Unearthly Neighbors by Chad Oliver

about Charlie—that’s up to him. But I can go back.”
    “Alone?”
    “Why not? The worst that can happen is that I’ll get myself knocked off. What difference will that make?”
    “Monte, I admire your guts. But I’ve seen it happen a thousand times—a man loses his wife and he thinks it’s the end of the world. It isn’t. You’re still young—”
    “Creeping crud! I’ve got to go back. I’ve got to live with myself, Louise or no Louise. Suppose you were sent out on a big assignment and you lost the first skirmish. Would you run for home? Would you?”
    York hesitated. “Maybe. If I saw that there was no hope at all—”
    “But you don’t know that! We don’t even know what happened down there, not really. We’ve got enough of the language now so that we can talk to them. We made some progress. Look, you’re clear on all this. It’s down in black and white that I’m in charge of all relations with the natives. We came out here to stay a year. I want that year. You can’t just order me to go home, not when the ship is in no danger at all. That won’t help what happened. We’ve got to try again.”
    York poured out another drink and handed it over. “Calm down. Just what do you propose to do? Go back down there with your popgun and start blazing away?” Monte sat down and swallowed his drink at a gulp. “I swear to you that there will be no more killing. Not even in self-defense.”
    York looked at him and nodded. “I believe that. But where will it get you? You must have some sort of plan.”
    “I do. I’m going down there and I’m going to win their confidence. I’m going to find out what makes them tick. When I understand them I can deal with them. I’m going to give Heidelman his peaceful contact if it kills me.”
    “That’s not a plan. That’s an ultimatum. We can’t trust those people—they’ve proved that. We’ve got to consider our own security.”
    Monte smiled. “That sounds pretty familiar, Bill. That’s the old, old road that leads to nowhere. I can’t trust him. He can’t trust me. So wouldn’t it be better to drop a big fat bomb on him before he drops one on me? Do you want to start that up all over again? Do you want that to be the history of Earth’s first meeting with other men?”
    “You gave them every chance to be friendly!” York was a little red in the face; this was a touchy subject. “You bent over backwards. What did it get you? There’s no damn sense in it! I can’t let you go back down there and get yourself killed. That is my responsibility.”
    Monte grinned; he was feeling better. “I didn’t know you cared.”
    “Cut it out. I’ll go this far with you—I’ll give you a week. At the end of that time, I want a plan—a real plan. And you’ll have to sell me on it, I warn you. I want a plan that gives a reasonable prospect for success. I want a plan that will ensure your safety. I want a plan we can show the boys back home that makes it dead certain that no more natives get hurt, no matter what good excuses we have. I want the works, in writing.”
    “You don’t want much, do you?”
    Admiral York permitted himself a smile. “As the man said, you buttered your bread—now lie in it.”
    Monte stood up and stuck out his hand. York took it.
    “You’ve got yourself a deal, Bill. Thanks. I won’t forget it.”
    “If this backfires, neither one of us will ever forget it. But good luck. And try to get some sleep, will you?”
    “Sleep? Who has time for sleep?”
    Monte turned and walked out of the room.
    He hurried along the metal catwalks with the great ship all around him, feeling more alive than he had felt in a long time. There were plans to be made. He stuck his pipe in his mouth and set out to find Charlie Jenike.

9
    He found Charlie Jenike where he had known he would be: crouched over his notebooks and recording equipment in the cold little box-like room Charlie used for his linguistics lab. Charlie was so wrapped up in his work