His eyes clung to the brilliant specks, set like jewels against a velvet background. They were jewels—cold and glittering and beckoning. And he could almost feel their attraction—like a magnet tugging on filings of hope and ambition. Yet, somehow he felt dejected, as though he were reluctant to reach out for them.
"You did all that in two years' time?" McAllister asked.
"Why yes, of course. I—" He could understand the other's skepticism, however. He had covered a lot of interstellar space.
"You all know what this development means," Randall said.
"That our expansion will be concentrated in a new direction!" Carol volunteered hopefully.
The chair creaked its complaint as Mortimer shifted his weight. "And the Aldebaran telepuppets?"
Randall gestured for emphasis. "That robot team is now of first-rate importance. We'll need a full analysis of Four-B in the shortest time possible. The Hyades are a hundred and fifty light-years away—too far for direct development. But a halfway base in the Aldebaran system will open them up to us immediately."
Carol found Stewart's arm. "This one is really worthwhile. Think you can get your puppets back on their strings?"
"I suppose so. There can't be too much wrong with them." But still his thoughts were on the Hyades. Somehow they left him with an emptiness, a bittersweet taste. Whereas he knew he should feel only enchantment and the satisfaction of accomplishment in his discovery.
"That all there is to this mission?" McAllister, fully awake now, asked disappointedly.