Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 44 — page 9: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION fication was a word our worthy parent had been very fond of. There is no doubt he would have proceeded to unify the other two planets of the system, and those of neigh- bouring systems also, had he not been untimely cut off in his middle years by a jealous woman wielding his own ceremonial sword. And now, as J say, my brother Tomos reigned in his stead. And I? I devoted my- self almost entirely to the job of staying aJive—a task which, in my case, was a difficult one indeed, for, you see, father had been an energetic and a vital man, a man who. had lived and fought—and loved— to the full. Tomos and I were half-brothers ... Tomos held the Royal seat, but sat therein uneasily, and watch- fully. In particular, he watched me. Jf ever I should become too popular, or too successful in the navy, or begin to frequent society too much, or to make speeches, or seem to have become cunning, or restless—if ever I took unto myself a wife and seemed likely to father an heir—then an accident would undoubt- edly befall me, perhaps a knife in the back when I was in the midst of a crowd, or an accident to my ship when too far out in space to send a call for help. As a matter of fact, that is why J used a land car in- stead of a helicopter ; accidents to land cars were less often fatal. It was for that reason also that I took care to buy an old robot-servant. I con- sidered it unwise to appear too well-to-do, or fashionable, or dernier-cri. So uneasily did brother Tomos wear his power, so much did he lie awake worrying—although this did not prevent him getting fat— that perhaps some morning after a sleepless night, and for no specific cause at all except this general unease, he might issue an order for my removal. You can imagine that I was not popular, nor much sought- after. Any young man who went flying or fencing with me knew he would figure next morning in a police report; no young lady of the court would care to have me as a suitor. You will ask me, then, how I employed my time. Well, I had a commission in the Planetary Space Navy, as Lieutenant Astrogator (ender training). Astrogators seldom rose to hold a command, and so my brother need never comicloooks.conn