Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 71 — page 54: what you’re looking at

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

EXPLOITER’S END “Next,” Starza said pon- tifically. The next grievance was simply that a foreman had _ spoken harshly to a Term. The Term resented it. In his tribe he had been a fighter, prime guardian of the Queen- Mother. Fighters could not be reprimanded as could spinners or workers. Starza and Tichnat split hairs while I dozed and thought about Fern. - Starza finally promised ‘to reprimand the foreman. It was lovely, the way he thumped on the table, aflame with righteousness, his voice golden thunder, the martyr, hurt by Tichnat’s unfairness, yet so eager to compromise, to be fair. The next grievance was work standards. Starza looked at me. This one mat- tered. This was cost. I pulled out my study proofs, said: “Radnor, in final assembly. Consistently in the hole. Rating, seventy- four per cent.——”’ “The operation was too tight, Jake. Admit it!” a3 The thought uncoiled darkly, thundering and rever-. berating in the horrified caverns of my brain. A thoughtcaster. So the Guild had thoughtcasters now. The Guild had finally come. I sat in the dank silence, shaking. A drop of ice crawled slowly down my temple. I stared around the conference table at Starza’s frown, at those Term faces, the great faceted eyes. “We gave this worker every chance,” I said, licking my lips. ““We put him on another operation. He still couldn’t cut it. Even though we’ve got production to meet, we still giveas many chances——” The thought slashed. It grew into a soundless roar. “Stop it, Jake! Tell them how Amalgamated, under the. cloak of liberation, is strang- ling the Terms with an alien culture. Tell them what a mockery their contract really is! Tell them about that Term you condemned this morning!” I fought it. Feeling the blood run from my lip, I conmiclsooks.conm