When they came out of the jump, the entire sky had been taken over by the cluster. Stars filled the night, forming a vast, blazing cloud. Elsewhere, on the outskirts, they were spread across the heavens, allowing little space between them. Hutch listened as Derek’s breathing changed.

“You all right?” she asked.

“It’s incredible, Priscilla.”

“If I’d known we were going to do something like this, I’d have brought sunglasses.”

“How far out are we?”

“Depends on where the edge is. You could probably argue that we’re already inside.”

He looked down at the AI’s blue lamp. “Barry?”

“Yes, Derek.”

“If you get anything at all that sounds like an artificial signal, let us know, okay?”

“I will. But the traffic is overwhelming.”

They continued on course for about an hour. Derek stayed on the bridge. Ken came out and took up a position behind Hutch’s seat. Then Beth joined them. And finally Wally. Barry took pictures of the cluster. They took pictures of themselves looking at it through the window. And eventually, Ken asked whether they could go to the center of the cluster. “I mean,” he said, “would it be safe?”

“I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be,” she said.

“That sounds as if you’re not certain.”

“We’ll be all right.”

“Imagine living on a world in there,” Beth said. “You think it ever gets dark?”

“Let’s go find out,” said Derek.

Beth looked uneasy. “With all that crowding, isn’t there a possibility we’ll surface too close to something?”

“We’ll be okay,” said Hutch. “We have a sensor that won’t let us emerge in dangerous territory.”

She stayed on cruise for a while, allowing the Locarno to recharge. Then she took them in close. They surfaced under the most spectacular sky she’d ever seen. They stared out at the crowded stars. With one exception, they were still only stars, but with almost no space between them. The exception appeared as a small sun, at a range of about three hundred million kilometers. They turned out the lights in the ship but still had enough illumination to read by on the port side, where the sun was. They drifted for almost an hour. “Marvelous,” said Derek. “I’m glad we did it. If we get nothing else out of this, the trip will have been worth it.”

Beth Squires’s Notes