Mike Ellis

“ Willie came over and studied the card with Tom. "Could have bacteria we didn't get from this height, but it sure as hell hasn't got anything else."
Pudge held up the pictures; they showed close-ups of a tangled mass of plants. "All ferns," he said. "Doesn't seem to be anything else."
"Why would a planet have ferns and nothing else, not even the beginning of animal life?" Tom wondered aloud.
"I once read an account of finding the tiny seeds of Earth's plants millions of miles out in space," Willie said. "Seems the winds blow them right off the planet and they're so light they just keep going." ”

“ Pudge came in to the table where Tom and Bart were waiting for breakfast. "Some one's been in the stores. A couple of cases of emergency rations are missing. It must have been in the night."
"What the hell," Bart said, jumping up. "In the stores?"
"Where's Willie?" Tom said, getting up.
"Who cares," Bart said. "There's no one on this planet but us. Who'd get into our stores? Or what?"
"That's what I mean," Tom said angrily. "Where's Willie?"
Bart gave him a startled glance, then led the way to Willie's cabin. He wasn't there. They went through the ship. ”

“ Then Bart jumped to his feet and started pulling on his clothes. "Come on, Tom," he said, "Let's take a look around while it's still light."
After they dressed, Bart led the way along the strip of red sand towards the ridge. The tangled mass of yellow-green vegetation grew right down to the strip of red sand, and in some places, grew right over it to stop at the sea. ”

“ Tom said, "you have my word."
"Bart isn't around, is he?" Willie slid down the cliff in a shower of loose rock and dirt.
"You can't stay here, Willie," Tom began, "how are you going to live, to eat?"
"I've got my seeds," Willie said dreamily. "I'll have a real farm." He waved vaguely at the ferns. "Look at the stuff grow. The climate is ideal. I'll build a hut and farm enough to eat."
"Willie," Tom said, trying another angle. "There are no other people here. What'll you do if you get sick or need help?" ”

“ Tom blew out a cloud of smoke. Seems like every guy working on crowded Earth had the same dream. A little farm on a distant planet. But few of them ever did anything about it. It was a nice dream to relieve the monotony of working, but a hell of a lot of hard work if you actually did it.
"I've even got seeds I saved when I was working on the truck farms of the West," Willie talked on, more to himself than Tom, "I saved them from some of the biggest and heaviest producing plants. I've got tomatoes, beans, corn, squash. They'll make a fine beginning." ”

“ A little shack to keep off the rain, a little field to grow food.
But there would be no one to talk to, no one to share experiences and troubles and little triumphs, no one to laugh with, no challenge to overcome, no excitement.
"Not for me," Tom said aloud, and his voice was strange in the quiet. "Boy, this place puts a spell on a guy, almost hypnotizes him." He laughed aloud. "Even got me talking to myself." He hurried on to hunt for Willie.
Then he came to the little cove where Willie had his camp. The pile of food and blankets was still there. Willie was there, too. ”

“ Maybe if Willie stayed there, the bacteria of his body would live on, and be washed into the sea. The water was warm and there were no enemies to destroy them and there were plants to feed them. Perhaps, Willie was right. Maybe he was the seed of life coming to this planet; and in a million years men might walk these shores.
Tom straightened up. He took a deep breath and looked around the little cove, and then back to Willie.
"It's your planet, now, Willie. Willie's Planet from now on. What Bart put in the log and what spacemen will call it as they go by, will be two different things. ”

“ Bart said. "I'll even put it up for a vote."
"Okay," Tom said, thinking of walking in the sun, feeling firm ground under his feet. "It would be a shame to come all this way and then not be able to say we had explored the country."
"No," Willie said quickly. "It's dangerous. And—and besides, we'd have to go in quarantine when we got back."
"So we go in quarantine," Bart said. "We'll get paid for it." He turned to the control board. "Buzz Pudge, so he can get ready." He began punching buttons.
They went around to the middle of the day side of the planet, swinging in closer. ”

“ Willie, I'm sending you back for a check-up when we get in. You can't seem to do a darn thing anymore, without having somebody doublecheck it. Tom and I have had to navigate the ship most of this trip, when you were supposed to do it. There's no place out here for a man that can't do his job. It puts too much on the others. I think you need a long rest or something."
Willie sat there, his face white, blinking his eyes rapidly. Then he lurched to the door, his chair spinning behind him. Pudge got up and went to the galley.
"What the hell did you do that for?" Tom asked Bart. ”

“ The wave lengths of radio and TV were checked and recorded.
One special instrument, sealed in its cabinet and booby-trapped with explosives against tampering, probed for the faint waves of any kind of life, down to single cells in the seas. ”