THE HEROBY ELAINE WILBERWilly was undoubtedly a hero. The difficulty lies in deciding which side he was on....
Two months after thelanding, Ship UXB-69311 wasrigged out with most things neededto make life bearable, if not interesting,for the crew. Perched on themanicured, blue-green sod of theplanet Engraham, its inner partswere transformed and refitted forthe many months of the Exploration.No effort and no flight ofimagination had been spared tomake the ship resemble more acountry club than a barracks. Withthe permission of Colonel Mondrain,the crew's bunkroom hadbeen completely rearranged, and asegment thereof made into a quietlyelegant bar. Plans for this eventualrejuvenation had been fomentingthroughout the very tiresomeand very monotonous journey.
When they first landed, the nativesfled, and thus it was easy toliberate furnishings from the adjacent village.When the inhabitantsreturned, after the purposes of thevisiting Earthman were acknowledgedto be harmless, they provedto be too courteous to carp about afew missing articles.
The chairs, of a very advanceddesign and most comfortable, weremade of a light and durable metalalloy thus far unknown to Earth.The bar (which was probably notits purpose on Engraham, no oneknew or cared what its function hadbeen) was of a design so futuristicthat it would have turned a modernartist mad. The utensils, alsoliberated, were unbelievably delicate,yet strong and easy to wash.At first, since the Earth had notintended the Exploration to resemblethe type that Texas-stationedservicemen like to run in Matamoros,there was nothing to drinkin the utensils. But hardly six weekshad passed before the first hero ofthe Exploration, a man namedO'Connors, discovered a palatablefruit growing on nearby bushes. Bymeans of a system of improvisedpipes (also liberated) it was notime at all before tasty beverages,somewhat strident but quite effective,were being run off and consumedin quantities. The machineknown as O'Connors Joy-Juicer wasconcealed behind the bar, and allthat was ever seen on the bar whenColonel Mondrain or the Doctorswere around was an innocuous fruitjuice.
The Earth Command hadstocked the ship with reading material,most of it of a disgustingly educationalnature, in photostaticcards: and the second hero of theExploration was a man namedKosalowsky, who discovered in thepsychology sections the works ofFreud and Krafft-Ebing. After thisdiscovery, a few interesting discussionsarose.
After these changes had beenmade, there was very little to do.
The Earth Command had assumedthat the natives of Engrahamwould resent the Explorations(most planets did), and so had sentalong the crew of thirty men forpr