anyway.

When he finished, Glaudot shrugged and asked: "What do you think, Ensign
Chandler?"

Chandler blushed slowly. "I--I'd rather not say," he told them. "Captain
Purcell is--the captain."

Glaudot smiled his triumph at Purcell. It was then, for the first time,
that Purcell's dislike for the man became intense. Purcell wondered how
long he'd been poisoning the youth's mind against the doctrines of the
Academy.

Just then a light glowed in the bulkhead and a metallic voice intoned:
"Prepare for landing. Prepare for landing at once."

Purcell, striding to his blast-hammock, told Glaudot, who was the
expedition's exec, "I'll want the landing party ready to move half an
hour after planetfall."

"Yes, sir," said Glaudot eagerly. At least there was something they
agreed on.

* * * * *

"Men," Purcell told the small landing party as they assembled near the
main airlock thirty-five minutes later, "we have an obligation to our
civilization which I hope all of you understand. While here on this
unknown world we must do nothing to bring discredit to the name of Earth
and the galactic culture which Earth represents."

They had all seen the bleak moon-like landscape through the viewports.
They were eager to get out there and plant the flag of Earth and
determine what the new world was like. There were only eight of them in
the first landing party: others would follow once the eight established
a preliminary base of operations. The eight were wearing the new-style,
light-weight spacesuits which all exploration parties used even though
the temperature and atmosphere of the new world seemed close enough to
Earth-norm. It had long ago been decided at the Academy that chances
couldn't be taken with some unknown factor, possibly toxic, fatal and
irreversible, in an unknown atmosphere. After a day or two of thorough
laboratory analysis of the air they'd be able to chuck their spacesuits
if all went well.

They filed through the airlock silently, Purcell first with the flag of
Earth, then Glaudot, then the others. White faces watched from the
viewport as they clomped across the convoluted terrain.

"Nobody here but us chickens!" Glaudot said, and he laughed, after they
had walked some way across the desolate landscape. "But then, what did
you expect? Captain took us clear of all the more promising places."

The man's only motive, Purcell decided, was his colossal ego. He made no
reply: tha