"Thank you. It is largely our fault. We have come across traces here and there of other colonies which we assumed were the successful result of past experiments. It occurs to us now that several of these may be in fact body-bound expeditions from your solar system. We will investigate and correct our catalogues."
"We can be of assistance there," Pat answered.
"Excellent. We wish you Godspeed and a pleasant return."
The nine minds released contact and moved apart. Fred felt Pat's mind slip into his. They rose off the dome and increased speed, soaring into the sky and out, above the ring of planets.
"Why didn't we borrow a couple of bodies?" Fred asked.
He could picture himself strutting elegantly in the body of a Greek god, with Pat to match beside him.
"Please stop that—we're zigzagging about. You're new, Fred. Every Diver goes through the same routine—a pep-talk from the President, Doctor Sprinnell's little tricks, your first Dive all over the universe, and then routine patrols. What you don't know is that whenever we Divers come into contact with another race or another form of life, we are invariably offered gifts of some sort. Primitives sense the presence of a Diver and put on a show, lay out food and their treasures. The more advanced, using trained telepaths, try to bribe us. And so on, without exception."
"Okay, so I'm new, Pat. So I don't know the pattern. A few days ago I was a slob in an automation-parts supply house and now I'm here with you at the back end of the Milky Way, or the center, whichever way you look at it. But Doc Spinner made some pretty odd cracks to me about security and I don't like the idea of being spied on all the time back on Earth."
"No Diver does. The Defense Council put us in business, but now they are afraid of us, in a way. We can go anywhere and see anything. We might have a look at their secret installations or their private files. Then we would be in trouble."