in the galaxy?

How many people on each planet?

Communication, even at ultralight velocities, would be necessarily
slow. The galaxy was just too big to be compassed by the human
mind--or even by the mind of a Galactic, McLeod suspected.

How do you publish a book for Galactic, for galaxy-wide, consumption?
How long does it take to saturate the market on each planet? How long
does it take to spread the book from planet to planet? How many people
were there on each planet who would buy a good book? Or, at least, an
entertaining one.

McLeod didn't know, but he suspected that the number was huge. McLeod
was a zoologist, not an astronomer, but he read enough on astronomy to
know that the estimated number of Earth-type planets alone--according
to the latest theory--ran into the tens of millions or hundreds of
millions. The--

A man sat down on the stool next to McLeod and said something loud
enough and foul enough to break the zoologist's train of thought.

"Gimme a shot, Leo," he added in an angry voice.

"Sure, Pete," the bartender said. "What's the trouble?"

"_Tourists_," Pete said with a snarl. "Laffin' attus alla time like we
was monkeys inna zoo! Bunch 'em come inta day." He downed his whiskey
with a practiced flip of the wrist and slammed it on the bar. Leo
refilled it immediately. "I shunt gripe, I guess. Gotta haffa credit
offen 'em." He slapped down a five dollar bill as though it had
somehow been contaminated.

The bar became oddly quiet. Everyone had heard Pete. Further,
everyone had heard that another shipload of Galactics had landed and
were, at the moment, enjoying the sights of New York. A few of them
knew that Pete was the bell-captain in one of the big midtown hotels.

McLeod listened while Pete expounded on the shame he had had to
undergo to earn half a credit--a lousy five bucks.

McLeod did some estimating. Tourists--the word had acquired an even
more pejorative sense than it had before, and now applied only to
Galactics--bought nothing, but they tipped for services, unless the
services weren't wanted or needed. Pete had given them information
that they hadn't had before--where to find a particular place. All in
all, the group of fifteen Galactics had given out five or six credits
in such tips. Say half a credit apiece. There were, perhaps, a hundred
Galactics in this shipload. That meant fifty credits. Hm-m-m.

They didn't need anyone to carry their bags; they didn't need anyone
to reg