"It has. The pictures were faked too, were they not?"
From memorandum to Secretary, Psychometric Evaluation Board Subcommittee, Canalopolis Mars from K. Higashi, Senior Staff Psychologist First UN Triton Expedition.
"Yes. The pictures were taken on Titan, I think. We found a plain there similar to the one in his prints. You'll recall that the plates were all fogged—conveniently—by cosmic ray radiation. A little time and touching up took care of the rest. He must have been quite a natural psychologist himself, you know? He understood that people at home would just be looking for an excuse to abandon their suicidal hysteria. What he gave them was a common enemy. Had a lot of courage, too. Must have shot up his own ship and then wrecked himself deliberately, leaving the papers and the trail of Cairns.
"People will hate him when they find that he made fools of them, but I don't think they'll go back to the old life of before the 'Terror.' They will find out, of course. I suggest you break it to them back home. I'd like to be there to see it, but I'm too busy out here. We're building a staging base for the stars.
"I think Carvel would have liked that, don't you?"
THE END