Assignment on Venus
By CARL JACOBI
Simms had the toughest assignment of his
career. He must fight his way through
Venusian intrigue to deliver a sealed
cylinder—a cylinder that held his
dishonorable discharge from the service.
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Planet Stories Fall 1943.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Simms rested his paddle across the thwart and let the clumsy jaguadrift. Ahead, where the indigo swamp growth thinned, an abuttmentof white metal projected from the water, its near end forming awafer-like conning tower.
Half-way Jetty at last! Two grueling weeks through Venus' Blue MoldSwamp were behind him. Even if he knew that this station marked thehalf way point to his final disgrace and humiliation, he could at leastrest here, free from the incredible dangers of the marsh.
He swung the dugout to a landing, wearily stretched cramped legs andheaded down the catwalk. Before him the door of the jetty opened andthree men appeared in the entrance.
Earthmen!
"Halleck! Gately! Sterns!" Simms cried. "What the devil are you doinghere?"
The taller of the men held the door open wider. "Come in, Simms," hesaid. "We've been expecting you."
Inside the spherical room the air was warm and dry. Simms unhooked hisdehydration mask and surveyed the three quietly.
They weren't a lovely trio. Halleck was tall and swarthy with darkeyes and thin lips. He wore a stained rain-helmet and flexible swampboots. Gately undoubtedly had Martian blood in his veins. And Sterns,a typical space-rat from the slums of Venus City, bore an old heat-gunscar across his face.
"I thought the Halleck Development Company was heading north," Simmssaid. "That's what you told the Commandante at Post One."
Halleck smiled. "We told your Commandante a lot of things that suitedour purpose."
Simms stirred uneasily. "You also said you were geologists, looking forsedimentary deposits."
"Part of which is quite true." Halleck lit a cigarette deliberately,then nodded to Gately who drew from his pocket a small bag. The manjerked the draw string and permitted a dozen yellowish lumps to spillout on the table.
"Deleon Salts," Halleck said shortly.
Ice touched Simms' spine. He had of course seen these ochre crystalsbefore, while on patrol duty in native Kamali villages. But in thepossession of Earth men....
"Deleon Salts," Halleck said again, blowing a shaft of smokeceilingward. "The stuff that holds the secret of rejuvenation for theKamalis. We're going to get a lot of it, ship it back to Earth and sellit for a high price."
"But ... but good Lord, you can't do that...."
"I know what you're going to say," interrupted Halleck, "that althoughthese salts enable the Kamalis to maintain eternal life, they meaninstant death to a person of Earth. Well, we've taken care of that.We've worked out a process that makes them harmless for a year."
"And after that...?" Simms persisted.
Halleck shrugged. "After that we'll have made our pile. We're simplyselling a drug guaranteed to erase the ravages of time. It'll go likewildfire."
Up on the wall a mercury clock pulsed rhythmically, and below the floorlevel sounded the faint drone of the dehydrators. Motionless, Simms satthere. Like wildfire, Halleck had said. And the words were only tootrue. The quest for perpetual youth was eternal. Earth men still enviedthe