposable thumbs, of course. They wear clothing. In brief, they seem to be an intelligent and energetic race of about the same stage of evolutionary development as we ourselves are.”
The Archon of Security asked quietly, “Are you certain you were not observed?”
“They paid no outward attention to our ship. At all times my men remained hidden while observing them. After two hours of observation we left the fourth planet and proceeded to the third, which was also Earthtype and likewise was undergoing construction of a colony. From there we proceeded by warp-drive to a star two light-years away, where similar colonization was taking place. A third visit, seven light-years farther, showed yet another alien colony being built. We concluded from this that a substantial colonial movement is being carried on by these people in their sector of space. After our visit to the third stellar system, we left on our homeward journey and arrived several hours ago.”
“We’re not alone, then,” said Geoarch Ronholm, half to himself. “Other beings out there, building their colonies too…”
“Yes,” interrupted McKenzie crisply. “Building their colonies too. I submit that we’ve stumbled over the greatest threat to Earth in our entire history.”
“Why do you say that?” asked Nelson, the Archon of Education, with some fervor. “Just because another species ten thousand light-years away is settling a few worlds, Technarch, you can’t really draw dire conclusions.”
“I can, and I am. Today the Terran sphere of worlds and the alien sphere are thousands of light-years apart. But we’re expanding constantly, even forgetting the new space-drive for the moment, and so are they. It’s a collision course. Not a collision between spaceships, or planets, or even suns; it’s an inevitable collision between two stellar empires, theirs and ours.”
“Have you a proposal?” the Geoarch asked.
“I have,” McKenzie said. “We’ll have to contact these people at once. Not a hundred years from now, not next year, but next week. We’ll have to show them that we’re in the universe, too—and that some kind of accord is going to have to be reached—before the collision comes!”
There was a ringing moment of silence. McKenzie stared forward, at the standing figure of Laurance flanked by his four crewmen.
“How do you know,” asked Security Archon Lestrade, “that these—aliens—have any hostile intent at all?”
“Intent of hostility is irrelevant. They exist; we exist. They colonize their area; we, ours. We’re headed for a collision.”
“Make your recommendation, Technarch McKenzie,” the Geoarch said mildly.
McKenzie rose. “I recommend that the newly returned faster-than-light ship be sent out once again, this time carrying a staff of negotiators who will contact the aliens. The negotiators will attempt to discover the purposes of these beings and to arrive at a cooperative entente, in which certain areas of the galaxy will be reserved for one or the other of the colonizing races.”
“Who’s going to pilot the ship this time?” asked the Archon of Communication.
McKenzie looked surprised. “Why, we have a trained crew with us today who have proved their capabilities.”
“They’ve just returned from a month-long expedition,” Archon Wissiner protested. “These men have relatives, families. You can’t send them out again immediately!”
“Would it be better to risk our one completed faster-than-light ship by putting it in the hands of inexperienced men?” McKenzie asked. “If the Archonate approves, I will present before the end of the day a list of those men I think are suited for treating with the aliens. Once they have been assembled, the ship can leave at once. I leave the matter in your hands.”
McKenzie returned to his seat. A brief, spiritless debate followed; although several of the Archons privately resented the sometimes high-handed methods of the Technarch, they rarely dared to block his will when it came to a vote. McKenzie had been proved right too often in the past for anyone to go against him now.
He sat quietly, listening to the discussion and taking part in it only when it was necessary to defend some point. His features reflected none of the bitterness that had welled up within him since the return of the XV-ftl. The homecoming had been ruined for him.
Aliens building colonies, he thought bleakly. The shiny toy that was the universe was thus permanently tarnished in the Technarch’s mind. He had dreamed of a universe of waiting planets, through which mankind could spread like a swiftly flowing river. But that was not to be; after hundreds of years, another species had been encountered. Equals? It seemed that way—if no worse. Whatever their capabilities, it meant that mankind now was limited, that some or perhaps all of the universe now was barred to them. And in that respect McKenzie himself felt diminished.
There was nothing to do but negotiate, to salvage some portion of infinity for the empire of Earth. McKenzie sighed. The man best fitted for the task of ambassador to the aliens was himself. But Terran law forbade an Archon to leave Earth; only by renouncing the Archonate could he accompany the negotiating team—and that renunciation would be impossible for McKenzie to embrace.