No capítulo 37 eu encontrei:
Old Earth had been depopulated four times. Without the existence of the daughter worlds, the human race would have gone extinct there long ago. What lived on Earth was strange now. None of their kind had been this far out from the center of Human Space before. But now, as fleets made their final approach into the Namqem system, the Old Earth ships were barely ten light-seconds from Pham’s flag.
Então, a Terra ainda é povoada e eu penso nos humanos. No entanto, não consigo encontrar mais sobre os navios da Terra ou o que os tornou estranhos .