“Not broadcast?”

“No. We passed through it several moments ago.”

“Were you able to make out anything at all, Bill?”

“No. The pattern is clearly artificial. Any assertion beyond that is speculation.”

Ava had been peering at the starfield images on the screens as if something might show itself. “What’s your level of confidence, Bill?” she asked.

“Ninety-nine eight, at a conservative estimate.” Lines of characters began rolling down one of the status screens. “This is what it looks like. I’ve substituted symbols for pulse patterns.”

The captain did not see a pattern, but he accepted Bill’s judgment without question. “You’re saying there’s another ship out here, Bill?”

“I’m saying only that there’s a signal.”

“Where’d it come from?” asked Ava. “Which way?”

“I can’t be sure. But it seemed to originate in the general direction of 1107. The neutron star. Something in orbit, I assume. We passed through the signal too quickly to get a lock on it.”

Langley frowned at the symbols scrolling down the display. He watched until they stopped.

“That’s it,” said Bill. “Do you want me to repeat the record?”

He looked at Ava. She shook her head no.

Langley glanced up at the AI’s image. The face was thin and worn. The gray eminence persona, which Bill usually adopted when things were happening. “Bill, can we find it again?”

The AI hesitated. “A directed signal? If we assume it’s coming from a tighter orbit than ours, we would have to wait until it caught up with us again.”

“How long would that take?”

“Insufficient data.”

“Guess.”

“Probably several months.”

Langley simply didn’t believe it had happened. Not out here. It was more likely to be a glitch somewhere. “Can you make any kind of estimate on the location of the source, Bill?”