't told you
what I think--"

He stopped again, then said, "The people out there in the corral have my
form, and my instinctive loyalty is to them. But instinct isn't enough.
It would have kept us in the mud of Earth forever, if it could. Reason
took us out to the wider universe. Instinct tells me that those out
there are my people. Reason tells me that you--" he looked at Bregg,
"--who are abhorrent to me, who would make my skin creep if I touched
you, you who go by reason--that you are my real people. Instinct made a
hell of Earth for millennia--I say we ought to leave it behind us there
in the mud and not let it make a hell of the stars. For you'll run into
this same problem over and over again as you go out into the wider
universe, and the old parochial human loyalties must be altered, to
solve it."

He looked at Paula and said, "I'm sorry, but if anyone asks me, that is
what I'll say."

"I'm sorry, too," she said, rage and dejection ringing in her voice.
"Sorry we woke you. I hope I never see you again."

Kieran shrugged. "After all, you did wake me. You're responsible for me.
Here I am, facing a whole new universe, and I'll need you." He went over
and patted her shoulder.

"Damn you," she said. But she did not move away from him.

THE END

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Amazing Stories Fact and Science
Fiction_ May 1962. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence
that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor
spelling and typographical errors have been corrected without note.

End of Project Gutenberg's The Stars, My Brothers, by Edmond Hamilton

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