r what I could tell--and that
the other colonists would also, because of what I've done. Adamson says
I can trust him. He says I can trust you. But I don't trust anybody. I
know that someday soon I'm going to get a bullet in the head from one of
you. All I'm hoping is that some of you hate Boggs enough to get him
first."

"Why did you come to Serrengia in the first place?"

"To get away. Why did anyone come? You don't give up everything you've
got in order to go to some strange world and spend the rest of your life
unless you've got a reason. Unless you hate what you've got so much
you're willing to try anything else. Unless you're so terribly afraid of
what could happen to you back there that you're willing to face any kind
of dangers out here. We all had our reasons. I'm not asking yours. It
makes no difference to you what mine were. But they're all alike. We
came because we were so afraid or full of hate we couldn't stay."

"How did you expect to build a new world out of hate and fear of the old
one?"

"Who worried about what we'd build here? All we wanted to do was get
away. You can't tell me _you_ came for any other reason!"

* * * * *

Jorden made no answer. He continued to stare in wonder at the atomic
engineer. To what extent were James' words actually true? How completely
was the colony riddled with unpredictable, purposeless characters like
him?

If they had fled Earth with a purpose to create something better than
they left, there was a chance. But if James was right that most of them
had come in blind flight with no goal at all then the Earth colony of
Serrengia would be dead long before the ships came again.

But Jorden did not believe this. He did not believe that any but a small
fraction of the colonists had any feeling toward Earth except that of
love. Most had come because they wanted to do this particular thing with
their lives. Nothing had driven or forced them to it.

"Tell me what Boggs did, and what he persuaded you to do," said Jorden.

In detail, James told him how Boggs had gained influence with the
technicians necessary to prepare the plant for destruction, how he had
persuaded them that a new, idealistic social order demanded their
obedience to this fantastic plan. Then, under the Governor's direction,
two of the men betrayed the rest. Only James, who was at a slight
distance from his normal operating post that night, had escaped with
non-fatal injuri