Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 52 — page 32: what you’re looking at

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

STAR HAVEN he had almost lost his own individuality. He grew up in the belief that to relax was immoral, to find enjoyment other than in work a crime, and his Bible was the rule book and manual. Now he can’t help but follow his indoctrination. You know, of course, that he wanted Cap- tain Barker to Jand us all here without informing us that the original colony had failed to reply to signals?” “T know; one of the crew- men told me. Just the sort of thing I would expect from Williams.”’ “But you can’t blame him. Hyperon was his one chance to be something and some- body. He took that chance and couldn’t understand why we would possibly object to obeying orders from a higher authority. He was the com- mander; we were mere exten- sions to himself. To him it was as simple as that.” “Didn’t he think that we might object to going to our deaths ?” “TI doubt if he ever con- 31 sidered it.” Hermitage reached for a.fresh stalk of grass. “You know, his mentality isn’t uncommon. We find it less among our own people, scientists and those in kindred trades, because we’ve had to learn to think for ourselves, but even with us it is surprising how we operate under a tremendous dead-weight of tradition and habit. With the masses it is even more so. People just don’t think for themselves, and those few who do are still bound by false concepts. Take the food ' shortage, for example. It isn’t anything new and it has been ‘obvious for years, centuries, even, that one day the Earth would have more people than it could feed. The logical and sensible thing to do, of course, was to have practised intensive birth control, and some people did. The rest just didn’t give a damn, and in that they were supported by their own governments. More people meant bigger armies, bigger armies meant war and conquest, and, nature comiclbooks.corn