Randall Garrett

“ There could be no reason to attack a ship that might be better armed than you, even if your psychology is bred toward pure hate.
"There is only one good reason, and it is the same reason that made us fight back instead of running. ”

“ The trouble was, it took a psych man to realize the effect that losing the race would have on the people of Earth, and the human beings that Earth had scattered to the stars. And the farther Man spread, the worse that shock would be.
Parmay knew what it would be like, and Parmay didn't like it.
So his wife called him a fanatic. Well, perhaps he was, but he still didn't intend to let the race down by letting the aliens get too far ahead. Somewhere in the seven hundred million cubic light years that Man owned there must be traces of the alien, and Parmay was going to find them if he could. ”

“ Kerrman looked at the blank screen and wished that hypersee vision transmission had been in existence when Expedition 796 was launched. It was easier to judge a man's psych reaction by his face than by his voice alone. ”

“ We had a colony in that system, and we didn't want the enemy to know it. If they had found us in a system where we had no colonies, we would have turned tail and run—the only sensible thing to do.
"But we didn't—and neither did they.
"Therefore, they, too, have a colony in that system!"
The Speaker said: "Where? Therbis is the only planet with—" His voice trailed off as he suddenly saw the truth.
Parmay nodded. "All this time, we've been assuming that the aliens were after the same planets we were. But every bit of evidence indicates that they live on the ammonia-methane giants!" ”

“ Better than four hundred light years away, a hypersee communicator fired out its carrier; at vast multiples of the velocity of light, that disturbance radiated in all directions through space. Less than a thousandth of a second after leaving its origin, the carrier was nudging the receptors on Earth.
On Kerrman's panel the shadow pointer began a smoothly oscillating dance. Kerrman touched three switch plates in swift succession. A voice came from the speaker.
"Expedition Seven Nine Six calling Earth. Seven Nine Six calling Earth. Come in, Earth." ”

“ And I get tired of sitting for eight hours while the communications boys mess around looking for something that isn't there." He spread his hands. "That's life. We look all over the galaxy for vibrations we can locate but can't find, and we find all kinds of communications we can't locate. I think I'll stick my nose in my ear and blow my brains out."
Parmay grinned. "Do me a favor; wait till we get to Therbis. ”

“ The Colonization Program Building filled better than a cubic mile of the city's space, housing every function of the operation that was taking man to the stars, trying to get the race of man there before the aliens beat them to it. The lift shaft took Parmay and his wife up to the top level, where the apartments and restaurants were. ”

“ The room was silent as Parmay thanked Alina and concluded his speech.
"So, we have no quarrel with the aliens; they have none with us. We have entirely different spheres of operation. There is no need for conflict between us, now, or ever. Our job now is to contact them as best we can and trade knowledge for—"
The door opened suddenly, and Kerrman stepped in. He walked over to Parmay and whispered softly for a moment.
Parmay turned back to the Directors. "Gentlemen, Dr. Kerrman has had scout ships watching for several days in places where the aliens might be assumed to be. It's paid off. ”

“ The psych engineers who told the outpost stars that man was catching up to the aliens were propagandizing in their teeth.
The enemy was ahead; the enemy was too damned far ahead.
So man fought doggedly on, hanging by his teeth, making each day, each second, count.
The Psychontact Division built up month by month as Parmay worked to get the right men into the right positions.
Specifically, Psychontact had the job of co-ordinating the colonies into a working whole, thus hoping to insure that the whole would be greater—and stronger—than the sum of its parts. ”

“ A psych engineer had to be careful in telling them what had happened. The old ships had served their purpose, of course; without them, the race of man would not be nearly as far flung through the stars as it was now. But it would be hard to convince the Ancestors that they were still performing a useful function—unless a psych engineer told them so.
Kerrman had assigned 796 a report schedule and had cut the connection. He looked up at Parmay. ”

“ Alina closed her eyes. "God, what pessimism. Gimme 'nother cigarette; mine went out."
Parmay handed her a cigarette. "What do you mean: 'pessimism'? What have we done?"
His wife held up a hand and began counting off fingers.
"One: Increase in the standard of living. The five-hour work week.
"Two: If and when it comes to a pitched battle between us and the aliens, we have the ionic disruptor. I can guarantee that no known conductor can stand up against it. ”

“ Plastics are a different matter. Any life that would evolve on such a world would be able to synthesize hard, tough materials in its own body. With plenty of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen around, they would have to find some way of making building materials from organic compounds. ”

“ Parmay waved her down. "Cut. That's just another problem to hand to the Ancestors. We have increased our own personal comforts; what does that mean to a group of people who are hacking out a new civilization on some godforsaken planet a couple of hundred light years from home?
"And how do you know we're invincible? The ionic disruptor disintegrates all and any metals or alloys we know of. But isn't it possible that the aliens have some alloy we don't have?"
"You find me a non-conducting metal," Alina said positively, "and I'll admit that the disruptor might fail against it." ”

“ One explanation was that there weren't any aliens. But there's another explanation that fits the picture even better.
"They didn't put out any because they don't know anything about them in communication!"
The frowns of the Directorate became puzzled.
"Let's take another tack," Parmay went on. "Our ionic disruptors are supposed to turn any metal into an incandescent gas. But they hardly touched the enemy ship. Why? Because it was a non-conductor! Plastics, gentlemen, plastics strong enough to construct a spaceship hull of them. And that's even stronger than you think.
"But why plastics? ”

“ Two: metals wouldn't stand the strain. At the temperatures prevailing on those planets, most metals are so brittle that they'd shatter under the loads that the unimaginable gravitational pull would cause. ”