copic observations from within the
atmosphere. "Giants living in caves," Purcell went on. "Sailing ships
flying the Jolly Roger. A town consisting of miniature replicas of the
White House on Earth. Mermaids."

"Don't tell me you really thought you saw mermaids?" Glaudot asked a
little condescendingly.

"All right, I'll admit I only caught a glimpse of them. I thought they
were mermaids. But what about the Indians?"

"Yes," Glaudot admitted. "I saw the Indians."

Using their atmospheric rockets, they had flown over the Indian village
at an altitude of only a few hundred feet, to see bronze-skinned men
rush out of tents and stare up at them in awe. After that, Purcell had
decided to find some desolate spot in which to land, in order not to
risk a too-sudden encounter with any of the fantastically diversified
natives.

Now Glaudot said: "You're taking what we saw too literally, Captain.
Why, I remember on Harfonte we had all sorts of hallucinations until
Captain Jamison discovered they were exactly that--we'd been hypnotized
into seeing the things we most feared by powerless natives who really
feared us."

"This isn't Harfonte," Purcell said, a little irritably.

"Yeah, but you weren't there."

"I know that, Glaudot. I'm only trying to point out that each world must
be considered as unique. Each world presents its own problems, which--"

"I say this is like Harfonte all over again. I say if you'd had the guts
to land right smack in the middle of that Indian village, you'd have
seen for yourself. I say to play it close to the vest is ridiculous,"
Glaudot said, and then smiled deprecatingly. "Begging your pardon, of
course, Captain. But don't you see, man, you've got to show the
extraterrestrials, whatever form they take, that Earthmen aren't afraid
of them."

"Caution and fear aren't the same thing," Purcell insisted. He didn't
know why he bothered to explain this to Glaudot. Perhaps it was because
Ensign Chandler, youngest man in the exploration party, was in the
lounge listening to them. Chandler was a nice kid, clean-cut and right
out of the finest tradition of Earth, but Chandler was, like all boys
barely out of their teens, impressionable. He was particularly
impressionable in these, his first months in space.

"When you're cautious it's as much to protect the natives as yourself,"
Purcell went on, and then put into simple words what Glaudot and
Chandler should have learned at the Academy for Exploration,