What Need of Man? Page 4

reason why they gave Bannister the project to beginwith.

  So Bannister is now a triumphant hero, despite the societies for theprevention of cruelty to animals. But nobody understood it. Bannisterput a vehicle on the moon. We were the first to do it. We provedsomething by doing nothing. Perhaps the situation of true classifiedinformation is not too healthy a one, at that. You see, we've hadrockets with that kind of power for an awfully long time now. Maybesome of them know what he's up to. When I think about that, I reallybecome frightened.

  * * * * *

  The monkey, I suppose, is dead. The most we can hope for is that hedied fast. It's very like another kind of miserable hope I felt once,a long time ago, for a lot of people who could be offered little morethan hope for a fast death, because of something somebody was tryingto prove. There's some consolation this time. It's really only amonkey.

  This I know, they'll never publish a picture of the vehicle. Someonemight start to wonder why the cabin seems equipped to carry a man.

  * * * * *

  When you're out in a clear night in summer, the sky looks veryfriendly, the moon a big pleasant place where nothing at all canhappen to you. The vehicle used in Project Argus had a porthole. Ican't imagine why. The monkey must have been able to see out theporthole. Did he notice, I wonder, whether the earth looks friendlyfrom out there.

  THE END

  * * * * *