"What broad theme?" I asked.
"Do you know what you've got here, Morry? You have the only mass escape
route from Earth."
"You're euphoricked!"
"No, we're not. Do you know how many habitable planets we've listed?
Over three hundred and fifty. We've sent stellar-reporters out and back
every day and we know. They're listed back there at the Institute. We
can reach them on the hyperspace transmitter, you know that. The only
things that stop a mass emigration are David Adam Smith, the small
size of the transmitter and the impossibility of building enough ships
to carry everyone. The alloy supply only just covers the standard
emigration program. But a stellar-reporter comes back with the data, is
re-set and goes out again and comes back again. Don't you see, Morry?"
"No," I said, "I don't."
"Look. If you can use the same ship over and over again, the shortage
of alloys doesn't matter provided you can build the first ship."
"Okay," I said, "but a stellar-reporter isn't a ship, unless you're a
two foot midget and...."