Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 52 — page 58: what you’re looking at

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

STAR HAVEN arrived here ten years ago with five hundred men and women, and certain specific orders. He couldn’t carry out those orders, we know why, and so would feel himself relieved of the obligation to do his original task. What would he do then? What would you do?” “I’m not sure,”’ said Gerald, thoughtfully. “Not as Wil- liams hopes to do, that’s for certain.” He shrugged. “‘There’s not much you could do when you come to think of it. Explore, I suppose. Do some scientific investigation. As for the rest, well, take things easy, enjoy yourself, kill time until the ship came to take you off.” “Imagine yourself in that position, Gerald. You are in command of five hundred people, who all their lives have never known anything but work. Hard work. Relent- less. With no time for leisure or creative enterprise.. All their lives they have been bounded by the iron walls of convention and tradition. They 57 owned nothing and never would own even the dirt they would be buried in. They worked in order to live and they could never hope for anything else. Then they come here, still prepared and ex- pecting to work, ready and willing to turn themselves into high-production farmers. Then they find they can’t do it. Then they find that, for the first time in their lives, they can eat and sleep, walk and play, without the spectre of poverty or imprisonment hovering over them. They would have time to waste, time to burn, time to do whatever they wanted to do within their limits. What would you do if you were in command ?” “I’m beginning to see what you mean,” said Gerald, thoughtfully. “It’s a lot of people and you just couldn’t stop them if they wanted to go. Anyway, there’d be no point in preventing them once the original plan had flopped.” He looked at Hermitage. “But that doesn’t explain why they comiclbooks.conn