the Explorer.

It was going to be a lonely trip back. All the remaining seventeen of
the crew were dead and their ashes were to be left on a strange planet.
Back they would go with a limping ship and the burden of the controls
entirely on himself.

The Merchant said, "It was a good business stroke, not harming the young
ones. We will get very good terms; _very_ good terms."

The Explorer thought: Business!

The Merchant then said, "They've lined up to see us off. All of them.
You don't think they're too close, do you? It would be bad to burn any
of them with the rocket blast at this stage of the game."

"They're safe."

"Horrible-looking things, aren't they?"

"Pleasant enough, inside. Their thoughts are perfectly friendly."

"You wouldn't believe it of them. That immature one, the one that first
picked us up--"

"They call him Red," provided the Explorer.

"That's a queer name for a monster. Makes me laugh. He actually feels
_bad_ that we're leaving. Only I can't make out exactly why. The nearest
I can come to it is something about a lost opportunity with some
organization or other that I can't quite interpret."

"A circus," said the Explorer, briefly.

"What? Why, the impertinent monstrosity."

"Why not? What would you have done if you had found _him_ wandering on
_your_ native world; found him sleeping on a field on Earth, red
tentacles, six legs, pseudopods and all?"

XIV

Red watched the ship leave. His red tentacles, which gave him his
nickname, quivered their regret at lost opportunity to the very last,
and the eyes at their tips filled with drifting yellowish crystals that
were the equivalent of Earthly tears.

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Space Science Fiction_ May 1952.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.

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