 Why does Martin prefer to live on the yacht?
By EVELYN E. SMITH Illustrated by DILLON [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction August 1957. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] No one, least of all Martin, could dispute that a man's life should be guarded by his kin—but by those who hadn't been born yet? Nobody in the neighborhood was surprised when Martin's mother disappeared and Ninian came to take care of him. Mothers had a way of disappearing around those parts and the kids were often better off without them. Martin was no exception. As for his father, Martin had never had one. He'd been a war baby, born of one of the tides of soldiers—enemies and allies, both—that had engulfed the country in successive waves and bought or taken the women. Besides, if she really was his great-great-grand-daughter, as she said, why would she tell him to call her " Aunt Ninian "? Maybe he was only eleven, but he'd been around and he knew just what the score was. He loved to bait her, as he had loved to bait his mother. It was safer with Ninian, though, because when he pushed her too far, she would cry instead of mopping up the floor with him. "But I can't understand," he would say, keeping his face straight. "He's dissatisfied with the current social order and killing you is part of an elaborate plan he's formulated to change it. What's it all about in straight gas?" "Oh, just don't ask any questions," Ninian said petulantly. So Martin held his peace, because, on the whole, he liked things the way they were. All the people he knew lived in scabrous tenement apartments like his, but she seemed to think it was disgusting. "So if you don't like it, clean it up," he suggested.
 Martin is used to being isolated now. The people on land live in a different world than he does.
 Martin is used to being isolated now. The people on land live in a different world than he does.  The people on land were always at war. Martin wants no part of it.  The people on land are too different from the cousins. Living on the yacht avoids questions from locals.  Martin thinks being on the ocean will make it harder for Conrad to find him.