their guilt in the first place would prevent them from reforming. The only thing that the old system did was make them try harder to keep from getting caught the next time.
Of course, he warned them, this would apply only to a certain type of criminal. There were others who could be reformed, and still others who were incapable of performing any useful tasks. They could be handled elsewhere.
He thought of the days spent in committee hearings, explaining his project. The lawmakers had been unable to see how such an experiment could be made to work, and all his facts and diagrams could not make them understand it.
Finally, however, the back of the Moon had been opened, and colonists who were willing to become permanent residents, in order to mine the rich mineral resources of the mountains of the Moon were hard to find, even for the high pay offered, so they had authorized the establishment of Station Seven. Tappan had scoured the prisons of the Atlantic Federation, selecting his subjects for stamina in order to stand the life on the Moon, as well as their potential ability to be useful. Then, along with a number of criminologists who had studied under him and understood his methods, and a few noncriminals, he had brought them here. They had arrived when there was nothing at Station Seven except a huge empty underground dome and a few quonset huts, and built a thriving mining town out of it. Tappan hoped eventually to be able to send a few back to civilization on business missions, and perhaps some day, allow a few to return permanently. But that was in the future. His immediate concern was to keep them safe from the undesirable elements of civilization which were always creeping in.
At first, when the group of noncriminals had been brought along to help set the station up, there had been some trouble with them, for undesirables had been included in spite of the careful selection. Since then, however, he had improved his system of selecting the individuals who were capable of getting along in a criminal society, and most of the noncriminals had gone anyhow, leaving only a select group of CC men, who kept the colony under a close but inconspicuous surveillance, moving rapidly to stamp out any crimepotential condition as soon as it became apparent to their trained eyes.
Although the experiment had succeeded beyond Tappan's wildest expectations, there was still an element on Earth and at Station One—which they were beginning to call Luna City—who were inalterably opposed to the project for various reasons. Tappan now returned to his desk and resumed his reading of an article written for them—by a "Luna City" correspondent who had been refused a permit to visit the Station. As Tappan read the article he did a bit of quick psychoanalysis on the writer, and it was apparent why he
