take-up
spool. For an instant there was no sound, save the slight grinding of
the wire on its rollers, and then a bass, powerful voice spoke from the
vibrating metal diaphragm:

"I am Thomas Anderson," said the voice. "I am a native of a world
called Earth, and I have come through space to this other sphere. I
leave this record, which I trust is imperishable, so that when others
come to follow me, they may know that to Earth belongs the honor, if
honor it be, of sending to this world its first visitor from the stars.

"There is no record on Earth of me nor of my ship of space, the
_Adventurer_. The history of science is a history of men working under
the stinging lash of criticism and scoffing; I would have none of that.

* * * * *

"The _Adventurer_ was assembled far from the cities, in a lone place
where none came to scoff or criticize. When it was finished, I took my
place and sealed the port by which I had entered. The _Adventurer_
spurned the Earth beneath its cradles, and in the middle of the
Twenty-second century, as time is computed on Earth, man first found
himself in outer space.

"I landed here by chance. My ship had shot its bolt. Perhaps I could
leave, but the navigation of space is a perilous thing, and I could not
be sure of singling out my native Earth. This is a happy world, and the
work I am doing here is good work. Here I remain.

"And now, to you who shall hear this, my voice, in some year so far
away that my bones shall be less than dust, and the mind refuses to
compute the years, let me give into your charge the happiness and the
welfare of these, my people. May peace and happiness be your portion.
That is the wish of Earth's first orphan, Thomas Anderson."

There was a click, and then the sharp hum of the wire re-spooling
itself on the original drum.

"Toma annerson," said Artur solemnly: "He Who Speaks." He offered his
hand to me, and I understood, as I shook hands gravely, that this old
Earth greeting had become a holy sign among these people. And I
understood also the meaning of the familiar phrase, "toma annerson"; it
was the time-corrupted version of that name they held holy--the name of
Thomas Anderson, child of my own Earth, and explorer of space centuries
before Ame Baove saw his first sun.

* * * * *

There is more I could tell of Strobus and its people, but an old man's
pen grows weary.

The