“That’s it. Go take a look. We’d like to know whether there’s an advanced civilization out there. Define advanced as anything with offworld technology. Considering that they had a pretty strong beam seven thousand years ago, we’re expecting that they’ll be far down the road by now. If there are some radio signals, we’ll try to intercept them. Record them, of course. But we’ll keep our distance. We do not want to make contact. Not with a civilization that’s thousands of years ahead of us. If we get any sense that they’ve figured out we’re there, we clear out. We want to make sure they don’t follow us back here.”

“You’re going along?”

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss this.”

“How do we make sure they don’t follow us home? We’ve assumed that nobody can track a ship in transdimensional space, but we don’t really know that.”

“We’re working on it.” He finished off his champagne and reached for the bottle. “Want more?”

They refilled both glasses. Okay. Hutch was interested in making the flight. And the money was far more than she’d make going around talking at luncheons. But it would mean a lot of time again away from Maureen and Charlie. “This place is seven thousand light-years out,” she said. “So we’re talking almost a month to get there.”

“Yes. I’m sorry. I know this is kind of sudden.”

“Why such a hurry?”

“You know the politics. There are a lot of people who think the mission is not a good idea. We want to get moving before somebody can shut us down.”

“Can you give me a couple of days to think it over?”

“Sure. How’s Monday sound?”

“All right.”

“Priscilla?”

“Yes, Derek?”

“We need you on this.”

•  •  •

Chances were that the news she’d been offered the assignment would get out, and she didn’t want her mother to hear about it before Hutch could let her know. Mom still lived in Hutch’s childhood home in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. She called within minutes after Derek had left. “Hi, Priscilla,” she said. “Everything okay? You sound a bit tense.”

“I just had a visitor, Mom. You been watching the news?”

“You mean those crazy people who blew up that dam in Colorado?”

“Not exactly.”

“I hope you’re not going to tell me they want you to go out to that place with the waterfall.”

“Yeah, that’s pretty much what’s happening.”

“You’re not going to do it, are you? Or am I being naïve?”

“It’s hard to turn down, Mom.”

“You don’t spend a lot of time with your kids.”

“They’re adults now.”

“How long? I mean, how long will you be gone?”

“A couple of months.”