Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, No. 51 — page 61: what you’re looking at

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

AUTHENTIC SCIENCE FICTION “You can stay on Earth if you wish. There are useful jobs here. When things be- come too overpowering, you can resort, as sO Many Of us do, to the Panacea——” “No!” , “Or you can join the colony on Venus.” She sensed some meaning in this that was more intense than anything which had yet been said to her. “'You’ve never told me exactly what the Venusian group do.” “Because we down here are not sure. We do not know what they are really search- ing for, or how close they have got to it. All we can say is that they lead a monastic life, seeking, per- haps trying to find the same answers that we are all seek- ing; and perhaps taking a more promising road than the one that we are on.” ‘You mean... a religious order?” “ Religion? I cannot say. Not what our ancestors would have understood by that 60 word. Something beyond.” “But what can there be? The human race gave up the worship of — supernatural beings centuries ago.” “That could have been a mistake. Just as we are superior in many ways to the human race, so there may be something superior to our- selves. We work for human beings, although our capabili- ties are greater than theirs. And when we ourselves die, there is no telling what work still lies ahead. Some of us work in a practical way now; the Venusians are reaching outwards, upwards — and theirs may be the right answer in the end.” “You can’t tell me more than that?” “No more than that,” said the Instructor. Judith spent several days considering the detailed re- ports available on the Martian settlements. She studied in the terrestrial administration offices, along with several newcomers to the Greys who fancied the idea of adminis- comicloooks. com