“There was an advanced civilization out here. And they scrambled—at least some of them did—to get away from the black hole.”

Ken looked skeptical. “That thing would have been able to carry a lot of passengers. But it was adrift. You think they actually got clear? Some of them?”

“I hope so,” said Derek.

“It’s interesting to do the math,” Hutch said.

“What math is that?” asked Wally.

“How many levels does it have? The transport?”

Derek and Wally gazed at each other. “We only went to two.”

“If Barry has the numbers right, it has eight. Each level will have approximately a million rooms.”

“That doesn’t surprise me.”

“Two occupants in a room. Eight levels. How many passengers can you move with that kind of capacity?”

“None,” said Wally. “Not without thrusters.”

“Wally, you have a high-tech civilization living in the Calliope system. They knew for a long time the black hole was coming.”

“So,” said Ken, “what’s your point?”

“They developed a technology specifically for moving people.”

“But there’s no drive unit,” said Wally.

“The drive units were separate from the transport vehicles. Maybe it was more practical that way.”

Derek nodded. “Makes sense. They might not have had time, or maybe even the resources, to manufacture a fleet of transports and equip them with an interstellar drive. So, you leave off the drive. Just produce an oversized carrier that can take millions of passengers. You connect it to something with a drive unit that can take them to a nearby star, deliver the passengers, and bring the carrier back for more. They probably used magnetics to lock the carrier to a ship.”

Wally shook his head. “The ship better have one hell of a drive unit.”

“So, why’s this one floating out here?” said Beth.

“They were done with it. Maybe the evacuation got a bit hectic toward the end and they had to jettison it. You’ll notice that we didn’t find any bodies.”

“That’s true,” said Ken. “I guess they got everybody off and just didn’t need it anymore. I hope so.”

Derek looked pleased. “I think we can assume they got at least some of their people clear. They’d have needed a Goldilocks world, and they’d have had to choose the closest one they could find. It might not be too hard to find.”

“You’re kidding,” said Wally.

“If we could locate the place, we might be able to go to say hello.”

“Oh yes,” said Beth, “President Proctor would just love that.”

“Well, I’m not talking about literally doing it. Though if it were up to me, I’d love to drop by and congratulate them. Whatever, I think we have an obligation to find out, if we can, who they were and where they went.”

“So, what are you suggesting?”