FAREWELL MESSAGE By DAVID MASON _V'gu found Earth primitive and crude._ _Its hydrogen bombs, for instance...._ [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Science Fiction Adventures April 1958 Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] There was the alien spaceship. It squatted in the middle of the airfield's main runway, in the way of every plane landing and taking off, to the complete confusion of traffic control. The airport people had asked V'gu, politely, to move it. He had looked at them with blank indifference, and gone on making notes on Terran marriage rites. Nobody had suggested _forcing_ V'gu to move his ship. The ship looked as heavy as a battle cruiser--it probably was armed--and it did not look as if it could be moved by anything short of a hydrogen bomb. V'gu, when told about hydrogen bombs, had smiled and implied that such weapons were about on par with stone axes. The governments of the world treated V'gu with respect, and informed their peoples that he was merely a visiting student, with no intention of harming them, and should be given every courtesy, according to the best traditions of hospitality to strangers. So far, he had not become angry at anyone. It was not too difficult to be courteous to V'gu. He looked reasonably pleasant: the standard number of arms and legs, one head, and only a slight tint of green to the skin. The green tint had caused one restaurant in the southern United States some debate before they would permit him a table, but V'gu had not been angered; he had merely smiled and noted it down in his notes about taboos. In fact, the only thing that made it slightly difficult to be courteous to V'gu was his air of superiority. He paid for services and sample objects and information by trading strange gadgets which could do fabulous things, and which were immediately patentable by the lucky owners, but he passed out the priceless gadgets with the air of a civilized man handing out glass beads and useless gimcracks to savages. It was a question how long before someone felt enough insulted by this air of superiority to lose his temper and kill the alien being. The governments of the world were nervously protective of V'gu, trying to postpone and prevent any such murder. They were afraid of a space fleet or police force that might come to inquire what had happened to him, if he came to harm. At last, to the relief of governments, and to the joy of the traffic control department of the airport where his ship still obstructed traffic, V'gu was about to go home. His ship was filled with photographs, notes and souvenirs. He announced that he had spent enough years in a tour of strange planets to complete his course of study. He announced a farewell speech.