The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Merchants of Venus, by A. H. Phelps

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Title: The Merchants of Venus

Author: A. H. Phelps

Illustrator: FREAS

Release Date: June 19, 2010 [EBook #32901]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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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.