За разломом орла

           "Youcan’tcrossfromdomaintodomain,butotherwisetheaperturesworkastheyweredesignedto. Barring,ofcourse,theoccasionalroutingerror." 

           "Allright,"Isaid. "Ifyoucan’tcrossfromdomaintodomain,howdidBlueGoosegetthisfarout? We’vecomealotfurtherthanafewhundredlight-years." 

           "You’reright. Butthensuchalong-distanceconnectionmighthavebeenengineereddifferentlyfromtheothers. ItappearsthatthelinkstotheMagellanicCloudweremoreresilient. Whenthedomainsshatteredfromeachother,theconnectionsreachingbeyondthegalaxyremainedintact." 

           "Inwhichcaseyoucancrossfromdomaintodomain,"Isaid. "Butyouhavetocomeallthewayoutherefirst." 

           "Thetroubleis,notmanywanttocontinuethejourneyatthispoint. Noonecomesheredeliberately,Thom." 

           "Istilldon’tgetit. Whatdoesitmattertomeifthereareotherdomains? Thoseregionsofthegalaxyarethousandsoflight-yearsfromEarth,andwithouttheapertureswe’dhavenowayofreachingthem. Theydon’tmatter. There’snoonetheretousethem." 

           Greta’ssmilewascoquettish,knowing. 

           "Whatmakesyousocertain?" 

           "Becauseiftherewere,wouldn’ttherebealienshipspoppingoutoftheaperturehere? You’vetoldmeBlueGoosewasn’tthefirstthrough. Butourdomain—theoneintheLocalBubble—mustbeoutnumberedhundredstoonebyalltheothers.