Authentic Science Fiction Monthly No. 72 — page 8: what you’re looking at

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

THE GIVE-AWAY WORLDS Mark glowered after them, knowing that he shouldn’t feel anger, but feeling it just the same. He turned as a hand touched his arm. The hand belonged to a trim young blonde wearing a uniform similar to his own. She shook her head in mock reproof. “Shame on you, Mark. Trying to vamp them in now ?” *“Morons,”’ he said bitterly. “Both of them.” ‘Forget them,”’ said Susan. “They wouldn’t have been suitable, anyway.” “Their applications would have boosted the files,’ he reminded. ‘“‘With the Senator breathing down our necks we need all we can get.” “Pye got some waiting for you.” Susan smiled up at him as she led the way towards the office. “Things are looking up.”’ “Maybe.” Mark didn’tshare her optimism. | Application was as simple as it could be made. If some- one thought that they would like to become a colonist they filled in a form, sent it in, 7 and then Mark interviewed them for general suitability. If they showed promise they went through a further screen- ing to eliminate undesirables. Not many showed promise. Of the five people waiting in the outer office, three were single and the remaining two were a married couple. Mark glanced at their applications, pulled a sheaf of printed forms towards him, picked up a stylo and nodded towards Susan. “All right, let’s see what we've got. The singles first, any order.” : The first was a man, thin, stooped, past middle age and with a harrowed expression. He closed the door almost furtively behind him and sat on the very edge of the chair. *““Name?” Mark remem- bered to smile as he asked the prime question. ““Hanorhan. Robert Hanor- han.”” : “Well, Mr. Hanorhan,” said Mark cheerfully. “You want to be a colonist. Right?” “IL don’t know.”’ Hanorhan eased his collar. “That depends.” conmcloooks.conm