We don't need to look that far out. Our Galaxy 'only' has a span of around 100,000 ly, which is still a hell of a walk. Millions of lightyears gets us out to our nearest large galactic neighbour, M31 at 2.2 million. There are about two thousand stars within 50 ly of Earth, about 15% of which could have planets with the proper conditions to qualify as life-sustaining., and about a dozen such potentials have been discovered. There could be tens of 'billions' (hate that term) in our Galaxy alone. No rush to go so far from home just yet.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
