Adventures in the Far Future & Tales of Outer Space — page 93: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

hit Khem IV in its orbit. No. TheDeli/ah could never get a message back to its base. That was out of the question. We’re dead, thought Brent morbidly, all of us. Only we haven't started to act like it yet. Before they did act dead, things would happen it was not pleasant to anticipate. He stopped beside the girl, Kit Harlow. She and her father were standing by themselves, looking at the other passengers. Their expressions were peculiar. It wasn’t that they didn’t know what the blown overdrive meant, but that they were taking it in their own way. “Pardon,” said Brent. “I’m Jim Brent. | think you know what’s happened. I... Saw you back in port and I’m traveling by myself. Things will be bad presently. | thought I’d offer—” The girl looked at him detachedly. Her father said harshly: “You thought you’d offer what?” He saw a bitter anger in the older man’s eyes. And then Brent realized what the other man was thinking. He flushed angrily. “We are dead,” he said coldly. “You know it. You know what’s likely to happen as these people go mad. | intended to offer to help keep things decent for your daughter for so long as it can be managed. | happen to be a fool, and | meant to offer to act like one.” With that he turned away, frustrated, bitter. They’d thought he meant something very different. Reasonable enough, at that. Some men, Knowing that nothing can make what is coming any worse— “Just a moment,” said the girl. He turned back. Her voice was just what he’d thought it would be: clear, and level, and good to listen to. She smiled faintly at him. “Thank you very much. If you can organize some other passengers, you may be able to prevent some horrors—for a while.” Her father said bitterly: CORniclooo SS CO