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They were rich enough, and this search was important enough, that it scarcely mattered. Fortunes were lost because of the detours and delays, but the losses were to a few of the largest trading Families, and went unacknowledged. The evidence was solid enough that certain ships changed schedules and burned decades of time to look for more clues. With time, there was some consistency to the most credible stories. There were clues, interviews with The Man’s fellow-travelers, pointers in a half-dozen contradictory directions: The Man was alone now and heading still farther away The Man had died before the search ever began The Man had a war fleet and was coming back upon them. In the early years, it had simply been encrypted queries hidden in radio broadcasts. It had always been a secret search, unacknowledged even among some of the participants. The manhunt extended across more than one hundred light-years and eight centuries. But, for what it’s worth, the initial sound in “Qeng Ho” is the same as the initial sound in the English word “checker.” (Trixia Bonsol would understand the problem!) The connection with our languages and writing systems is tenuous. This novel takes place thousands of years from now. I am very grateful to James Frenkel for the wonderful job of editing he has done with this book and for his timely insight on problems with the earlier drafts. Hill, Eric Hughes, Sharon Jarvis, Yoji Kondo, Cherie Kushner, Tim May, Keith Mayers, Mary Q. Davidson, Bob Fleming, Leonard Foner, Michael Gannis, Jay R. I am grateful for the advice and help of: Robert Cademy, John Carroll, Howard L. On a personal note, I will always be grateful to Poul and Karen Anderson for the hospitality that they showed a certain young science-fiction writer back in the 1960s. Beyond that, Poul has provided me and the world with an enormous treasure of wonderful, entertaining stories-and he continues to do so. In learning to write science fiction, I have had many great models, but Poul Anderson’s work has meant more to me than any other.