"I've turned over all our film records to them, and the artifacts we
stored aboard. But I haven't really talked to anyone." He licked his
dry lips, and brushed a hand over the whitened side of his hair. "The
baby," he said softly. "Could I see the baby?"
"What?" Ky-Tann seemed surprised at the request.
Devia leaped to her feet. "Of course, Deez, I'll bring her." To
Ky-Tann, she said: "Ky, you idiot, get Deez a drink or something."
"I just want to see the baby. It's a girl, isn't it?"
"Her name is Su-Tann," Devia said.
* * * * *
When the baby was brought into the room, cooing softly and trying her
new tooth against a thumbnail, Deez took the infant into his lap and
studied its small, chubby face with an air of solemnity that troubled
Ky-Tann and his wife. After a moment, Deez smiled painfully. "What
luck," he said. "She looks like you, Devia. It would have been awful if
she had looked like Ky."
Devia laughed, but they could see that Deez had labored to make the
joke. She took the infant from him, and let Su-Tann crawl about the
heated floor. Deez watched her progress and then looked up, flashing
his old grin. "But I suppose you're waiting to hear about my great
Discovery? Think of it, Ky! A dead planet, a genuine lost civilization!
Not a hoax this time...." He spoke avidly, but his eyes were
bewildered, the eyes of a man injured in battle.
"It can wait," Ky-Tann said. "You're tired, Deez."
"I'll tell you now," Deez said.
* * * * *
"It was in the second quadrant of the galaxy as charted by Roa-Pitin,
the outer spiral arm we call Evarion; our hydrogen radiation equipment
had been receiving an exciting pattern of signals since our journey had
begun. Of course, we weren't the first exploration team to be lured by
those signals, countless others had dashed themselves to pieces for
that electronic siren song. We employed every navigational device we
knew to put us within range of the strongest beams, but the fact that
we succeeded can only be described as an accident--or the will of a
power greater than anything we know."