om the presence
and protection of the others. They bedded around on the ground, making
themselves comfortable as possible. One thing you could say,
experimental colonists might not be long on brains, the way scientists
are, but they weren't picked for that. They were picked for endurance,
and the brainy will often crack up under a strain that the enduring kind
hardly notices. Far as endurance went, physical, this wasn't bad.

Up through the leaves, and in between the trees, the stars were as
bright as ever--brighter because there wasn't no fire to dim their glow.
They couldn't see Earth, of course, but everybody knew right where to
look for Sol. There it was, a tiny little spot of light in its
constellation. It was still there.

Somebody said into the darkness that it was only two more days until the
regular monthly communication with Earth was due. That as soon as E.H.Q.
didn't hear from them, there'd be a rescue party out here in nothing
flat. So, at worst, it meant living this way only five or six more days.

That made everybody feel better. It was a comforting thing to look up
through the leaves, to see Sol in the sky, to know they weren't
forgotten back home; that on Earth people would soon be buzzing around
like a disturbed hive of hornets, with stingers cocked and ready as soon
as the message didn't get through.

Yep, somebody said, just like the museum collection of Western movies
where the U.S. cavalry always got there in time. At least they weren't
being attacked by no Indians, somebody said.

Or were they? Maybe everybody asked that to themselves, but nobody said
it.

Most everybody got some sleep. No one really suffered, any discomfort
just showed them how soft they were getting with easy living.
Considering everything, they were coming along just fine. And in a few
days everything would be all right again. They went to sleep thinking
that even if there was some equivalent to the old-time Indians attacking
them, rescue would soon be here and they would be safe.

Because man always wins.

Most people were wide awake by dawn. Some had slept in little bits,
waking often enough to keep a sense of continuity. Others, those who
slept better, awoke with a start; looked around themselves wildly,
realized they were lying out in the open plumb naked in front of other
people; maybe wondered for an instant what kind of party they'd been to
the night before; and nearly bolted in panic before they remembered.