to augment the colonists’ numbers by capturing normal peo-
ple for Adaptation.
There was no commerce-raiding going on now, that much
was certain, and Sweeney was inclined to believe Mike’s de-
nial that there had. ever been any in the past. Once one under-
stood the ballistics of space-travel, one understood also that
piracy is an impossible undertaking, simply because it is more
work than it is worth. But beyond this persuasive practical ob-
jection, there was the impossibility of the motive the Port
cops had imputed to the Ganymedians. The primary purpose
was nonsense. The colonists were fertile, and hence did not
need recruits; and besides, it was impossible to convert a nor-
mal adult human being into an Adapted Manpantropy had
to begin before conception, as it had been begun with Sween-
ey.
Calamitously, the reverse also appeared to be true. Sweeney
had been unable to find anybody in the colony who believed it
possible to convert an Adapted Man back into a human being.
The promise the Port cops had held out to himthough they
had never made it directlythus far appeared to be founded
upon nothing better than dust. If it were nevertheless possible
to bring a man like Sweeney back to life, only Ruttman knew
about it, and Sweeney had to be hypercautious in questioning
Rullman. The scientist had already made some uncomfortable
deductions from the sparse facts and ample lies with which
Sweeney had, by order of the Port cops, provided him. Like
everyone else on Ganymede, Sweeney had learned to respect
the determination and courage which were bodied forth in