it was the Nosurwey, and other
people beyond them, and things just got better for us, somehow.

We heard about our stoker, occasionally. He shipped with the Lud, and
the Nosurwey, and some people beyond them, getting along, going to all
kinds of places. Pay no attention to the precise red lines you see on
the star maps; nobody knows exactly what path he wandered from people to
people. Nobody could. He just kept signing on with whatever ship was
going deeper into the galaxy, going farther and farther. He messed with
green shipmates and blue ones. One and two and three heads, tails, six
legs--after all, ships are ships and they've all got to have something
to push them along. If a man knows his business, why not? A man can live
on all kinds of food, if he wants to get used to it. And any nontoxic
atmosphere will do, as long as there's enough oxygen in it.

I don't know what he did, to make things so much better for us. I don't
know if he did anything, but stoke their ships and, I suppose, fix them
when they were in trouble. I wonder if he sang dirty songs in that bad
voice of his, to people who couldn't possibly understand what the songs
were about. All I know is, for some reason those people slowly began
treating us with respect. We changed, too, I think--I'm not the same
man I was ... I think--not altogether the same; I'm a captain now, with
master's papers, and you won't find me in my cabin very often ...
there's a kind of joy in standing on a bridge, looking out at the stars
you're moving toward. I wonder if it mightn't have kept my old captain
out of that place he died in, finally, if he'd tried it.

So, I don't know. The older I get, the less I know. The thing people
remember the stoker for--the thing that makes him famous, and, I think,
annoys him--I'm fairly sure is only incidental to what he really did. If
he did anything. If he meant to. I wish I could be sure of the exact
answer he found in the bottom of that last glass at the bar before he
worked his passage to Mars and the _Serenus_, and began it all.

So, I can't say what he ought to be famous for. But I suppose it's
enough to know for sure that he was the first living being ever to
travel all the way around the galaxy.

THE END

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _Astounding Science Fiction_ February
1959. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S.
copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor