ther gadget we don't know about."

"On the other hand," she considers, "to mention Interplanetary raiders
raises the idea of Menace in an Unfriendly Universe again, and this is
what we want to cancel out.

"These people," she says at last with a visionary look in her eye,
"come from a planet which went isolationist and abandoned space
travel; now they have built up their civilization to a point where
they can build ships of their own again, and the ones on Gilgamesh
have cut loose from the ideas of their ancestors that led to their
going so far afield--"

"How far afield?" says Cray.

"No one will ever know," I point out to him. "Don't interrupt."

"Anyway," says B, "they set out to rejoin the rest of the Human Race
just like the people on _Gilgamesh_ _really_ did, in fact, a lot of
this is the truth only kind of backwards--they were looking for the
Cradle of the Race, that's what. Then there was some sort of disaster
that threw them off course to land on an uninhabited section of a
planet that couldn't understand their signals. And when Incognita
finally does take to space flight again I bet the first thing the
people do is to try and follow back to where _Gilgamesh_ came from and
make contact with them. It'll become a legend on Incognita--the Lost
People ... the Lost ... Lost--"

"The Lost Kafoozalum," says Cray. "In other words we switch these
people off a war only to send them on a wild goose chase."

At which a strange voice chimes in, "No, no, no, son, you've got it
all _wrong_."

* * * * *

Mr. Yardo is with us like a well-meaning skeleton.

During the next twenty-five minutes we learn a lot about Mr. Yardo
including material for a good guess at how he came to be picked for
this expedition; doubtless there are many experts on Reversal Of
Vacuum-Induced Changes in Organic Tissues but maybe only one of them a
Romantic at heart.

Mr. Yardo thinks chasing the Wild Goose will do the Incognitans all
the good in the galaxy, it will take their minds off controversies
over interhemispherical trade and put them on to the quest of the
Unobtainable; they will get to know something of the Universe outside
their own little speck. Mr. Yardo has seen a good deal of the Universe
in the course of advising on how to recondition space-packed meat and
he found it an Uplifting Experience.

We gather he finds this desperate bit of damfoolery we are on now
pretty Uplifting altogether.

Cr