To Poul Anderson,
In learning to write science fiction, I have had many great models, but Poul Anderson's work has meant more to me than any other. Beyond that, Poul has provided me and the world with an enormous treasure of wonderful, entertaining stories—and he continues to do so.
On a personal note, I will always be grateful to Poul and Karen Anderson for the hospitality that they showed a certain young science-fiction writer back in the 1960s.
—V.V.
I am grateful for the advice and help of: Robert Cademy, John Carroll, Howard L. Davidson, Bob Fleming, Leonard Foner, Michael Gannis, Jay R. Hill, Eric Hughes, Sharon Jarvis, Yoji Kondo, Cherie Kushner, Tim May, Keith Mayers, Mary Q. Smith, and Joan D. Vinge.
I am very grateful to James Frenkel for the wonderful job of editing he has done with this book and for his timely insight on problems with the earlier drafts.
This novel takes place thousands of years from now. The connection with our languages and writing systems is tenuous. But, for what it's worth, the initial sound in "Qeng Ho" is the same as the initial sound in the English word "checker." (Trixia Bonsol would understand the problem!)
The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light-years and eight centuries. It had always been a secret search, unacknowledged even among some of the participants. In the early years, it had simply been encrypted queries hidden in radio broadcasts. Decades and centuries passed. There were clues, interviews with The Man's fellow-travelers, pointers in a half-dozen contradictory directions: The Man was alone now and heading still farther away; The Man had died before the search ever began; The Man had a war fleet and was coming back upon them.
With time, there was some consistency to the most credible stories. The evidence was solid enough that certain ships changed schedules and burned decades of time to look for more clues. Fortunes were lost because of the detours and delays, but the losses were to a few of the largest trading Families, and went unacknowledged. They were rich enough, and this search was important enough, that it scarcely mattered. For the search had narrowed: The Man was traveling alone, a vague blur of multiple identities, a chain of one-shot jobs on minor trading vessels, but always moving back and back into this end of Human Space. The hunt narrowed from a hundred light-years, to fifty, to twenty—and a half-dozen star systems.
And finally, the manhunt came down to a single world at the coreward end of Human Space. Now Sammy could justify a fleet specially for the end of the hunt. The crew and even most of the owners would not know the mission's true purpose, but he had a good chance of finally ending the search.
Sammy himself went groundside on Triland. For once, it made sense for a Fleet Captain to do the detail work: Sammy was the only one in the fleet who had actually met The Man in person. And given the present popularity of his fleet here, he could cut through whatever bureaucratic nonsense might come up. Those were good reasons...but Sammy would be down here in any case.I have waited so long, and in a little while we'llhave him.
"Why should I help you find anyone! I'm not your mother!" The little man had backed into his inner office space. Behind him, a door was cracked five centimeters wide. Sammy caught a glimpse of a child peeking out fearfully at them. The little man shut the door firmly. He glared at the Forestry constables who had preceded Sammy into the building. "I'll tell you one more time: My place of business is the net. If you didn't find what you want there, then it's not available from me."
" 'Scuse me." Sammy tapped the nearest constable on the shoulder. " 'Scuse me." He slipped through the ranks of his protectors.
The proprietor could see that someone tall was coming through. He reached toward his desk.Lordy. If he trashed the databases he had distributed across the net, they'd get nothing out of him.
But the fellow's gesture froze. He stared in shock at Sammy's face. "Admiral?"
"Um, ‘Fleet Captain,' if you please."
"Yes, yes! We've been watching you on the news every day now. Please! Sit down. You're the source of the inquiry?"
