telligence, Plato." Why couldn't they have given him a name
like the others? There were so many ordinary, commonplace, _manly_ names
from which they might have chosen. Jim, Jack, George, Tom,
Bill--anything would have been better than Plato. And infinitely better
than what he was sometimes called by his equals--"Plato, the dopy
philosopher."

* * * * *

He slipped into his seat in the Assembly quietly, so as not to interrupt
the droning of the principal. So they thought his name was funny, did
they? Let them laugh at him. He was only ten now, but some day he would
really act like a man. Some day it would be he himself, and not a
fictional hero like Comets Carter, who would be adventuring on strange
planets of unknown suns, tracking down the Rogans and the other
criminals who sought refuge in the wide reaches of galactic space.

Some day--and then the thought burst on him like a nova exploding in his
brain.

_Why not now?_

Why not indeed? He was smart; he could take care of himself. Even his
masters admitted that, when they weren't carping at him for his
daydreaming. Take that model of a spaceship they had brought to school
one day, with a retired astrogator to explain to the pupils how the
thing was run, and how it avoided stray meteors. He had sat down at the
controls, and even the astrogator had been surprised at how confidently
he took over the role of pilot, how he got the idea at once.

He could do as well in real life. He was sure of it. Give him a really
worthwhile problem to work on, instead of these silly questions about
square roots and who discovered the third satellite of Mars, and he'd
show them.

[Illustration]

"Thus," declaimed the principal, "you will be prepared to take up your
duties--"

"Norberts to you," thought Plato. "I'm going to run away."

Where to? There were so many stars to go to, such a bewildering number
of planets and asteroids.

Plato sat lost in thought. A planet whose habitation required a
spacesuit was out of the question. Spacesuits his size were hard to get.
The sensible thing would be to choose a place where the physical
conditions, from gravity to atmospheric pressure and composition would
tend to resemble those here on Venus or on Earth. But full of the most
thrilling danger.

A boy's voice said, "Get up, you dopy philosopher. It's all over."

He raised his head and realized that the principal had stopped droning
from the platform