Page:Astounding Science Fiction (1950-01).djvu/32

 him. These people aren't going to commit any crimes as long as there's no opportunity, but when the temptation is too great, they just can't help it. And Van der Bush is a one-hundred percent, gold-plated fall guy. In other words, he is one of the finest specimens of an old-fashioned sucker I've seen in many a day. To have turned him loose here would have been like putting a nice little lamb in a cage of hungry lions and expecting them not to eat it!"

Shelia laughed. "I see now. You just didn't want the populace endangered. But why didn't you pick him up as soon as he got here? Looks to me as if that would've been better."

Tappan's face became solemn. "I wish we could have, Shelia. But Station Seven has a lot of enemies. They are watching all the time for something to hang on us. If we had turned him back, they would have said, 'Slave labor camp! He doesn't want anyone to see what he's doing'—or something of the sort."

He got up and walked around the desk, "It's hard to convince people of a simple thing like this. The old idea of punishing the criminal, making him pay his debt to society, has been around a long time. They like to talk about society being to blame for crime, but they mean society in the 'abstract'. When we come along and point out individuals, and say, 'You are one of the causative factors of crime,' they won't let themselves face the fact. They want to tear us down, make us take it back, and let them go on talking about society in the abstract. One crime committed here wouldn't mean that the project had failed, but it would mean the end of us if it got out."

"You saw part of what could have happened if we'd let Van der Bush alone. Corrigan is safer than the average, because he figures the odds against getting away with it. But this looked so easy, and safe, that he just couldn't resist trying to sell him a bill of goods. As soon as he found out we were keeping our eye on Van der Bush, however, he didn't look so attractive."

"But the situation still existed. After he left us, somebody sold him the old diamond deposit fraud, and he fell for it like a ton of uranium. If he had been around a week, we'd have had a crime wave, with him as the sole victim of all of 'em."

He smiled and sat down again. "But he didn't, thanks to Balik and the others being alert. Let's forget about him now. How about a repeat on that date again tonight? And this time absolutely no business. I promise."

Shelia rose to leave the office. "Suits me, Boss. But if you think you're going to get by without telling me more about this business, you're nuts. I still want to know—"

Tappan interrupted her by saying in a mock-stern voice, "Please, we must get to work. You're loafing on the Station's time, Miss!"

32