The man looked upward into the night sky. "These stars, fixed in the sky. Know their place and you will know all the infinite places they may travel. Strange, isn't it. You want to know that, make past, present, and future one, see it all in one timeless glance. But to me, it's an everlasting torment, a glimpse of hell. I would pervert it for even a moment's respite. I would envision worlds that contain the unknowable, unthinkable. That is my reality that I will give to you, that is why you will have what you want."

The other man looked on impatiently. "You stand here for such a long time, silent, glancing upwards into the sky. It disturbs me; we have work to do. Our future will not come without effort."

"Things have their time, their order," the man responded coldly. "You cannot force the hand of fate."

The man's face blanched with anger. "You forced me to send that ship. We could have changed the future then and there!"

"As I recall," he said calmly, "That was your decision. You are impatient. The new worlds I will grant you are something one must savor, and anticipate in pleasure, or in fear."

"And for now?"

"Soon, very soon. Transor is here, but he, the one I want will also soon come. There will be one ship, I have put the coordinates on your quad-corder."

He looked at the little box, and lifted his eyes, smiling. " Excellent! I can have the fleet intercept it."

"No! If they see or sense more than one ship, they will return via hyperspace. We must send one ship, no more." He smiled. "Send the Spengler. That is a ship that will surely entice, and will be more than enough to defeat them."

"Then we will capture it, our prize!"

"Perhaps." He took a deep pleasurable breath. "How it invigorates me! You see, he knows the future too, but unlike me he shades it from the sun. Because he knows my plans in blindsight, he will change his, but just so. It's a moment's uncertainty, to you an irritation, but to me fresh air. They will come, the Spengler will defeat them, but delightful it is for me to say it, I don't know if that's quite enough for our purposes."

"Good! You have told me enough. It is what I wanted to hear!"

The other man turned, and out of earshot whispered. "Yes. I suppose you will always hear what you want to hear. A strange trait of humanity, always to search for the light, and upon its discovery to seek the shade!"