“No one would have believed in the early years of the 21st century that our world was being watched by intelligences greater than our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, *they* observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about the globe, confident of our empire over this world. Yet across the gulf of space, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our planet with envious eyes and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us.”
“Yet across the gulf of the Potomac, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic regarded our country with envious eyes and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us.”
Careful...you may start another panic!
“No one would have believed in the early years of the 20th century that our country was being watched by intelligences equal to our own; that as men busied themselves about their various concerns, *they* observed and studied, the way a man with a microscope might scrutinize the creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency, men went to and fro about America, confident of our empire over this world. Yet across the gulf of the ocean, intellects communist to facist and unsympathetic regarded our country with envious eyes and slowly, and surely, drew their plans against us.”
The cost of getting to any star system other than your own would dwarf the value of anything you might find there. The only reasons there would ever be for interstellar travel would be knowledge or escape.