"It is. The fact that they are an incomplete version of ourselves touches me. They actually seem defenseless, though I suppose they're not."
"Tough," said Bal. "Nothing we can do about it."
"There is. We can give them a week."
"In a week we can't negate their entire history. We can't begin to undo the effect of the big bomb."
"You can't tell," said Ethaniel. "We can look things over."
"And then what? How much authority do we have?"
"Very little," conceded Ethaniel. "Two minor officials on the way to Willafours—and we run directly into a problem no one knew existed."
"And when we get to Willafours we'll be busy. It will be a long time before anyone comes this way again."
"A very long time. There's nothing in this region of space our people want," said Ethaniel. "And how long can Earth last? Ten years? Even ten months? The tension is building by the hour."
"What can I say?" said Bal. "I suppose we can stop and look them over. We're not committing ourselves by looking."