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Transforming Venus
Tom Ball
Experiments on Mars and elsewhere had paid off, and now it had been decided that the atmosphere of Venus would be redesigned. Completely. The planets internal heat would drive the massive chemical factories, which created chain reactions causing solids to fall from the clouds, progressively lightening the heavy atmosphere, and then to provide steamy, but earth-like ground temperatures. It was a piece of cake really, and they were nearing completion.
And the project had attracted a number of romantic idealists too, if only because the planet was named Venus. These romantics had agreed that the ideal romance should only last 4 hours. That is, spend 3 hours getting the best stories out of someone and finding out who they truly are and then 1 hour making love.
As it turned out many people back on earth thought the Venusian love affair was quite good and it caught on. Many people would wear a V on their shirt indicating that they were Venusians. If two people who were V’s met one would simply ask if the other wanted to do a V. Or if you did not have a V on your shirt you could still ask a V or ask anyone for a V.
The Venusian organization would accept stories of V encounters and if they were a prize-winning story, the couple in question would get a free passage to Venus. Many people wanted to get to Venus to meet these outstanding lovers. Venus was truly the most romantic place in the solar system.
