Charlie was stunned. “Uh…Mr. deSoto? Are you going to talk to my father?”
“What? Heavens, no! You are their responsibility, not mine. I don’t care what you do. That’s all. Go home.”
Charlie went home, slowly. He did not talk it over with his parents. Instead he went back to school and studied. In a few weeks he discovered that even algebra could be interesting…and that old Frozen Face was an interesting teacher when Charlie had studied hard enough to know what the man was talking about.
Mr. deSoto never mentioned the matter again.
Getting back in the Scouts was more fun but even Scouting held surprises. Mr. Qu’an, Scoutmaster of Troop Four, welcomed him heartily. “Glad to have-you, Chuck. It makes me feel good when a Scout among the new citizens comes forward and says be wants to pick up the Scouting trail again.” He looked over the letter Charlie had brought with him. “A good record — Star Scout at your age. Keep at it and you’ll be a Double Star…both Earth and Venus.”
“You mean,” Charlie said slowly, “that I’m not a Star Scout here?”
“Eh? Not at all.” Mr. Qu’an touched the badge on Charlie’s jacket. “You won that fairly and a Court of Honor has certified you. You’ll always be a Star Scout, just as a pilot is entitled to wear his comet after he’s too old to herd a space ship. But let’s be practical. Ever been out in the jungle?”
“Not yet, sir. But I always was good at woodcraft~”
“Mmm…Ever camped in the Florida Everglades?”
“Well…no~ sir.”
“No matter. I simply wanted to point out that while the Everglades are jungle, they are an open desert compared with the jungle here. And the coral snakes and water moccasins in the Everglades are harmless little pets alongside some of the things here. Have you seen our dragonflies yet?”
“Well, a dead one, at school.”
“That’s the best way to see them. When you see a live one, better see it first,…if it’s a female and ready to lay eggs.”
“Uh, I know about them. If you fight them off, they won’t sting.”
“Which is why you had better see them first.”
“Mr. Qu’an? Are they really that big?”
“I’ve seen thirty-six-inch wing spreads. What I’m trying to say, Chuck, is that a lot of men have died learning the tricks of this jungle. If you are as smart as a Star Scout is supposed to be, you won’t assume that you know what these poor fellows didn’t. You’ll wear that badge…but you’ll class yourself in your mind as a tenderfoot ,all over again, and you won’t be in a hurry about promoting yourself.”
Charlie swallowed it. “Yes, sir. I’ll try.”
“Good. We use the buddy system — you take care of your buddy and he takes care of you. I’ll team you with Hans Kuppenheimer. Hans is only a Second Class Scout, but don’t let that fool you. He was born here and he lives in the bush, on his father’s plantation. He’s the best jungle rat in the troop.”
Charlie said nothing, but resolved to become a real jungle rat himself, fast. Being under the wing of a Scout who was merely second class did not appeal to him.
But Hans turned out to be easy to get along with. He was quiet, shorter but stockier than Charlie, neither unfriendly nor chummy; he simply accepted the assignment to look after Charlie. But he startled Charlie by answering, when asked, that he was twenty-three years old.
It left Charlie speechless long enough for him to realize that Hans, born here, meant Venus years, each only two hundred twenty-five Earth days. Charlie decided thai Hans was about his own age, which seemed reasonable. Time had been a subject which had confused Charlie ever since his arrival. The Venus day was only seven minutes different from that of Earth — he had merely had to have his wristwatch adjusted. But the day itself had not meant what it used to mean, because day and night at the north pole of Venus looked alike, a soft twilight.
There were only eight months in the year, exactly four weeks in each month, and an occasional odd ‘~.Year Day” to even things off. Worse still, the time of year didn’t mean anything; there were no seasons, just one endless hot, damp summer. It was always the same time of-day, always the same time of year; only clock and calendar kept it from being the land that time forgot. Charlie never quite got used to it.