The Project Gutenberg EBook of Foundling on Venus, by
John de Courcy and Dorothy de Courcy

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Title: Foundling on Venus

Author: John de Courcy
Dorothy de Courcy

Release Date: June 20, 2009 [EBook #29181]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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_Venus was the most miserable planet in the system, peopled by
miserable excuses for human beings. And somewhere among this
conglomeration of boiling protoplasm there was a being unlike the
others, a being who walked and talked like the others but who was
different--and afraid the difference would be discovered. You'll
remember this short story._

foundling
on
venus

_by ... John & Dorothy de Courcy_

The foundling could not have been more than three years old. Yet he
held a secret that was destined to bring joy to many unhappy people.

Unlike Gaul, the north continent of Venus is divided into _four_ parts.
No Caesar has set foot here either, nor shall one--for the dank,
stinging, caustic air swallows up the lives of men and only Venus may
say, _I conquered_.

This is colonized Venus, where one may walk without the threat of sudden
death--except from other men--the most bitterly fought for, the dearest,
bloodiest, most worthless land in the solar system.

Separated by men into East and West at the center of the Twilight Zone,
the division across the continent is the irregular, jagged line of Mud
River, springing from the Great Serpent Range.

The African Republic holds one quarter which the Negroes exploit as best
they can, encumbered by filter masks and protective clothing.

The Asians still actually try to colonize their quarter, while the
Venusian primitives neither help nor hinder the bitter game of
power-politics, secret murder, and misery--most of all, misery.

The men from Mars understand this better, for their quarter is a penal
colony. Sleepy-eyed, phlegmatic Martians, self-condemned for minute
violations of their incredible and complex mor