The speaker paused again. It always came on cue here, a gasp from the audience, as certainly as the "ahs" and "ohs" of a fireworks display. The bald statement always had its shock effect on any audience, and here on hallowed Earth itself. Lem Starglitter Blake resumed his slow progress toward the rostrum, glad for the noise. * * * * * Professor McKay braced himself, winced, and went on. Who had written the original purple prose for the lecture? Yet it could not be changed now. Not without an act of the Galactic Congress. "Yes, Mother Earth was forgotten and abandoned as it floated frozen and lifeless about its dying primary. Forlorn, deserted. Nobody came to visit Earth any more, for any reason. Nor any of its sister planets, as they too were sheathed in ice. Earth became a ghost world. "And as centuries marched on, with humanity busy on many thriving worlds, all records were lost as to where Earth might be. Earth fell into the category of a vague legend, known only to be a frozen globe circling a sun once typed G-O. But there were a hundred such. Which one was Earth's sun? Nobody knew any more." Blake stepped on somebody's toes and was roundly cursed. But he kept on, clutching his bag. They'd be sorry. All this would change when he showed what he had. "Imagine it, friends. By the 100th century, even the name 'Earth' had faded from collective memory. Most humans living and dying on the worlds of Arcturus, Vega, Pollux or any others didn't even know that the race had come from Earth originally. They almost thought themselves native life. We no longer called ourselves Earthmen by then. That term fell into discard too. We were Starmen. And so, for an age, lonely Earth was lost in space, unsung, unknown, unhallowed." McKay went on by rote, thinking of dinner. "It was not till the 130th century that the Galactic Historical Society decided to make a shrine of Mother Earth, original home of the Starmen, as turned up in a musty record. But where _was_ Earth? Vague records helped nothing. Picture how aghast they were. Finally, they had to organize a galactic hunt for Earth that took a century." Lem Blake sweated as he forged on through the packed crowd. If only his bag didn't bump against shins producing two noises, one metallic, the other human and angry. But later, when they heard, they wouldn't mind. Blake grinned. Maybe they'd tell of it proudly. "The ships searched everywhere for unmarked Earth, known only to be a frozen world of a dead sun. It was not even known how many planets had circled Earth's sun. Some thought three, others nine, again thirteen. Nobody could submit proof one way or another, so it became a blind search in a cosmic haystack. A star search.