Adventures in the Far Future & Tales of Outer Space — page 153: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

“Well,” said Jorun, “the ships will be here tomorrow or the next day, and it'll take another day or so to get all your people aboard. You have that long to decide, but after that it’ll be too late. Think about it, | beg of you. As for me. I'll be too busy to argue further.” “You are a good man,” said Kormt, “and a wise one in your fashion. But you are blind. There is something dead inside you.” He waved one huge gnarled hand. “Look around you, Jorun of Fulkhis. This isEarth. This is the old home of all humankind. You cannot go off and forget it. Man cannot do so. It is in him, in his blood and bones and soul; he will carry Earth within him forever.” Jorun’s eyes traveled along the arc of the hand. He stood on the edge of the town. Behind him were its houses—low, white, half-timbered, roofed with thatch or red tile, smoke rising from the chimneys; carved galleries overhung the narrow, cobbled, crazily twisting streets; he heard the noise of wheels and wooden clogs, the shouts of children at play. Beyond that were trees and the incredible ruined walls of Sol City. In front of him, the wooded hillS were cleared and a gentle landscape of neat fields and orchards rolled down toward the distant glitter of the sea; scattered farm buildings, drowsy cattle, winding gravel roads, fence walls of ancient marble and granite, all dreaming under the sun. He drew a deep breath. It was pungent in his nostrils. It smelled of leaf mold, plowed earth baking in the warmth, Summery trees and gardens, a remote ocean odor of salt and kelp and fish. He thought that no two planets ever had quite the same smell, and that none was as rich as Terra’s. “This is a fair world,” he said slowly. “It is the only one,” said Kormt. “Man came from here; and to this, in the end, he must return.” “| wonder—” Jorun sighed. “Take me; not one atom of my body was from this soil before | landed. My people lived on CORniclooo SS (SO)