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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/32901-h.zip b/32901-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..74de9a7 --- /dev/null +++ b/32901-h.zip diff --git a/32901-h/32901-h.htm b/32901-h/32901-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..05392d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/32901-h/32901-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,1214 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<!-- $Id: header.txt 236 2009-12-07 18:57:00Z vlsimpson $ --> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Merchants Of Venus, by A. H. Phelps, Jr. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> + +body { + margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; +} + +p { + margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; +} + +hr { + width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; +} + +table { + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; +} + +.pagenum { /* uncomment the next line for invisible page numbers */ + /* visibility: hidden; */ + position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; +} /* page numbers */ + +.linenum { + position: absolute; + top: auto; + left: 4%; +} /* poetry number */ + +.blockquot { + margin-left: 5%; + margin-right: 10%; +} + +.sidenote { + width: 20%; + padding-bottom: .5em; + padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; + padding-right: .5em; + margin-left: 1em; + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; + color: black; + background: #eeeeee; + border: dashed 1px; +} + +.bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + +.bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + +.bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + +.br {border-right: solid 2px;} + +.bbox {border: solid 2px;} + +.center {text-align: center;} + +.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + +.u {text-decoration: underline;} + +.caption {font-weight: bold;} + +/* Images */ +.figcenter { + margin: auto; + text-align: center; +} + +.figleft { + float: left; + clear: left; + margin-left: 0; + margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 1em; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +.figright { + float: right; + clear: right; + margin-left: 1em; + margin-bottom: + 1em; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-right: 0; + padding: 0; + text-align: center; +} + +/* Footnotes */ +.footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + +.footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + +.footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + +.fnanchor { + vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: + none; +} + +/* Poetry */ +.poem { + margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; + text-align: left; +} + +.poem br {display: none;} + +.poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + +.poem span.i0 { + display: block; + margin-left: 0em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i2 { + display: block; + margin-left: 2em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + +.poem span.i4 { + display: block; + margin-left: 4em; + padding-left: 3em; + text-indent: -3em; +} + + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Merchants of Venus, by A. H. Phelps + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Merchants of Venus + +Author: A. H. Phelps + +Illustrator: FREAS + +Release Date: June 19, 2010 [EBook #32901] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERCHANTS OF VENUS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + + +<div class="figcenter"> +<img src="images/cover.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + + +<h1>The MERCHANTS Of Venus</h1> + +<h2>By A. H. PHELPS, Jr.</h2> + +<h3>Illustrated by FREAS</h3> + +<p>[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction +March 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the +U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]</p> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="sidenote"><i>A pioneer movement is like a building—the foundation is +never built for beauty!</i></div> + + +<p>The telephone rang. Reluctantly, Rod Workham picked it up. Nothing good +had come from that phone in six years, and his sour expression was +almost an automatic reflex.</p> + +<p>"Workham here," he said.</p> + +<p>He held the phone an inch away from his ear, but the tirade exceeded his +expectations—it would have been audible a foot away:</p> + +<p>"Workham! How long do you think we're going to stand for this! At the +rate you're going, there won't be a man left on Venus or a dollar in the +budget! What kind of a personnel director are you? Don't you know this +project is vital to every person on Earth? Thirty more resignations came +in on this last mail flight."</p> + +<p>Rod put the receiver gently on his desk. General Carlson raved and +ranted this way every time a colonist quit, and Rod knew he was not +expected to answer, even if given the chance. The general would carry on +for about five minutes and then would slam down the phone himself.</p> + +<p>He dialed another number on the other phone.</p> + +<p>"This is Rod, Dave," he said when he got an answer. "Carlson is on the +other phone, yelling at my desk blotter. He says thirty more +resignations came in just now. That right?"</p> + +<p>"Close enough, Rod—twenty-three pulled out. That makes seventy-eight +per cent resigned in less than—"</p> + +<p>"Spare me the statistics—Carlson's probably blatting them right now. +How do they break down? Are they mostly farmers or technicians?"</p> + +<p>"There were only nine technicians left, and all of them quit with this +bunch. The rest were farmers." Dave Newson must be smoking his pipe, Rod +decided—grinding sounds were coming over the phone. "That doesn't leave +very much on Venus to start a colony with—a few farmers, some trappers. +And the scientific personnel—damn it, they seem to stick it out all +right—"</p> + +<p>"Their contracts are different," Rod reminded him. "They go on a two +year hitch and then come back to Earth if they want to. The ones who are +there are the ones who can take it and are signed up again."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>There was a speculative pause on the other end of the line. "Say, Rod," +Newson said slowly. "Why not leave this last batch of quitters right +where they are? Every one of them. They signed up for the project with +their eyes open. Why don't you just refuse to bring them home? ... +they'd have to make a go of the colony to save their filthy necks!"</p> + +<p>Rod grinned nastily. "I'd like to do it—but even General Carlson +wouldn't dare. We'd never get another colonist off Earth, once it got +out. They wouldn't trust us. Our first problem is to get a +self-supporting society on Venus—and that might do it, all right. But +our main job is to relieve the crowding on Earth, and that means large +numbers of people will have to go willingly later on. If we get tough +with these babies, who will take a chance later on that we won't repeat +the trick?"</p> + +<p>"But we lose a hundred potential colonists every time one of these +quitters starts talking about why he left! More harm is done by letting +them come back than would result from leaving them where they are." +Again the speculative pause. "Maybe you could shoot them on arrival?"</p> + +<p>"I'll suggest it to the general when I see him," Rod said, "if he +doesn't shoot me first. Now, can you get me the files on this latest +group? And I'd like to see the staff psychologist here, along with all +the interviewers who handled and passed the group. We'll see what we can +salvage out of this. And if you see Jaimie, send him along too, will +you? Maybe our gambling historian can find us something useful in the +Project Record."</p> + +<p>"The files are already on the way. And I told Biddington you'd probably +want to see him—he said he'd be along in about ten minutes. I haven't +located all the interviewers yet. Jaimie's been right here, trying to +talk me into a game of Nim and protesting he never heard of binary +numbers. I'll send him up, but keep your hand on your wallet. If you +need anything else, I'll be right here."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Rod thanked him and hung up, shaking his head. Dave Newsom was too good +a man to be stuck on a government project—he ought to get out before +the trouble started. Anyone who worked for Rod Workham on Project Venus +was likely to end up with a bad name. They lived under the ax. The only +person who could be sure of his job was Rod himself. He'd been +recommended by a committee of top men in his field, and no other +personnel man would accept the job if he were removed. Also, most of his +men would leave the project if General Carlson bounced him, for they had +been telling him so ever since the job had gotten hot.</p> + +<p>But there was the danger that the general might decide to bypass +Personnel in selecting colonists—or, what was more probable, might try +to tame the planet with a military outpost.</p> + +<p>Rod could hardly blame the man for his feelings. The job was vital, and +everyone was intensely interested in making a go of it. Scientific +agriculture had gone about as far as it could; hydroponics had already +begun to shoulder the load required by an overpopulated planet. But the +fact known to most intelligent people on Earth was that either new room +was found in this kind of emergency, some place where people could go +and live under nearly the same standards, or else some drastic changes +in living standards would be required of all. And absolute and rigidly +enforced birth control would have to go into effect. And all the +attendant causes for race wars, nationalist wars, and have-not wars +would crop up.</p> + +<p>But the majority of the people wouldn't move to an undeveloped planet. +You couldn't send ordinary citizens as pioneers. For one thing, they +wouldn't want to go. For another, the new community wouldn't last long +if you forced them to go—the average person had neither the attitudes +nor the physique needed to make over a wilderness.</p> + +<p>The problem was to find people who would create a community on a new +planet and develop an integrated society there. This had meant rigid +selection, careful psychological preparation and a terrifically +expensive transportation system to get the people there and keep them +supplied. And the job had to be done soon. Economists predicted that +thirty years were left on Earth under present standards, maybe fifty. If +the population couldn't be thinned out one way by then, it would have to +be done by another.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>For six years, now, Rod had worked on the job of establishing a +self-supporting colony on Venus. Three different colonies had been +started, and each had died out in less than two years. Resignations +would come in slowly at first, and then in a rush, until only twenty or +thirty people would be left, of which the majority would be short-term +scientific teams. By the terms of the colonists' contracts no man could +be left on Venus more than a month after his resignation; so the bulk of +two colonies had simply had to be shipped back to Earth, and plans made +for another try.</p> + +<p>And now the third colony was quitting, rushing home, leaving nothing on +the jungle planet but a few small clearings soon to be taken over by the +vegetation.</p> + +<p>Several times in the last year Rod had thought of volunteering himself; +but he knew it for a futile gesture. He wasn't five hundred men. He +didn't even have the special skills or physique that were needed.</p> + +<p>His gloomy thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the men.</p> + +<p>Biddington was first. Then in twos and threes came the interviewers, all +looking like the home team at the half, three touchdowns behind and just +waiting for their coach.</p> + +<p>If psychologists made good colonists, Rod thought, here would be a dozen +more volunteers.</p> + +<p>The arrival of Homer Jaimison brought the only cheerful face in the +group. The project historian was a young man, just over thirty, and +considerably over six feet. He wore the expression of a man who is +itching to do something. Jaimie had never really been busy yet on the +project—the colonies had died out so quickly that his work had been +mostly clerical, and he'd had to fill in time as best he could. So far +he had done it making up improbable contests of skill for drinks, with +such a weird assortment of shifting rules and scoring that he hadn't +paid for a drink since his arrival. He made a valuable contribution to +the project, however, since he helped to keep the group's minds off +their troubles a part of the time.</p> + +<p>Rod genuinely liked Jaimie, and expected to miss him strongly when Venus +became self-supporting to the point where the historian would have to +complete his work in residence.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>When they were all seated, Rod leaned against his desk and said, "I can +see you all know why we're here. To begin with, I'm not going to accuse +anyone of mistakes. Each of you is the best possible man in the country +for his job. If you weren't, you wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have asked +for you; and General Carlson wouldn't have kept you. So there's nothing +to feel bad about. If you can't do this work, no one can. +Self-recrimination is foolish when you've been put on an impossible +problem. I didn't call you in to bawl you out, but to ask you if we +should continue spending project funds for nothing."</p> + +<p>Jaimie raised his eyebrows at this speech, but said nothing.</p> + +<p>"What do you mean, impossible problem?" one of the interviewers +objected. "We know what we need—it's just that we're still making some +mistake in selection that we haven't corrected."</p> + +<p>"That's right, Rod." Biddington, the project psychologist, took up the +dissension. "We know something is wrong with the selection techniques, +or in the personality patterns we consider necessary. But it's only a +problem of finding out what it is. The problem is by no means +insoluble."</p> + +<p>"As long as you're not ready to give us up," another interviewer said, +"we aren't going to quit."</p> + +<p>"You can't afford to get defeatist about this, Rod," Biddington went on. +"This project is too important to fail. Whether you like it or not, your +experience is too valuable for you to back out."</p> + +<p>Rod grinned and held up his hands. "All right. That's the reaction I +wanted. If you all still think we can get somewhere, we may as well try +to analyze this last group." He sat down at his desk. "I have the files +here, along with the tapes of the interviews. Let's see what difference +we can find between those who hung on this long, and the ones that quit +after the first three months."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The group settled down to trying to differentiate between a man who +couldn't do a job but could try for six months longer than the next. +They took the colonists carefully apart, trait by trait, and put them +all back. They reviewed the colonists' records from birth, and compared +them in endless combinations. Jaimie came into the discussion to show +what the status of the colonies had been at the time each colonist had +resigned: what diseases had been encountered when one man quit; how much +jungle had been cleared before another did.</p> + +<p>Files came and went in a continuous flux; coffee and sandwiches came and +grew cold and stale. The air became gray with smoke.</p> + +<p>Nothing.</p> + +<p>The same results had come out of every investigation: You needed a man +who was unstable to get him to leave Earth. You needed a man who was +stable to have him stay on Venus. You needed initiative and +resourcefulness to survive on a new planet. You needed a man who had so +little initiative and resourcefulness that the competition on Earth +wouldn't be profitable. You needed a young, healthy, vigorous specimen. +You needed an older, experienced, more mature person.</p> + +<p>You needed A and you needed non-A.</p> + +<p>And even if you found people with the factors balanced just right, +assuming you knew what the balance should be, where did you find five +hundred of them?</p> + +<p>The discussion went on. The solutions got wilder and more absurd. Take +whole orphan asylums and bring them up on Venus under military guard. +Build a development in the steamiest, nastiest jungle, and test recruits +for the colony there. Send African natives.</p> + +<p>The men were beginning to make the whole thing look impossible again, so +Rod decided to call a halt until they could get a better perspective. +Tired himself, he dismissed them. They left quietly, not arguing in +little groups or mumbling half-formed ideas to themselves, the way a +team that has been progressing will do.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Only Jaimie stayed. He remained sitting hunched up near the desk, in the +same position he'd held for the last hour. When the others had all left, +he grinned at Rod.</p> + +<p>"You know, for a group of practicing psychologists, this is the softest +bunch of suckers I've seen."</p> + +<p>"You've proved that to your own profit several times so far," Rod +answered, rubbing his face as though smoothing the wrinkles could remove +the tension. "Who have you robbed lately?"</p> + +<p>"I'm talking about your performance just now. Here comes the whole crew, +walking in with their heads hanging to the floor. Every last man was +ready to tell you he was quitting—that the problem was insoluble. And +before anyone can say a word, you tell them that the whole thing is +impossible and imply that <i>you</i> want to quit. Even Biddington fell for +it. You can't back out now, Rod, they say. Let's not have defeatist talk +out of you, of all people—"</p> + +<p>"I did feel that way," Rod said. "I'm just about ready to quit. I think +that whatever our mistake has been, we can't do any better than we have. +We just don't know enough."</p> + +<p>Jaimie wasn't grinning now. "What will happen if you quit?"</p> + +<p>"My guess is that Carlson will set up a military outpost there. Make a +clearing, build a fort, maybe a town. Then he'll try to get people to +come and live in it." Rod sighed. "It won't work. They'll want to know +why the planet had to be colonized that way—why wouldn't the <i>first</i> +colonists stay?"</p> + +<p>"I agree. The military outpost is a fine method for spreading a culture +to an existing civilization. Rome did much for Europe that way; the most +powerful cities sprang up near the Roman forts and roads. But as a +method for inducing the populace to a new place, it doesn't work. A free +people will not willingly move into a military township." Jaimie looked +sharply at Rod. "So what do you intend to do—run out and turn it all +over to Carlson?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know, Jaimie. I just don't know. Six years is a long time."</p> + +<p>"Damn it, Rod, you had much worse jobs than this one in industry! How +did you select a computer man, a communications man, an engineering +physicist, out of a group of men with similar backgrounds? It seems to +me a harder problem than this."</p> + +<p>"We don't really know much, as I said," Rod said. "Ours has often been +an imitation science. When we had to select a computer man, we just gave +a battery of tests to successful computer men—structural vision, +vocabulary, tri-dimensional memory, ink-blots, syllogisms, practically +everything. Then we weeded out the tests whose scores appeared to have +no statistical relevance. Any future computer man had to duplicate those +results, whatever they were. If we had a recently pioneered civilization +around, Jaimie, you'd find this whole staff running through it like +pollsters before an election."</p> + +<p>"What was all this talk about balance, instability, initiative and all +the rest?" asked Jamie.</p> + +<p>"That's what we do when we don't know, Jaimie. We try to predict what we +need; then we try to find ways of finding it in people."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Jaimie made an explosive sound. "But I thought you <i>must</i> have +progressed from empirical methods! I would have said something long ago, +if I hadn't thought you knew what you were doing all the time!" The +historian was on his feet, stalking about the room. "Why didn't you tell +me about this before?"</p> + +<p>"Why? What difference would it have made?" Rod frowned, failing to +understand the other's excitement. "Sure, we've progressed from the +older methods, in that we now have pretty complete data for all present +job descriptions. And we can synthesize data for a new job, if it's not +too different. But there isn't any information on the kind of person +needed in a new world. What the devil are you getting so upset about?"</p> + +<p>The historian threw himself into a chair and glared at Rod. "If you +couldn't find the kind of people you needed to test, you could have +asked a historian if he knew anything about them!"</p> + +<p>Rod shook his head puzzledly. "Subjective data, such as that—"</p> + +<p>"Don't bring subjectivity into this, damn it! We get enough of that from +physical scientists." Jaimie held himself in the chair, almost shaking +with the intensity of his feeling. "Look, Rod, you know I want to see +the project succeed. And you admit that you haven't got an answer. Well, +baby, I think I have! It's an idea that has about a fifty-fifty chance +of being right in this case ... would you be willing to try it?"</p> + +<p>"If I had been betting on your side for the last few months, I'd be +several dollars richer," Rod smiled. "Yes, I think I might go along with +your idea, if you can convince me it has an even chance for success. +Three failures out of three tries makes for poorer odds than that. What +do you have in mind?"</p> + +<p>"H'm," Jaimie said. "I imagine your stock isn't so high with old +scabbard and blade right now, is it?"</p> + +<p>Rod laughed. "I don't think he'll shoot on sight, but I'm not positive +enough to stand in front of a lighted window."</p> + +<p>"Well, then—if I had an idea you agreed with, the surest way to kill it +would be to have you present it to him, right? And if you <i>fight</i> it, +that's sure to convince Carlson!" Jaimie thought hard for a moment, +tapping the chair-arm. "Rod, I have to do something you aren't going to +like. Do you trust me?"</p> + +<p>"You mean you're going to try this without even discussing it with the +personnel group?"</p> + +<p>"That's right. If I don't tell you what I'm doing, I know you'll fight +it. And I'll need that kind of help from you to push Carlson into doing +it.</p> + +<p>"But I have to do something far worse than that, Rod. I'm going to tell +the general that you knew my plan from the start, and have been sitting +on it because I'm not a psychologist. I'm going to ruin your reputation +with the worst set of lies since the Red purges. I'll say you're +fighting me, because you can't accept an idea that came from a man +outside of your own group. If the scheme doesn't work you'll be ruined, +because there'll be no way to retract the lies. If it does work, we can +announce that we put on an act to sell the plan to Carlson. Can you take +it?"</p> + +<p>Rod was thoughtful for a few minutes. He liked and trusted Jaimie, but +the man had no experience in this field—and this sounded like an +all-or-nothing shot.</p> + +<p>Then he remembered his despair over the latest set of resignations. He'd +been ready to quit—he had nothing to offer, and neither did his men. +Even a wild idea was worth a try, he thought grimly—he would be risking +nothing but a plan that had already failed.</p> + +<p>"Go to it, boy," he said. "And if you need a fight, you'll get a damn +good one."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>The fight with Carlson was short, and Rod was abruptly overruled. After +that Jaimie moved fast. The new colonists flocked in. Three months after +Rod's talk with him, the compounds started to fill. A shipload was a +hundred men, and each new man had to wait in a group until it was +filled. But there was no waiting now except for processing; the +compounds were full before the ships were ready.</p> + +<p>Rod had paid no attention to Jaimie's recruiting methods, thinking that +the historian's idea differed mainly in control over the colonists.</p> + +<p>Until he saw the crowds.</p> + +<p>Even from a distance, they didn't have the young look of the previous +groups. Up close, they looked like the sweepings of the slums.</p> + +<div class="figleft"> +<img src="images/illus.jpg" alt=""/> +</div> + +<p>He and Biddington talked to a few before they fully realized what Jaimie +had done. All the men were sure that Venus was a mineral paradise—gold +in the streams, uranium lodes so pure you had to wear a shield to get +near them, diamonds, silver—every treasure that had ever excited men on +Earth was scattered around the new world waiting to be picked up. That +was what Jaimie had told them.</p> + +<p>Rod got to a phone, fast.</p> + +<p>"Jaimie, you fool! I know what you're doing, and I won't put up with it! +You've told these dupes they can get rich on Venus! You intended to +attract large numbers of recruits, in the hope that some of them will be +what we need—but look at what you attracted! Crooks, gangsters, bums, +hoboes, sharecroppers and I don't know what. You got recruits all +right ... but what the hell kind of a society are you going to start +with them! And who will go and live there among them later?"</p> + +<p>"What's the matter, Workham?" Jaimie asked coldly. "Are you a racial +purist? Want only your kind of people to get to Venus?"</p> + +<p>"I don't care <i>who</i> goes, as long as they fit some standards. But to +make a decent place, you need decent people—morally clean and healthy. +Not this collection of mental cripples, alcoholics and thieves. Probably +half of them are wanted men!"</p> + +<p>He argued further, unable to believe that this was Jaimison's great +fifty-fifty chance. He said many things ... and regretted every one; for +that night the telecasts carried a recorded version of his outburst. +Jaimie had maneuvered him into saying things he didn't quite mean, so +that it looked as if he was trying to hide the all good things on Venus +and save them for his own friends. One commentator said outright that if +you weren't a college graduate recommended by one of Workham's friends, +it would cost you a thousand dollars to get on an outgoing ship. By the +next morning, half the papers in the world were after Workham's scalp.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Rod could only take the abuse and grind his teeth. How did you fight a +thing like that? You were condemned if you kept silent, and if you +answered, people nodded their heads and said, "See—he's still trying to +deny it."</p> + +<p>The failures from the old colonies were Rod's only allies. They tried to +tell people what Venus was like, and what lies Carlson and his stooge +Jaimison were using for bait. But it was pointed out that these men +naturally had a stake in the secret ... and, after all, everyone knew +how well off the returning colonists were! This was actually due to the +high premium paid to get men to go to the planet, but no one believed.</p> + +<p>Days passed. Weeks. The compounds filled, and emptied, and filled again. +People stood in lines to apply. They walked miles to appear at a +recruiting center. They fought for a place on the next ship, or the one +after that. Farmers, clerks, ragged families, hoboes, armed men, +teen-age boys and old men. Four thousand people applied in the first few +months and were shipped out. Then the crowds thinned, even though the +Get Rich propaganda continued. Soon, only a few hundred appeared where +there had been thousands; then twos and threes; at last only a dozen or +so a day, many of whom changed their minds before the full shipload had +been assembled.</p> + +<p>Rod clung to his job throughout. He had little to do, though his +department had never been formally discontinued. Sooner or later, he +knew, their services would be needed—when this cheap trick had failed. +So he and his staff remained. Studying old files, making up test +batteries, discussing survival factors, they readied themselves for the +project again. From time to time they interviewed and tested a few of +those waiting in the compounds. There was too much time to just sit +around—even this activity was a welcome diversion.</p> + +<p>As the year passed, the number of prospective colonists stopped +decreasing and held steady at about five a day. But slowly something +else changed. Among the new arrivals there began to appear engineers who +had tossed up good jobs to emigrate, farmers with their families, +school-teachers, storekeepers, lawyers, even doctors. All of them young. +Not in any great number; but their appearance was a surprise still. Then +there came two former colonists who had resigned on one of the earlier +attempts, now trying to get back to Venus without inducement of bonus, +high pay or guaranteed return.</p> + +<p>That was the day Rod decided to call on Jaimie.</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>"I have here a bottle of eight-year-old rye, Jaimie," he began. "I think +you're entitled to a drink, and I'm entitled to an explanation. Want to +swap?"</p> + +<p>"Rod!" Jaimie's bony face lit up. "It's good to see you. I've been +afraid to call you until we could admit to the hoax. Come in, come in."</p> + +<p>"Well, you did it," Rod said, after they had settled down. "I met two +former colonists in the compound today. They know there isn't gold on +Venus, and still they want to go out for free. No contract. And lately +we've been getting professional people. There was even a kid fresh out +of journalism school who wants to start up a paper. Jaimie, how did you +do it? Were we so far wrong as that?"</p> + +<p>"You did it yourself, Rod. You told me how—but you wouldn't have +believed, then. Or if you had, we never would have sold it to Carlson. +Remember, you said if there were only a recent pioneer civilization +around, you'd run to them with ink-blots and vocabulary tests? All you +needed to do was duplicate the kind of person who settled America or +Australia or California.</p> + +<p>"Well, as a historian I <i>knew</i> those people. And I knew what brought +them. So I merely put out the same kind of bait."</p> + +<p>"The same kind of bait!" Rod exclaimed. "What about freedom of religion +and freedom from oppression? Isn't that what brought people to this +country? There's no oppression to flee from these days! And even if it +was the same bait, why weren't the same kind of people attracted? You +saw that first compound full—where in that cesspool was Thomas Paine, +or Franklin, or Miles Standish?"</p> + +<p>"Franklin was born here," Jaimie grinned. "Paine didn't come over in the +first wave. And I suppose General Carlson was Miles Standish. Maybe that +kid journalist you saw was Paine's counterpart. No, Rod—the bait I held +out attracted the same kind of people initially as it always has. You +have been compromising all along on the factors you really wanted in +order to get young, healthy, moral people to Venus. The answer is simply +this: Pioneers are not necessarily young, healthy, or moral. So you +didn't get what you wanted.</p> + +<p>"You see, America wasn't only founded by pilgrims. They were actually a +minority here. We were settled by promoters, trappers, bonded servants, +exiled British deportees, pickpockets and thieves. We were explored by +French and Spanish pirates. The better element in Europe didn't come +here at first—why should they? It was dangerous. Pioneering was to the +advantage of the worst elements. They came by court order, out of +necessity, for adventure. They came for gold more than for freedom; for +a new chance more than for a new religion.</p> + +<p>"Australia was set up as a penal colony. Others went there for gold, or +to start over where they weren't known. That's the kind of person who +settles a new land—the misfits: too impulsive, drunkards, weaklings, +convicts, and fugitives from justice. Too sick in mind and body to make +a go of it where they are.</p> + +<p>"So we announced that there was a brand new world with a new chance for +everyone on it. We implied that there was wealth. We told them +everything about Venus that brought the English to America, the Spanish +to South America, the Easterners to the West, and the Middlewesterners +to California. We didn't hunt for pioneers. They came to us."</p> + +<hr style="width: 45%;" /> + +<p>Rod refilled his glass thoughtfully. "But what kind of a society will +men like that create? A fighting, lawless structure...."</p> + +<p>"That's right. And the lawless will eliminate themselves by their very +activities. Like the early West. While the doctors come in to treat +wounds, and the lawyers to plead their cases; while their wives and the +other wives will start schools and bring in school-teachers. That +society will purge itself, Rod—many of the worst will become good +citizens out of meeting the challenge of a new planet, and the rest will +disappear."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, what about the gold story?" Rod asked. "Won't they be angry +with everyone connected with the project because of the hoax?"</p> + +<p>"That was a little raw, but no worse than other gold rushes—few of the +stampeders ever found the gold they went after. The captain of one of +the rockets told me that the first few months the colonists were trying +to stow away on the returning ships. Now they send messages to friends +and relatives to come before the opportunity is gone—that's why you've +seen this better element. Our lies will soon be forgotten, and crops and +foods and minerals will be coming from Venus, and better people will go +to meet the diminished challenge on our brave new world."</p> + +<p>Rod stood up. "Well, my compliments for a job well done, Jaimie. When do +you expect to go and live there yourself? You'll have to soon, won't +you, to complete the Project Record in residence?"</p> + +<p>Jaimie nodded. "About six months from now, I think. Why?"</p> + +<p>"Good," Rod exclaimed. "We can all go together."</p> + +<p>"What are you planning to do? Volunteer?"</p> + +<p>"The whole personnel staff will be going. Here's just what we need—a +young pioneer society! We can get adequate data for future selection, a +better idea of what kind of person a colony needs at different stages of +growth." Rod grinned. "After all, your method was pretty sloppy, even if +it did work. And you sent far too many wrong people. Once we have some +good data ... anything you can do, we can do better!"</p> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Merchants of Venus, by A. H. 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H. Phelps + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Merchants of Venus + +Author: A. H. Phelps + +Illustrator: FREAS + +Release Date: June 19, 2010 [EBook #32901] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERCHANTS OF VENUS *** + + + + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + The MERCHANTS Of Venus + + By A. H. PHELPS, Jr. + + Illustrated by FREAS + +[Transcriber Note: This etext was produced from Galaxy Science Fiction +March 1954. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the +U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.] + + +[Sidenote: _A pioneer movement is like a building--the foundation is +never built for beauty!_] + + +The telephone rang. Reluctantly, Rod Workham picked it up. Nothing good +had come from that phone in six years, and his sour expression was +almost an automatic reflex. + +"Workham here," he said. + +He held the phone an inch away from his ear, but the tirade exceeded his +expectations--it would have been audible a foot away: + +"Workham! How long do you think we're going to stand for this! At the +rate you're going, there won't be a man left on Venus or a dollar in the +budget! What kind of a personnel director are you? Don't you know this +project is vital to every person on Earth? Thirty more resignations came +in on this last mail flight." + +Rod put the receiver gently on his desk. General Carlson raved and +ranted this way every time a colonist quit, and Rod knew he was not +expected to answer, even if given the chance. The general would carry on +for about five minutes and then would slam down the phone himself. + +He dialed another number on the other phone. + +"This is Rod, Dave," he said when he got an answer. "Carlson is on the +other phone, yelling at my desk blotter. He says thirty more +resignations came in just now. That right?" + +"Close enough, Rod--twenty-three pulled out. That makes seventy-eight +per cent resigned in less than--" + +"Spare me the statistics--Carlson's probably blatting them right now. +How do they break down? Are they mostly farmers or technicians?" + +"There were only nine technicians left, and all of them quit with this +bunch. The rest were farmers." Dave Newson must be smoking his pipe, Rod +decided--grinding sounds were coming over the phone. "That doesn't leave +very much on Venus to start a colony with--a few farmers, some trappers. +And the scientific personnel--damn it, they seem to stick it out all +right--" + +"Their contracts are different," Rod reminded him. "They go on a two +year hitch and then come back to Earth if they want to. The ones who are +there are the ones who can take it and are signed up again." + + * * * * * + +There was a speculative pause on the other end of the line. "Say, Rod," +Newson said slowly. "Why not leave this last batch of quitters right +where they are? Every one of them. They signed up for the project with +their eyes open. Why don't you just refuse to bring them home? ... +they'd have to make a go of the colony to save their filthy necks!" + +Rod grinned nastily. "I'd like to do it--but even General Carlson +wouldn't dare. We'd never get another colonist off Earth, once it got +out. They wouldn't trust us. Our first problem is to get a +self-supporting society on Venus--and that might do it, all right. But +our main job is to relieve the crowding on Earth, and that means large +numbers of people will have to go willingly later on. If we get tough +with these babies, who will take a chance later on that we won't repeat +the trick?" + +"But we lose a hundred potential colonists every time one of these +quitters starts talking about why he left! More harm is done by letting +them come back than would result from leaving them where they are." +Again the speculative pause. "Maybe you could shoot them on arrival?" + +"I'll suggest it to the general when I see him," Rod said, "if he +doesn't shoot me first. Now, can you get me the files on this latest +group? And I'd like to see the staff psychologist here, along with all +the interviewers who handled and passed the group. We'll see what we can +salvage out of this. And if you see Jaimie, send him along too, will +you? Maybe our gambling historian can find us something useful in the +Project Record." + +"The files are already on the way. And I told Biddington you'd probably +want to see him--he said he'd be along in about ten minutes. I haven't +located all the interviewers yet. Jaimie's been right here, trying to +talk me into a game of Nim and protesting he never heard of binary +numbers. I'll send him up, but keep your hand on your wallet. If you +need anything else, I'll be right here." + + * * * * * + +Rod thanked him and hung up, shaking his head. Dave Newsom was too good +a man to be stuck on a government project--he ought to get out before +the trouble started. Anyone who worked for Rod Workham on Project Venus +was likely to end up with a bad name. They lived under the ax. The only +person who could be sure of his job was Rod himself. He'd been +recommended by a committee of top men in his field, and no other +personnel man would accept the job if he were removed. Also, most of his +men would leave the project if General Carlson bounced him, for they had +been telling him so ever since the job had gotten hot. + +But there was the danger that the general might decide to bypass +Personnel in selecting colonists--or, what was more probable, might try +to tame the planet with a military outpost. + +Rod could hardly blame the man for his feelings. The job was vital, and +everyone was intensely interested in making a go of it. Scientific +agriculture had gone about as far as it could; hydroponics had already +begun to shoulder the load required by an overpopulated planet. But the +fact known to most intelligent people on Earth was that either new room +was found in this kind of emergency, some place where people could go +and live under nearly the same standards, or else some drastic changes +in living standards would be required of all. And absolute and rigidly +enforced birth control would have to go into effect. And all the +attendant causes for race wars, nationalist wars, and have-not wars +would crop up. + +But the majority of the people wouldn't move to an undeveloped planet. +You couldn't send ordinary citizens as pioneers. For one thing, they +wouldn't want to go. For another, the new community wouldn't last long +if you forced them to go--the average person had neither the attitudes +nor the physique needed to make over a wilderness. + +The problem was to find people who would create a community on a new +planet and develop an integrated society there. This had meant rigid +selection, careful psychological preparation and a terrifically +expensive transportation system to get the people there and keep them +supplied. And the job had to be done soon. Economists predicted that +thirty years were left on Earth under present standards, maybe fifty. If +the population couldn't be thinned out one way by then, it would have to +be done by another. + + * * * * * + +For six years, now, Rod had worked on the job of establishing a +self-supporting colony on Venus. Three different colonies had been +started, and each had died out in less than two years. Resignations +would come in slowly at first, and then in a rush, until only twenty or +thirty people would be left, of which the majority would be short-term +scientific teams. By the terms of the colonists' contracts no man could +be left on Venus more than a month after his resignation; so the bulk of +two colonies had simply had to be shipped back to Earth, and plans made +for another try. + +And now the third colony was quitting, rushing home, leaving nothing on +the jungle planet but a few small clearings soon to be taken over by the +vegetation. + +Several times in the last year Rod had thought of volunteering himself; +but he knew it for a futile gesture. He wasn't five hundred men. He +didn't even have the special skills or physique that were needed. + +His gloomy thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the men. + +Biddington was first. Then in twos and threes came the interviewers, all +looking like the home team at the half, three touchdowns behind and just +waiting for their coach. + +If psychologists made good colonists, Rod thought, here would be a dozen +more volunteers. + +The arrival of Homer Jaimison brought the only cheerful face in the +group. The project historian was a young man, just over thirty, and +considerably over six feet. He wore the expression of a man who is +itching to do something. Jaimie had never really been busy yet on the +project--the colonies had died out so quickly that his work had been +mostly clerical, and he'd had to fill in time as best he could. So far +he had done it making up improbable contests of skill for drinks, with +such a weird assortment of shifting rules and scoring that he hadn't +paid for a drink since his arrival. He made a valuable contribution to +the project, however, since he helped to keep the group's minds off +their troubles a part of the time. + +Rod genuinely liked Jaimie, and expected to miss him strongly when Venus +became self-supporting to the point where the historian would have to +complete his work in residence. + + * * * * * + +When they were all seated, Rod leaned against his desk and said, "I can +see you all know why we're here. To begin with, I'm not going to accuse +anyone of mistakes. Each of you is the best possible man in the country +for his job. If you weren't, you wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have asked +for you; and General Carlson wouldn't have kept you. So there's nothing +to feel bad about. If you can't do this work, no one can. +Self-recrimination is foolish when you've been put on an impossible +problem. I didn't call you in to bawl you out, but to ask you if we +should continue spending project funds for nothing." + +Jaimie raised his eyebrows at this speech, but said nothing. + +"What do you mean, impossible problem?" one of the interviewers +objected. "We know what we need--it's just that we're still making some +mistake in selection that we haven't corrected." + +"That's right, Rod." Biddington, the project psychologist, took up the +dissension. "We know something is wrong with the selection techniques, +or in the personality patterns we consider necessary. But it's only a +problem of finding out what it is. The problem is by no means +insoluble." + +"As long as you're not ready to give us up," another interviewer said, +"we aren't going to quit." + +"You can't afford to get defeatist about this, Rod," Biddington went on. +"This project is too important to fail. Whether you like it or not, your +experience is too valuable for you to back out." + +Rod grinned and held up his hands. "All right. That's the reaction I +wanted. If you all still think we can get somewhere, we may as well try +to analyze this last group." He sat down at his desk. "I have the files +here, along with the tapes of the interviews. Let's see what difference +we can find between those who hung on this long, and the ones that quit +after the first three months." + + * * * * * + +The group settled down to trying to differentiate between a man who +couldn't do a job but could try for six months longer than the next. +They took the colonists carefully apart, trait by trait, and put them +all back. They reviewed the colonists' records from birth, and compared +them in endless combinations. Jaimie came into the discussion to show +what the status of the colonies had been at the time each colonist had +resigned: what diseases had been encountered when one man quit; how much +jungle had been cleared before another did. + +Files came and went in a continuous flux; coffee and sandwiches came and +grew cold and stale. The air became gray with smoke. + +Nothing. + +The same results had come out of every investigation: You needed a man +who was unstable to get him to leave Earth. You needed a man who was +stable to have him stay on Venus. You needed initiative and +resourcefulness to survive on a new planet. You needed a man who had so +little initiative and resourcefulness that the competition on Earth +wouldn't be profitable. You needed a young, healthy, vigorous specimen. +You needed an older, experienced, more mature person. + +You needed A and you needed non-A. + +And even if you found people with the factors balanced just right, +assuming you knew what the balance should be, where did you find five +hundred of them? + +The discussion went on. The solutions got wilder and more absurd. Take +whole orphan asylums and bring them up on Venus under military guard. +Build a development in the steamiest, nastiest jungle, and test recruits +for the colony there. Send African natives. + +The men were beginning to make the whole thing look impossible again, so +Rod decided to call a halt until they could get a better perspective. +Tired himself, he dismissed them. They left quietly, not arguing in +little groups or mumbling half-formed ideas to themselves, the way a +team that has been progressing will do. + + * * * * * + +Only Jaimie stayed. He remained sitting hunched up near the desk, in the +same position he'd held for the last hour. When the others had all left, +he grinned at Rod. + +"You know, for a group of practicing psychologists, this is the softest +bunch of suckers I've seen." + +"You've proved that to your own profit several times so far," Rod +answered, rubbing his face as though smoothing the wrinkles could remove +the tension. "Who have you robbed lately?" + +"I'm talking about your performance just now. Here comes the whole crew, +walking in with their heads hanging to the floor. Every last man was +ready to tell you he was quitting--that the problem was insoluble. And +before anyone can say a word, you tell them that the whole thing is +impossible and imply that _you_ want to quit. Even Biddington fell for +it. You can't back out now, Rod, they say. Let's not have defeatist talk +out of you, of all people--" + +"I did feel that way," Rod said. "I'm just about ready to quit. I think +that whatever our mistake has been, we can't do any better than we have. +We just don't know enough." + +Jaimie wasn't grinning now. "What will happen if you quit?" + +"My guess is that Carlson will set up a military outpost there. Make a +clearing, build a fort, maybe a town. Then he'll try to get people to +come and live in it." Rod sighed. "It won't work. They'll want to know +why the planet had to be colonized that way--why wouldn't the _first_ +colonists stay?" + +"I agree. The military outpost is a fine method for spreading a culture +to an existing civilization. Rome did much for Europe that way; the most +powerful cities sprang up near the Roman forts and roads. But as a +method for inducing the populace to a new place, it doesn't work. A free +people will not willingly move into a military township." Jaimie looked +sharply at Rod. "So what do you intend to do--run out and turn it all +over to Carlson?" + +"I don't know, Jaimie. I just don't know. Six years is a long time." + +"Damn it, Rod, you had much worse jobs than this one in industry! How +did you select a computer man, a communications man, an engineering +physicist, out of a group of men with similar backgrounds? It seems to +me a harder problem than this." + +"We don't really know much, as I said," Rod said. "Ours has often been +an imitation science. When we had to select a computer man, we just gave +a battery of tests to successful computer men--structural vision, +vocabulary, tri-dimensional memory, ink-blots, syllogisms, practically +everything. Then we weeded out the tests whose scores appeared to have +no statistical relevance. Any future computer man had to duplicate those +results, whatever they were. If we had a recently pioneered civilization +around, Jaimie, you'd find this whole staff running through it like +pollsters before an election." + +"What was all this talk about balance, instability, initiative and all +the rest?" asked Jamie. + +"That's what we do when we don't know, Jaimie. We try to predict what we +need; then we try to find ways of finding it in people." + + * * * * * + +Jaimie made an explosive sound. "But I thought you _must_ have +progressed from empirical methods! I would have said something long ago, +if I hadn't thought you knew what you were doing all the time!" The +historian was on his feet, stalking about the room. "Why didn't you tell +me about this before?" + +"Why? What difference would it have made?" Rod frowned, failing to +understand the other's excitement. "Sure, we've progressed from the +older methods, in that we now have pretty complete data for all present +job descriptions. And we can synthesize data for a new job, if it's not +too different. But there isn't any information on the kind of person +needed in a new world. What the devil are you getting so upset about?" + +The historian threw himself into a chair and glared at Rod. "If you +couldn't find the kind of people you needed to test, you could have +asked a historian if he knew anything about them!" + +Rod shook his head puzzledly. "Subjective data, such as that--" + +"Don't bring subjectivity into this, damn it! We get enough of that from +physical scientists." Jaimie held himself in the chair, almost shaking +with the intensity of his feeling. "Look, Rod, you know I want to see +the project succeed. And you admit that you haven't got an answer. Well, +baby, I think I have! It's an idea that has about a fifty-fifty chance +of being right in this case ... would you be willing to try it?" + +"If I had been betting on your side for the last few months, I'd be +several dollars richer," Rod smiled. "Yes, I think I might go along with +your idea, if you can convince me it has an even chance for success. +Three failures out of three tries makes for poorer odds than that. What +do you have in mind?" + +"H'm," Jaimie said. "I imagine your stock isn't so high with old +scabbard and blade right now, is it?" + +Rod laughed. "I don't think he'll shoot on sight, but I'm not positive +enough to stand in front of a lighted window." + +"Well, then--if I had an idea you agreed with, the surest way to kill it +would be to have you present it to him, right? And if you _fight_ it, +that's sure to convince Carlson!" Jaimie thought hard for a moment, +tapping the chair-arm. "Rod, I have to do something you aren't going to +like. Do you trust me?" + +"You mean you're going to try this without even discussing it with the +personnel group?" + +"That's right. If I don't tell you what I'm doing, I know you'll fight +it. And I'll need that kind of help from you to push Carlson into doing +it. + +"But I have to do something far worse than that, Rod. I'm going to tell +the general that you knew my plan from the start, and have been sitting +on it because I'm not a psychologist. I'm going to ruin your reputation +with the worst set of lies since the Red purges. I'll say you're +fighting me, because you can't accept an idea that came from a man +outside of your own group. If the scheme doesn't work you'll be ruined, +because there'll be no way to retract the lies. If it does work, we can +announce that we put on an act to sell the plan to Carlson. Can you take +it?" + +Rod was thoughtful for a few minutes. He liked and trusted Jaimie, but +the man had no experience in this field--and this sounded like an +all-or-nothing shot. + +Then he remembered his despair over the latest set of resignations. He'd +been ready to quit--he had nothing to offer, and neither did his men. +Even a wild idea was worth a try, he thought grimly--he would be risking +nothing but a plan that had already failed. + +"Go to it, boy," he said. "And if you need a fight, you'll get a damn +good one." + + * * * * * + +The fight with Carlson was short, and Rod was abruptly overruled. After +that Jaimie moved fast. The new colonists flocked in. Three months after +Rod's talk with him, the compounds started to fill. A shipload was a +hundred men, and each new man had to wait in a group until it was +filled. But there was no waiting now except for processing; the +compounds were full before the ships were ready. + +Rod had paid no attention to Jaimie's recruiting methods, thinking that +the historian's idea differed mainly in control over the colonists. + +Until he saw the crowds. + +Even from a distance, they didn't have the young look of the previous +groups. Up close, they looked like the sweepings of the slums. + +[Illustration] + +He and Biddington talked to a few before they fully realized what Jaimie +had done. All the men were sure that Venus was a mineral paradise--gold +in the streams, uranium lodes so pure you had to wear a shield to get +near them, diamonds, silver--every treasure that had ever excited men on +Earth was scattered around the new world waiting to be picked up. That +was what Jaimie had told them. + +Rod got to a phone, fast. + +"Jaimie, you fool! I know what you're doing, and I won't put up with it! +You've told these dupes they can get rich on Venus! You intended to +attract large numbers of recruits, in the hope that some of them will be +what we need--but look at what you attracted! Crooks, gangsters, bums, +hoboes, sharecroppers and I don't know what. You got recruits all +right ... but what the hell kind of a society are you going to start +with them! And who will go and live there among them later?" + +"What's the matter, Workham?" Jaimie asked coldly. "Are you a racial +purist? Want only your kind of people to get to Venus?" + +"I don't care _who_ goes, as long as they fit some standards. But to +make a decent place, you need decent people--morally clean and healthy. +Not this collection of mental cripples, alcoholics and thieves. Probably +half of them are wanted men!" + +He argued further, unable to believe that this was Jaimison's great +fifty-fifty chance. He said many things ... and regretted every one; for +that night the telecasts carried a recorded version of his outburst. +Jaimie had maneuvered him into saying things he didn't quite mean, so +that it looked as if he was trying to hide the all good things on Venus +and save them for his own friends. One commentator said outright that if +you weren't a college graduate recommended by one of Workham's friends, +it would cost you a thousand dollars to get on an outgoing ship. By the +next morning, half the papers in the world were after Workham's scalp. + + * * * * * + +Rod could only take the abuse and grind his teeth. How did you fight a +thing like that? You were condemned if you kept silent, and if you +answered, people nodded their heads and said, "See--he's still trying to +deny it." + +The failures from the old colonies were Rod's only allies. They tried to +tell people what Venus was like, and what lies Carlson and his stooge +Jaimison were using for bait. But it was pointed out that these men +naturally had a stake in the secret ... and, after all, everyone knew +how well off the returning colonists were! This was actually due to the +high premium paid to get men to go to the planet, but no one believed. + +Days passed. Weeks. The compounds filled, and emptied, and filled again. +People stood in lines to apply. They walked miles to appear at a +recruiting center. They fought for a place on the next ship, or the one +after that. Farmers, clerks, ragged families, hoboes, armed men, +teen-age boys and old men. Four thousand people applied in the first few +months and were shipped out. Then the crowds thinned, even though the +Get Rich propaganda continued. Soon, only a few hundred appeared where +there had been thousands; then twos and threes; at last only a dozen or +so a day, many of whom changed their minds before the full shipload had +been assembled. + +Rod clung to his job throughout. He had little to do, though his +department had never been formally discontinued. Sooner or later, he +knew, their services would be needed--when this cheap trick had failed. +So he and his staff remained. Studying old files, making up test +batteries, discussing survival factors, they readied themselves for the +project again. From time to time they interviewed and tested a few of +those waiting in the compounds. There was too much time to just sit +around--even this activity was a welcome diversion. + +As the year passed, the number of prospective colonists stopped +decreasing and held steady at about five a day. But slowly something +else changed. Among the new arrivals there began to appear engineers who +had tossed up good jobs to emigrate, farmers with their families, +school-teachers, storekeepers, lawyers, even doctors. All of them young. +Not in any great number; but their appearance was a surprise still. Then +there came two former colonists who had resigned on one of the earlier +attempts, now trying to get back to Venus without inducement of bonus, +high pay or guaranteed return. + +That was the day Rod decided to call on Jaimie. + + * * * * * + +"I have here a bottle of eight-year-old rye, Jaimie," he began. "I think +you're entitled to a drink, and I'm entitled to an explanation. Want to +swap?" + +"Rod!" Jaimie's bony face lit up. "It's good to see you. I've been +afraid to call you until we could admit to the hoax. Come in, come in." + +"Well, you did it," Rod said, after they had settled down. "I met two +former colonists in the compound today. They know there isn't gold on +Venus, and still they want to go out for free. No contract. And lately +we've been getting professional people. There was even a kid fresh out +of journalism school who wants to start up a paper. Jaimie, how did you +do it? Were we so far wrong as that?" + +"You did it yourself, Rod. You told me how--but you wouldn't have +believed, then. Or if you had, we never would have sold it to Carlson. +Remember, you said if there were only a recent pioneer civilization +around, you'd run to them with ink-blots and vocabulary tests? All you +needed to do was duplicate the kind of person who settled America or +Australia or California. + +"Well, as a historian I _knew_ those people. And I knew what brought +them. So I merely put out the same kind of bait." + +"The same kind of bait!" Rod exclaimed. "What about freedom of religion +and freedom from oppression? Isn't that what brought people to this +country? There's no oppression to flee from these days! And even if it +was the same bait, why weren't the same kind of people attracted? You +saw that first compound full--where in that cesspool was Thomas Paine, +or Franklin, or Miles Standish?" + +"Franklin was born here," Jaimie grinned. "Paine didn't come over in the +first wave. And I suppose General Carlson was Miles Standish. Maybe that +kid journalist you saw was Paine's counterpart. No, Rod--the bait I held +out attracted the same kind of people initially as it always has. You +have been compromising all along on the factors you really wanted in +order to get young, healthy, moral people to Venus. The answer is simply +this: Pioneers are not necessarily young, healthy, or moral. So you +didn't get what you wanted. + +"You see, America wasn't only founded by pilgrims. They were actually a +minority here. We were settled by promoters, trappers, bonded servants, +exiled British deportees, pickpockets and thieves. We were explored by +French and Spanish pirates. The better element in Europe didn't come +here at first--why should they? It was dangerous. Pioneering was to the +advantage of the worst elements. They came by court order, out of +necessity, for adventure. They came for gold more than for freedom; for +a new chance more than for a new religion. + +"Australia was set up as a penal colony. Others went there for gold, or +to start over where they weren't known. That's the kind of person who +settles a new land--the misfits: too impulsive, drunkards, weaklings, +convicts, and fugitives from justice. Too sick in mind and body to make +a go of it where they are. + +"So we announced that there was a brand new world with a new chance for +everyone on it. We implied that there was wealth. We told them +everything about Venus that brought the English to America, the Spanish +to South America, the Easterners to the West, and the Middlewesterners +to California. We didn't hunt for pioneers. They came to us." + + * * * * * + +Rod refilled his glass thoughtfully. "But what kind of a society will +men like that create? A fighting, lawless structure...." + +"That's right. And the lawless will eliminate themselves by their very +activities. Like the early West. While the doctors come in to treat +wounds, and the lawyers to plead their cases; while their wives and the +other wives will start schools and bring in school-teachers. That +society will purge itself, Rod--many of the worst will become good +citizens out of meeting the challenge of a new planet, and the rest will +disappear." + +"Well, then, what about the gold story?" Rod asked. "Won't they be angry +with everyone connected with the project because of the hoax?" + +"That was a little raw, but no worse than other gold rushes--few of the +stampeders ever found the gold they went after. The captain of one of +the rockets told me that the first few months the colonists were trying +to stow away on the returning ships. Now they send messages to friends +and relatives to come before the opportunity is gone--that's why you've +seen this better element. Our lies will soon be forgotten, and crops and +foods and minerals will be coming from Venus, and better people will go +to meet the diminished challenge on our brave new world." + +Rod stood up. "Well, my compliments for a job well done, Jaimie. When do +you expect to go and live there yourself? You'll have to soon, won't +you, to complete the Project Record in residence?" + +Jaimie nodded. "About six months from now, I think. Why?" + +"Good," Rod exclaimed. "We can all go together." + +"What are you planning to do? Volunteer?" + +"The whole personnel staff will be going. Here's just what we need--a +young pioneer society! We can get adequate data for future selection, a +better idea of what kind of person a colony needs at different stages of +growth." Rod grinned. "After all, your method was pretty sloppy, even if +it did work. And you sent far too many wrong people. Once we have some +good data ... anything you can do, we can do better!" + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Merchants of Venus, by A. H. Phelps + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MERCHANTS OF VENUS *** + +***** This file should be named 32901.txt or 32901.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/9/0/32901/ + +Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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