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true!” snapped a middle-aged Asian from halfway down the table. “We have been visited by aliens.”
    Almost apologetically, Jordan replied, “Oh yes, the basis for all those UFO stories over the years is indeed true, although some of the stories have been exaggerated rather wildly. But the fact is that aliens have been visiting Earth for centuries and have taken tissue samples from humans, plants, and animals. That’s how they created the biosphere of New Earth.”
    â€œThese aliens were machines, not people?”
    With a nod, Jordan said, “The people of New Earth call them their Predecessors: machine intelligences that are millions of years old.”
    â€œAnd they constructed the planet we call New Earth?”
    â€œYes. They have been studying Earth for ages, and decided to construct a world that was almost exactly like our own. Their reasoning was that once we attained spaceflight technology, we’d be curious enough to go to Sirius to see what the planet was all about.”
    â€œFantastic.”
    â€œUnbelievable.”
    â€œIncredible.”
    Halleck cut through their astonished comments. “The question is: Why did they go to such trouble? Why not merely come to Earth and show themselves to us?”
    With a glance at Aditi, Jordan answered, “As I said, they have studied us for centuries. They realized that we are rather paranoid and xenophobic, prone to violence.”
    â€œThat was all in the past,” said a woman in the saffron robes of a Buddhist monk. “We have learned to overcome such instincts.”
    â€œHave we? Within our own lifetimes we’ve seen nuclear conflicts and biowars nearly depopulate whole continents. To say nothing of the fighting in the Asteroid Belt.”
    â€œBut that was more than two hundred years ago,” the woman argued. “We have found the way to peace.”
    â€œAnd the World Council enforces it,” said Halleck.
    â€œYet those instincts for violence—especially against strangers—are still inside us,” said one of the Europeans. “Two centuries of relative peace have not changed us into angels.”
    â€œThat’s why the inhabitants of New Earth were frightened of us,” said Jordan.
    â€œ They were frightened of us ? That’s hard to believe.”
    â€œBelieve it,” Jordan said. “They wanted to contact us—they felt they had to contact us. But they were very worried that our reaction to contact would be violent.”
    Halleck objected. “With their superior technology, they feared we’d be violent? Why, they could wipe this planet clean of all life, if they chose to, couldn’t they?”
    â€œPerhaps,” Jordan conceded. “But their mission—their very reason for existence—is to save intelligent life wherever they find it, not to destroy it.”
    â€œThat’s what they told you. But suppose it isn’t true?” asked the woman in the sarong. “What if they’ve come here to conquer us? To overwhelm us?”
    Jordan smiled sadly. “If they have, they’re going about it in a strange way. They’ve given us new technology: the energy screens, biomedical advances beyond anything we have been able to do for ourselves—”
    Halleck interrupted. “But they haven’t told you how they can travel faster than light, have they?”

 
    THE DEATH WAVE
    Jordan stared down at Halleck, seated beside him.
    â€œFaster than light? That’s impossible. Nothing in the universe can travel faster than light.”
    One of the Europeans, short, stocky, swarthy, with a thick shock of jet-black hair, wearing a dark, slightly rumpled business suit, lumbered to his feet.
    â€œI am an astrophysicist … or, at least, I was an astrophysicist before I was appointed to membership in this council.”
    A wave of rueful chuckles spread around the table. Most of the Council members had stepped