This is Chapter 12 of The Universal Good Deal, you may want to start at the beginning or go back to Chapter 11.

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In order that you may penetrate the motivations of the ensuing catastrophes, I must explain a little more fully who this Flinders was. Within his forty years of life, Flinders discovered a very large area of what is now accepted advertising practice; he participated in stirring Martian events which are memorable even now; and he was the victim of circumstances which, however stated, were peculiarly unfortunate, and must evoke the sympathy of everyone who takes the trouble to understand them.¹

He was born a Lummi, one of the ancient Martian tribes—although most Martians at the time chose to organize themselves by nation (an arbitrary category which relied on pretend lines), there were still those who saw their place in the world as a product of their relationships with rocks, ferns, crows, and things like that. Out of a desultory attempt to respect the wishes of such people, some Martian governments created what were called reservations. These were undesirable or unprofitable lands where those who were members of such tribes might live, although it seems that the wider society thought of them as parks where gambling was allowed.

Flinders' family had been settled on the same reservation for many generations.² He was raised in a small brick house painted a dingy white. As a child, he did not take to school, being too practically minded. He recognized at an early age the importance of the relative over the absolute,³ something entirely neglected in the curricula of that era. Flinders preferred, instead, the company of his uncle, who was a criminal.

During Flinders' youth, the district grew large quantities of a plant called marijuana, principally for illegal sale.⁴ As I will discuss in detail later, Martian societies of this period had come to the odd conclusion that there were certain substances and comestibles that were harmful by their very nature, and they banned them and promised harsh penalties to violators of the ban. Of course this had the effect of creating a very profitable market, which attracted a great number of people who were willing to break the law. As I have said, Flinders' uncle was one of these, although not particularly successful. Many historians believe that it was this uncle who was responsible for Flinders' arrest and imprisonment.

Whatever the case, there are records that Flinders was put in prison for racketeering when he was just fifteen years old. It was apparently quite common to imprison children in Martian society; so much so, that they had passed laws against the practice. These laws were neatly circumvented by still more laws that made it permissible to pretend a child was an adult for the purpose of punishing them.

Here Flinders was detained and lingered out an imprisonment six years and a half.⁵ In prison, Flinders grew into a large, bony man. He groomed himself neatly, keeping his head and beard trimmed very short. It was also in prison that he read Robinson Crusoe.⁶

Chapter 13 tomorrow, same time, same place.

Within his forty years of life, he discovered a very large area of what is now an important region of the earth; he participated in stirring events which are memorable in modern history; he applied a vigorous and original mind to the advancement of knowledge with useful results; and he was the victim of circumstances which, however stated, were peculiarly unfortunate, and must evoke the sympathy of everyone who takes the trouble to understand them. Ernest Scott, The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders, R.N. 1914 ↩
The Flinders family had been settled in the same town for several generations. Ernest Scott, The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders, R.N. 1914 ↩
It is not so much the absolute as the relative height of the mercury, and its state of rising and falling, that are to be attended to in forming a judgment of the weather. Mathew Flinders, “Observations upon the Marine Barometer, made during the Examination of the Coasts of New Holland and New South Wales, in the Years 1801, 1802, and 1803.” In a Letter to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London 27 March 1806 ↩
During Flinders' youth and early manhood the district grew large quantities of hemp, principally for the Royal Navy. Ernest Scott, The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders, R.N. 1914 ↩
Here, in contempt of his commission and passports from the friendly powers of Europe, he was cruelly detained, and lingered out an imprisonment of six years and a half. Joyce Gold, The Naval Chronicle: Containing a General and Biographical History of the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom with a Variety of Original Papers on Nautical Subjects, Volume 32, 1814 ↩
He read Robinson Crusoe. Ernest Scott, The Life of Captain Matthew Flinders, R.N. 1914 ↩

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Footnotes