Her brows lifted slightly. "Why, we've always had that, you and I." With a look aloft: "Maybe more than anybody else ever did."

"Not lately. I didn't think you enjoyed it much, either."

"M-m, true, I hadn't known how many duties duties being famous and celebrated involves. But the crowds meant terribly well." She grinned. "And we - you especially - put it to use." being famous and celebrated involves. But the crowds meant terribly well." She grinned. "And we - you especially - put it to use."

"Not very efficient use on my part, I fear. Ceremonies and speeches and having hundreds introduced to me - not my kind of work."

His mood had lowered. He was dissatisfied with his address to the parliament and people of Harbor. Pieces of it came back to nag at him.

". . . Our first starships are ready, ships better than any known before, thanks to the union of human technology with the new knowledge brought from afar. The Our first starships are ready, ships better than any known before, thanks to the union of human technology with the new knowledge brought from afar. The Fleetwing Fleetwing folk are here, ready to counsel, instruct, be officers aboard. More Kith will join with us as we meet with them, on this planet and others. But it will no longer be only they who go starfaring. Henceforward, all can who have the strength, the skill, and the wish. . . . folk are here, ready to counsel, instruct, be officers aboard. More Kith will join with us as we meet with them, on this planet and others. But it will no longer be only they who go starfaring. Henceforward, all can who have the strength, the skill, and the wish. . . .

"From Fleetwing Fleetwing we have learned of two worlds where humans can make homes. Many more certainly exist, but these are a beginning for whoever has cherished the dream. . . . The planetary engineering systems that we are building will make settlement easy where once it was hard, and possible where once it was impossible. . . . Given capabilities like these, and the capital investment that the Venture League is prepared to make, starfaring will become profitable we have learned of two worlds where humans can make homes. Many more certainly exist, but these are a beginning for whoever has cherished the dream. . . . The planetary engineering systems that we are building will make settlement easy where once it was hard, and possible where once it was impossible. . . . Given capabilities like these, and the capital investment that the Venture League is prepared to make, starfaring will become profitable - - not marginally, not for a few, but for everyone. Therefore it will go on, growing of itself. not marginally, not for a few, but for everyone. Therefore it will go on, growing of itself.

". . . the revelations, the inspirations we will gain from other races than ours.... We will awaken those who wish to be awakened, to join us among the stars. . . .

". . . millions of years, so many starships flying that they weave universe and substrate together, making existence eternally sure. . . . What we have learned about communication across time suggests that the cosmos may have evolved us in order that we shall at last save it. Can this be true? It is imaginable....

"For us today, enough: that we are going back to the stars and will never forsake them."

"I didn't like the things I said," he confessed, "nor the way I did."

"What was wrong?" Dayan inquired. "I thought your talk went fine."

"Too florid."

She nodded. "Not your style. Well, it was written for you."

"I don't care to be a mouthpiece. And I spoke like a poorly programmed machine."

Dayan laughed low. "Rico, Rico. You had a job to do, you found it distasteful, and now you worry whether you did it right. Tell me, did that speech express your beliefs?"

"Of course. Otherwise I would not have given it."

"No, you wouldn't have. Very well, then, you were being honest. And as for your delivery, I assure you, darling, it didn't matter. You were you, you, the captain of captains. That was what they wanted and needed." the captain of captains. That was what they wanted and needed."

"But it's wrong," he protested. "I don't deserve that sort of prestige.

Nor do you, querida. querida. We didn't lay the foundation or build the house" - the enduring house of the starfarers. "Wenji, Ajit, Mam, Selim," four comrades grown gray, "and those who worked with them, here on Harbor," diligently, patiently, sometimes fiercely, year by year by year, "while we were gone - they are the ones." We didn't lay the foundation or build the house" - the enduring house of the starfarers. "Wenji, Ajit, Mam, Selim," four comrades grown gray, "and those who worked with them, here on Harbor," diligently, patiently, sometimes fiercely, year by year by year, "while we were gone - they are the ones."

"In a way, yes," Dayan replied. "In another way, no, not entirely. Our mission, humans bound off to save humans, it... embodied everything.

It made people care, care, through all that time. Ajit's told me he thinks it made the crucial difference." through all that time. Ajit's told me he thinks it made the crucial difference."

"But that doesn't make sense!"

Dayan shook her head, smiling. "Oh, Rico, when did anything human make real sense? Our race is crazy. Maybe that's why it's the race that's going to the stars. No, my dear, you'll never get away from being a symbol, a hero."

"Well," he grumbled, "at least you and I will have private lives again."

"Mostly, I trust," she agreed. "And raise lots of little Nansens."

He brightened. "They'll be Dayans, too."

The sun went low and the riders turned back. They had come farther than they noticed, and dusk found them still out on the plain. The sky was violet westward, dark eastward, where the lights of home glimmered remote. Above them the earliest stars were blinking forth.

Dayan murmured something.

Nansen glanced at her shadowy form, close beside him. "What?" he asked.

"Oh, I - I was just looking at those stars," she answered, her voice almost too muted for him to hear. "Some lines came to me. In English - um - 'Have you curbed the Pleiades?' " 'Have you curbed the Pleiades?' "

He nodded. "Yes. I remember. Job. Job. In Spanish - But a traditional English version has stayed with me. . . . In Spanish - But a traditional English version has stayed with me. . . . 'Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?. . . or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?' 'Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?. . . or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons?' What put you in mind of that?" What put you in mind of that?"

"I got to thinking. If our children - surely some will - if they travel yonder, we'll lose them forever."

"Perhaps not," he said. "Once we've discovered how to build a holontic time communicator - it'll mean more than the future talking to the past, you know. It'll mean calling across the universe."

"And in that way also making the universe one." She sighed. "A grand vision. You and I won't live to see it, though." Mastering forces so mighty would take many human lifetimes. "Unless we do live on afterward. . . . No, I can't say what the limits are for us. That would be as arrogant as to say there are no limits ever. But -"

She was silent awhile. They rode toward the hearthlights. More stars appeared. The wind had gone cold.

"I only know," she said, "that whatever we may someday become, we will never be God." Suddenly her laugh rang forth. "But we can have fun trying!"

Poul Anderson, one of science fiction's most treasured visionaries, returns with a new masterpiece. Starfarers Starfarers is the story of an expedition into the far reaches of the galaxy, where answers to mankind's greatest questions await. is the story of an expedition into the far reaches of the galaxy, where answers to mankind's greatest questions await.

The saga begins when evidence of an advanced civilization is discovered by SETI astronomers. "Trails" observed in the sky are thought to be from starships traveling at the speed of light, an enigma that spurs scientific minds until this breakthrough is achieved by mankind as well. An expedition is then mounted and an eclectic team of scientists chosen to journey into the sector where the intelligent life is allegedly located. But because the destination of the starship, Envoy, Envoy, and her crew is 60,000 light-years away, the time required to reach the point of origin of the signals and return is 120,000 years - longer than and her crew is 60,000 light-years away, the time required to reach the point of origin of the signals and return is 120,000 years - longer than Homo sapiens Homo sapiens has been on Earth. And though the crew is ready to face the ramifications of such a trek, no one is prepared for what awaits them at the outer edge of the cosmos - or back at the planet they once called home. has been on Earth. And though the crew is ready to face the ramifications of such a trek, no one is prepared for what awaits them at the outer edge of the cosmos - or back at the planet they once called home.

Starfarers is a story of patience and immediacy, but most of all of courage. It is a saga for anyone who has ever felt the emptiness of life on Earth and found the missing substance in the spaces between the stars. Poul Anderson's latest is the story of those who see the future in a clear night's sky and are ready to journey into it armed with both insight and passion. is a story of patience and immediacy, but most of all of courage. It is a saga for anyone who has ever felt the emptiness of life on Earth and found the missing substance in the spaces between the stars. Poul Anderson's latest is the story of those who see the future in a clear night's sky and are ready to journey into it armed with both insight and passion.

Poul Anderson is thewinner of seven Hugo and three Nobula Awards. He is the author of Harvest of Stars, Harvest Hu Fire, The Boat of a Million Years, Harvest of Stars, Harvest Hu Fire, The Boat of a Million Years, and many other acclaimed novels. He lives in Orinda, California. and many other acclaimed novels. He lives in Orinda, California.