“Locate the other tramlines,” he ordered.  Tramlines were largely predicable, but there were times when reality didn't follow the laws laid down by human theorists.  Ted had always been amused by how shocked the scientists sounded when they realised there was something in the universe they hadn't accounted for in their models, no matter how elegant they seemed.  “Where do they go?”

There was a long pause as the passive sensors measured the gravimetric flickers around the local star.  “Four tramlines,” Farley said, finally.  “One leading back the way we came; two heading further into unexplored space, one dogging back along the edge of human space.”

Ted found himself seriously considering taking the tramlines that led further into alien territory, then quashed the impulse ruthlessly.  “Launch probes towards the alien world,” he ordered, once he was reasonably sure that they weren't about to be attacked by alien starships guarding the tramline.  “And then take us towards” – he glanced at the display – “Tramline Two.”

Fitzwilliam’s voice echoed in his ear.  “You don’t mean to engage the planetary defences?”

“It depends on what kind of defences there are,” Ted replied.  “We will just have to wait and see.”

The thought made him scowl.  He couldn't blame Fitzwilliam for wondering; they had, on the face of it, a rare chance to attack an alien-settled world and rock them back on their heels.  But the sheer lack of noticeable defences was worrying him.  Had the aliens only discovered humanity when they’d stumbled across Vera Cruz and attacked at once?  Where they facing the equivalent of a quick-reaction force?  If that was true – and he doubted it – what would they face when the enemy actually mobilised?

Or would they make a deliberate decision not to fortify Alien-One?  The thought was odd – in their place, he would certainly have insisted that the sole known point of contact between human and alien was heavily fortified – but perhaps it made a certain kind of sense.  We might survey the system before they were ready to meet us.

He had a sudden mental image of humanity’s territory reaching out further and further, spreading the levels of deployable military forces ever thinner as their responsibilities grew rapidly.  Perhaps, sooner or later, their ability to respond to a crisis before it got out of hand would be completely lost.  He shook his head, putting the thought aside for later contemplation.  Now humanity knew it was no longer alone in the universe, it was unlikely that petty nationalism could be tolerated any longer.

But we have aliens to hate now, he thought, cynically.  There’s no point in hating humans when we have aliens to hate.