The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

OF WHAT THE EYE SEES WE KNOW NOTHING...
A black hole in space. And piercing through, a beam of ruby light brighter than a hundred moons. Was it the eye on the face of God, or the blood-red sun of our first intergalactic visitors?

is this what that hearing in congress was about?

Condition: Acceptable. Generally beat up.