egendary' is a lot nicer word than
'ghostly'. And the ghosts are changing their name to legends."

Rose had to teach the kids their regular lessons. That children would be
taught was part of the agreement you had to sign at the A. H. O. before
you could be shipped out with them. But the kids had time for whimsy,
too. In make-believe, they took their excursions far back to former
ages. They played that they were "Old People."

Endlich, having repaired his atomic battery, didn't draw power anymore
from the unit that had supplied the ancient buildings. But the relics
remained. From a device like a phonograph, there was even a bell-like
voice that chanted when a lever was pressed.

And it was the kids who found the first "tay-tay bug," a day
after its trills were heard from among the new foliage.
"Ta-a-a-ay-y-y--ta-a-a-a-ay-y-yy-y--" The sound was like that of a
little wheel, humming with the speed of rotation, and then slowing to a
scratchy stop.

A one-legged hopper, with a thin but rigid gliding wing of horn.
Opalescent in its colors. It had evidently hatched from a tiny egg,
preserved by the cold for ages.

Wise enough not to clutch it with his bare hands, Bubs came running with
it held in a leaf.

It proved harmless. It was ugly and beautiful. Its great charm was that
it was a vocal echo from the far past.

* * * * *

Sure. Life got to be fairly okay, in spite of hard work. The Endlichs
had conquered the awful stillness with life-sounds. Growing plants kept
the air in their greenhouse fresh and breathable by photosynthesis. John
Endlich did a lot of grinning and whistling. His temper never flared
once. Deep down in him there was only a brooding certainty that the calm
couldn't last. For, from all reports, trouble seethed at the mining
camp. At any time there might be a blowup, a reign of terror that would
roll over all of Vesta. A thing to release pent-up forces in men who had
seen too many hard stars, and had heard too much stillness. They were
like the stuff inside a complaining volcano.

The Endlichs had sought to time their various crops, so that they would
all be ready for market on as nearly as possible the same day. It was
intended as a trick of advertising--a dramatically sudden appearance of
much fresh produce.

So, one morning, in a jet-equipped space-suit, Endlich arced out for the
mining camp. Inside the suit he carried samples from his garden. Six
tomatoes. Beaut