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moving in toward thatone they scanned for others, found none at all.

  Space around them was absolutely strange; there was nothing in the skybut a faint haze. They were in the cloud now, and of course could seeno star. There was nothing but the huge sun and the green gleaming dotof that one planet, and the endless haze.

  From a good distance out, Wyatt and Cooper ran through the standardtests while Beauclaire watched with grave delight. They checked forradio signals, found none. The spectrum of the planet revealed strongoxygen and water-vapor lines, surprisingly little nitrogen. Thetemperature, while somewhat cool, was in the livable range.

  It was a habitable planet.

  "Jackpot!" Coop said cheerfully. "All that oxygen, bound to be somekind of life."

  Wyatt said nothing. He was sitting in the pilot chair, his huge handson the controls, nursing the ship around into the long slow spiralwhich would take them down. He was thinking of many other things, manyother landings. He was remembering the acid ocean at Lupus and therotting disease of Altair, all the dark, vicious, unknowable things hehad approached, unsuspecting, down the years.

  ... So many years, that now he suddenly realized it was too long, toolong.

  Cooper, grinning unconsciously as he scanned with the telescope, didnot notice Wyatt's sudden freeze.

  It was over all at once. Wyatt's knuckles had gradually whitened as hegripped the panel. Sweat had formed on his face and run down into hiseyes, and he blinked, and realized with a strange numbness that he wassoaking wet all over. In that moment, his hands froze and gripped thepanel, and he could not move them.

  It was a hell of a thing to happen on a man's last trip, he thought.He would like to have taken her down just this once. He sat looking athis hands. Gradually, calmly, carefully, with a cold will and awelling sadness, he broke his hands away from the panel.

  "Coop," he said, "take over."

  Coop glanced over and saw. Wyatt's face was white and glistening; hishands in front of him were wooden and strange.

  "Sure," Coop said, after a very long moment. "Sure."

  Wyatt backed off, and Coop slid into the seat.

  "They got me just in time," Wyatt said, looking at his stiff, stillfingers. He looked up and ran into Beauclaire's wide eyes, and turnedaway from the open pity. Coop was bending over the panel, swallowingheavily.

  "Well," Wyatt said. He was beginning to cry. He walked slowly from theroom, his hands held before him like old gray things that had died.

  * * * * *

  The ship circled automatically throughout the night, while its crewslept or tried to. In the morning they were all forcefully cheerfuland began to work up an interest.

  There were people on the planet. Because the people lived in villages,and had no cities and no apparent science, Coop let the ship land.

  It was unreal. For a long while, none of them could get over thefeeling of unreality, Wyatt least of all. He stayed in the ship andgot briefly drunk, and then came out as carefully efficient as ever.Coop was gay and brittle. Only Beauclaire saw the planet with anydegree of clarity. And all the while the people looked back.

  From the very beginning it was peculiar.

  The people saw the ship passing overhead, yet curiously they did notrun. They gathered in groups and watched. When the ship landed, asmall band of them came out of the circling woods and hills and ringedthe ship, and a few came up and touched it calmly, ran fingers oversmooth steel sides.

  The people were human.

  There was not, so far as Beauclaire could tell, a single significantdifference. It was not really extraordinary--similar conditions willgenerally breed similar races--but there was something about these menand women which was hard and powerful, and in a way almost grand.

  They were magnificently built, rounded and bronzed. Their womenespecially were remarkably beautiful. They were wearing woven clothesof various colors, in simple savage fashions; but there was nothing atall savage about them. They did not shout or seem nervous or movearound very much, and nowhere among them was there any sign of aweapon. Furthermore, they did not seem to be particularly curious. Thering about the ship did not increase. Although several new peoplewandered in from time to time, others were leaving, unconcerned. Theonly ones among them who seemed at all excited were the children.

  Beauclaire stood by the view-screen, watching. Eventually Coop joinedhim, looking without interest until he saw the women. There was oneparticular girl with shaded brown eyes and a body of gentle hills.Coop grinned widely and turned up the magnification until the screenshowed nothing but the girl. He was gazing with appreciation andmaking side comments to Beauclaire when Wyatt came in.

  "Looka _that_, Billy," Coop roared with delight, pointing. "Man, wehave come home!"

  * * * * *

  Wyatt smiled very tightly, changed the magnification quickly to coverthe whole throng around them.

  "No trouble?"

  "Nope," Coop said. "Air's good, too. Thin, but practically pureoxygen. Who's first to go out?"

  "Me," Wyatt said, for obvious reasons. He would not be missed.

  No one argued with him. Coop was smiling as Wyatt armed himself. Thenhe warned Wyatt to leave that cute little brown-eyed doll alone.

  Wyatt went out.

  The air was clear and cool. There was a faint breeze stirring theleaves around him, and Wyatt listened momentarily to the farbell-calls of birds. This would be the last time he would ever go outlike this, to walk upon an unknown world. He waited for some time bythe airlock before he went forward.

  The ring of people did not move as he approached, his hand upraised inwhat the Mapping Command had come to rely on as the universal gestureof peace. He paused before a tall, monolithic old man in a singlesheath of green cloth.

  "Hello," he said aloud, and bowed his head slowly.

  From the ship, through the wide-angle sights of a gun, Beauclairewatched breathlessly as Wyatt went through the pantomime of greeting.

  None of the tall people moved, except the old man, who folded his armsand looked openly amused. When the pantomime was done, Wyatt bowedagain. The old man broke into a broad grin, looked amiably around atthe circle of people, and then quite suddenly bowed to Wyatt. One byone the people, grinning, bowed.

  Wyatt turned and waved at the ship, and Beauclaire stood away from hisgun, smiling.

  It was a very fine way to begin.

  * * * * *

  In the morning Wyatt went out alone, to walk in the sun among thetrees, and he found the girl he had seen from the ship. She wassitting alone by a stream, her feet cooling and splashing in the clearwater.

  Wyatt sat down beside her. She looked up, unsurprised, out of eyesthat were rich and grained like small pieces of beautiful wood. Thenshe bowed, from the waist. Wyatt grinned and bowed back.

  Unceremoniously he took off his boots and let his feet plunk down intothe water. It was shockingly cold, and he whistled. The girl smiled athim. To his surprise, she began to hum softly. It was a pretty tunethat he was able to follow, and after a moment he picked up theharmony and hummed along with her. She laughed, and he laughed withher, feeling very young.

  _Me Billy_, he thought of saying, and laughed again. He was contentjust to sit without saying anything. Even her body, which wasmagnificent, did not move him to anything but a quiet admiration, andhe regarded himself with wonder.

  The girl picked up one of his boots and examined it critically,clucking with interest. Her lovely eyes widened as she played with thebuckle. Wyatt showed her how the snaps worked and she was delightedand clapped her hands.

  Wyatt brought other things out of his pockets and she examined themall, one after the other. The picture of him on his ID card was theonly one which seemed to puzzle her. She handled it and looked at it,and then at him, and shook her head. Eventually she frowned and gaveit definitely back to him. He got the impression that she thought itwas very bad art. He chuckled.

  The afternoon
passed quickly, and the sun began to go down. Theyhummed some more and sang songs to each other which neither understoodand both enjoyed, and it did not occur to Wyatt until much later howlittle curiosity they had felt. They did not speak at all. She had nointerest in his language or his name, and, strangely, he felt allthrough the afternoon that talking was unnecessary. It was a very rareday spent between two people who were not curious and did not wantanything from each other. The only words they said to each other weregoodbye.

  Wyatt, lost inside himself, plodding, went back to the ship.

  * * * * *

  In the first week, Beauclaire spent his every waking hour learning thelanguage of the planet. From the very beginning he had felt anunsettling, peculiar manner about these people. Their behavior wasdecidedly unusual. Although they did not differ in any appreciable wayfrom human beings, they did not act very much like human beings inthat they were almost wholly lacking a sense of awe, a sense ofwonder. Only the children