Detringer and Captain Macmillan

Detringer and Captain Macmillan’s relationship is the story’s clearest instance of sympathy surviving a collision with official duty. Their first encounter establishes an affinity that makes Detringer seem less alien to Macmillan than the human security officer Colonel Kettelman does. Later, Macmillan presides over the sentence that sends Detringer back into space. He does not overturn the exile, but arranges its enforcement in a way that gives Detringer fuel for the journey. Their bond therefore rests not on rescue or agreement, but on a difficult distinction between refusing a judgment and carrying it out humanely.

The First Meeting

When Earth’s first alien is subjected to an exhaustive round of questions, Edward Makepeace Macmillan steps forward to rescue him. Macmillan has begun to feel ashamed that he neglected his official duties, but his intervention is also practical: Detringer is struggling to explain matters that the interviewers can scarcely comprehend. Colonel Kettelman joins them as the officer responsible for security, and the two officials briefly contend over who should meet the alien first and whether the meeting should be joint.

They settle on a division of roles. Macmillan, as the symbolic representative of Earth’s peoples, will have the first, ceremonial meeting; Kettelman will meet Detringer afterward in an explicitly action-oriented capacity. The arrangement gives Macmillan the first personal contact, but also places limits around it: the encounter is designated ceremonial before either man knows how much mutual understanding it will produce.

A Meeting of Temperaments

The conversation between Macmillan and Detringer goes well because both men approach difference with tact. They share relativistic outlooks on most things and show a willingness to try to understand a point of view other than their own. They like each other. Macmillan is surprised by the strength of that response: Detringer, the visitor from another world, feels less alien to him than Kettelman, his fellow human and colleague.

That contrast makes their meeting more than a courteous diplomatic formality. The story has introduced Detringer amid scrutiny of his habits, beliefs, and private life; Macmillan instead meets him through the possibility of sympathetic understanding. Their rapport does not remove the differences between them, or protect Detringer from the political and legal consequences of his past. It does, however, establish that Macmillan’s later official actions take place against a personal regard for the person being judged.

From Rapport to Judgment

The relationship is tested after Ichor reveals the circumstances of Detringer’s case. Detringer had considered submitting to an operation, even wanting to destroy himself to prevent his involuntarily treacherous voice box from disclosing information. But the Ferlang authorities had forbidden him to permit tampering with or destruction of himself until he had completed the State’s bidding. After hearing the account, Macmillan interrupts Kettelman’s conclusion that the story is complete and asks what Detringer’s crimes actually were. Detringer lists his Acts of Incredible Grossness, Willful Disobedience, and final Act of Overt Malevolent Violence; Ichor confirms the account.

Kettelman is ready to pronounce judgment, but Macmillan first establishes whether Detringer has ever belonged to Ferlang’s armed forces. Detringer says no, and Ichor corroborates him. Macmillan then argues that Detringer is a civilian and must be judged and sentenced by a civilian authority rather than a military one. This insistence changes who will decide the case: Macmillan claims the responsibility himself, telling Kettelman that he may do so unless Kettelman intends to take command of the ship by force. Kettelman declines, unwilling to risk a black mark on his record, and tells Macmillan to proceed.

Exile, Enforced

Macmillan tells Detringer that personal inclination cannot guide the decision. Ferlang has judged him, Macmillan says, and it would be ill-advised and politically improper to rescind that judgment. He therefore continues Detringer’s sentence of perpetual exile, adding that it will be enforced more stringently than before. To Kettelman, this sounds like a severe ruling; Detringer stands firm and meets Macmillan’s gaze without wavering.

The sentence then acquires a specific and consequential form. Macmillan rules that Detringer’s stay on the planet is an unintended amenity, orders him to leave the refuge immediately, and directs that he return to the empty reaches of space. He asks Kettelman to carry out the sentence and calculates that the Marines can fill Detringer’s fuel tanks in approximately two hours. Once refueled, Detringer must leave at once. Kettelman recognizes that fuel was what Detringer wanted all along, but Macmillan answers that the prisoner’s desires are irrelevant to the judgment. His distinction is exact: he is making Detringer go, not simply giving him what he asked for.

The Meaning of Their Parting

Macmillan’s ruling preserves the authority of Ferlang’s sentence while determining the conditions under which it is carried out. The result is deliberately double-edged: Detringer is expelled from the planet, yet the fuel provided by the Earth crew makes departure possible. Macmillan does not claim to have pardoned him, and he does not allow Kettelman to recast the practical outcome as proof that Detringer has obtained his wish. The personal sympathy established at their first meeting remains subordinate to the public judgment, but it is visible in the concrete terms of enforcement.

Detringer bows to show that he accepts the ruling, keeps a straight face, and leaves the Earth ship. At nightfall he blasts off with Ichor, who is now more faithful after being freed from his compulsion. In space, Ichor hopes that Macmillan will not get into trouble over the decision. Detringer answers that Macmillan seemed capable of taking care of himself. The exchange gives their relationship a quiet final note: Detringer has not been rescued from exile, but he recognizes the captain’s agency and the risk surrounding his ruling. Their connection survives as mutual regard expressed through a judgment neither man can simply set aside.