Greylorn | Page 2

to the presumed sector within which the Omega World
should lie was about a century. Today we have the techniques to
construct a small scouting vessel capable of making the transit in just
over five years. We cannot hold out here for a century, perhaps; but we
can manage a decade.
"As for location, we know the initial target point toward which Omega
was launched. The plan was of course that a precise target should be
selected by the crew after approaching the star group closely enough to
permit telescopic planetary resolution and study. There is no reason
why the crew of a scout could not make the same study and
examination of possible targets, and with luck find the colony.
"Omega was the last colonial venture undertaken by our people, two
centuries after the others. It was the best equipped and largest
expedition of them all. It was not limited to one destination, little
known, but had a presumably large selection of potentials from which
to choose; and her planetary study facilities were extremely advanced. I
have full confidence that Omega made a successful planetfall and has
by now established a vigorous new society.
"Honorable Members of the Council, I submit that all the resources of
this Government should be at once placed at the disposal of a task force
with the assigned duty of constructing a fifty-thousand-ton scouting
vessel, and conducting an exhaustive survey of a volume of space of
one thousand A.U.'s centered on the so-called Omega Cluster."
The World Secretary interrupted the babble which arose with the

completion of the officer's presentation.
"Ladies and gentlemen, time is of the essence of our problem. Let's
proceed at once to orderly interrogation. Mr. Klayle, lead off, please."
* * * * *
The portly Councillor glared at the Commander. "The undertaking you
propose, sir, will require a massive diversion of our capacities from
defense. That means losing ground at an increasing rate to the
obscenity crawling over our planet. That same potential applied to
direct offensive measures may yet turn the balance in our favor.
Against this, the possibility of a scouting party stumbling over the
remains of a colony the location of which is almost completely
problematical, and which by analogy with all of the earlier colonial
attempts has at best managed to survive as a marginal foothold, is so
fantastically remote as to be inconsiderable."
The Commander listened coolly, seriously. "Mr. Councillor," he replied,
"as to our defensive measures, we have passed the point of diminishing
returns. We have more knowledge now than we are capable of
employing against the plague. Had we not neglected the physical
sciences as we have for the last two centuries, we might have
developed adequate measures before we had been so far reduced in
numbers and area as to be unable to produce and employ the new
weapons our laboratories have belatedly developed. Now we must be
realistic; there is no hope in that direction.
"As to the location of the Omega World, our plan is based on the fact
that the selection was not made at random. Our scout will proceed
along the Omega course line as known to us from the observations
which were carried on for almost three years after its departure. We
propose to continue on that line, carrying out systematic observation of
each potential sun in turn. As we detect planets, we will alter course
only as necessary to satisfy ourselves as to the possibility of suitability
of the planet. We can safely assume that Omega will not have bypassed
any likely target. If we should have more than one prospect under
consideration at any time, we shall examine them in turn. If the Omega

World has developed successfully, ample evidence should be
discernible at a distance."
* * * * *
Klayle muttered "Madness," and subsided. The angular member on his
left spoke gently, "Mr. Greylorn, why, if this colonial venture has met
with the success you assume, has its government not reestablished
contact with the mother world during the last two centuries?"
"On that score, Mr. Councillor, we can only conjecture," the
Commander said. "The outward voyage may have required as much as
fifty or sixty years. After that, there must have followed a lengthy
period of development and expansion in building the new world. It is
not to be expected that the pioneers would be ready to expend resources
in expeditionary ventures for some time."
"I do not completely understand your apparent confidence in the ability
of the hypothetical Omega culture to supply massive aid to us, even if
its people should be so inclined," said a straight-backed woman
member. "The time seems very short for the mastery of an alien world."
"The population development plan, Madam, provided for an increase
from the original