at went wrong.

"I suppose I'm in a state of shock. That's why I can't seem to get up.
Who wouldn't be shocked after luck like that?

"I've always been lucky, I guess. Luck got me a place in the _Whale_.
Sure I'm a good astronomer but so are lots of other guys. If I were ten
years older, it would have been an honor, being picked for the first
long jump in the first starship ever. At my age it was luck.

"You'll want to know if the ship worked. Well, she did. Went like a
bomb. We got lined up between Earth and Mars, you'll remember, and James
pushed the button marked 'Jump'. Took his finger off the button and
there we were: _Alpha Centauri_. Two months later your time, one second
later by us. We covered our whole survey assignment like that, smooth as
a pint of old and mild which right now I could certainly use. Better yet
would be a pint of hot black coffee with sugar in. Failing that, I could
even go for a long drink of cold water. There was never anything wrong
with the _Whale_ till right at the end and even then I doubt if it was
the ship itself that fouled things up.

"That was some survey assignment. We astronomers really lived. Wait till
you see--but of course you won't. I could weep when I think of those
miles of lovely color film, all gone up in smoke.

* * * * *

"I'm shocked all right. I never said who I was. Matt Hennessy, from
Farside Observatory, back of the Moon, just back from a proving flight
_cum_ astronomical survey in the starship _Whale_. Whoever you are who
finds this tape, you're made. Take it to any radio station or newspaper
office. You'll find you can name your price and don't take any wooden
nickels.

"Where had I got to? I'd told you how we happened to find Chang, hadn't
I? That's what the natives called it. Walking, talking natives on a blue
sky planet with 1.1 g gravity and a twenty per cent oxygen atmosphere at
fifteen p.s.i. The odds against finding Chang on a six-sun survey on the
first star jump ever must be up in the googols. We certainly were lucky.

"The Chang natives aren't very technical--haven't got space travel for
instance. They're good astronomers, though. We were able to show them
our sun, in their telescopes. In their way, they're a highly civilized
people. Look more like cats than people, but they're people all right.
If you doubt it, chew these facts over.

"One, they learned our language in four weeks. When I say they, I mean a
ten-m