The Venus Evil

A member of a three-person, privately funded space expedition narrates the voyage to a cloud-shrouded, primeval Venus, where scientific surveying and a manageable landing give way to extended exploration, claustrophobic strain, and rising avarice after reports of valuable finds on other planets. The team—a chemist, a biologist, and a physicist-pilot—tests the air and records lush, alien landscapes and benign fauna, but interpersonal tensions and psychological imbalance escalate into a fatal confrontation in which the narrator kills the chemist. The account blends technical description of the voyage with personal recollection as the narrator attempts to clarify the circumstances of the killing.