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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Girls From Earth, by Frank M. Robinson
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: The Girls From Earth
-
-Author: Frank M. Robinson
-
-Release Date: February 22, 2016 [EBook #51268]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ASCII
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GIRLS FROM EARTH ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online
-Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-                         THE GIRLS FROM EARTH
-
-                         By FRANK M. ROBINSON
-
-                          Illustrated by EMSH
-
-           [Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
-                 Galaxy Science Fiction January 1952.
-         Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
-         the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
-
-
-
-
-              Problem: How can you arrange marriages with
-            men in one solar system, women in another--and
-                neither willing to leave his own world?
-
-
-I
-
-"The beasts aren't much help, are they?"
-
-Karl Allen snatched a breath of air and gave another heave on the line
-tied to the raft of parampa logs bobbing in the middle of the river.
-
-"No," he grunted, "they're not. They always balk at a time like this,
-when they can see it'll be hard work."
-
-Joseph Hill wiped his plump face and coiled some of the rope's slack
-around his thick waist.
-
-"Together now, Karl. _One! Two!_"
-
-They stood knee-deep in mud on the bank, pulling and straining on the
-rope, while some few yards distant, in the shade of a grove of trees,
-their tiny yllumphs nibbled grass and watched them critically, but made
-no effort to come closer.
-
-"If we're late for ship's landing, Joe, we'll get crossed off the list."
-
-Hill puffed and wheezed and took another hitch on the rope.
-
-"That's what I've been thinking about," he said, worried.
-
-They took a deep breath and hauled mightily on the raft rope. The raft
-bobbed nearer. For a moment the swift waters of the Karazoo threatened
-to tear it out of their grasp, and then it was beached, most of it
-solidly, on the muddy bank. One end of it still lay in the gurgling,
-rushing waters, but that didn't matter. They'd be back in ten hours or
-so, long before the heavy raft could be washed free.
-
-"How much time have we got, Karl?"
-
-The ground was thick with shadows, and Karl cast a critical eye at
-them. He estimated that even with the refusal of their yllumphs to help
-beach the raft, they still had a good two hours before the rocket put
-down at Landing City.
-
-"Two hours, maybe a little more," he stated hastily when Hill looked
-more worried. "Time enough to get to Landing City and put in for our
-numbers on the list."
-
-He turned back to the raft, untied the leather and horn saddles, and
-threw them over the backs of their reluctant mounts. He cinched his
-saddle and tied on some robes and furs behind it.
-
-Hill watched him curiously. "What are you taking the furs for? This
-isn't the trading rocket."
-
-"I know. I thought that when we come back tonight, it might be cold and
-maybe _she'll_ appreciate the coverings then."
-
-"You never would have thought of it yourself," Hill grunted. "Grundy
-must have told you to do it, the old fool. If you ask me, the less
-you give them, the less they'll come to expect. Once you spoil them,
-they'll expect you to do all the trapping and the farming and the
-family-raising yourself."
-
-"You didn't have to sign up," Karl pointed out. "You could have applied
-for a wife from some different planet."
-
-"One's probably just as good as another. They'll all have to work the
-farms and raise families."
-
-Karl laughed and aimed a friendly blow at Hill. They finished saddling
-up and headed into the thick forest.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-It was quiet as Karl guided his mount along the dimly marked trail
-and he caught himself thinking of the return trip he would be making
-that night. It would be nice to have somebody new to talk to. And it
-would be good to have somebody to help with the trapping and tanning,
-somebody who could tend the small vegetable garden at the rear of his
-shack and mend his socks and wash his clothes and cook his meals.
-
-And it was time, he thought soberly, that he started to raise a family.
-He was mid-twenty now, old enough to want a wife and children.
-
-"You going to raise a litter, Joe?"
-
-Hill started. Karl realized that he had probably been thinking of the
-same thing.
-
-"One of these days I'll need help around the sawmill," Hill answered
-defensively. "Need some kids to cut the trees, a couple more to pole
-them down the river, some to run the mill itself and maybe one to sell
-the lumber in Landing City. Can't do it all myself."
-
-He paused a moment, thinking over something that had just occurred to
-him.
-
-"I've been thinking of your plans for a garden, Karl. Maybe I ought to
-have one for my wife to take care of, too."
-
-Karl chuckled. "I don't think she'll have the time!"
-
-They left the leafy expanse of the forest and entered the grasslands
-that sloped toward Landing City. He could even see Landing City itself
-on the horizon, a smudge of rusting, corrugated steel shacks, muddy
-streets, and the small rocket port--a scorched thirty acres or so
-fenced off with barbed wire.
-
-Karl looked out of the corner of his eye at Hill and felt a vague wave
-of uneasiness. Hill was a big, thick man wearing the soiled clothes and
-bristly stubble of a man who was used to living alone and who liked
-it. But once he took a wife, he would probably have to keep himself in
-clean clothes and shave every few days. It was even possible that the
-woman might object to Hill letting his yllumph share the hut.
-
-The path was getting crowded, more of the colonists coming onto the
-main path from the small side trails.
-
-Hill broke the silence first. "I wonder what they'll be like."
-
-Karl looked wise and nodded knowingly. "They're Earthwomen, Joe.
-_Earth!_"
-
-It was easy to act as though he had some inside information, but Karl
-had to admit to himself that he actually knew very little about it. He
-was a Second System colonist and had never even seen an Earthwoman.
-He had heard tales, though, and even discounting a large percentage
-of them, some of them must have been true. Old Grundy at the rocket
-office, who should know about these things if anybody did, seemed
-disturbingly lacking on definite information, though he had hinted
-broadly enough. He'd whistle softly and wink an eye and repeat the
-stories that Karl had already heard; but he had nothing _definite_ to
-offer, no real facts at all.
-
-Some of the other colonists whom they hadn't seen for the last few
-months shouted greetings, and Karl began to feel some of the carnival
-spirit. There was Jenkins, who had another trapping line fifty miles
-farther up the Karazoo; Leonard, who had the biggest farm on Midplanet;
-and then the fellow who specialized in catching and breaking in
-yllumphs, whose name Karl couldn't remember.
-
-"They say they're good workers," Hill said.
-
-Karl nodded. "Pretty, too."
-
-They threaded their way through the crowded and muddy streets. Landing
-City wasn't big, compared to some of the cities on Altair, where he had
-been raised, but Karl was proud of it. Some day it would be as big as
-any city on any planet--maybe even have a population of ten thousand
-people or more.
-
-"Joe," Karl said suddenly, "what's supposed to make women from Earth
-better than women from any other world?"
-
-Hill located a faint itch and frowned. "I don't know, Karl. It's hard
-to say. They're--well, sophisticated, glamorous."
-
-Karl absorbed this in silence. Those particular qualities were, he
-thought, rather hard to define.
-
-The battered shack that served as rocket port office and headquarters
-for the colonial office on Midplanet loomed up in front of them. There
-was a crowd gathered in front of the building and they forced their way
-through to see what had caused it.
-
-"We saw this the last time we were here," Hill said.
-
-"I know," Karl agreed, "but I want to take another look." He was
-anxious to glean all the information that he could.
-
-It was a poster of a beautiful woman leaning toward the viewer. The
-edges of the poster were curling and the colors had faded during the
-last six months, but the girl's smile seemed just as inviting as ever.
-She held a long-stemmed goblet in one hand and was blowing a kiss to
-her audience with the other. Her green eyes sparkled, her smile was
-provocative. A quoted sentence read: "I'm from _Earth_!" There was
-nothing more except a printed list of the different solar systems to
-which the colonial office was sending the women.
-
-She was real pretty, Karl thought. A little on the thin side, maybe,
-and the dress she was wearing would hardly be practical on Midplanet,
-but she had a certain something. Glamour, maybe?
-
-A loudspeaker blared.
-
-"All colonists waiting for the wife draft assemble for your numbers!
-All colonists...."
-
-There was a jostling for places and then they were in the rapidly
-moving line. Grundy, fat and important-looking, was handing out little
-blue slips with numbers on them, pausing every now and then to tell
-them some entertaining bit of information about the women. He had a
-great imagination, nothing else.
-
-Karl drew the number 53 and hurried to the grassy lot beside the
-landing field that had been decorated with bunting and huge welcome
-signs for the new arrivals. A table was loaded with government
-pamphlets meant to be helpful to newly married colonists. Karl went
-over and stuffed a few in his pockets. Other tables had been set out
-and were loaded with luncheon food, fixed by the few colonial women in
-the community. Karl caught himself eyeing the women closely, wondering
-how the girls from Earth would compare with them.
-
-He fingered the ticket in his pocket. What would the woman be like
-who had drawn the companion number 53 aboard the rocket? For when it
-landed, they would pair up by numbers. The method had its drawbacks, of
-course, but time was much too short to allow even a few days of getting
-acquainted. He'd have to get back to his trapping lines and he imagined
-that Hill would have to get back to his sawmill and the others to their
-farms. What the hell, you never knew what you were getting either way,
-till it was too late.
-
-"Sandwich, mister? Pop?"
-
-Karl flipped the boy a coin, picked up some food and a drink, and
-wandered over to the landing field with Hill. There were still ten
-minutes or so to go before the rocket landed, but he caught himself
-straining his sight at the blue sky, trying to see a telltale flicker
-of exhaust flame.
-
-The field was crowded and he caught some of the buzzing conversation.
-
-"... never knew one myself, but let me tell you...."
-
-"... knew a fellow once who married one, never had a moment's rest
-afterward...."
-
-"... no comparison with colonial women. They got culture...."
-
-"... I'd give a lot to know the girl who's got number twenty-five...."
-
-"Let's meet back here with the girls who have picked our numbers," Hill
-said. "Maybe we could trade."
-
-Karl nodded, though privately he felt that the number system was just
-as good as depending on first impressions.
-
-There was a murmur from the crowd and he found his gaze riveted
-overhead. High above, in the misty blue sky, was a sudden twinkle of
-fire.
-
-He reached up and wiped his sweaty face with a muddy hand and brushed
-aside a straggly lock of tangled hair. It wouldn't hurt to try to look
-his best.
-
-The twinkling fire came nearer.
-
-
-II
-
-"A Mr. Macdonald to see you, Mr. Escher."
-
-Claude Escher flipped the intercom switch.
-
-"Please send him right in."
-
-That was entirely superfluous, he thought, because MacDonald would come
-in whether Escher wanted him to or not.
-
-The door opened and shut with a slightly harder bang than usual and
-Escher mentally braced himself. He had a good hunch what the problem
-was going to be and why it was being thrown in their laps.
-
-MacDonald made himself comfortable and sat there for a few minutes,
-just looking grim and not saying anything. Escher knew the psychology
-by heart. A short preliminary silence is always more effective in
-browbeating subordinates than an initial furious bluster.
-
-He lit a cigarette and tried to outwait MacDonald. It wasn't
-easy--MacDonald had great staying powers, which was probably why he was
-the head of the department.
-
-Escher gave in first. "Okay, Mac, what's the trouble? What do we have
-tossed in our laps now?"
-
-"You know the one--colonization problem. You know that when we first
-started to colonize, quite a large percentage of the male population
-took to the stars, as the saying goes. The adventuresome, the gamblers,
-the frontier type all decided they wanted to head for other worlds, to
-get away from it all. The male of the species is far more adventuresome
-than the female; the men left--but the women didn't. At least, not in
-nearly the same large numbers.
-
-"Well, you see the problem. The ratio of women to men here on Earth is
-now something like five to three. If you don't know what that means,
-ask any man with a daughter. Or any psychiatrist. Husband-hunting isn't
-just a pleasant pastime on Earth. It's an earnest cutthroat business
-and I'm not just using a literary phrase."
-
-He threw a paper on Escher's desk. "You'll find most of the statistics
-about it in that, Claude. Notice the increase in crimes peculiar to
-women. Shoplifting, badger games, poisonings, that kind of thing. It's
-quite a list. You'll also notice the huge increase in petty crimes, a
-lot of which wouldn't have bothered the courts before. In fact, they
-wouldn't even have been considered crimes. You know why they are now?"
-
-Escher shook his head blankly.
-
-"Most of the girls in the past who didn't catch a husband," MacDonald
-continued, "grew up to be the type of old maid who's dedicated to
-improving the morals and what-not of the rest of the population. We've
-got more puritanical societies now than we ever had, and we have more
-silly little laws on the books as a result. You can be thrown in the
-pokey for things like violating a woman's privacy--whatever that
-means--and she's the one who decides whether what you say or do is a
-violation or not."
-
-Escher looked bored. "Not to mention the new prohibition which
-forbids the use of alcohol in everything from cough medicines to hair
-tonics. Or the cleaned up moral code that reeks--if you'll pardon the
-expression--of purity. Sure, I know what you mean. And you know the
-solution. All we have to do is get the women to colonize."
-
-MacDonald ran his fingers nervously through his hair.
-
-"But it won't be easy, and that's why it's been given to us. It's your
-baby, Claude. Give it a lot of thought. Nothing's impossible, you know."
-
-"Perpetual motion machines are," Escher said quietly. "And pulling
-yourself up by your boot-straps. But I get the point. Nevertheless,
-women just don't want to colonize. And who can blame them? Why should
-they give up living in a luxury civilization, with as many modern
-conveniences as this one, to go homesteading on some wild, unexplored
-planet where they have to work their fingers to the bone and play
-footsie with wild animals and savages who would just as soon skin them
-alive as not?"
-
-"What do you advise I do, then?" MacDonald demanded. "Go back to the
-Board and tell them the problem is not solvable, that we can't think of
-anything?"
-
-Escher looked hurt. "Did I say that? I just said it wouldn't be easy."
-
-"The Board is giving you a blank check. Do anything you think will pay
-off. We have to stay within the letter of the law, of course, but not
-necessarily the spirit."
-
-"When do they have to have a solution?"
-
-"As soon as possible. At least within the year. By that time the
-situation will be very serious. The psychologists say that what will
-happen then won't be good."
-
-"All right, by then we'll have the answer."
-
-MacDonald stopped at the door. "There's another reason why they want it
-worked out. The number of men applying to the Colonization Board for
-emigration to the colony planets is falling off."
-
-"How come?"
-
-MacDonald smiled. "On the basis of statistics alone, would you want to
-emigrate from a planet where the women outnumber the men five to three?"
-
-When MacDonald had gone, Escher settled back in his chair and idly
-tapped his fingers on the desk-top. It was lucky that the Colonization
-Board worked on two levels. One was the well-publicized, idealistic
-level where nothing was too good and every deal was 99 and 44/100 per
-cent pure. But when things got too difficult for it to handle on that
-level, they went to Escher and MacDonald's department. The coal mine
-level. Nothing was too low, so long as it worked. Of course, if it
-didn't work, you took the lumps, too.
-
-He rummaged around in his drawer and found a list of the qualifications
-set up by the Board for potential colonists. He read the list slowly
-and frowned. You had to be physically fit for the rigors of space
-travel, naturally, but some of the qualifications were obviously silly.
-You couldn't guarantee physical perfection in the second generation,
-anyway.
-
-He tore the qualification list in shreds and dropped it in the disposal
-chute. That would have to be the first to go.
-
-There were other things that could be done immediately. For one thing,
-as it stood now, you were supposed to be financially able to colonize.
-Obviously a stupid and unappealing law. That would have to go next.
-
-He picked up the sheet of statistics that MacDonald had left and read
-it carefully. The Board could legalize polygamy, but that was no
-solution in the long run. Probably cause more problems than it would
-solve. Even with women as easy to handle as they were nowadays, one was
-still enough.
-
-Which still left him with the main problem of how to get people to
-colonize who didn't _want_ to colonize.
-
-The first point was to convince them that they wanted to. The second
-point was that it might not matter whether they wanted to or not.
-
-No, it shouldn't be hard to solve at all--provided you held your nose,
-silenced your conscience, and were willing to forget that there was
-such a thing as a moral code.
-
-
-III
-
-Phyllis Hanson put the cover over her typewriter and locked the
-correspondence drawer. Another day was done, another evening about to
-begin.
-
-She filed into the washroom with the other girls and carefully redid
-her face. It was getting hard to disguise the worry lines, to paint
-away the faint crow's-feet around her eyes.
-
-She wasn't, she admitted to herself for the thousandth time, what you
-would call beautiful. She inspected herself carefully in her compact
-mirror. In a sudden flash of honesty, she had to admit that she wasn't
-even what you would call pretty. Her face was too broad, her nose a
-fraction too long, and her hair was dull. Not homely, exactly--but not
-pretty, either.
-
-Conversation hummed around her, most of it from the little group in the
-corner, where the extreme few who were married sat as practically a
-race apart. Their advice was sought, their suggestions avidly followed.
-
-"Going out tonight, Phyl?"
-
-She hesitated a moment, then slowly painted on the rest of her mouth.
-The question was technically a privacy violator, but she thought she
-would sidestep it this time, instead of refusing to answer point-blank.
-
-"I thought I'd stay home tonight. Have a few things I want to rinse
-out."
-
-The black-haired girl next to her nodded sympathetically. "Sure, Phyl,
-I know what you mean. Just like the rest of us--waiting for the phone
-to ring."
-
-Phyllis finished washing up and then left the office, carefully noting
-the girl who was waiting for the boss. The girl was beautiful in a hard
-sort of way, a platinum blonde with an entertainer's busty figure.
-Waiting for a plump, middle-aged man like a stagestruck kid outside a
-theatre.
-
-At home, in her small two-room bachelor-girl apartment, she stripped
-and took a hot, sudsing shower, then stepped out and toweled herself in
-front of a mirror. She frowned slightly. You didn't know whether you
-should keep yourself in trim just on some off-chance, or give up and
-let yourself go.
-
-She fixed dinner, took a moderately long time doing the dishes, and
-went through the standard routine of getting a book and curling up on
-the sofa. It was a good book of the boot-legged variety--scientifically
-written with enough surplus heroes and heroines and lushly described
-love affairs to hold anybody's interest.
-
-It held hers for ten pages and then she threw the book across the room,
-getting a savage delight at the way the pages ripped and fluttered to
-the floor.
-
-What was the use of kidding herself any longer, of trying to live
-vicariously and hoping that some day she would have a home and a
-husband? She was thirty now; the phone hadn't rung in the last three
-years. She might as well spend this evening as she had spent so many
-others--call up the girls for a bridge game and a little gossip, though
-heaven knew you always ended up envying the people you were gossiping
-about.
-
-Perhaps she should have joined one of the organizations at the office
-that did something like that seven nights out of every seven. A bridge
-game or a benefit for some school or a talk on art. Or she could have
-joined the Lecture of the Week club, or the YWCA, or any one of the
-other government-sponsored clubs designed to fill the void in a woman's
-life.
-
-But bridge games and benefits and lectures didn't take the place of a
-husband and family. She was kidding herself again.
-
-She got up and retrieved the battered book, then went over to the mail
-slot. She hadn't had time to open her mail that morning; most of the
-time it wasn't worth the effort. Advertisements for book clubs, lecture
-clubs, how to win at bridge and canasta....
-
-Her fingers sprang the metal tabs on a large envelope and she took out
-the contents and spread it wide.
-
-She gasped. It was a large poster, about a yard square. A man was on
-it, straddling a tiny city and a small panorama of farms and forests
-at his feet. He was a handsome specimen, with wavy blond hair and blue
-eyes and a curly mat on his bare chest that was just enough to be
-attractive without being apelike. He held an axe in his hands and was
-eyeing her with a clearly inviting look of brazen self-confidence.
-
-_It was definitely a privacy violator and she should notify the
-authorities immediately!_
-
-Bright lettering at the top of the poster shrieked: "Come to the
-Colonies, the Planets of Romance!"
-
-_Whoever had mailed it should be arrested and imprisoned! Preying
-on...._
-
-The smaller print at the bottom was mostly full of facts and figures.
-The need for women out on the colony planets, the percentage of men to
-women--a startling disproportion--the comfortable cities that weren't
-nearly as primitive as people had imagined, and the recently reduced
-qualifications.
-
-She caught herself admiring the man on the poster. Naturally, it was an
-artist's conception, but even so....
-
-And the cities were far in advance of the frontier settlements, where
-you had to battle disease and dirty savages.
-
-It was all a dream. She had never done anything like this and she
-wouldn't think of doing it now. And had any of her friends seen the
-poster? Of course, they probably wouldn't tell her even if they had.
-
-_But the poster was a violation of privacy. Whoever had sent it had
-taken advantage of information that was none of their business. It was
-up to her to notify the authorities!_
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-She took another look at the poster.
-
-The letter she finally finished writing was very short. She addressed
-it to the box number in the upper left-hand corner of the plain
-wrapper that the poster had come in.
-
-
-IV
-
-The dress lay on the counter, a small corner of it trailing off the
-edge. It was a beautiful thing, sheer sheen satin trimmed in gold nylon
-thread. It was the kind of gown that would make anybody who wore it
-look beautiful. The price was high, much too high for her to pay. She
-knew she would never be able to buy it.
-
-But she didn't intend to buy it.
-
-She looked casually around and noted that nobody was watching her.
-There was another woman a few counters down and a man, obviously
-embarrassed, at the lingerie counter. Nobody else was in sight. It was
-a perfect time. The clerk had left to look up a difficult item that she
-had purposely asked for and probably wouldn't be back for five minutes.
-
-Time enough, at any rate.
-
-The dress was lying loose, so she didn't have to pry it off any
-hangers. She took another quick look around, then hurriedly bundled it
-up and dropped it in her shopping bag.
-
-She had taken two self-assured steps away from the counter when she
-felt a hand on her shoulder. The grip was firm and muscular and she
-knew she had lost the game. She also knew that she had to play it out
-to the end, to grasp any straw.
-
-"Let go of me!" she ordered in a frostily offended voice.
-
-"Sorry, miss," the man said politely, "but I think we have a short trip
-to take."
-
-She thought for a moment of brazening it out further and then gave up.
-She'd get a few weeks or months in the local detention building, a
-probing into her background for the psychological reasons that prompted
-her to steal, and then she'd be out again.
-
-They couldn't do anything to her that mattered.
-
-She shrugged and followed the detective calmly. None of the shoppers
-had looked up. None seemed to notice anything out of the ordinary.
-
-In the detention building she thanked her good luck that she was facing
-a man for the sentence, instead of one of the puritanical old biddies
-who served on the bench. She even found a certain satisfaction in the
-presence of the cigar smoke and the blunt, earthy language that floated
-in from the corridor.
-
-"Why did you steal it?" the judge asked. He held up the dress, which,
-she noted furiously, didn't look nearly as nice as it had under the
-department store lights.
-
-"I don't have anything to say," she said. "I want to see a lawyer."
-
-She could imagine what he was thinking. Another tough one, another
-plain jane who was shoplifting for a thrill.
-
-And she probably was. You had to do _something_ nowadays. You couldn't
-just sit home and chew your fingernails, or run out and listen to the
-endless boring lectures on art and culture.
-
-"Name?" he asked in a tired voice.
-
-She knew the statistics he wanted. "Ruby Johnson, 32, 145 pounds, brown
-hair and green eyes. Prints on file."
-
-The judge leaned down and mentioned something to the bailiff, who left
-and presently came back with a ledger. The judge opened it and ran his
-fingers down one of the pages.
-
-The sentence would probably be the usual, she thought--six months and a
-fine, or perhaps a little more when they found out she had a record for
-shoplifting.
-
-A stranger in the courtroom in the official linens of the government
-suddenly stepped up beside the judge and looked at the page. She could
-hear a little of what he said:
-
-"... anxiety neurosis ... obvious feeling of not being wanted ...
-probably steals to attract attention ... recommend emigration."
-
-"In view of some complicating factors, we're going to give you a
-choice," the judge finally said. "You can either go to the penitentiary
-for ten years and pay a $10,000 fine, or you can ship out to the colony
-planets and receive a five-hundred-dollar immigration bonus."
-
-She thought for a minute that she hadn't heard right. Ten thousand
-dollars and ten years! It was obvious that the state was interested in
-neither the fine nor in paying her room and board for ten years. She
-could recognize a squeeze play when she saw it, but there was nothing
-she could do about it.
-
-"I wouldn't call that a choice," she said sourly. "I'll ship out."
-
-
-V
-
-Suzanne was proud of the apartment. It had all the modern conveniences,
-like the needle shower with the perfume dispenser, the built-in
-soft-drink bar in the library, the all-communications set, and the
-electrical massager. It was a nice, comfortable setup, an illusion of
-security in an ever-changing world.
-
-She lit a cigarette and chuckled. Mrs. Burger, the fat old landlady,
-thought she kept up the apartment by working as a buyer for one of the
-downtown stores.
-
-Well, maybe some day she would.
-
-But not today. And not tonight.
-
-The phone rang and she answered in a casual tone. She talked for a
-minute, then let a trace of sultriness creep into her voice. The
-conversation wasn't long.
-
-She let the receiver fall back on the base and went into the bedroom to
-get a hat box. She wouldn't need much; she'd probably be back that same
-night.
-
-It was a nice night and since the address was only a few blocks away,
-she decided to walk it. She blithely ignored the curious stares from
-other pedestrians, attracted by the sharp, clicking sound of her heels
-on the sidewalk.
-
-The address was a brownstone that looked more like an office building
-than anything else, but then you could never tell. She pressed the
-buzzer and waited a moment for the sound to echo back and forth on
-the inside. She pressed it again and a moment later a suave young man
-appeared in the doorway.
-
-"Miss Carstens?"
-
-She smiled pertly.
-
-"We've been expecting you."
-
-She wondered a little at the "we," but dutifully smiled and followed
-him in.
-
-The glare of the lights inside the office blinded her for a moment.
-When she could focus them again, her smile became slightly blurry at
-the edges and then disappeared entirely. She wasn't alone. There was a
-battery of chairs against one side of the room. She recognized most of
-the girls sitting in them.
-
-She forced a smile to her lips and tried to laugh.
-
-"I'm sure there's been some mistake! Why, I never...."
-
-The young man coughed politely. "I'm afraid there's been no mistake.
-Full name, please."
-
-"Suzanne Carstens," she said grimly, and gave the other statistics he
-wanted. She idly wondered what stoolie had peddled the phone numbers.
-
-"Suzanne Carstens," the young man noted, and slowly shook his head.
-"A very pretty name, but no doubt not your own. It actually doesn't
-matter, though. Take a seat over there."
-
-She did as he asked and he faced the entire group.
-
-"I and the other gentlemen here represent the Colonization Board. We've
-interceded with the local authorities in order to offer you a choice.
-We would like to ship you out to the colony planets. Naturally, we will
-pay you the standard emigration bonus of five hundred dollars. The
-colonists need wives; they offer you--security."
-
-He stressed the word slightly.
-
-"Now, of course, if you don't prefer the colony planets, you can stay
-behind and face the penalties of ten years in jail and a fine of ten
-thousand dollars."
-
-Suzanne felt that her lower jaw needed support. Ten thousand dollars
-and ten years! And in either case she'd lose the apartment she had
-worked so hard for, her symbol of security.
-
-"Well, what do you say?" There was a dead silence. The young man
-from the Colonization Board turned to Suzanne. "How about you, Miss
-Carstens?"
-
-She smiled sickly and nodded her head. "I _love_ to travel!" she said.
-
-It didn't sound at all witty even to herself.
-
-
-VI
-
-The transfer shed was a vast and somber terminal, cold and impersonal.
-There was a cleared space at the center of the floor where the
-officials had desks and tables and rows of filing cabinets and busily
-clicking machinery. The women sat huddled around the edges of the shed,
-waiting to be called to the center and assigned to any of the various
-colony planets.
-
-Phyllis clutched her small suitcase, containing the few personal items
-she had been allowed to take on the trip, and silently swore that once
-she set foot on another planet, she'd never leave it, no matter what.
-
-"Draft 49 for the Huffer Solar System report to the routing desk! Draft
-49 for the Huffer Solar System report to the routing desk!"
-
-"That's us," Suzanne said drily. She and Phyllis and Ruby joined the
-others out on the floor.
-
-"You understand," the routing official was saying, "that you're allowed
-your choice of planets in the Huffer Solar System. We'll read off
-occupational and other pertinent information and then you make your
-choice.
-
-"Sunside: First planet from the system sun. Warm, humid climate.
-Fishing, flower-growing for export, mining, and natural handicrafts.
-Population ratio 7 to 1, males all somatypes and admixtures.
-
-"Midplanet: Second planet out. Temperate climate. Farming,
-fur-trapping, slight manufacturing. Ratio 7 to 1, all somatypes and
-admixtures."
-
-"Newman's body, last planet out from the system sun...."
-
-He finished the list and gave them five minutes to decide. The names of
-the three planets appeared on the floor in glowing letters. When they
-had made up their minds, they were to go and stand on the name.
-
-They held a short conference.
-
-"It looks like it's a tossup between fish and furs," Ruby said. "I
-think I'll take Midplanet. I like furs better than fish."
-
-They argued a moment longer, then picked up their belongings and went
-and stood on the luminous letters.
-
-
-VII
-
-No doubt of it, the carpet made a fairly suitable green, Escher
-thought. He placed the ball firmly on the nap, stepped back a pace,
-and tapped it smartly with the golf club. It rolled in a beautifully
-straight path into the upturned water glass.
-
-"Very nice shot, Claude."
-
-Escher looked up and leaned the club against the side of the desk.
-
-"I thought so, too," he agreed. "What brings you here, Mac?"
-
-MacDonald sat down and poured himself a glass of water from the beaker
-on Escher's desk.
-
-"Just wanted to pass on the compliments of the Board for the recent
-large upswing in woman emigrants to the colony planets."
-
-Escher casually waved it aside.
-
-"It wasn't much. We just had to rid ourselves of some old-fashioned
-notions, that's all. I was afraid, though, that the Board might
-disapprove of our methods."
-
-MacDonald thought for a moment.
-
-"No, I guess they didn't. I can't recall any members of the Board
-complaining about it, at least. Apparently they felt that something
-drastic was needed. Or, more probably, they've kept themselves
-carefully ignorant of just how we did it. Oh, they know we violated
-privacy in a lot of cases, but they're willing to overlook it."
-
-"Very white of them, I'm sure," Escher grunted. He took up the club
-and set the ball back on its carpet tee. "How about a game tomorrow
-afternoon?"
-
-MacDonald shook his head. "It didn't bother the Board much, Claude,
-but I followed your advertising and I was down to the port to see a
-contingent of our new colonists take off. It bothers _me_, Claude.
-The ads you sent to the different planets, the whispering campaign we
-arranged for, the subtle propaganda we sent out--and then the women.
-Don't you think there will be some sort of howl? We've definitely led
-them to believe one thing and here we're sending them--well, the new
-colonists leave a lot to be desired."
-
-Escher looked at him coldly. "Look, Mac, let's be cynical about this.
-That's why it was referred to us in the first place. Of course the
-girls we sent aren't the most beautiful or the most glamorous. Those
-girls are already married and you couldn't get them to leave, no matter
-what you did. The girls we sent are the ones who weren't wanted here
-on Earth. We even killed two birds with one stone and solved the crime
-problem."
-
-He held up his hand when MacDonald started to object.
-
-"Don't say it, Mac. Stop and think for a moment. What danger can
-a shoplifter do on a colony planet? There's nothing to steal. And
-without large cities, most other types of crime will have equally
-tough sledding. Besides, we eliminated those who had natural criminal
-tendencies. Most of the others had drifted into it as an outlet for
-their sense of insecurity, the feeling of not being wanted."
-
-MacDonald looked worried.
-
-"All right, what happens when the colonists find out, Claude? What
-happens when they find out we shipped them the castoffs, the leftovers?"
-
-"The point is, Mac, they'll never find out. They're Second System
-colonists. You know how the Colonization Board works. Planet A
-colonizes planet B. Planet B colonizes planet C. Given a suitable
-number of generations, the people on planet C will never have seen
-people from planet A. Earth is planet A. The colony planets to which
-the women were sent are all planet Cs.
-
-"You see, the catch is that the colonists will have no basis on which
-to make comparisons. They've never seen women from Earth!"
-
-"I still don't like it. They _have_ seen women from other planets.
-After taking a look at the last shipload of females that left Earth,
-I'm still worried."
-
-Escher laughed. "That's because you _haven't_ seen some of the colony
-women, Mac. Tell me, what is the most cultured and socially up-to-date
-planet? Earth, of course. Now on what planet has husband-hunting and
-pleasing been developed into an all-out struggle with fine scientific
-techniques? Earth, again. The colonists don't have a chance.
-
-"When it comes to catching and pleasing the male, the girls from Earth
-have really had an education. They can take care of themselves. Don't
-worry about that. Who's to tell the colonists the girls aren't the
-cream of the crop, anyway? Not the girls themselves, certainly. And not
-us. I tell you they'll never find out, Mac."
-
-"You're positive that the colonists will be pleased with the women?"
-
-Escher hesitated. "Well, reasonably." He sounded a little wistful. He
-practiced his swing a few more times, barely missing the lamp on his
-desk.
-
-"I thought the advertising was rather clever, too. They'll feel a
-great obligation to us for sending them 'Earth's Fairest Daughters.' Be
-good for strengthening the ties to the mother planet."
-
-MacDonald looked somewhat happier.
-
-"What about the women themselves, though? We sold them a bill of goods,
-too, you know. They're expecting modern cities and handsome, rugged
-heroes for husbands. I know damn well that a lot of the colonies aren't
-much more than sinkholes and I suspect the sanitary, rugged, thoughtful
-male is strictly off the artist's drawing board. What happens when the
-women find that out?"
-
-Escher took the ball out of the glass and went back a few paces for
-another try.
-
-"Don't forget, Mac, the girls are the ones who weren't wanted here,
-the ones who were heading up for lives as old maids. They're going
-to planets where they're strictly a scarce item, where they'll be
-appreciated. The colonists will think they're getting something special
-and they'll treat the girls that way. They'll take good care of them.
-There might be a few difficulties at first, but it'll come out all
-right."
-
-"In other words, the whole thing hinges on how the colonists receive
-the girls. Isn't that it?"
-
-The ball thunked solidly into the glass again and rolled out.
-
-"That's right. We've hedged our bets the best we can. Now we'll have to
-wait and see. But I don't think we have anything to worry about."
-
-"Uh-huh," MacDonald grumbled. "It works out nice in theory, but I
-wonder how it'll be in practice."
-
-
-VIII
-
-Phyllis let the deceleration press her into the cot and tried to relax.
-In ten minutes they would be disembarking in Landing City. Landing
-City, with its wide, paved streets and modern buildings, the neatly
-laid-out farms and the modern rocket port.
-
-There was a clanging of bells, a sudden feeling of nausea, and she knew
-they had landed. In the excited buzz of conversation from the others,
-she got her small suitcase and filed toward the hatch.
-
-They took her name and gave her the emigration bonus, and then she was
-on the ramp going down, smelling the cool fresh air and feeling a damp
-breeze against her face.
-
-She looked down....
-
-The modern rocket port was a scorched expanse of dirty ground, with a
-rusting shed at one end that she guessed was the office. Landing City
-was a collection of rundown shacks and corrugated huts with mud streets
-and wooden sidewalks running between them.
-
-She should have guessed, she thought bitterly. She had been sold a bill
-of goods. And there was no going back now; she was stuck with it.
-
-Stuck with it.
-
-She took another look. At least it would be healthy, and there was
-something besides the concrete and granite of a city to look at.
-It wouldn't be day in and day out of sitting eight hours behind a
-typewriter, and then back to her lonesome two rooms for an evening of
-bridge or a night with a boring book.
-
-And there was nothing wrong with the town that couldn't be remedied
-and improved with a little work. She and the others would see to that.
-Progress was going to hit Landing City whether the colonists like it or
-not.
-
-The colonists....
-
-She stared at the whiskery, ragged lot of men of all shapes and sizes
-that were waiting to welcome them.
-
-They had probably, she thought queerly, never heard a lecture on art in
-their lives. And they wouldn't have any interest in historical novels
-and it was an even-money bet that bridge and canasta games would bore
-them.
-
-They were _uncultured_, she thought happily, _thoroughly_ uncultured!
-Their main interest was probably in having a home and raising a family
-and working....
-
-And with a shave and clean clothes, they might even be handsome! A
-dimly remembered poster of a blond-haired giant flashed into her mind,
-but she dismissed it. The men below had a hard, healthy look about
-them, a certain virility, an individuality that the pale men back on
-Earth, now that she thought of it, seemed to lack.
-
-She was very definitely going to like it here.
-
-Then she had a sudden, nagging thought.
-
-How would the colonists take to her and the other bedraggled females?
-
-
-IX
-
-The twinkling fire came nearer and they could make out the outlines of
-the slim-ship. It rapidly grew in size and finally settled to a heavy,
-groaning rest on the pitted and blackened landing field.
-
-Karl was holding his breath, staring at the outline of the hatch on the
-ship's rusty side. It opened and the flight of descent stairs slid out.
-The captain and crew came out first.
-
-Then the women filed down the ladder, smiling timidly and looking cold
-and frightened.
-
-Karl could hear Hill gulping noisily beside him and knew that his own
-mouth was gaping. But he couldn't help it.
-
-The girls were gorgeous.
-
-
-
-
-
-End of Project Gutenberg's The Girls From Earth, by Frank M. Robinson
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