Introduction
3y the twenty-third cen- efficient exploitation of the Federation， however.
:ury， the Galactic Federa- existing resources， was outweighed by the
:ion had grown to occupy Expansion did not， how- economic difficulty of
volume almost 500 light ever， cease entirely and searching through a gi-
tears in diameter. Within the survey ships sponsored gantic haystack for very
ts sphere of influence by the authorities contin- small needles that might
Jvere thousands of worlds ued to probe into the not even exist. It certainly
~nd although most were darkness beyond the offi- could not be justified
Jninhabited， a high pro- cial frontiers charting and without there being any
;)ortion were the homes of gathering data on the evidence of alien species.
indigenous species or worlds they encountered. That evidence came to
~vere settled by colonists In addition， the newly light when a Security
From elsewhere. Many settled planets on the Fed- Patrol ship on a routine
more were scenes of in- eral Perimeter were be- mission among the Perim-
:lustrial activity in the fields coming more securely eter planets stumbled on
0f mining or manufac- established， creating fur- the existence of an alien
turing， often by totally ther opportunities for trade ship that had not orig-
automated processes， and and shipping， inated from within the
hundreds of thousands of Despite this industrious Federation. This brief en-
vessels of every kind plied spiral of development and counter heralded the start
to and fro along the trade activity， the authorities of one of the most am-
routes which led to every ，were constantly aware that bitious journeys of explor-
oorner of the Federation: although the Federation ation ever undertaken. The
During the very earliest had already grown larger voyage of the Venturer
period of the Federation s than could have been im- stands out as one of the
history， expansion out- agined just 200 or 300 most remarkable episodes
wards into the Galaxy had Earth-yearsearlier， itnever- in the annals of space
been comparatively rapid theless represented only travel. The courage of its
and uncontrolled， as both a minute area of the dedicated crew in the face
c.ommercial interests and Galaxy. Given the number of the uncertainty of the
adventurous individuals of inhabited worlds within mission s outcome is still
pushed out into unknown its boundaries， it was cer- more remarkable when
space in search of wealth tain that hundreds if not each man knew at the
and open land. Death and thousands of other intelli- outset of the voyage that
disaster decimated the gent forms of life must lie due to the relative time
:ranks of these intrepid among the countless stars effects of prolonged hy-
explorers during this first beyond. It was just a perspace travel， any of
rush for the stars until， matter of time before we themreturninghomewould
gradually， the Federation encountered a species or have aged only days for
.began to impose controls group of species as tech- each year of real time.
and to institute a planned nologically advanced as Those they had left behind
programme of expansion， those of the Federation， would be long dead and
As a direct result， the and quite possibly more so. oncefamiliarworldswould
:rate of expansion slowed The obvious advantage of have changed almost be-
.dramatically and greater searching out and iden- yond recognition.
emphasis was placed on tifying any such species Star Quest， then， is their
，，4~，; ，4 th，~ h~.fnre， they stumbled on story.
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