Hal Clement - Through the Eye of a Needle

"Let's see, Dad; in order, if I can. No, neither of us expects to find anything usable in either ship. Radios wouldn't mean anything even if they worked; it would take fifty years or so for electromagnetic waves to make the trip one way. Our idea is a little less direct and maybe a little less promising, but we think it's more than just wishing.

"It's true that when I first knew him, and for quite a while afterward, the Hunter believed he was hopelessly lost. It wasn't until I took an astronomy course, with him looking on of course, that he got a reasonable idea of how thinly the stars are scattered in space, and how few are the possibilities that would have to be considered by the people who might be looking for him. He knows the time he traveled, though not the distance in any of our units. His departure direction was known to his own people, though of course they won't know how far he went. He feels sure that when he failed to return in a few of our months, searchers would have followed his line. He is even more sure that he did not pass at all close to any stars likely to distract those searchers; ours was the first that he and his quarry came at all close to. His friends should have had no trouble in finding this planetary system."

"But there are nine planets going around our sun," Mrs. Kinnaird pointed out, "and even if they narrowed it down to this one there are a lot of square miles to cover."

"That's why-or one reason why-we need to find the ships. They'll help us estimate the searchers' chance of narrowing down. The Hunter says that even when they're shut down, the faster-than-light engines involve force fields which can be spotted from millions of miles away-that's how he was able to follow the other ship. He's not sure how long the fields would last, or how far away they can be sensed, after the sort of violence which his own ship suffered. Sooner or later corrosion would destroy them so completely that no field effects would remain, and that's another reason we want to find them-to see how far that process may have gone."

"But no matter what their condition, what can you and the Hunter, or the rest of us, do about it?" asked his father.

"It will affect our plans. If the ships were detectable, searchers will have already covered this island very thoroughly-probably when the Hunter and I weren't here. If they weren't, at least the searchers would have found Earth, and the Hunter is certain they'd have been interested, in the planet and in humanity. They'd have gone home, reported, and by now a team would be somewhere on the planet giving it a going-over for five to ten years to decide whether they should make open contact with humanity. If I could be sure of living ten years, we could sit back and wait."

"Assuming they decided in favor," his mother pointed out."

"Yes-I suppose I shouldn't be taking that for granted; In any case we can't wait. The real question we have to solve is whether there'd be members of the Hunter's species here on Ell, as there would be if they'd found the ships, or whether all of Earth has to be searched. I must admit I'm hoping for the first,"

"But would they still be here if they had found them?"

"Not steadily, but they'd come back from time to time to check on the pilots. They'd have found no trace of them, and they'd want to rescue the Hunter and arrest the other one."

"Why should they care about the arrest, alter such a long time?" the woman asked. "Was he that terrible a criminal?"

"I don't know-just a minute." Bob waited while the Hunter covered the point, then relayed. "He had done things for his own convenience which endangered his host, without the latter's consent. He was therefore self-centered enough to be a danger to any human beings he used; they'd want to get him as a protection to our own people." "Would he have done what the Hunter has done to you?" asked his father. It was the first time he had let bitterness enter the conversation.

"That's not fair, Dad. The Hunter didn't do this on purpose, and he's trying to repair the trouble. The other one would simply have found himself another host when I became too messed up to be useful-probably long before now, since it's taking a lot of effort to keep me going already."

"All right, sorry. Why wouldn't these searchers have left messages around for the Hunter?

"Because they couldn't be sure the other one had been disposed of, of course. For the next obvious question with a less obvious answer, where would the Hunter leave messages for the searchers-except in the ships? It would have to be someplace they'd examine closely, and they won't check every drain pipe on this island, much less on Earth. Anything which could be seen from any distance would attract human attention, which would be very bad until the team decides about open contact."

"And if they haven't found the ships?"

"Then neither of us has any good ideas. The best is to publish some of the Hunter's police codes, transcribed as closely into local alphabets as possible, in large-circulation papers; but that's not very promising with, say, fifty investigators scattered over the planet. We'll try that if we have to-it'll take even more help than the other operation-but we certainly hope we don't have to."

"So do I." Arthur Kinnaird's voice had dropped from its earlier rather sharp intensity. "All right. You've made your case for doing some diving. We'd better find out whether those mine detectors they used in the war will work under water-"

"In principle, yes," Bob interrupted. "We'd have to make sure water didn't get into their circuitry, though. Do you think we can get hold of one? It should make a big difference, especially if the ships are under coral or mud by now."

"We'll try. There's nothing else we can do. I wish I could be more optimistic. Hunter, when you come right down to it, you really can't be sure whether any of your people have reached or will reach Earth, can you?"

The alien relayed a "No" through his young host, very reluctantly. He had problems enough without destroying Bob's morale, he felt. However, the word seemed to make no difference to the young chemist. Certainly his father noticed nothing, and was not thinking along such lines, for he went on,

"Is it really possible you can feel sure they can find this solar system? I can see their picking out Earth if they do, but photos I've seen of the Milky Way star clouds look pretty discouraging when it comes to a hide and seek game. Bob, look at the ceiling and start reading the Hunter's answer to that. I don't want to discourage anyone-I don't want to be discouraged myself, but I've got to have a realistic idea."

"He doesn't talk to me by shadowing the retinas any more, Dad; he speaks directly into my ear bones. But I'll relay."

The Hunter couldn't afford to hesitate, under the circumstances. He spoke, and his host quoted.

"The only doubt is raised by the nature of your Sun, which is much brighter and hotter than ours. It is possible that there are stars more like our own which lay fairly close to our line of flight; I can only say that my instruments failed to detect them. If they got a really good fix our departure direction, which they should have very easily, they would have to examine this system. It is possible they'll have to check others, too, but I've been here for nearly eight of your years. I honestly consider the chances very good indeed that some of my species are on Earth right now."

"There was no chance of his dodging?" "He was an even less experienced astronaut than I. If he ever wanted to get back home, he would not have dodged."

"Would he have wanted to get back? What was he running from? Enough to make him panic?"

"Nothing capital. He would have been sentenced to ten or fifteen of your years in symbiosis with an un-intelligent work animal-a hard labor sentence." "And how long is that to your people, subjectively? How long do you normally live?" The Hunter had never expected that question, and was totally unprepared to dodge it. He had never intended to discuss the matter with any human being, least of all with his own host. However, the questioner was waiting for an answer, and any sort of hesitation would do more harm than good.