Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 50 — page 56: what you’re looking at

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

IT TAKES TWO ingly endless time _ ago. “Briefly,” he said, turning his pipe. over in his hands medi- tatively, “the early settlers saw dimly what could be achieved. Second generation children furthered that work. To-day, we have a truly group consciousness. We are above all the things that drove our ancestors here, away from the ulcer culture. Through free will, channelled only by our Social Con- science, we have attained a greatness of spirit that is as far above the ancient Nir- vana as is a modern space battleship from a primitive coracle.” “I — see,” Jarril said un- certainly. His head was ach- ing. “It’s only because the com- mind has such inner strength now that a newcomer can be adjusted at all. Without your co-operation, it will be impossible, anyway.” They all sat. then for a long moment, quiet and relaxed, in strange contrast to the vividness of their previous clash of wills. The whirling hum that hdd been for so long background noise in SD Jarril’s head grew and swelled, and again he had that shocked impression of fragments of thought thrust- ing themselves at the edges of his mind. Before he blacked out the confusing swirl of thought impressions grew to an inten- sity that he had not dreamed could be contained in the universe. Then, quite quickly and unobtrusively, they faded and were gone like morning mist before the risen sun. Old Ben chuckled with that dry, vellum-rustling laughter that made Jarril’s mind grope backwards to the fire-place of his youth and the comfort of home life that he had volun- tarily forsaken when he'd donned the Space Navy black. Old Ben said: “Just remember, son. ‘There’s an old saying that covers this situation pretty thoroughly. Rather, there are two old sayings that are apropos of the current set-up.” He laughed briefly, with some humorous contortion stem- ming from his subconscious that he alone could appreci- ate. “This is going to hurt me comicloooks.com