“They don’t look much like us. But the way they behave, if I closed my eyes and kind of toned down their voices a little, I couldn’t have distinguished them from you and Derek.”

“Yeah. Arin would make a great guest on The Morning Show.”

Barry’s lights came on again. “For the record, if it matters, I have some radiation data.”

“Go ahead, Barry,” said Hutch. “Some good news would be nice.”

“Fortunately, it is relatively low for what one would expect. The radiation will probably not become an issue for thirty-five years.”

Hutch and Beth had talked enough about the black hole. The conversation moved on, and ranged over how they missed being home. They talked about kids, about how fortunate they were to live in an age that had interstellars, in a place that didn’t have a black hole charging down on it. “And now,” said Beth, “the politicians are trying to throw it all away.”

Hutch couldn’t look away from the black disk. “Actually, I think President Proctor means well. Maybe even Zhang. They’ve just got too many scientists issuing warnings.”

Beth had folded her hands and leaned her chin on them. Her dark brown hair, which reached her shoulders, almost covered her face, as if she were allowing it to block off the black hole. “I wonder,” she said, “how often things like this happen.”

“You mean,” said Hutch, “an entire civilization getting pushed over the edge? When I was a kid, I grew up with the idea that I lived in a warm, friendly place, full of sunlight, and completely safe as long as I looked both ways before crossing the street. I guess all that’s true, Beth, if you’ve been lucky. The reality is, there are probably so few civilizations out there that it doesn’t happen that often. Still—”

“I had that idea too, at one time. A friendly universe, as long as you behave. But if being a doctor hasn’t taken that notion away, that thing out there certainly has.”

Barry was back. “I’m sorry to report that the numbers are not good. The ocean planet will be directly in the path when it arrives. The sun may survive, but Volaria will be torn apart and swallowed.”

•  •  •

Hutch passed the news to the others. Derek commented that it really didn’t make much difference how their world would be destroyed. She returned to the bridge. “He’s been upset since we left,” said Beth. She sat for a minute, her eyes closed. “So, what options do we have?”

“Not much.”

“I guess the only question now is the same one: whether we let them know.”

“Let’s not give up too easily.” It was Derek, who’d appeared in the doorway. “Whoever lived on the ice world either got some help or made an effort themselves to get clear. We’ve seen one of the transports they used.”