Here There Be Tygers

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Forester opened his eyes. The (other men were sitting up.

"I had a dream"

They bad all dreamed

"A mile flown from the green forest a mile over on the wine stream . . . "

. . . by the six white stones" said Koestler.

. . . and a third mile to the large river,"said Driscoll, sitting there.

Nobody spoke again for at moment. They looked at the silver rocket standing there in the starlight,.

"Do we walk for fly, Captain?"

Forester said nothing.

Driscoll said, "Captain. let's stay. Let's never go back to Earth. They'll never come and investigate to see what happened to us; they'll think we were destroyed here. What do you say?"

Forester's face was perspiring. His tongue moved again and again on his lips. His hands twitched over his knees. The crew sat waiting.

"It'd be nice." said the captain.

"Sure."

"But . . . " Forester sighed. "We've got our job to do. People invested in our ship. We owe it to them to go back."

Forester got up. The men still sat on the ground, not listening to him.

"It's such a fine, nice, wonderful night," said Koestler.

They stared at the soft hills and the trees and the rivers running off to other horizons.

"Let's get aboard ship," said Forester, with difficulty.

"Captain ...

"Get aboard," he said.

The rocket rose into the sky. Looking back, Forester saw every valley and every tiny lake.

"We should've stayed." said Koestler.

"Yes, I know."

"It's not too late, to turn back."

"I'm afraid It is." Forester made an adjustment on the port telescope. "Look now."

Koestler looked.

The face of the world was changed Tiger, dinosaurs, mammoths appeared. Volcanoes erupted cyclones and hurricanes tore over the hills in a welter and fury of weather.

"Yes, she was a woman all right," said Forester. "Waiting for visitors for millions of years, preparing herself, making herself beautiful. She put on her best face for us. When Chatterton treated her badly, she warned him a few times, and then, when he tried to ruin her beauty, eliminated him. She wanted to be loved, like every woman, for herself, not for her wealth. So now, after she had offered us everything, we turn our backs. She's the woman scorned. She let us go, yes, but we can never come back. She'll be wait ing for us with those He nodded to the tigers and the cyclones and the boiling seas.

"Captain," said Koestler

"Yes."

"It's a little late to tell you this. But just before we took off, I was in charge of the air lock. I let Driscoll slip away from the ship. He wanted to go. I couldn't refuse him. I'm responsible. He's back there now, on that planet."

They both turned to the viewing port.

After a long while, Forester said. "I'm glad. I'm glad one of us had enough sense to stay."

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