Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 51 — page 17: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION The situation was a dis- turbed one, but there was no sign of an open conflict. The arguments of the Greys were very convincing. Even if you had doubts, you had to admit that on the face of things they were doing a good job. Human life had been pro- longed and made easier. The worst diseases had been con- quered. Imports from the exploited planets made exist- ence easier in many ways: food supplies and innumer- able constructional materials came to swell the riches of Earth. Work was not onerous. There was more leisure than there had ever been. Leisure and independence. Independence. In some meanings of the word, that was. There was no ban on the expression of opinion, and the only restrictions the Greys imposed were on matters that did not greatly concern the general public: infra-atomics and the management of inter- planetary freight must not be left in the hands of ordinary 16 people. There was a sound explanation; for every law and regulation there was always a neat, reasonably coherent explanation. If you were satisfied with a fairly luxurious, pleasurable exist- ence, you had no real need to ask awkward questions. Let the Greys look after adminis- tration if they wanted to. There. was sport, there were the telestadia, the new dances, the sensual new music, and all the joys of an efficiently- organised, enlightened civili- sation. Provided you didn’t ask awkward questions. Provided you didn’t want to know how and_ why people’s minds changed when they had been removed from the mortal body and settled into the robot carriers. WARREN LOOKED AT the mathematical regularity of the Grey doctor’s features and said : ‘What happens to Judith now? What’s it like for her?” “It would be difficult to make you understand.” comiclooks.cormn