"It could be anything, then," said Braun.
"Anything," echoed Topping.
"Start deceleration," ordered Charters, concerned with the more practical aspects of a possible encounter in alien space. "Swing the controls over to manual. I'll feel better about the ship if it comes to dodging a collision. You have the practical piloting experience, Braun. Take over."
Grinning, Braun seated himself at the manual keyboard and started pressing studs. Lights blinked off and on in patterns on the screen at vision level. He switched over to the visiplates mounted on the blunt bow. A sector of blackness dead ahead was projected onto the screen.
There was nothing to see. Light in interstellar space is too feeble to reveal anything not self luminous.
"Try a radilume beam," suggested Charters.
The screen flickered, then resumed its blackness. With no dust, no anything, to reflect light back to the ship, the beam lost itself in the immensity.
Braun worked with the studs.
"We're slowing," he announced. "Now what?"