Donald A. Wollheim (ed) by The Hidden Planet Read Free Book Online Page A

does with the materials of his culture,
though, is up to him. So long as he has the stuff, he'll make out O.K.
anywhere. Don't forget that to the kid this is his culture; it's home. He's never known
anything else, and he'd fight to stay there. And don't forget, too, that those
kids were abandoned by their own parents on Earth. This beats a Foundation
orphanage, believe me."
    "I surrender," Nostrand grinned.
    "Excuse the sermon, Ralph. It's hell to
really have faith in something again. We're not used to it, back on Earth."
    The
copter paused briefly at Mepas and Carin , the other two nearby industrial towns, and then flew
southwest across the continent. They set the copter on automatic, caught what
sleep they could, and in sixteen hours were high above the skin tents of Pueklor . The gray sky and the massed oceans of the clouds
had not changed—and there were still eight
    Earth-days
left before the coming of the pale Venusian night.
    "Looks like an Indian tribe,"
commented Nostrand , looking closely into the viewer.
"I remember seeing some old photographs somewhere."
    Keith nodded. "They're modeled on the
ancient Plains Indians of North America," he said. "You'll notice how
different the country is here—tall grass instead of jungle. Pueklor has a basically hunting culture; they go after an
animal not too unlike the old bison, but much slower. They hunt ' em on foot."
    Far below, the skin tents of Pueklor stood in a large ring in the grassy fields of the
southwestern plains. Curls of smoke drifted up into the still air and a group
of children were running races along the banks of a sluggish river.
    "You'll catch it more clearly when you
see some of them in Halaja ," Keith said. " Pueklor is an extremely proud culture—filled with the joy
of living, if I can put it that way. They'll lend a very real esprit de corps to the continental culture that will be here
a century from now."
    The copter swung eastward through thick
sheets of rain, and by the time they reached Equete in the southeastern hills the three men were bone tired. Nevertheless, the
sight of Equete nestled in a rocky valley picked them
up.
    Equete was a series of low, rounded rock structures
that harmonized beautifully with the rugged grandeur of its surroundings. It
blended browns and pinks and greens into a pleasing pattern that accentuated
the banded colors of the land.
    "That's your baby, Ralph."
    Nostrand looked down at its image in the viewer and
tried to see in Equete what he was supposed to see.
    "Not much visible from here," he
said.
    Keith smiled wearily. "The business of Equete is ethics-ethics and elaborate social
complexities. In addition, this is where the basic research is being done that will one day lead to the independent development of space
flight on Venus. See that tall, domed structure over there? We've given them
enough hints so that they'll develop a cloud-piercing telescope before too many
years have gone by. Philosophically, we've already provided them with a logical
picture of the universe—and their ethics demand space
flight as the first great step in the fulfillment of man's destiny."
    "Sounds good," Ralph said. "It
is good," Mark corrected.
    "It's all so complicated," Ralph Nostrand said tiredly. "I try to see it the way you
do—but it isn't easy. All these new cultures, growing up independendy of Earth, groping toward space travel in a
hundred years or so. Don't forget what Earth is like these days—what if
these people come swooping down and smash it to pieces?"
    "When you see the ceremony at Halaja ," Keith said, "you won't worry about
that."
    Captain Nostrand was unconvinced, but he held his tongue. The copter lifted again into the
clouds and flew northward, back to the hidden receiving station where the great
Space Security ship still waited in the late morning fog.
    Keith
closed his burning eyes and tried to relax. He knew that Nostrand was an unusual man—he had to be or he would never have gone into space in this
century