Chapter 18

Gerando Riviera was just behind the stage. He was talking to a stage manager with a microphone and head set . The manager noded, noded again, and then Gerando, fake Hispanic name, fake Hispanic mustache, walked out onto the stage to a spot marked on the floor. The stage manager noded and then showed three, then two, then one finger. Gerando immediately presented a concerned visage.

"Good evening and welcome to the Gerando Riviera Show. We have a group of guests tonight whom I am sure you have all heard of. First, we have Dr. Harold MacAnish of the project to vitalize Venus, George Stone of the same project and John Thomas an attorney for the project. We also have Linda Grange of the Society for the Prevention of Planetary Rape and Miles Fairchild of the Sierra Club. We also have Dr. Martin Oberg of NASA and Walter Cathcull of Cathcull Aeronautics. I am sure you will be shocked and amazed by the scope of this effort."

The video link cut to a cat food commercial and the monitors in the studio showed the commercial. A truly repulsive mix of animal byproducts was being ingested by the well groomed felines to a rousing chorus of contemporary music. The next was a hemorrhoidal itch cream commercial followed by two adds for beer. During this onslaught of products Gerando consulted his script. A woman came out to fix his makeup. A small area of his forehead had developed a bit of reflection under the lights. The stage manager then gave the hand signal followed by the three, two, one. And Bingo. Jerry Rivers was once again magically transformed into Gerando Riviera, the concerned journalist.

"Dr. MacAnish you have shocked the sensibilities of the people of the planet Earth by trying to create a new world. Not really create but rather a biological destruction of a natural environment to create a world of your own. You plan to bombard the innocent love planet Venus with mutant bacteria in a cloud of biologic warfare."

Harold had thought he might have a slim chance of survival but that had just been smushed like a bug on the windshield of a fourteen wheeler. He thought of that joke about what is the last thing that goes through the bug's mind - his legs, only to be jolted back into the present. What to say to a man who interviewed Topless Donut Waitresses at a cafe named Debbie Does Donuts?

"Mr. Riviera, as chief scientist for the Venusian BioAtmospherics Project , I must take offense at your tone. The project is not biologic warfare, it is an effort to reverse the greenhouse effect on another planet. The surface of Venus at the present time is quite inhospitable. The surface temperature is over 700oK. No person, animal, or plant that we know of, can survive on the surface. There is no life on Venus. Our project will cool the planet, create a hospitable atmosphere, and allow life to extend to another planet in our solar system. This effort does not involve the destruction of anything, but rather the creation of another inhabitable planet."

"But Dr. MacAnish, aren't you destroying the natural environment of an entire world before we can study it? Might there be some strange form of life that exists in those "inhospitable" areas? On this topic we have Linda Grange of the Society for the Prevention of Planetary Rape."

Linda sat up at the mention of her name. The camera panned toward her. She was obviously nervous so the words blurted out. "Thank... you... Gerando. The world is appalled by this recent effort to destroy the environment of an entire planet. Man has a history of trying to mold the environment towards his own needs without considering the total ecosystem. The Venusian BioAtmospherics Project is the most insidious of all these efforts. This project takes the destructive powers of man to another planet. Harold MacAnish and the NASA administrators, but I blame Dr. MacAnish most of all because it was his idea, want to destroy an entire world. These bacteria are just the first of a series of biological weapons that NASA wants to use to infect the Venusian atmosphere. This project is biologic warfare on a planetary scale, planetary genocide. This effort will permanently destroy the fragile Venusian Ecosystem!" She jumped to her feet with this last remark as if to start a demonstration march.

"Gerando, I must interject." Harold was sitting on the edge of his chair and looked as if he were about to blow a blood vessel. "There is no ecosystem on Venus. There is no life on Venus. There is no fragile Venusian ecosystem to destroy. We are simply cooling the planet and creating a life supporting atmosphere. We are changing the planet but we are not destroying anything. All change is not destructive. These instant experts, just add a cause and you have an expert, think that all change is bad. Some change, and particularly this change, is beneficial."

Linda looked furious. "Dr. MacAnish, the pristine Venusian biosphere is poorly understood. No one has been there. We have not yet begun to study the planet and your efforts to change the planet are just another step in man's effort to destroy the universe."

"Ms. Grange, the universe is a tad bit too big for anyone to destroy. The main reason no one has been to Venus is simply that the visitor would be quickly broiled alive. If not broiled, then sautéed, no, roasted, no, fried, anyway. It would be very, very hot. There is no way for man or even woman to go to Venus and study it. We have sent robots but even they have a limited survival because of the temperature. We are not destroying anything. We are using a biologic solution to the greenhouse effect. We are making a habitable planet out of a barren, lifeless, rock floating in space. We are improving an otherwise useless rock."

Linda again jumped from her chair but this time started toward Harold. "Useless rock, I'll show you what to do with a useless rock!" The security guards that had become a regular part of the show since that episode with the skin heads, leaped onto the stage. The monitors cut to a tampon commercial. Just as the woman explained to her friend how fresh and free she felt, the guards caught up to Linda. She had just barely gotten her hands around Harold's neck, so he was not quite blue yet. They escorted her off the stage as the next commercial explained how awake one felt after a jolt of morning coffee.

Gerando reacted quickly. He had planned for interruptions but had not quite expected them in the opening dialogue. He immediately walked to the side of the stage where a set of television monitors had close ups of his remote guests. He chose the monitor marked NASA. "Dr. Oberg, we have heard from the originator of the Venusian BioAtmospherics Project and from the environmental groups opposing it. How does NASA feel about the project?"

"Well, Gerando. We are quite excited about the Venusian BioAtmospherics Project. NASA has a long history of space exploration with the moon project, the space lab, and the shuttle, and the space station. This project is one of the first that is not purely a scientific mission but rather an effort to use our acquired knowledge to improve a distant planet. The early Russian data and our remote observations have confirmed that Venus is a most inhospitable planet. The BioAtmospheric's bacteria will make the atmosphere both a more reasonable temperature and one that will support life. We usually would have studied the project for a number of years, developed some very expensive plans, had the funding cut several times by congress, cut aspects of the project to stay within the funding cuts, realized that there was no way to achieve any of the goals, and then canceled the whole thing. But instead we were forced to move quickly and have a cheap, simple, excellent outcome. Quite unusual, but we are trying to adjust." Oberg was in rare form. The crumbs from his morning sweet roll were still on his tie and stuck to the corners of his mouth.

"How do you respond to the charges that this project will destroy the natural environment of an entire planet?" Gerando wanted excitement, controversy, good ratings. The only thing missing from this show he thought was a sexual spin. The Love Planet Venus was being lost in boring facts.

"We at NASA are reasonably sure that destroying the "Natural State" of this planet is a good idea. Venus is exceptionally unpleasant place. 700oK, carbon dioxide atmosphere except for the sulfuric acid rain, sounds like an excellent day in New Jersey I admit, but not for the rest of us. No one wants to live there, Venus or Jersey. The BioAtmospherics project is simply Urban Renewal on a grand scale." Oberg felt pleased with himself.

"Urban renewal indeed." It was Miles Fairchild of the Sierra Club's turn to try to point out some problem. "Dr. Oberg, with all the environmental problems on the planet earth, and man's obvious inability both politically and practically to solve them, do you feel that we should unleash ourselves on another planet?" That question was not meant to be answered. "Man has been unable to restrain himself from destroying the environment. We at the Sierra Club believe in conservation. Man already has bespoiled his nest on earth. He should not be allowed to wreak havoc on another planet simply because he is capable."

"Mr. Fairchild, we are doing nothing of the sort. We are making the planet Venus inhabitable. You do nothing except sue - environmentalists, just want the world to stand still. The world is built to change. Things change and you can't stop them. If you want to stagnate why don't you wander off into the woods and leave progress to us."

"I would love to 'wander off into the woods' but man keeps destroying them." Fairchild looked a bit tense with his perfect Brooks Brothers suit and his perfect blow dried hair and shiny wing tips. He looked like he ought to be suing for the greater corporate good rather than for the spotted snail darter or the great horned tulip.

Harold sat up. "Venus is a long way from the forests of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Mr. Fairchild. We are using technology that will not destroy but rather improve. The naturalists should view this project as a tremendous environmental triumph. Man has learned to harness biology to improve the environment rather than destroy it. Man will go to a totally inhospitable, totally non life supporting environment and make it life supporting. To provide a new world for life to prosper on. This is an opportunity to both learn about a new environmental technology and create another life supporting planet. The environmentalists should be supporting our effort rather than simply refusing to have any change. All change is not bad." Harold was incensed but also on a roll. It was rare for him to wax philosophic but he felt as if he should have a long beard and a staff and rap the end on the floor while pronouncing the truth. Instead he paused long enough for Gerando to change the subject.

"Dr. Cathcull, you are providing the technologic support for this project by providing the orbiting planes that carry the incubators for the bacteria. How do you respond to the charges that these aircraft are really going to rain biologic warfare on a helpless planet?" Gerando was in his element. He was firing up the speakers and the audience. He loved this job.

"Mr. Riviera, I would like to thank you for inviting me to speak on your show. Warfare implies a military operation between enemies. The NASA BioAtmospherics project is a single entity since the planet Venus is uninhabited. There is no life there, no inhabitants, no entity with which to engage in warfare. This project is an effort to reverse a geologic process. It is an effort to correct a problem with planetary evolution. The would be do-gooders of the world have reacted to this project emotionally rather than intellectually, from a position of reason. The universe changes; there is no sacred right or wrong. There is no absolute correct. The planet Venus in its present state is uninhabitable, unusable, and totally devoid of life. This project, if it succeeds, would correct the relentless progress toward a sterile world and allow another site for life in our solar system. Cathcull Aeronautics is proud to participate in this project and proud to be a part of the reasoned efforts to improve our world." Walter Cathcull had spoken. He was calm, reasonable, collected, nothing had ever bothered him. His argument was like a glacier, solid, massive, unquestionable, but moving forward without any consideration for the trivial debris in front of it.

Gerando was stuck for a second. If he cut to a commercial he would let the reasonableness of this latest speaker sink in, it might ruin his chances for more controversy, yet he needed another 3 minutes of product pushing. He cut to a commercial for shampoo.

Boy, that woman's hair looked shiny and her whole life improved because of it. Next came the evils of diarrhea and a poor Mexican Family struck down not by Montezuma's Revenge but by Montana's Revenge. Their vacation was saved by Kaopectate. It is hard to conceive of never leaving home with all the stuff these commercials want you to take along. You would need a semi and bearers, but it was easy to see the logic of preventing the horribly embarrassing problem of diarrhea. Even Gerando noted the advice. Then there was the blur of more products, more messages not to be forgotten. Even Carl Malden got a pitch in. The poor guy follows around a lot of unlucky tourists. If you ever notice a guy with a big nose and dark suit standing near your hotel room, check you wallet, he probably works with the thugs. And finally a car commercial. Yes we have learned that quality is important. People want quality. We spent six million dollars and ten years of research to learn that people prefer cars with quality. That's why we mention it in our commercials. Some day we will do a study to decide if we should put it in our more expensive models as an option. For now we will just mention it in the ads.

Gerando was back. Smiling as always. Nothing had been resolved. The audience had been inflamed and the discussants infuriated. Linda Grange was still off stage drinking cool water and talking to the show psychologist to decide if she was a danger to herself or others. The products had been pushed. Gerando had made some more money. Only the reaction of the public and Congress to the reaction of the public would determine if the project lived or died on this day. Harold had a cold sweat running down his back. He had agreed to do the show because he thought it would promote the project. He thought the public ought to know what was going on and that would help the Congress decide what to do. He had not quite pictured the battle that ensued. He had pictured it as a reasoned discussion. Maybe Donahue would have been better? He had thrown his butt to the sharks and he would see what parts floated to the surface.

"Thank you for your comments and this discussion. Tomorrow we will have a man who lives in a cave in New Mexico and lives solely on fried bats. I am Gerando Riviera."

Chapter 19

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