"It will involve finding one man, a Venusian native."
I wanted to say, "Then why the hell don't you send a green kid on the job? Why me?" Instead, I nodded and watched him playing with his fingers.
"The man is a trader of sorts. Rather intelligent." He paused, then added, "For a native, that is."
I had never liked Walsh's attitude toward natives. I hadn't liked the way he'd treated the natives on Mars ever since he'd taken over there. Which brought to mind an important point.
"I always figured Venus was under the jurisdiction of Space III, sir. I thought our activities were confined to Mars."
He folded his fingers like a deck of cards and dropped them on his desk as if he were waiting for me to cut.
"Mmmm," he said, "yes, that's true. But this is a special job. It so happens this Venusian is the one man who can help us understand just what's happening on Mars."
I tried to picture a Venusian understanding Mars and I didn't get very far.
"He's had many dealings with the natives there," Walsh explained. "If anyone can tell us the reasons for the revolt, he can."
If Walsh really wanted to know the reasons for the revolt, I could give them to him in one word: Walsh. I had to laugh at the way he called it "revolt." It had been going on for six months now and we'd lost at least a thousand men from Space II. Revolt.