Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 51 — page 43: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION She did several jobs of work. It was not merely a matter of going to school. She played her part in the community, but at the same time she had the feeling that this was only a training period. She was on proba- tion. Sooner or later—her Instructor would give no indication of when it might be—she would be told what her job was to be for the next thousand years. There were other people. It could not be said that she was forbidden to make friends: but somehow one did not make friends. The meaning of the word had altered, or it had ceased entirely to have meaning at all. One had _ colleagues, associates, workmates ... but not friends. This was something she had not expected. It did not fit in with the ideas and theories she and Warren had so often exchanged. They had visualised an autocratic society which lived on the best that was to be had. An intellectual aristocracy, arro- gant and steeped in luxury: that was how the Greys were regarded. But now she was faced with an austerity that was almost terrifying. She knew, as no flesh and blood human being could know, the deprivation that was experi- enced when one had lost all the human attributes. There could be no luxury and no debauchery for creatures who worked like machines: the mind could derive no sensual gratification from artificial reflexes, and clicking of relays. What was there to live for? It was a terrifying ques- tion. Human beings might ask themselves that, but it 42 was only rarely that the question became desperate. Something would come along that made them forget the whole thing. They did not pursue it. Forgetfulness came easily. But now there was no forgetfulness: the mind was appallingly clear. Judith went to her Instruc- tor with the question. comiclooks.com