A second man came up and stood next to him. He had straight black hair, a wide face, narrow eyes, a sallow complexion. Marlene had never seen a man who quite looked like him. She gaped a little and had to make an effort to close her mouth.

The second man said to the first in a soft incredulous voice. ‘Is this your daughter , Fisher?’

Marlene's eyes widened. Fisher! It was her father.

Her father didn't look at the other man. Only at her. ‘Yes.’

The other said, even more softly, ‘First deal of the cards, Fisher? You come here and the first person you meet is your daughter?’

Fisher seemed to make an effort to turn his eyes from his daughter, but he failed. ‘I think that's it, Wu. Marlene, your last name is Fisher, isn't it? Your mother is Eugenia Insigna. Am I right? My name is Crile Fisher and I'm your father.’

He held out his arms to her.

Marlene was well aware that the look of yearning on her father's face was completely real, but she stepped back yet again and said coldly, ‘How is it you're here?’

‘I came from Earth to find you. To find you. After all these years.’

‘Why did you want to find me? You left me when I was a baby.’

‘I had to then, but it was always with the intention of coming back for you.’

And another voice - harsh, steely - broke in, and said, ‘So you came back for Marlene? For nothing else?’

Eugenia Insigna was standing there, face pale, lips almost colorless, hands trembling. Behind her was Siever Genarr, looking astonished, but remaining in the background. Neither one was wearing protective clothing.

Insigna said, voice hurried, semihysterical, ‘I thought there would be people from some Settlement, people from the Solar System. I thought there might be some alien life-form. I went through every possibility I could think of, and in all the thoughts that crowded in on me after I was told a strange ship was landing, I never once thought it might be Crile Fisher coming back. And for Marlene!’

‘I came with others on an important mission. This is Chao-Li Wu, a shipmate. And - and-’

‘And we meet. Did it ever occur to you that you might encounter me? Or were your thoughts entirely on Marlene? What was your important mission? To find Marlene?’

‘No. That was not the mission. Just my desire.’

‘And I?’

Fisher's eyes fell. ‘I came for Marlene.’

‘You came for her? To take her away?’

‘I thought-’ began Fisher, and his words stuck.

Wu watched him wonderingly. Genarr frowned in thoughtful anger.

Insigna whirled toward her daughter. ‘Marlene, would you go anywhere with this man?’

‘I'm not going anywhere with anyone, Mother,’ said Marlene quietly.

Insigna said, ‘There's your answer, Crile. You can't leave me with my child for a year, and come back fifteen years later with a “By the way, I'll take her over now.” And not a thought of me. She's your daughter biologically, but nothing more. She's mine by the right of fifteen years of loving and caring.’

Marlene said, ‘There is no point in quarreling over me, Mother.’

Chao-Li Wu stepped forward. ‘Pardon me. I have been introduced, but no-one has been introduced to me. You are, madam?’

‘Eugenia Insigna Fisher.’ She pointed at Fisher. ‘His wife - once .’

‘And this is your daughter, madam?’

‘Yes. This is Marlene Fisher.’

Wu bowed slightly. ‘And this other gentleman?’

Genarr said, ‘I'm Siever Genarr, Commander of the Dome that you see behind me on the horizon.’

‘Ah good. Commander, I would like to speak to you. I regret that there seems to be a family argument here, but it has nothing to do with our mission.’

‘And just what is your mission?’ growled another new voice. Coming toward them was a white-haired figure, his mouth turned down, with something that looked very much like a weapon in his hand.

‘Hello, Siever,’ he said as he passed Genarr.

Genarr looked startled. ‘Saltade. Why are you here?’

‘I am representing Commissioner Janus Pitt of Rotor. I repeat my question to you, sir. What is your mission? And what is your name?’

‘My name, at least,’ said Wu, ‘is easily given. It is Dr Chao-Li Wu. And you, sir?’

‘Saltade Levsrett.’

‘Greetings. We come in peace,’ said Wu, eyeing the weapon.

‘I hope so,’ said Leverett grimly. ‘I have six ships with me and they've got your ship in their sights.’

‘Indeed?’ said Wu. ‘This small dome? With a fleet?’

‘This small dome is only a tiny outpost,’ said Leverett. ‘I have the fleet. Do not count on a bluff.’

‘I will take your word for it,’ said Wu. ‘But our one small ship comes from Earth. It got here because it has the capacity for superluminal flight. Do you know what I mean? Faster-than-light travel.’

‘I know what you mean.’

Genarr said suddenly, ‘Is Dr Wu telling the truth, Marlene?’

‘Yes, he is, Uncle Siever,’ said Marlene.

‘Interesting,’ murmured Genarr.

Wu said calmly, ‘I am delighted to have my word confirmed by this young lady. Am I to suppose she is Rotor's expert on superluminal flight?’

‘You need not suppose anything,’ said Leverett impatiently. ‘Why are you here? You have not been invited.’

‘No, we haven't. We didn't know that anyone was here to object to us. But I urge you not to give in, unnecessarily, to any bad temper. At any false move from you, our ship will just disappear into hyperspace.’

Marlene said quickly, ‘He's not certain about that.’

Wu frowned. ‘I'm certain enough. And even if you manage to destroy the ship, our home base on Earth knows where we are and is getting constant reports. If anything happens to us, the next expedition will be one of fifty superluminal battle cruisers. Don't risk it, sir.’

Marlene said, ‘That is not so.’

Genarr said, ‘What is not so, Marlene?’

‘When he said that the home base on Earth knows where he is, that was not so, and he knew that was not so.’

Genarr said, ‘That's good enough for me. Saltade, these people do not have hypercommunication.’

Wu's expression did not change. ‘Are you relying on the speculation of a teenage girl?’

‘It's not speculation. It's a certainty. Saltade, I'll explain later. Take my word for it.’

Marlene said suddenly, ‘Ask my father. He'll tell you.’ She didn't quite understand how her father would know about her gift - she had surely not had it, or at least had not displayed it, when she was one year old, but his understanding was clear. It shouted itself at her, for all that others could not see it.

Fisher said, ‘It's no use, Wu. Marlene can see right through us.’

For the first time, Wu's coolness seemed to desert him. He frowned, and said tartly, ‘How would you know anything at all about this girl, even if she's your daughter? You haven't seen her since she was an infant.’

‘I had a younger sister once,’ said Fisher in a low voice.

Genarr said with sudden enlightenment, ‘It runs in the family, then. Interesting. Well, Dr Wu, you see we have a tool here that allows no bluffing. Let us, then, be open with each other. Why have you come to this world?’

‘To save the Solar System. Ask the young lady - since she is your absolute authority - if I am telling the truth this time .’

Marlene said, ‘Of course you're telling the truth, Dr Wu. We know about the danger. My mother discovered it.’

Wu said, ‘And we discovered it, too, little lady, without any help from your mother.’

Saltade Leverett looked from one to another and said, ‘May I ask what you're all talking about?’

Genarr said, ‘Believe me, Saltade, Janus Pitt knows all about it. I'm sorry he hasn't told you, but if you get in touch with him now, he will. Tell him we are dealing with people who know how to travel faster than light and that we might be able to make a deal.’

The four of them sat in Siever Genarr's private quarters in the Dome, and Genarr tried to keep his sense of history from overwhelming him. This was the first example in human history of an interstellar negotiation. If each of the four were famous for nothing else, their names would ring down the corridors of Galactic history for this alone.

Two and two.

There, on the side of the Solar System (Earth, really, and who would have thought that decadent Earth would be representing the Solar System, that they should have developed superluminal flight rather than one of the up-to-date, live-wire Settlements) were Chao-Li Wu and Crile Fisher.

Wu was talkative and insinuating; a mathematician, but one who was clearly possessed of practical acumen. Fisher, on the other hand (and Genarr still could not accustom himself to the notion that he was actually seeing him again), sat there quietly, lost in thought and contributing little.

On his own side was Saltade Leverett, suspicious and uneasy at being in such close contact with three at once, but firm - lacking the wordy flow of Wu, yet having no trouble in making himself clear.

As for Genarr, he was as quiet as Fisher, but he was waiting for them to settle the matter - since he knew something the other three did not.

Night had fallen by now, and hours had passed. First lunch, then dinner had been served. There had been breaks to snap the tension and during one of them, Genarr had gone out to see Eugenia Insigna and Marlene.

‘It's not going badly,’ said Genarr. ‘Both sides have a great deal to gain.’

‘What about Crile?’ asked Insigna nervously. ‘Has he brought up the matter of Marlene?’

‘Honestly, Eugenia, that is not the subject of discussion and he has not brought her up. I do think he is very unhappy about it.’

‘He should be,’ said Insigna bitterly.

Genarr hesitated. ‘What do you think, Marlene?’

Marlene looked at him with her dark unfathomable eyes. ‘I've gotten beyond that, Uncle Siever.’

‘A little hard-hearted,’ muttered Genarr. But Insigna snapped at him. ‘Why shouldn't she be? Deserted in infancy.’

‘I'm not hard-hearted,’ said Marlene thoughtfully. ‘If I can arrange to have his mind eased, I will. But I don't belong with him, you see. Or with you, either, Mother. I'm sorry, but I belong with Erythro. Uncle Siever, you will tell me what's decided, won't you?’

‘I promised I would.’

‘It's important.’

‘I know.’

‘I should be there to represent Erythro.’

‘I imagine that Erythro is there, but you will be part of it before it's over. Even if I didn't assure you of that, Marlene, which I do, I think that Erythro would see to it.’