It had been nighttime now for months. No promise of dawn lay over the horizon until several more had passed. Those unable to cope with the constant murky atmosphere, lit only feebly and intermittently by the streetlights had long since fled. For many, even the prospect of a cramped and tiresome six-week journey back to Earth was surely better than staying for another Venusian night. Genetically refactored body clocks were too expensive and too unreliable for most workers, so it was only those with the stamina and determination to make it that persisted. And of course the convicts. Official stats were all but useless, but it was generally accepted that at least 80% of those that stayed were criminal outcasts from Earth. There was minimal security, other than at the starports – there would n