JAN WILLEM van Arteveldeclaimed descent from Williamof Orange. He had no genealogyto prove it, but on Venus therewas no one who could disprove it,either.
Jan Willem van Arteveldesmoked a clay pipe, which only aDutchman can do properly, becausethe clay bit grates on lessstubborn teeth.
Jan needed all his Dutch stubbornness,and a good deal of purephysical strength besides, to maneuverthe roach-flat groundcaracross the tumbled terrain ofDen Hoorn into the teeth of thehowling gale that swept from thewest. The huge wheels twistedand jolted against the rocks outside,and Jan bounced against hisseat belt, wrestled the steeringwheel and puffed at his pijp. Themild aroma of Heerenbaai-Tabakfilled the airtight groundcar.
There came a new swayingthat was not the roughness ofthe terrain. Through the thickwindshield Jan saw all theground about him buckle andheave for a second or two beforeit settled to rugged quiescenceagain. This time he was reallyheaved about.
Jan mentioned this to thegroundcar radio.
"That's the third time in halfan hour," he commented. "Theplace tosses like the IJsselmeeron a rough day."
"You just don't forget it isn'tthe Zuider Zee," retorted Heemskerkfrom the other end. "Yousink there and you don't come upthree times."
"Don't worry," said Jan. "I'llbe back on time, with a broom atthe masthead."
"This I shall want to see,"chuckled Heemskerk; a logicalreaction, considering the scarcityof brooms on Venus.
Two hours earlier the two menhad sat across a small table playingchess, with little indicationthere would be anything else tooccupy their time before blastoffof the stubby gravity-boat. Itwould be their last chess gamefor many months, for Jan was amember of the Dutch colony atOostpoort in the northern hemisphereof Venus, while Heemskerkwas pilot of the G-boat fromthe Dutch spaceship Vanderdecken,scheduled to begin anEarthward orbit in a few hours.
It was near the dusk of the485-hour Venerian day, and theTwilight Gale already had arisen,sweeping from the comparativelychill Venerian nightside intothe superheated dayside. Oostpoort,established near some outcroppingsthat contained uraniumore, was protected fromboth the Dawn Gale and the TwilightGale, for it was in a valleyin the midst of a small range ofmountains.
Jan had just figured out a combinationby which he hoped tocheat Heemskerk out of one ofhis knights, when Dekker, theburgemeester of Oostpoort, enteredthe spaceport ready room.
"There's been an emergencyradio message," said Dekker."They've got a passenger for theEarthship over at Rathole."
"Rathole?" repeated Heemskerk."What's that? I didn'tknow there was another colonywithin two thousand kilometers."
"It isn't a colony, in the senseOostpoort is," explained Dekker."The people are the families of abunch of laborers left behindwhen the colony folded severalyears ago. It's about eighty kilometersaway, right across theHoorn, but they don't have anyvehicles that can navigate whenthe wind's up."
Heemskerk pushed his short-billedcap back on his close-croppedhead, leaned back in his chairand folded his hands over hiscomfortable stomach.
"Then the passenger will haveto wait for the next ship," hepronounced. "The Vanderdeckenhas to blast off in thirty hours tocatch Earth at