“It might be helpful,” said Hutch, “if we could go home with a story about a previous rescue. That someone came to the assistance of the ice world and bailed them out.”

“Maybe get people excited about a rescue?” Beth sighed. “I’d love to see that happen.”

“It’s probably our best shot,” said Derek. “It’s an election year. Maybe we could create enough inspiration to convince Proctor to get behind an effort to build a fleet of transports and attempt an evacuation.”

“I don’t like to be a cynic,” said Beth, “but it’s hard to imagine the president agreeing to spend billions on hardware she doesn’t want to rescue a bunch of aliens.”

The tactic didn’t feel entirely hopeless. “I think,” Hutch said, “if people got a look at these guys, they’ll probably fall in love with them. Especially if we can get them speaking English.”

Derek frowned. “To do any of that, the Volarians would have to help. Maybe we should think about taking some of them back home with us.”

“A couple. Kwylla and Arin, if they’re willing.”

“We’re going to have to show them what’s coming.”

Beth Squires’s Notes

I hope these guys can think of something. The prospect of leaving Arin and the rest of those people to get sucked into a black hole turns my stomach. Whatever it takes, we need to find a way.

—Friday, May 2, 2256

30.

My studies in speculative philosophy, metaphysics and science are all summed up in the image of a mouse called man running in and out of every hole in the cosmos hunting for the Absolute Cheese.

—Benjamin De Casseres, Fantasia Impromptu, 1933

They used another parallax survey to determine which stars were within forty light-years of Volaria, systems that might hold worlds close enough to be practical destinations for a mass evacuation. There were eighty-two, and when they eliminated all that weren’t F, G, and K, forty-seven remained. Two of those constituted a binary, which they also removed from consideration, leaving forty-five. Barry put together an itinerary. This time, instead of looking for a route that would provide the most efficient total travel time, he produced one that would visit stars in the shortest possible order from Volaria.

The first one had nothing in the habitable zone. Number Two provided a rocky giant that would have tripled the weight of anyone landing on it.

Three had a world approximately the size of Earth, properly positioned, and with oceans. But there was no sign of life. The ground appeared to be made up almost entirely of rock, and the atmosphere contained an overwhelming amount of methane.