Amphibious vehicle commonly used in the swamps of Venus. The drivers are called "crockers." [Probably named for the resemblance to crocodiles.]
Doc (no other name)
Former professor of economics on Earth, now a Venus contract laborer who had joined the fugitives' camp in which Humphrey Wingate took refuge after fleeing his employer. He worked as assistant radio operator, and critiqued Wingate's manuscript on colonial conditions.
Transport ship taking contract labor to Venus. It also carried first-class passengers. When Sam Houston Jones shipped as a contract laborer, unbeknownst to him his sister was in the first-class section of the ship.
The Governor (no other name)
The head of the fugitive colony to which Humphrey Wingate fled from his contract labor.
"Satchel" Hartley (no other first name)
Contract laborer who befriended Humphrey Wingate on the Evening Star and was purchased with him. They escaped together after learning they would be sold South.
Reserve officer and wealthy friend of Humphrey Wingate. He signed up with Wingate as a contract laborer on Venus and was sent to the South Pole, but managed to buy his and Wingate's contracts and free them from indenture.
Intoxicating beverage on Venus. It was addictive but it made conditions tolerable for contract laborers. The laborers, of course, bought the rhira from their employers for a large enough price that they were never able to save enough to buy out their contracts.
Religious demagogue whose followers overthrew the United States government and instituted a theocracy. This dictatorship controlled the country for several generations until it was itself overthrown by resistance movements. His followers included Venus colonials, but the movement apparently was dominant only in the United States. He is also called the Prophet.
Daughter of Humphrey Wingate's patron. She took an interest in Humphrey and warned him that he was going to be sold south.
Van Huysen (no first name)
Venus patron who bought Humphrey Wingate's contract. He was not a bad employer. When he learned his daughter had taken an interest in Humphrey, however, and after Humphrey defended a fellow laborer from a beating by the pusher, he decided to sell Humphrey south. (Venus' southern hemisphere was much less comfortable for humans, so being sold south was a dire fate.) Humphrey and a fellow laborer abandoned Van Huysen in the middle of a swamp so they could make their escape, but he survived the walk back to his estate.
The term for nonhuman natives of Venus; the term for human colonists is "Venusian". The amphibious natives traded with humans for tobacco, harvesting native plants in return.
It was settled by humans, but most of the "colonists" were contract laborers who were little better than slaves and had only a slim chance of ever buying out their contract.
