The Stoker and the Stars | Page 6

goods, and giving us things we needed when we
told them we wanted them. After a while, Serenus was going a little
deeper into Jek territory, and when she wore out, the two replacements
let us trade with the Lud, too. Then 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 spelling and
typographical errors have been corrected without note.

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Stoker and the Stars, by
Algirdas Jonas Budrys (AKA John A. Sentry)
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE STOKER
AND THE STARS ***
***** This file should be named 22967.txt or 22967.zip ***** This
and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/9/6/22967/
Produced by Greg Weeks, Bruce Albrecht, Stephen Blundell and the
Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will be
renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set
forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying
and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the
PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge
for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you do not
charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the rules is

very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose such as
creation of derivative works, reports, performances and research. They
may be modified and printed and given away--you may do practically
ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is subject to
the trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.

*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE PLEASE READ
THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work (or
any other work associated in any way