Astounding Stories, June, 1931

A seasoned veteran of the interstellar Special Patrol Service finally finds the time to set his own record straight. In a quiet moment at the Ertak base, he discovers a cryptic log entry about a stowaway—an apparently unhinged traveler claimed to be from the far‑future year 2071. The narrator, now retired, rolls back the dusty archives and muses on the contrast between the lofty scientists who fill their days with abstract calculations and the gritty, hands‑on work that keeps the universe moving.

He is summoned back to Earth for a routine reorganization of the emergency outpost, a mission that offers a nostalgic glimpse of his home planet drifting into view on the ship’s display. As the familiar clouds of the world he left behind swell on the screen, he reflects on the strange pull that ties every explorer back to their origin, even after wandering through alien jungles and distant moons. The story teases the mystery of the time‑lost visitor while grounding the narrative in the everyday realities of a career spent at the edge of known space.