A world had collapsed around this man—a world that would never shouthis praises again. The burned-out cities were still and dead, the twistedbodies and twisted souls giving him their last salute in death. And nowhe was alone, alone surrounded by memories, alone and waiting ...
Sometimes the queerly shaped Venusian trees seemed to talkto him, but their voices were soft. They were loyal people.
There were four men inthe lifeboat that came downfrom the space-cruiser. Threeof them were still in the uniformof the Galactic Guards.
The fourth sat in the prowof the small craft lookingdown at their goal, hunchedand silent, bundled up in agreatcoat against the coolnessof space—a greatcoat whichhe would never need again afterthis morning. The brim ofhis hat was pulled down farover his forehead, and hestudied the nearing shorethrough dark-lensed glasses.Bandages, as though for abroken jaw, covered most ofthe lower part of his face.
He realized suddenly thatthe dark glasses, now thatthey had left the cruiser, wereunnecessary. He slipped themoff. After the cinematographicgrays his eyes hadseen through these lenses forso long, the brilliance of thecolor below him was almostlike a blow. He blinked, andlooked again.
They were rapidly settlingtoward a shoreline, a beach.The sand was a dazzling, unbelievablewhite such as hadnever been on his home planet.Blue the sky and water,and green the edge of thefantastic jungle. There was aflash of red in the green, asthey came still closer, and herealized suddenly that it mustbe a marigee, the semi-intelligentVenusian parrot once sopopular as pets throughoutthe solar system.
Throughout the systemblood and steel had fallenfrom the sky and ravished theplanets, but now it fell nomore.
And now this. Here in thisforgotten portion of an almostcompletely destroyedworld it had not fallen at all.
Only in some place likethis, alone, was safety forhim. Elsewhere—anywhere—imprisonmentor, more likely,death. There was danger, evenhere. Three of the crew of thespace-cruiser knew. Perhaps,someday, one of them wouldtalk. Then they would comefor him, even here.
But that was a chance hecould not avoid. Nor were theodds bad, for three peopleout of a whole solar systemknew where he was. Andthose three were loyal fools.
The lifeboat came gently torest. The hatch swung openand he stepped out andwalked a few paces up thebeach. He turned and waitedwhile the two spacemen whohad guided the craft broughthis chest out and carried itacross the beach and to thecorrugated-tin shack just atthe edge of the trees. Thatshack had once been a space-radarrelay station. Now theequipment it had held waslong gone, the antenna masttaken down. But the shackstill stood. It would be hishome for a while. A longwhile. The two men returnedto the lifeboat preparatory toleaving.
And now the captain stoodfacing him, and the captain'sface was a rigid mask. Itseemed with an effort thatthe captain's right arm remainedat his side, but thateffort had been ordered. Nosalute.
The captain's voice, too,was rigid with unemotion."Number One ..."
"Silence!" And then, lessbitterly. "Come further fromthe boat before you again letyour tongue run loose. Here."They had reached the shack.
"You are right, Number ..."
"No. I am no longer NumberOne. You must continueto think of me as MisterSmith, your cousin, whom youbrought here for the reasonsyou explained to the under-officers,b