PART I
Star Watchman
To Mrs. Jaffe, wherever you are Shinar
The Tel-ran Empire stretched over half the Milky Way galaxy, from the lonely fringes of the immense spiral of stars to its richly-packed center. Earth was the capital of this vast Empire, but the planet Mars was headquarters for the Star Watch. The Empire’s military arm, the Star Watch had bases on many planets, in all the farthest reaches of the immense Terran domain. But Mars— covered from pole to pole with mighty buildings housing the men and machinery that ran the Star Watch—was headquarters.
In a small office in one of those buildings, a noncom was startled out of his usual routine. His desk communicator lit up, and the dour features of the Chief-of-StafT took form on the screen.
“I want the complete file on Oran VI immediately.” ‘Tes sir.” Before the chiefs image had completely faded from” the screen, the noncom’s fingers were tapping out a message on his desktop keyboard to the mammoth computer that held the Star Watch’s master files.
He decided to check and make certain that he had requested the correct information from the computer. (The possibility of the computer making an error was unthinkable.) He punched a button on the desk and the communicator screen lit up again.
The screen showed a map of the Milky Way galaxy, with the position of the star Oran marked out. It was on the edge of the Terran Empire, out in one of the farther spiral arms of the galaxy, near the territory of the Komani nation. The map faded, and a block of written data filled tTip scrGCii”