David McCarthy

“ She complied, and Tappan rose from his chair and seated himself on the corner of the desk. "You see," he began, "that's just the reason we don't want him around—because he's such a harmless little chap. Probably never did anyone any harm in his life—consciously. That made him an extremely dangerous type around here, however. He could have caused more damage than an exploding meteor. You see, just as ordinary society considers the criminal dangerous, here we consider harmless little characters like Van der Bush dangerous because of the harm he can cause criminals to do him. ”

“ He had drawn up his plans, spending years among criminals, in prisons and in the underworld, gathering facts. Then he had presented them to the lawmakers. He had explained that "reform" was practically meaningless to this type of criminal, since the same state of mind that kept them from seeing their guilt in the first place would prevent them from reforming. The only thing that the old system did was make them try harder to keep from getting caught the next time. ”

“ 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." ”

“ The successful looking man who sat next to you in a restaurant at Seven, for instance. He might have been one of the most successful embezzlers in the business not too long ago, or the prospector in his battered moonsuit, with his pack of rock samples. He might be an ex-murderer. This was the famous Tappan Project. It was set up for the purpose of rehabilitating criminals, and the majority of the inhabitants of the Station were ex-criminals with an amazing variety of crimes to their credit. ”

“ Finally, however, the back of the Moon had been opened, and colonists who were willing to become permanent residents, in order to mine the rich mineral resources of the mountains of the Moon were hard to find, even for the high pay offered, so they had authorized the establishment of Station Seven. Tappan had scoured the prisons of the Atlantic Federation, selecting his subjects for stamina in order to stand the life on the Moon, as well as their potential ability to be useful. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Tappan dialed Balik, and when the plainclothes man's face appeared on the telescreen, he said:"Go by and pick up the latest on Van der Bush and head for the permit office. I want you to, get him out as soon as they finish quizzing him. No excitement. If you work fast, he won't know what's happened. Ask him about the prospector, too. ”

“ Van der Bush said: "I am going to come up and see you one of these days, Mr. Tappan. I expecde to pe here for some time."
Tappan hurried to his office. Shelia was just putting some mail on his desk when he entered. She looked up and said cheerfully: "Good morning, Boss. I—"
He interrupted her with, "Quick, get the permit office. Tell 'em Van der whosis is coming over to get a prospector's permit. I want him stalled until they can give him the tests. Tell 'em that they can tell him that they give them to everybody who applies for one, or anything." ”

“ 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. ”