is first sensation at touching an alien
world; his skipper, old, wise, and patient, who had given him his creed
as a spaceman: "Travel wide, deep, and high," the skipper had said to
the young Connel, "but never so far, so wide, or so deep as to forget
that you're an Earthman, or how to act like an Earthman!" Even now,
years later, the gruff voice rang in his ears. It wasn't long after that
that he had met Shinny. Connel smiled behind the protection of his
helmet, as he looked at the wizened spaceman, who was now old and
toothless, but who still had the same merry twinkle in his eye that
Connel had noticed the first time he saw him. Connel had signed on as
first officer on a deep spacer bound for Titan. Shinny had come aboard
and reported to Connel as rocketman. Shinny had promptly started roaring
through the passageways of the huge freighter in his nightshirt singing
snatches of old songs at the top of his voice. It had taken Connel four
hours to find where Shinny had hidden the bottle of rocket juice! Connel
laughed. He looked over at the old man fondly.

[Illustration]

"Say, Nick," said Connel, addressing the man by his given name for the
first time, "you remember the time it took me four hours to find that
bottle of rocket juice you hid on that old Titan freighter?"

Shinny cackled, his thin voice coming over the headphones of the others
as well as Connel's.

"I sure do, Lou!" replied Shinny, using Connel's first name. They were
just old spacemen now, reliving old times together. "Funny thing,
though, you never knew I had two more bottles hidden in the tube
chamber!"

"Why, you old space crawler!" roared Connel. "You put one over on me!"

[Illustration]

Roger and Astro and Alfie had never known Connel's first name. They
rolled the name over in their minds, fitting the name to the man.
Unknown to each other, they decided that the name fitted the man. Lou
Connel!

"Say, Lou," asked Shinny, "where in the blessed universe did you come
from? You never told me."

There was a long pause. "A place called Telfair Estates, in the deep
South on the North American continent. I was raised on a farm close by.
I used to go fishing late at night and stare up at the stars." He paused
again. "I ran away from home. I don't know if--if--anyone's still there
or not. I never went back!"

There was a long silence as each man saw a small boy fishing late at
night, barefoot, his toes dangling in the water, a worm wiggling on t