ke.

Nothing.

The same results had come out of every investigation: You needed a man
who was unstable to get him to leave Earth. You needed a man who was
stable to have him stay on Venus. You needed initiative and
resourcefulness to survive on a new planet. You needed a man who had so
little initiative and resourcefulness that the competition on Earth
wouldn't be profitable. You needed a young, healthy, vigorous specimen.
You needed an older, experienced, more mature person.

You needed A and you needed non-A.

And even if you found people with the factors balanced just right,
assuming you knew what the balance should be, where did you find five
hundred of them?

The discussion went on. The solutions got wilder and more absurd. Take
whole orphan asylums and bring them up on Venus under military guard.
Build a development in the steamiest, nastiest jungle, and test recruits
for the colony there. Send African natives.

The men were beginning to make the whole thing look impossible again, so
Rod decided to call a halt until they could get a better perspective.
Tired himself, he dismissed them. They left quietly, not arguing in
little groups or mumbling half-formed ideas to themselves, the way a
team that has been progressing will do.

* * * * *

Only Jaimie stayed. He remained sitting hunched up near the desk, in the
same position he'd held for the last hour. When the others had all left,
he grinned at Rod.

"You know, for a group of practicing psychologists, this is the softest
bunch of suckers I've seen."

"You've proved that to your own profit several times so far," Rod
answered, rubbing his face as though smoothing the wrinkles could remove
the tension. "Who have you robbed lately?"

"I'm talking about your performance just now. Here comes the whole crew,
walking in with their heads hanging to the floor. Every last man was
ready to tell you he was quitting--that the problem was insoluble. And
before anyone can say a word, you tell them that the whole thing is
impossible and imply that _you_ want to quit. Even Biddington fell for
it. You can't back out now, Rod, they say. Let's not have defeatist talk
out of you, of all people--"

"I did feel that way," Rod said. "I'm just about ready to quit. I think
that whatever our mistake has been, we can't do any better than we have.
We just don't know enough."

Jaimie wasn't grinning now. "What will happen if you quit?"

"My gues