The Co-ordinator came to his feet and sighed. He still hated to see them go. "If there is no other discussion ..."
Specialist Joseph Chessman stood stolidly before a viewing screen. Theoretically he was on watch. Actually his eyes were unseeing, there was nothing to see. The star pattern changed so slowly as to be all but permanent.
Not that every other task on board was not similar. One man could have taken the _Pedagogue_ from the Solar System to Rigel, just as easily as its sixteen-hand crew was doing. Automation at its ultimate, not even the steward department had tasks adequately to fill the hours.
He had got beyond the point of yawning, his mind was a blank during these hours of duty. He was a stolid, bear of a man, short and massive of build.
A voice behind him said, "Second watch reporting. Request permission to take over the bridge."
Chessman turned and it took a brief moment for the blankness in his eyes to fade into life. "Hello Kennedy, you on already? Seems like I just got here." He muttered in self-contradiction, "Or that I've been here a month."
Technician Jerome Kennedy grinned. "Of course, if you want to stay ..."
Chessman said glumly, "What difference does it make where you are? What are they doing in the lounge?"
Kennedy looked at the screen, not expecting to see anything and accomplishing just that. "Still on their marathon argument."
Just to be saying something, Kennedy said, "How do you stand in the big debate?"
"I don't know. I suppose I favor Plekhanov. How we're going to take a bunch of savages and teach them modern agriculture and industrial methods in fifty years under democratic institutions, I don't know. I can see them putting it to a vote when we suggest fertilizer might be a good idea." He didn't feel like continuing the conversation. "See you later, Kennedy," and then, as an afterthought, formally, "Relinquishing the watch to Third Officer."
As he left the compartment, Jerry Kennedy called after him, "Hey, what's the course!"
Chessman growled over his shoulder, "The same it was last month, and the same it'll be next month." It wasn't much of a joke but it was the only one they had between themselves.
In the ship's combination lounge and mess he drew a cup of coffee. Joe Chessman, among whose specialties were propaganda and primitive politics, was third in line in the expedition's hierarchy. As such he participated in the endless controversy dealing with overall strategy but only as a junior member of the firm. Amschel Mayer and Leonid Plekhanov were the center of the fracas and right now were at it hot and heavy.