"Don't overlook our fake spaceship," I said. "If the robot investigator from the saucer found a real spaceship, that would be important information. It would be important enough to warrant a quick trip back to the local base, wherever that may be situated.
"But when the robot can't locate anything, in spite of the evidence on the instruments, it will be dealing with top priority stuff. Logically it will have to report back to the prime evaluation center, on the home planet. I think I'm safe in anticipating a short journey."
"I hope so." He shook his head dubiously. "But what about us? We don't have to worry about humans, and probably those things out there haven't come close enough to learn about us. But they're pretty advanced. What if they should?"
"You think they can detect us when we're dematerialized?" I smiled. "Don't be naive. Anyway, nothing risked, you know."
I shouldn't have said that. I talk too much. "Nothing gained." He completed the sentence for me. He didn't look altruistic. "Just what do we stand to gain?"
The others hadn't thought of it, and neither had I, from that angle. I ad-libbed. "It's not been good here lately. There's too many factors against us, agencies that I don't have to mention.
"Feast or famine, mostly the last. And what are we going to do after an atomic war, when mutants come along? Are you sure we can compete with them? As bad as it is now, it can get worse." I paused to let the dire predictions sink in.
"Someone has to do it, and I intend to be the one to find new worlds for us," I said.
My confidence impressed the others, but not the heckler. "I can see that you'll find it for yourself. But how are you going to let us know?"
"Just now I can't communicate from here to Philadelphia," I said. "It's a harassing business, merely trying to stay alive. Here I haven't had time to practice mental communication. But there conditions will be ideal and I expect to develop myself so that I can reach out anywhere in the galaxy."