He for the control-room, where the offered the and and best views of outside. When he arrived, Babs and Alicia together, out and down. Bell a camera. Jamison at the world. Al the pilot gestures, not to his while there was an the ship's landing-fins might in their support. Jones something on the new set of he had for the Dabney field. Jones was not normal in some ways. He was in more than Cochrane in his own enterprises.
Cochrane pushed to a port to see.
The ship had in a small glade. There were trees nearby. The trees had long, leaves, the shape of grass-blades out longer. In the that outside, they extravagantly. There were in the distance, and out-croppings of rocks. This sky was like the sky of Earth. It was, of course, that any with dust-particles in it would a sky.
Holden was visible below, moving toward a of reed-like some seven or eight from the soil. He had over the area the ship. It was much smaller than that by the landing on the other planet, but so he had his to excess. But he now a hundred yards from the ship. He gestures. He to be talking, as if trying to some to itself.
"We saw them peeping," said Babs breathlessly, Cochrane. "Once one of them ran from one patch[Pg 127] of to another. It looked like a man. There are at least three of them in there—whatever they are!"
"They can't be men," said Cochrane grimly. "They can't!" Johnny Simms was not in sight. "Where's Simms?"
"He has a gun," said Babs. "He was going to one, anyhow, so he protect Doctor Holden."
Cochrane down. The door was open, and the end of a out. Johnny Simms might be in a position there to protect Holden by gun-fire, but he was safer, himself. There was no movement anywhere. Holden did not move closer to the reeds. He still to be speaking to the creatures.
"Why can't there be men here?" asked Babs. "I don't actually men, but—manlike creatures? Why couldn't there be like us? I know you said so but—"
Cochrane his head. He that there not be men on this planet. On the every animal had been from the of Earth. There were resemblances, as the result of evolution. By analogy, there not be on another world there would be but not the same. But if there were a equal to men, no how such a might appear, if there were a animal in the off of Earth, the result would be catastrophic.
"We humans," Cochrane told her, "live by our conceit. We more than of ourselves we we are more than animals—and we we are the only that are! If we came to we were not unique, but were a animal, we'd be finished. Every nation has always started to itself every time such an idea spread."
"But we aren't only animals!" Babs. "We are unique!"
Cochrane at her out of the of his eye.
"Quite true."
Holden still the of reeds, still to talk, still with his hands in what men the of peace.
There was a movement at the of the reed-patch, fifty yards from Holden. A thing which did look like a man for the nearest of woodland.[Pg 128] It was the size of a man. It had the pinkish-tan color of flesh. It ran with its down, and it not be too clearly, but it was in outline. Up in the control-room Bell with and his camera. Holden oblivious. He still to something out of concealment. A second for the woods.
Tiny appeared in the air the and the thing. Smoke. Johnny Simms was at the animal. He was using that which and sportsmen to make up for marksmanship.
The of to a about the things. They and zig-zagged frantically. Both of them safety.
A third it. And now Johnny Simms on fire. Bullets from his weapon, of so that the looked like a from a hose. The through the space by the fugitive. It and to earth. It blindly.
Cochrane swore. Between the of the of the creature's and this instant, less than two had passed.
The which were smoke-trails away. Then a new out. Johnny Simms once more at his still-writhing victim. It and was still.
Holden angrily. There to be him and Johnny Simms. Then Holden around the reed-patch. There was no longer any of life in the still shape on the ground. But it was normal not to walk into a jungle-like in which unknown, large had been sighted. Johnny Simms again and again from his post in the airlock. The which his to the woodland. He at there. He at his previous it was something to shoot at. He recklessly, foolishly.
Alicia, his wife, touched Jamison on the arm and spoke to him urgently. Jamison her the stairs. She would be going to the airlock. Johnny Simms, at the landscape, might shoot Holden. A of bullet-smoke passed of Holden's body. He and at the ship.
The door open. There was the[Pg 129] of a shot, and the thing was again. The had been close to Holden. There were voices below. Johnny Simms enragedly.
Alicia out.
There was below, but Cochrane was already toward the stairs. Babs closely.
When they onto the dining-room they Alicia white, but with a red mark on her cheek. They Johnny Simms with rage, the he'd been shooting. Jamison was in the act of trying to him.
"——!" Johnny Simms. "I came on this ship to hunt! I'm going to hunt! Try and stop me!"
He his weapon.
"I paid my money!" he shouted. "I won't take orders from anybody! Nobody can me!"
Cochrane said icily:
"I can! Stop being a fool! Put that gun! You nearly Holden! You might still kill somebody. Put it down!"
He walked toward Johnny Simms. Johnny was near the open door. The door was open, too. He not retreat. He sidewise. Cochrane the direction of his advance. There are people like Johnny Simms everywhere. As a they are not as unable to tell right from unless they are rich to a psychiatrist. Yet a but always-present of the of at all times. They are the handicap, the burden, the main to the or the progress of civilization. They are not evil. They do not to act otherwise than as animals. The of has to itself with police, with laws, and sometimes with revolts, though those like Johnny Simms have no the of inclinations. But for that Johnny would any to else.
He aside. Cochrane was white with fury. Johnny Simms into panic. He his weapon, at Cochrane.
"Keep back!" he ferociously. "I don't if I kill you!"
And he did not. It was the which makes and Hitlers, and and and lawyers and men.[Pg 130] It was the pure which makes men frustrate. It was an example of that which is crime, but is also only stupidity.
Cochrane saw Babs at one of the chairs at one of the tables nearby. He stopped, and Johnny Simms took courage. Cochrane said icily:
"Just what the do you think we're here for, anyhow?"
Johnny Simms' were wide and blank, like the of a small boy in a of destruction, when he has what he started out to do and has with what he is doing.
"I'm not going to be pushed around!" Johnny Simms, more still. "From now on I'm going to tell you what to do—"
Babs the chair she had from its fastenings. It came with a satisfying "thunk" on Johnny Simms' head. His gun off. The missed Cochrane by of an inch. He ahead.
Some time later, Babs was at him. He had Johnny Simms on the and was him. Johnny Simms and at his fingers.
Sanity came to Cochrane with the of something snapping. He got up. He to Babs and she up the gun Johnny Simms had used.
"I think," said Cochrane, hard, "that you're a good sample of I dislike. The thing you do is make me act like you! If you touch a gun again on this ship, I'll kill you. If you again, I will the out of you! Get up!"
Johnny Simms got up. He looked scared. Then, amazingly, he at Cochrane. He said amiably:
"I forgot. I'm that way. Alicia'll tell you. I don't you for mad. I'm sorry. But I'm that way!"
He himself off, at Alicia and Jamison and Babs and Cochrane. Cochrane ground his teeth. He to the and looked outside.
Holden was over the Johnny Simms had killed. He up and came toward the ship. He when the ground under his feet. He into the landing-sling and started it up.
"Not human," he reported to Cochrane when he from the in the airlock. "There's no question about it when you are close. It's more nearly a bird than anything[Pg 131] else. It was warm-blooded. It has a beak. There are on Earth that have been for men.
"I did a once," said Cochrane coldly, "that had of old of in it. There was a of called Cornish Game that was manshaped. If it had been big enough—Pull in the and close the lock. We're moving."
He away. Babs by Alicia, a for Alicia to put to her cheek. Jamison as Johnny Simms that he had always been that way. When he got he didn't what he was doing. He said almost with that he hadn't been any other way than that. He didn't to kill anybody, but when he got excited—.
"What happened?" Holden.
"Our little psychopath," said Cochrane in a voice, "put on an act. He me with a rifle. He Alicia first. Jamison, that bullet-hole. See if it got through to the skin of the ship."
He started for the stairs again. Then he was by the of Holden. Holden's was deadly. His hands were clenched. Johnny Simms said with a frankness:
"I'm sorry, Cochrane! No hard feelings?"
"Yes," Cochrane snapped. "Hard feelings! I've got them!"
He took Holden's arm. He him up the steps. Holden for the of a second, and Cochrane his arm tighter. He got him up to the above.
"If I'd been here," said Holden, unsteadily, "I'd have killed him—if he Alicia! Psychopath or no psychopath—"
"Shut up," said Cochrane firmly. "He at me! And in my small way I'm a too, Bill. My is that I don't like his of psychosis. I am to and my possibly idea of decency. I am with the world—and you'd come to it! Look here! I'm in against such as an Earth and people being of their jobs and people going from despair. You don't want me to of that, do you? Then of yourself!"
Bill Holden swallowed. He was still white. But he managed to grimace.[Pg 132]
"You're right. Lucky I was outside. You're not a yourself, Jed."
"I'm better," said Cochrane cynically, "at on with film-tape and dream-stuff. So I'm going to look at the Bell took as we on this planet, and work out some ideas for broadcasts."
He up another flight, and Holden with him in a of stilly, calm. Cochrane ran the film-tape through the camera for examination.
Outside, there long green of leaves. The of reed-like in the breeze. Jamison appeared in the control-room. He to question Holden about the ground-cover outside. It was not grass. It was broad-leaved. There would be, Jamison happily, an of under-leaf of life. They would most likely be insects, and there would be other to upon them. Some would it to be insects. There must be other of than the that looked like men at a distance, too. On the there had been but many creatures. Possibly the was here, though of it need not be ...
"Hm," said Cochrane when the were all through. "Ice-caps and land and seas. Plenty of green vegetation, so the air is normal for humans. Since you're alive, Holden, we can assume it isn't fatal, can't we? The gravity's tolerable—a little on the light side, maybe, to the planet."
He was silent, at the blank of the control-room. He frowned. Suddenly he said:
"Does on Earth know that Babs and I were castaways?"
"No," said Holden, still very indeed. "Alicia ran the control-board. She told you were too to be called to the communicator. It was with you away! Jamison and Bell themselves in chairs and tape. Johnny, of course"—his voice was very toneless—"wouldn't do anything useful. I was space-sick a of the time. But I did help Alicia out what to say on the communicator. There must be hundreds of calls up for you to take."
"Good!" said Cochrane. "I'll go take some of them. Jones, we make a to else on this planet?"[Pg 133]
Jones said negligently,
"I told you we've got fuel to the Milky Way. Where do you want to go?"
"Anywhere," said Cochrane. "The isn't here for a new broadcast. We've got to have some for our next show. Things are up for the need of just the right to send to Earth."
"What of do you want?"
"Animals preferred," said Cochrane. "Dinosaurs would do. Or or a facsimile. What I'd actually like more than anything else would be a of buffalo."
Jamison gasped.
"Buffalo?"
"Meat," said Cochrane in an tone. "On the hoof. The public-relations job all this has into, a of all the urges. So I want people to think of and and roasts. If I of animals from one to another—."
"Meat-herds up," said Jones negligently. "I'll call you."
Cochrane did not him. He to the again. He prepared to take the calls from Earth that had been up the for an broadcast-show that he'd met while the ship came to its landing. There was an amount of up. And it was slow work it. His voice took six to pass through something over two hundred light-years of space in the Dabney field, and then two in normal space from the in Lunar City. It was twelve the time he saying something the word of the reply him. It was very slow communication. He that he'd have to ask Jones to make a special Dabney as as was necessary to take of the situation.
The and outside. The ship lifted. Johnny Simms came up from below.
"My trophy!" he indignantly. "I want my trophy!"
Cochrane looked up from the screen.
"What trophy?"
"The thing I shot!" Johnny Simms fiercely. "I want to have it mounted! Nobody else killed anything like that! I want it!"[Pg 134]
The ship more strongly. Cochrane said coldly:
"It's too late now. Get out. I'm busy."
He returned his to the screen. Johnny Simms for the stairs. A little later Cochrane in the control-room. But he was too to inquire.
The ship drifted—with all the of no-weight—and again, and then there was a long period of weightlessness. At such times Holden would be and and by space-sickness. Which might be good for him at this particular time. For a long time, it seemed, there were of and free fall, which in themselves were disturbing. Once the free until Cochrane to uneasy. But then the once more and as if the ship were the altogether.
But Cochrane was talking business. In part he bluffed. In part, automatically, he much more than he to get, it is the in not to be about anything. Whatever he asked, the other man would offer less. So he asked too much, and the other man offered too little, each in very nearly on what terms they would settle. Considering the cost of beam-phone time to Lunar City, not to mention the to the stars, it was absurd, but it was the way is done.
Presently Cochrane called Babs and Alicia and had them a agreement, which had to be by a of of a on Earth. That would jump at it, but the for possible had to be made. It was mumbo-jumbo. Cochrane at it.
While the were in progress, the ship and and and again. Cochrane said ruefully:
"I to ask you to work under like this, Babs."
Babs grinned. He a little.
"I know! When you were for me I wasn't considerate."
"Who am I for now?"
"Us," said Cochrane. Then he looked at Alicia. He at having said anything in the least her. Considering Johnny Simms, it was not too tactful. Her cheek, where it had been red, now[Pg 135] a bruise. He said: "Sorry, Alicia—about Johnny."
"I got into it myself," said Alicia. "I loved him. He isn't bad. If you want to know, I think he years ago that he wouldn't up past the age of six. He was a rich man's little boy. It was fun. So he a career of it. His family let him. I"—she faintly, "I'm making a career of taking of him."
"Something can be done with a six-year-old," Cochrane. "Holden—. But he wouldn't be the best one to try."
"He definitely wouldn't be the best one to try," said Alicia very quietly.
Cochrane away. She how Bill Holden felt. Which might or might not be to him.
The again. The pictures of foot-high on the had a on television. A toy-manufacturer wanted the right to make toys like them. The pictures were copyrighted. Cochrane matter-of-factly the deal. There would be extra-terrestrial animals on sale in all toy-shops days. Spaceways, Inc., would a on each toy sold.
The boomed, and their noise, and up and again. Then there was that deliberate, of the great landing-fins pressing into with all the ship's weight down. The ran on, ever-so-faintly, for a little longer. Then they cut off.
"We're again! Let's see where we are!"
They up to the control-room. Johnny Simms against the wall, sulking. He had managed his life very by acting like a little boy. Now he had any idea of conduct. At the moment, he looked ridiculous. But Alicia had a and Cochrane have been killed, and Holden had been in Johnny Simms wanted to and on acting like a rich man's little boy.
It to Cochrane that Alicia would for her and pain in the little-boy penitence—exactly as temporary as any other little-boy emotion—when she and Johnny Simms were alone together.
The ship had come close to the sunset-line of the planet. Away to the west there was the of sea.[Pg 136] Dusk was already here. There were in view, and there was a dark of on one hilltop, and the trees at the woodland's had the same drooping, grass-blade-like of the trees seen. But there were larger and more solid among them. The ship had on a small plateau, and from it a out with such that the water-surface was by pressure from below. The water overflowed and toward the sea.
"I think we're all right," said Al, the pilot. But he in his seat, in case the ship to over. Cochrane the world.
"Well?"
"We what I think you want," said Jones. He looked dead-pan and yet complacent. "Just watch."
The deeper. Colorings appeared in the west. They were very to the sunset-colorings on Earth.
"Not many here."
The amount of was limited, as on Earth. A great star into view in the east. It was as as Venus from Earth. It had a just-perceptible disk. Close to it, small, there was a of light which somehow a star. Cochrane at it. He of the great gas-giant world he'd out a port on the way here. It had an moon-world which itself had and and continents. He called Jamison.
"I think that's the planet," Jamison. "We passed close by it. We saw it."
"It had a moon," Cochrane. "A big one. It looked like a world itself. What would it be like there?"
"Cooler than this," said Jamison promptly, "because it's from the sun. But it might up some from from its primary's white clouds. It would be a world. It has and and of foam-girt islands. But its sea is and dark and restless. Gigantic in its depths, by the about which it swings. Its animal life—."
"Cut," said Cochrane dryly. "What do you think? Could it be another world for people to move to?"
Jamison looked at having been cut off.
"Probably," he said more prosaically. "The would be monstrous, though."
"Might be used for power," said Cochrane. "We'll see ..."[Pg 137]
Then Jones spoke with casualness:
"Here's something to look at. On the ground."
Cochrane moved to see. The had still more. The smooth, green-covered ground had a dark olive. Where gave upon the sky, there were dark slowly forward. The of the black, and the moved their nearer slopes. It was not an of darkness. There were which the others. They did not distinct. They with the which them, and other in their places. All of the moved without haste, with a of deliberation. It moved toward the ship and the and the and the which from it.
"What on Earth—" Cochrane.
"You're not on Earth," said Jones chidingly. "Al and I 'em. You asked for or a facsimile. I won't anything; but we what looked like of moving over the green inland. We checked, and they to be moving in this direction. Once we low and Bell got some pictures. When he them, we they'd do. So we up where they were all for, and here we are. And here they are!"
Cochrane with all his eyes. Behind him, he Bell to himself as he to a camera for close-up pictures in the little light. Babs Cochrane, incredulously.
The was beasts. They the on three of the ship. They came deliberately, onward. They were uncountable. They were as as the that the western of America. In black, masses, they came toward the and its stream. Nearby, their be distinguished. And all of this was perfectly natural.
The is one thing. Where life exists, its will fit themselves into each where life can be maintained. On green there will be animals to graze—and there will be animals to on them. So the will together in for self-defense and reproduction. And where the ground is with broad-leaved plants, such plants will creatures, and some of them will be burrowers. So rain will into those and not make streams. And therefore the drainage[Pg 138] will as springs, and the animals will go to those to drink. Often, they will more at for protection from their enemies. They will often at the or their overflowing brooks. This will that and animals exist, on any to the of the galaxy, there are laws for as well as stones.
Great dark of the moved past the ship. They were the size of cattle—which itself would be by the of the planet, setting a maximum size for with an food-supply. There were thousands and of thousands of them visible in the night. They to the and to the that from it. They drank. Sometimes groups of them waited until the way to the water was clear.
"Well?" said Jones.
"I think you my order," Cochrane.
The night only, and Cochrane of Al or somebody that they measure the length of a complete day and night on this planet. The would move overhead at such-and-such a rate. So many in so much time. He needed, said Cochrane—as if this order also be filled—a day-length not more than six hours or longer than an Earth-day.
Jones and Al and prepared to take some of reading without any instrument. Cochrane moved about. He did not notice Johnny Simms. Johnny had in his place, not moving to look out the windows, and everybody. And nobody paid attention! It was not a to an adult, but it was very to a rich man's son who had been able to make a career of at a six-year-old level.
Cochrane's were almost feverish. If the day-length here was suitable, all his was successful. If it was too long or too short, he had to look further—and Spaceways, Inc., would still not be as a success as he wanted. It would have been much to have the size of the local sun by any means available, and then to have the its of the and its complete setting. But Cochrane hadn't of it at sunset.
Presently he to where Babs and Alicia[Pg 139] in the to prepare a meal. He to help. The was much more like that in a small home than on a space-ship among the stars. This was not in any way such a of as the of had imagined. Jamison came presently and offered to prepare some special dish in which he to excel. There was no mention of Johnny Simms. Alicia, all that was past, told Jamison that Babs and Cochrane were now an and actually had plans for marriage the ship returned to Earth. Jamison the to such an occasion.
Presently they called the others to dinner. Jones and Johnny Simms were long the others, and Jones' was dead-pan. Johnny Simms looked rebellious. His had not attention in the control-room. He had meant to to come to dinner. But Jones wouldn't trust him—alone in the control-room. Now he sat down, scowling, and to eat, despite Alicia's coaxing. He at her.
This, also, was not in the of the of of space. They in the over-large of a ship that had been meant to the moon. The ship under upon a world, and all about it there were the of thousands upon thousands of like cattle. And the dinner-table was family-style about Babs' and Cochrane's new status, and about a television which had to be for a number of Earth-hours yet ahead. And nobody paid any attention to Johnny Simms, at the table and to eat.
It was a mistake, probably.
Much, much later, Cochrane and Babs were again in the control-room, and this time they were alone.
"Look!" said Cochrane vexedly. "Do you that I haven't you since we got on the ship? What happened?"
"You!" said Babs indignantly. "You've been about something else every second of the time!"
Cochrane did not think about anything else for minutes. He to with new the of people he had been producing about. They had reason—those people—to act unreasonably.[Pg 140]
But presently his mind was again.
"We've got to make some plans for ourselves," he said. "We can live on Earth, of course. We've already a out of the from this trip. But I don't think we'll want to live the way one has to live on Earth, with too many people there. I'd like—."
Somebody came up the stairs from below.
"Johnny?" It was Bell. "Is he up here?"
Cochrane Babs.
"No. He's not here. Why?"
"He's missing," said Bell apprehensively. "Alicia says he took a gun. A gun's gone, anyhow. He's vanished!"
Cochrane under his breath. A his with a gun be a indeed. He on the control-room lights. He was not there. They and over the main saloon. He was not there. Then Holden called from the next down.
There was Alicia by the door. Her was pale. She had opened the door. The door was open too—and it had not been opened since this last landing by else. The landing-sling were out. They slowly in the light that upon them from the of the ship.
A came in the opening. It was the of beasts. It was a musky, smell, somehow not though it was unfamiliar. There were in the night. Grunting sounds. Snortings. There were such as a of would make in the night-time, when by thousands and for safety and for rest.
"He—went out," said Alicia desperately. "He meant to us. He's a little boy. We weren't to him. And—he was of us too! So he ran away to make us sorry!"
Cochrane to look out of the lock and to call Johnny Simms back. He into on the ground. He a there was no hand-railing at the lock door and he the of the outside. He raged, himself. Johnny Simms would when he was called. He would to be with to return. He would set terms for returning he was killed....
Cochrane saw a of fire and the of a tracer-bullet's it something. He the[Pg 141] report of the gun. He a of and then a of purest terror from Johnny Simms.
Then, from the ground, a tumult. Every one of the its voice in a horrible, cry. The of was numbing—was in impact. There were and as of against each other.
Another from Johnny Simms. He had moved. It appeared that he was running. Cochrane saw more gun-flashes, there were more shots. He his hands and waited for the that would be all this of animals through the night in stampede.
It did not come. There was only that bleating, as all the of and this noise to their away.
Twice more there were in the night. Johnny Simms and in panic. Each time the and were away.
There were no portable lights with which to make a search. It was to go among the in darkness.
There was nothing to do. Cochrane only watch and while the beast-smell rose to his nostrils, and the of in his ears.
Inside the ship Alicia hopelessly. Babs in to her.
[Pg 142]