Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 72 — page 6: what you’re looking at

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

The problem wasn’t to find new planets, it was to find people to settle on them —and stay settled ARK CAMERON HAD always thought that it was a mistake for the reception room at ColTerm to be so comfortable. The theory was obvious: attract the people inside, let them study the murals and the moving tableaux, rest in the deep, luxurious chairs and sniff at tantalising scents. Then, when their spirit of adventure had been aroused, lead them gently down the path towards colonization. The trouble with the theory was that it just didn’t work. People came in all right. They came in to escape the wet or heat, to meet friends, relatives, lovers, to kill a _ couple of hours while waiting for a train or an appointment, or just because they had simply nothing better to do. But that was all. Their spirit of adven- ture just didn’t seem to exist, and chasing it was a waste of time. Expensive time at that. Mark sighed as he moved through the reception room towards his office. Senator Colburn was due today, and it didn’t require much imagina- tion to guess why he was coming. Commander Jelks would listen, soothe, promise, and then tear hell out of his staff for not getting on with the job. And he would be right. With virgin planets just waiting to be colonized, with the big hyper-drive ships ready and waiting to take out those colonists, with all the resources of Colonial Terminal behind the project it was still failing. There weren’t enough volunteers. The volunteers they did get were falling down on the job. Time, as both Mark and the commander knew, was running out. Either ColTerm produced and did it soon, or the entire project would be financially starved to death, the star-ships, re- modelled for scientific ex- ploration and man’s big comiclbooks.cormn