Subject:	Paratime Venusians?
From:		David Johnson [-- redacted --]
Reply-To:	The Works of H. Beam Piper
Date:		Wed, 8 Oct 1997 14:36:26 -0400

Ran across this interesting tid bit from Verkan Vall, who is explaining
his out-time cover story, in "Last Enemy:"

"And I'm a planter on Venus; I have enough troubles, with the natives,
and the weather, and blue-rot in the *zerfa* plants, and poison
roaches, and javelin bugs, without getting into politics. . . ."

Does this suggest that there is a native, sapient race on Venus in
the Paratime universe?  (Vall is on the Second Level Akor-Neb Sector
when he makes this comment.)

Note also that the Akor-Neb Terrans are a Malayoid race who are
particularly taken with Hadron Dalla's "Venus-born" (her cover)
lighter skin and different facial structure.  On the other hand, when
Vall comes to Akor-Neb, he gets cosmetically altered to look like
the Akor-Neb Terrans.

Beam mentions the idea of inter-racial differences changing (or at
least disappearing) in *Space Viking*.  Thus, if the Akor-Nebians
believe Dalla to be a Terran immigrant on Venus, then her type
must have been separate from Terran humans for some time.  Or, they
believe her to be a "civilized" member of Vall's "natives" who
are--presumably--interfertile (or at least sexually compatible given
Dalla's Assassin's interest in her) with Terrans.

Of course, Vall might have merely been referring to a Terran immigrant
group that had become "naturalized" on Venus when he mentions these
"natives."

Yet another interesting puzzle, no?

David Johnson                        Net: -- redeacted --
Arlington, Virginia, North America   Web: http://gwis2.circ.gwu.edu/~david
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"A girl can punch any kind of a button a man can, and a lot of them know
what buttons to punch, and why."     -H. Beam Piper, *The Cosmic Computer*