Pitt studied him casually. Leverett was so lean and leathery, and gave such an appearance of whipcord and gristle that he didn't look as if he had ever been young or would ever be old. His eyes were faded blue, his hair faded yellow.
Pitt said, ‘When was the last time you were on Rotor, Saltade?’
‘Nearly two years ago, and I take it unkindly of you to put me through this, Janus.’
‘Why, what have I done? I certainly haven't summoned you here, though since you are here, old friend, you're welcome.’
‘You might as well have summoned me. What's this message you sent out to the effect that you were not to be bothered with little things. Are you getting to the point where you're so big you want only big things?’
Pitt's smile grew a trifle strained. ‘I don't know what you're talking about, Saltade.’
‘They had a report for you. They detected a small bit of radiation coming in from outside. They sent it to you and you sent back one of your special memos about how you couldn't be bothered.’
‘Oh, that!’ (Pitt remembered. It had been that moment of self-pity and irritation. Surely he was allowed to be irritated at times.) ‘Well, your people are watching for Settlements. They shouldn't bother me with minor matters.’
‘If that's your attitude, fine. But it so happens they've found something that's not a Settlement and they don't want to report it to you. They've reported it to me, and they've requested me to pass it on to you despite your order that you are not to be bothered with minutiae. They figure it's my job to handle you, but I'd rather not, Janus. Are you becoming a cantankerous fellow in your powerful old age?’
‘Don't rattle on, Saltade. What is it they've reported?’ said Pitt, with more than a touch of cantankerousness about him.
‘They spotted a vessel.’
‘What do you mean - a vessel? Not a Settlement?’ Leverett held up a gnarled paw. ‘Not a Settlement. I said a vessel.’
‘I don't understand.’
‘What's to understand? Do you need a computer? If so, yours is right there. A vessel is a ship making its way through space, with a crew on board.’
‘How large?’
‘It could carry half a dozen people, I suppose.’
‘Then it must be one of ours.’
‘It isn't. Every one of ours is accounted for. This one is simply not of Rotorian manufacture. The Scanning Service may have been reluctant to talk to you about it, but they did some work on their own. No computer anywhere in the system has been involved with the construction of any ship like that vessel, and no-one could have built a vessel like that without computer involvement at some stage.’
‘Then you conclude?’
‘That it's not a Rotorian vessel. It comes from elsewhere. As long as there was the slightest chance that it might have been produced by us, my boys kept quiet and didn't disturb you, per your instructions. When it appeared, definitely, not to be one of our own, they passed it on to me and said you should be told, but that they wouldn't do it. You know, Janus, past a certain point, trampling on people is counter-productive.’
‘Shut up,’ said Pitt peevishly. ‘How could it be non-Rotorian? Where would it come from?’
‘I suppose it had to come from the Solar System.’
‘Impossible! A vessel of the size you describe, with half a dozen people onboard couldn't possibly have made the trip from the Solar System. Even if they discovered hyper-assistance, and it is certainly conceivable they did, a half-dozen people at close quarters for over two years could not complete the trip alive. Maybe there are some exemplary crews, well-trained and unusually suited to the task, who could make the trip and end up at least partly sane, but nobody in the Solar System would risk it. Nothing less than a complete Settlement, a self-contained world occupied by people accustomed to it from birth, could possibly make an interstellar trip and do well.’
‘Nevertheless,’ said Leverett, ‘we have here a small vessel of non-Rotorian manufacture. That's a fact, and you have no choice but to accept that, I promise you. Where do you say it came from? The nearest star is the Sun; that's a fact, too. If it didn't come from the Solar System, then it came from some other star system and the journey was a good deal longer than two years and a bit. If two years and a bit is impossible, everything else is certainly impossible.’
Pitt said, ‘Suppose it's not human at all. Suppose these are other forms of life, with other psychologies, that can endure long trips at close quarters.’
‘Or suppose they are people this big’ - and Leverett held his thumb and forefinger a quarter of an inch apart - ‘and that the vessel is a Settlement for them. Well - it's not so. They're not aliens. They're not teeny-weenies. That vessel isn't Rotorian, but it is human. We'd expect aliens to look completely different from human beings, and they ought to build ships completely different from those of human beings. That vessel is a human vessel right down to the serial code along its side, which is in the terrestrial alphabet.’
‘You didn't say that!’
‘I didn't think it needed saying.’ Pitt said, ‘It could be a human ship, but it could be automated. It could have robots onboard.’
‘It could,’ said Leverett. ‘In that case, should we blow it out of the sky? If there are no human beings onboard, there are no ethical problems involved. You destroy property but, after all, they're trespassing.’
Pitt said, ‘I'm considering it.’
Leverett smiled broadly. ‘Don't! That vessel has not spent more than two years traveling through space.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Have you forgotten the condition Rotor was in when we arrived here? We did spend over two years in passage, and half of that time we were in normal space going at just under the speed of light. At that speed, the surface was abraded by collision with atoms, molecules and dust particles. It took polishing and repairs, as I recall. Don't you remember?’
‘And this ship?’ said Pitt, without bothering to say whether he remembered.
‘As shiny as though it had traveled no more than a few million kilometers at ordinary speeds.’
‘That's impossible. Don't bother me with these games.’
‘It's not impossible. A few million kilometers at ordinary speeds is all they passed through. The rest of the way - hyperspace.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Pitt's patience was wearing thin.
‘Superluminal flight. They've got it.’
‘That's theoretically impossible.’
‘Is it? Well, if you can think of any other way of explaining all this, go to it.’
Pitt stared at him, open-mouthed. ‘But-’
‘I know. The physicists say it's impossible, but they have it, anyway. Now let me tell you this. If they have superluminal flight, they must have superluminal communication. Then the Solar System knows they're here and it knows what's happening. If we blow the ship out of the sky, the Solar System will know that, too, and, after a while, a fleet of such vessels will come out of space, and they'll come shooting at us.’
‘What would you do, then?’ Pitt found himself temporarily unable to think.
‘What else is there to do but to greet them in friendly fashion, find out what they are, who they are, what they're doing, and what they want? Now it's my idea that they plan to land on Erythro. We'll have to land there, too, and talk to them.’
‘On Erythro?’
‘If they're on Erythro, Janus, where do you want us to be? We've got to confront them there. We've got to take that chance.’
Pitt felt his mind beginning to tick over again. He said, ‘Since this seems to you to be necessary, would you be willing to do it? With a ship and a crew, of course.’
‘You mean you won't?’
‘As Commissioner? I can't come down to greet some unknown ship.’
‘Beneath the official dignity. I see. So I'm to face the aliens, or the teeny-weenies, or the robots, or whatever, without you.’
‘I'll be in constant contact, of course, Saltade. Voice and image.’
‘At a distance.’
‘Yes, but a successful mission on your part would be suitably rewarded, after all.’