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Sparx, v. 1, issue 6, February 1948
Page 7
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RECALL BY TIMOTHY ORROK The old man sat on the hillside, smoking his pipe. The objects of principle interest, the man the hillside, would each have seemed bizarre and out of place if surrounded by the culture which we presume to call civilization; without it, their self-consistancy allowed no effect beyond a touch of the experience of ours. It was steep, covered with thriving vegetation--but the plants were not earthly; their leaves were a healthy purple. There is was, a purple hill, sloping down to an expanse of sand, and, beyond that the saline waters of the Lincoln Sea. The sea. It was shallow, leaden, vaporous, and, avove all, violent. In the fifty-odd days of Earth time which separate this planet's noon and midnight the sea metamorphosed from a steaming demon to an icy rock which covered half the planet. It was a dull sea, on which the sun never shone directly. The shaft of sunlight which is a commonplace sight on Earth is a transient, hardly glimpsed, phenomenon on Venus. The mists and clouds shrouded the vision, and without the aid of extrasensory aids-- infra-red or microvace devices it was generally impossible to see more than five hundred feet in any direction. This Land was grey, perhaps, but austere, no. During the day, when the temperature rose above the 50℃, Mark, the growing season was violent, and, in this basically hospitable environment, the sudden abundance of growth was even more striking than on Mars, where the days and nights were almost Earth Normal (EN), and were much less extreme in temperature contrast. The tremendous difference between the world of man's birth, and his present habitat, was ever a source of intense interest; the adaptions which he had undergone, physically and mechanical, was ever engrossing. In fact, considering the extent of the adaption, he was remarkably comfortable, but that statement made not the slightest impression on most people. The very word "Venus" was enough to make all but the hardiest tourist groan; and without the six sealed cities kept at EN environment, these few would turn aside in favor of Mars, Callisto, Pluto, or some other equally hospitable place. Even the traders and the like who did venture into tropical Venus in early morning, when conditions were most like EN, shuddered at the thought of a permanent dwelling there. Phillip Reilley, the man concerned, laughed slyly at EN civilization and continued to enjoy himself. He liked it there. He was a thin, moderately tall man; his body was wiry, active, and pale, in spite of occasional u-v treatments. One would have said that he was about fifty, and very well ((Page 22 is next)) 7
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RECALL BY TIMOTHY ORROK The old man sat on the hillside, smoking his pipe. The objects of principle interest, the man the hillside, would each have seemed bizarre and out of place if surrounded by the culture which we presume to call civilization; without it, their self-consistancy allowed no effect beyond a touch of the experience of ours. It was steep, covered with thriving vegetation--but the plants were not earthly; their leaves were a healthy purple. There is was, a purple hill, sloping down to an expanse of sand, and, beyond that the saline waters of the Lincoln Sea. The sea. It was shallow, leaden, vaporous, and, avove all, violent. In the fifty-odd days of Earth time which separate this planet's noon and midnight the sea metamorphosed from a steaming demon to an icy rock which covered half the planet. It was a dull sea, on which the sun never shone directly. The shaft of sunlight which is a commonplace sight on Earth is a transient, hardly glimpsed, phenomenon on Venus. The mists and clouds shrouded the vision, and without the aid of extrasensory aids-- infra-red or microvace devices it was generally impossible to see more than five hundred feet in any direction. This Land was grey, perhaps, but austere, no. During the day, when the temperature rose above the 50℃, Mark, the growing season was violent, and, in this basically hospitable environment, the sudden abundance of growth was even more striking than on Mars, where the days and nights were almost Earth Normal (EN), and were much less extreme in temperature contrast. The tremendous difference between the world of man's birth, and his present habitat, was ever a source of intense interest; the adaptions which he had undergone, physically and mechanical, was ever engrossing. In fact, considering the extent of the adaption, he was remarkably comfortable, but that statement made not the slightest impression on most people. The very word "Venus" was enough to make all but the hardiest tourist groan; and without the six sealed cities kept at EN environment, these few would turn aside in favor of Mars, Callisto, Pluto, or some other equally hospitable place. Even the traders and the like who did venture into tropical Venus in early morning, when conditions were most like EN, shuddered at the thought of a permanent dwelling there. Phillip Reilley, the man concerned, laughed slyly at EN civilization and continued to enjoy himself. He liked it there. He was a thin, moderately tall man; his body was wiry, active, and pale, in spite of occasional u-v treatments. One would have said that he was about fifty, and very well ((Page 22 is next)) 7
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