question:  Why was the mission of the Pandora initially referred to as a “fool’s errand”?
context: They were something more—and something less—they were, in short, humanity's hopes for survival! [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from Worlds of If Science Fiction, September 1961. The Starship Pandora creaked and groaned as her landing pads settled unevenly in the mucky surface of the ugly world outside. She seemed to be restless to end her fool's errand here, two hundred light years from the waiting hordes on Earth. The starlanes between Earth and her potential colonies were rough on the men who traveled them now. The blobs were a peculiarity of this planet about which nobody knew anything. Earth couldn't turn out enough starmen in the schools, so promising kids were being shipped out for training as cadets on their twelfth birthday. The two he'd drawn, Kaufman and Pinelli, seemed to be totally devoid of any sense of caution. But something had happened to the exploration party fifteen years back, and to the more recent ship under Hennessy that was sent to check up. The Sol-type sun must be rising, since there was a dim light. Even the deep gorge where they'd found Hennessy's carefully buried ship was completely hidden by the fog. Earth had ordered him to detour here, after leaving his load of deep-sleep stored colonists on Official World 71, to check on any sign of Hennessy. Now the three were streaking at fantastic speed to a spot near the ship, to hover excitedly above something that moved there. One, at the front, was stuttering into life, and Gwayne dashed for it as the exit port slid back. At a gesture, the jeep rolled down the ramp, grinding its gears into second as it picked up speed. The creatures dived downward into lower ground, beginning to disappear into the mists. Then it cleared to show the mob of creatures doubling back on their own trail to confuse the pursuers. A spear crunched against the windshield from behind, and Gwayne caught it before it could foul the steering wheel.
output:  The crew hadn’t found anything new or dangerous.
options:  The original exploration party had already reported back about the planet.  They had already learned everything they could about the blobs.  They had found Hennessy’s crew.  The crew hadn’t found anything new or dangerous.