"But evidence of it," Lodgesen objected. "Counting all extinct cultures found by the various powers, I'd guess the total is upwards of 10 or 11."
Fred smiled humorously. "The total is 47 finds; for some reason, no one is telling all. Security. Fortunately, Dr. Kousansky is a good friend of mine, and Professeur de Poitiers is a friend of his, and so on down the line.
"We're guessing, of course, but it seems our little corner of the universe is deserted. A more profitable question than where? is why? You might also be interested in the times involved; they're lengthy enough to cause head scratching. Wendell, at London University, came up with the oldest—some 585 thousand years, based on radioactive dating, but he won't guarantee the figure any closer than +/- 50 thousand. And the French, as you know, were the first out; de Poitiers did a very thorough job on Alpha Centauri IV. Until 30 thousand years ago, give or take, she had a thriving little community. I don't think you're going to find intelligent life this close, even within 500 light years. To me, the wonder is why we're here at all when everyone else has left."
There it was. He'd let them have it between the eyes, and they resented it. From that time on, he was something of a pariah. Even Jo seemed to be ignoring him. The nearer they came to planetfall, the worse it got. At least she lost that look of inner truth, but she was terribly, terribly busy. For what? Obviously, preparing for what they should find.
The USS Taurus circled the planet, Gamma Tauri II. As Fred had expected, it seemed a negative quantity, just another of those hunks of cosmic mediocrity. By the third trip, he was completely convinced this thing had evolved nothing. He was more relieved than he cared to admit; now Charlesworth would go on. There were more promising planets in the system.
He'd spent the last hour writing his report—NASA/DD Form E-72, Rev. B in triplicate—when it occurred to him that Charlesworth had made no announcement. Fred went to the captain's cabin, found Beth in discussion with him.
"Glad you're here; we want to talk something over," Charlesworth said. There was a pause, and Fred, watching the other two, felt as though he were an intruder.
"Sure," he said, dropping into a chair.
"You're sort of strait-laced, but rules are made to be broken...." Charlesworth's voice trailed off.
Beth came directly to the point: "We all want to land on New Earth."