_All during its lifetime Earth had been deluged ...
overwhelmed ... submerged in an endless torrent
of words. Was even its death to be stripped
of dignity by the cackling of the mass media?_
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Amazing Stories April 1962
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Kellon thought sourly that he wasn't commanding a star-ship, he was
running a travelling circus. He had aboard telaudio men with tons of
equipment, pontifical commentators who knew the answer to anything,
beautiful females who were experts on the woman's angle, pompous
bureaucrats after publicity, and entertainment stars who had come along
for the same reason.
He had had a good ship and crew, one of the best in the Survey. _Had_
had. They weren't any more. They had been taken off their proper job of
pushing astrographical knowledge ever further into the remote regions
of the galaxy, and had been sent off with this cargo of costly people
on a totally unnecessary mission.