I said, "It was a long way out there. But flying space is a wonderful thingflying right off the Earth, into the stars there's nothing quite like it."
Flying space, I called it. It sounded good, and thrill- ing. How could they know that flying space meant lying strapped in that blind stokehold listening to Joe Valinez dying, and praying and praying that it wouldn't be our rocket that cracked up?
"And it's a wonderful thrill to come out of a rocket and step on a brand-new world, to look up at a different-looking sun, to look around at a whole new horizon…" Yes, it was wonderful. Especially for the guys in Rockets Seven and Nine who got squashed like flies and lay around there on the sand, moaning "First aidi" Sure, it was a big thrill, for them and for us who had to try to help them.
"There were hardships out there, but we all knew that a big job had to be done…"
That's a nice word, too, "hardships." It's not coarse and ugly like fellows coughing their hearts out from too much dust; it's not like having your best friend die of Martian sick- ness right in the room you sleep in. It's a nice, cheerful word, "hardships."
… and the only way we could get the job done, away out there so far from Earth, was by teamwork." Well, that was true enough in its way, and what was the use of spoiling it by telling them how Walter and Breck had died?
"The job's going on, and Expedition Three is building a bigger base out there right now, and Four will start soon. And itil mean plenty of uranium, plenty of cheap atomic power, for all Earth."
That's what I said, and I stopped there. But I wanted to go on and add, "And it wasn't worth iti It wasn't worth all those guys, all the hell we went through, just to get cheap atomic power so you people can run more electric washers and television sets and toasters!"
But how are you going to stand up and say things like that to people you know, people who like you? And who was I to decide? Maybe I was wrong, anyway. Maybe lots of things I'd had and never thought about had been squeezed out of other good guys, back in the past.
I wouldn't know.