He wanted the cluster in the center of the display, but it was already almost halfway across the screen before he stopped gaping and gave the order to stop the rotation.

It continued to drift while he waited. Finally it stopped and they had a near-perfect perspective. It was spectacular. As breathtaking as anything he’d ever seen. He would have liked to inform everyone what they were looking at. But he didn’t know anything more about the specifics of the cluster than his students. That was an issue with the giant telescopes: He could spend a substantial amount of time tracing star patterns, constellations, whatever, but when the telescope zeroed in, the patterns tended to disappear. He was simply, like everyone else, staring at a sky full of stars. And if he did recognize a group of stars, it became rapidly irrelevant because there was just too much to look at. Pity. It would have been nice to be able to show off a bit.

Ben’s voice again: “Derek, we are getting a signal from the Hynds.”

“They’ve picked up something?”

“Yes. It appears to be a telecast. From the edge of the cluster.”

“A telecast?”

“That is correct. Do you wish it placed on the display?”

“Yes. Of course.”

Derek had no idea what he expected. It would have to be a directional signal to make it this far. No standard telecast could come close to covering thousands of light-years. So it was probably what? A distress call? A mission report?

Ben reduced the telescopic image to about a quarter of its size and moved it into a corner. Then he replaced it with a waterfall. “This,” he said, “is the telecast.”

A waterfall?

The audience froze and then broke into applause. Several wanted to know whether the system had gone off track somewhere. Linda reached over and grasped Derek’s arm. “At least it’s not Niagara.”

It wasn’t an expansive waterfall, but it appeared to be extremely high, with water plummeting from a ridge deep into a canyon. He was just beginning to breathe normally again when he became aware of background music. It was a soft and gentle rhythm, in perfect harmony with the falling water.

The applause faded and the room went silent, save for the music. Then suddenly everybody was talking. “What is that?”

“Professor Blanchard, what’s going on?”

Linda was looking at him and just shaking her head.

“Ben,” he said, “is that the signal that’s coming in?” He adjusted the microphone so everyone could hear the answer. “Or have we picked up something local?”

“It was forwarded by the Hynds unit. I have no way to determine its validity beyond that.”

“It must be a transmission problem,” said Karl Michaels, the science department chairman.

He had to be right. The system had gotten screwed up. “Ben,” said Derek, as the noise level began to rise again, “connect me with the Coordination unit.”