WRONG ANALOGY
BY JOSEPH SHALLIT
The Pied Piper who had promised them
Paradise and led them across half the
universe had changed his tune. But this
time it was the Piper who had to pay....
[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from
Worlds of If Science Fiction, August 1956.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
Ruth was standing at the vast window of the spaceport, her body taut and eager, the luggage piled high around her. When Harvey Flanders came out of the ship carrying the last two suitcases, she darted to him.
"Harvey, it's a dream—it's heavenly!" she cried, catching hold of his arm. "Did you imagine—did you possibly ever imagine it would be like this?"
Harvey's eyes followed the sweep of his wife's hand, out at the dazzling expanse of fields and orchards, green and gold under this magnificent sun. The fantastic vegetation stretched in lush undulations to a distant purple horizon, the sweep broken only by the brown streaks of roads, the winding ribbons of sapphire-tinted water, and, here and there, the pastel pink and blue roofs of the settlers' houses.
Exultation filled his chest. He fought it down, deliberately, grimly. "There were places on Earth that were like this before the blight came. California ... Florida ... looked like this."