Rebels of the Red Planet | Page 8

was a spacious one on the ground level, and boasted one of
Ultra Vires' few large windows. Maya unpacked her bag, and gratefully
stripped off her boots and socks, her tunic and baggy trousers. In
underpants, she went into the small bathroom, washed cosmetics from
her face and brushed down her thick, short hair.
Donning her light sleeping garment, she sat down on the edge of her
bed. She was very tired from the long drive and, almost without

thinking, she did not get up to turn out the light. She thought at it.
The switch clicked and the light went out.
She felt foolish and a little frightened. She had never told Nuwell of
this sort of thing. Can a woman ask her witch-hunting lover: "Do you
think I'm a witch?"
With almost total recall, as though she heard it spoken, she
remembered the summation speech Nuwell had made the first time she
had seen him in action. He was prosecuting a man charged with
conducting experiments similar to the historic and outlawed Rhine
experiments of Earth.
"Gentlemen, we sit here in a public building and conduct certain
necessary human affairs in a dignified and orderly manner. We follow
a way of life we brought with us from distant Earth. Apparently, we are
as safe here as we would be on Earth.
"I say 'apparently.' Sometimes we forget the thin barriers here that
protect us against disaster, against extermination. A rent in this city's
dome, a failure in our oxygen machinery, a clogging of our pumping
system by the ever-present sand, and most of us would die before help
could reach us from our nearest neighbors.
"We live here under certain restrictions that many of us do not like.
Certainly, no one likes to be unable to step out under the open sky
without wearing a bulky marsuit and an oxygen tank. Certainly, no one
likes to be rationed on water and meat throughout the foreseeable
future.
"But what we have to remember is that absolute discipline has always
been a requirement for those courageous souls in the vanguard of
human progress.
"Witchcraft--the practice of extrasensory perception, if you prefer the
term--is forbidden on Mars because to practice it one must differ from
his fellow men when the inexorable dangers of our frontier demand

that we work together. To practice it, one must devote time and mental
effort to untried things when our thin margin of safety makes
concentrated and combined effort necessary for survival. That is why
witchcraft is forbidden on Mars.
"Let those who yet cling to the wistful liberalism of Earth label us
conformists if they will. I say to you that until Mars is won for humanity,
we cannot afford the luxury of nonconformity.
"Gentlemen, I give you the prosecution's case."
Maya stared out the window. This whole side of Ultra Vires was dark,
except for a rectangle of light cast from a window a little distance
away--the window of Goat Hennessey's study. In this rectangle, the red
sand of the desert lay clear and stark.
Near the end of the rectangle lay an indistinct, crumpled, oblong figure.
Puzzled, Maya studied it. It looked like a body to her.
* * * * *
In the study, Nuwell gazed at the skinny doctor with angry brown eyes.
"The bulletins sent to you, as well as other researchers, gave specific
instructions that research was to be directed toward human utilization
of certain foods now being developed," accused Nuwell.
"I thought this was more important," replied Goat.
"You thought! You're not on Earth, where scientists can get
government grants and go jaunting off on wild research projects of their
own."
"I still think this is more important," said Goat stubbornly. "I know that
all of us are expected to co-operate and stick to tried and accepted lines
so we won't be wasting time and material. Perhaps I was wrong in not
doing that initially. But now I've proved that this line of research can be
followed profitably, so its continuance now can't be looked on as a

waste of time."
"Scientists should leave political direction to more experienced men,"
said Nuwell in an exasperated tone. "This is not merely a matter of time
waste, or nonconformity. The Mars Corporation operates our sole
supply line to Earth, Dr. Hennessey, and that supply line brings to man
on Mars all the many things he needs to live here. The Earth-Mars run
is an expensive operation, and it's important that it remain
economically feasible for Marscorp to operate it.
"No matter how altruistic you may be about it, you get man to the point
that he doesn't depend on atmospheric oxygen here, and domes,
pressurized houses and groundcars, oxygen equipment--a great many
things are going to be unnecessary. But there'll still be a