Henry Ryland WMPExercise Prose.

The spaceship Nikola is exploring the Theda Ghisoul solar system in search of the Plumie civilization. However, they find no evidence of Plumies there. The ship heads towards the inner planets in hopes of finding one of the cairns that serve as evidence of the Plumies' existence. These cairns have been discovered on oxygen-type planets across a wide range. The presence of Plumies, who also have interstellar ships, is alarming as it poses a threat to humanity. This is the Aliens by Mireille Weinster. At four hours, ten minutes ship time, the Nikola was well inside the Theda Ghisoul solar system. She had previously secured excellent evidence that this was not the home of the Plumie civilization. There was no tuned radiation, there was no evidence of interplanetary travel, rockets would be more than obvious, and a magnetronic drive had a highly characteristic radiation pattern. So the real purpose of Nikola's voyage would not be accomplished here. She wouldn't find out where Plumies came from. There might, though, be one or more of those singular conical, hollow-topped cairns sheltering silicone bronze plates, which constituted the evidence that Plumies existed. The Nikola went sunward toward the inner planets to sea. Such cairns had been found on conspicuous landmarks on oxygen-type planets over a range of some 1,200 light-years. By the vegetation about them, some were a century old. On the same evidence, others had been erected only months or weeks or even days before a human space survey ship arrived to discover them. And the situation was unpromising. It wasn't likely that the galaxy was big enough to hold two races of rational beings capable of space travel. Back on ancient Earth, a planet had been too small to hold two races with tools and fire. Historically, the problem was settled when Homo sapiens exterminated Homo neanderthalensis. It had appeared that the same situation had arisen in space. There were humans, and there were Plumies. Both had interstellar ships, two humans. The fact was alarming. Their need for knowledge and the danger that Plumies might know more first and thereby be able to exterminate humanity was appalling.